Sheila E. threw an amazing party last night at the Conga Room in LA. If you've never been to the Conga Room, it's a small club, so it was a really intimate atmosphere. It felt really informal, as if you were at a friend's house listening to them jam. She called up some of her friends throughout the show to join her on stage, including Tommy Davidson, who was pretty funny, and her mom, for a touching acapella rendition of a song they used to sing together when Sheila was a little girl. And Sheila and the band put on an incredible show! Sheila played for over two hours straight, and tore ish up so hard she broke a drumstick and yet never missed a beat! The saxophonist, Eddie M., the vocalist (I'm sorry, I don't remember her name), the whole band was great. They began with a couple of jazz instrumentals and songs which I think are from the new album "Heaven", and threw in a little Prince here and there, including "When Doves Cry", "Girls and Boys", and "Kiss." The crowd of about a couple hundred people adored her, and broke into "Happy Birthday" for her a couple of times, and would often start chanting in the middle of one of Sheila's several blistering drum solos, "Go Sheila, it's your birthday!" During transitions and introductions, people would call out, "Happy 27th!" and things like that and she said, "I'm proud, I'm going to tell you my age, because I've earned these bags under my eyes! I'm 44!" She and the band played off the audience really well, and at one point, the crowd started calling out "A! B! A-B-C-D!" and Sheila obliged by launching into "A Love Bizarre." She finished up the evening with "The Glamorous Life" and "America," and a drum solo so incredible it made me say, "Blackwell who?" Sheila looked absolutely gorgeous (what bags??) and happy and you could have lit a city with the energy in that room. After the show, I hoped on Cloud Nine and floated back home. Happy Birthday, Sheila! And thanks for the drumstick!