How do you keep the mood N’digo going for more than six hours for the more than 2,000 guests at the foundation’s ninth annual gala at Symphony Center?
1. “Never sit down,” warns N’digo contributing editor Kevin McNeir, who had to work the crowd.
2. Pretend (silently) that you are Joan Rivers and award a golden hanger to N’digo publisher Hermene Hartman (after all, it is her party). Then, imagine that you are Joan again, only this time Crawford, wielding wire hangers and yelling about too much glitter, too much hair and too many trips to the two-story buffet.
3. Listen to the dapper Cirilo McSween, who received the N’digo Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award and who recalled his days in the movement with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., spanning the emotional gamut from tears to joy.
4. Just try to nap during the prolonged standing O for the 28 N’digo scholars from Chicago-area schools.
5. Groove with R&B icon Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan . . . Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan. Every woman and then some.
