“They had lizards just walking down the street,” the up-and-coming local R&B singer marveled a week after the fact. “Right next to you, banana rats as big as cats.”
His performance on Sept. 24 — for personnel at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay — was hot, too, in its own way.
“Cuba was cool, man,” Anthony said.
Anthony, who hopes to one day follow in the multiplatinum footsteps of his brother, Springfield native John Legend, will stick closer to home with his next gig.
He’s one of the performers at Saturday’s Johnny Lytle Music Festival in Davey Moore Park along with funk bassist Larry Humphrey, vibraphonist Mark Smarelli and others.
The event runs from 1 to 7 p.m.
Named for Lytle, the world-famous jazz vibraphonist from Springfield, festival organizers hope to reignite the same sense of community once fostered by Lytle himself.
While still unsigned, Anthony — whose given name is Vaughn Stephens — got to perform at Guantanamo Bay after Navy personnel checked him out on Facebook.
“It was a great opportunity for me to be able to perform for the troops,” he said. “To give them some kind of relief.”
U.S. personnel haven’t been allowed to leave the base since 1959.
“We had to fly around Cuba,” Anthony said, “because you’re not allowed to fly over Fidel’s part of Cuba.”
Contact this reporter at amcginn@coxohio.com.
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