Featured News Dreams came true on the KJLH Stage at the 18th Annual Taste of Soul
October 26, 2023
By Betti Halsell
Assistant Managing Editor
The 18th Annual Taste of Soul exuberated the feeling of fun, people set up their tents, umbrellas and sat in their lawn chairs ready for a great time at the KJLH stage presented by Delete the Divide. Many stars shined brightly on stage, bringing new sounds and energy to a sea of people. Winners of the Taste of Soul Star Quest found themselves living a reality they always imagined, artists like Le Fluer and Passion described their adrenaline rush as soon as they got off stage.
Performers included Stevie Wonder, Johnny Gill, Canton Jones, the KJLH Choir, Sean2 Miles, DW3, Dante Bose, Major, October London, Mike Phillips, and political speeches by Adai Lamar.
The crowd started to set up their spots to watch the concert around 7 a.m., to guarantee a good view of the performances that were looking to start at 10 a.m.,
Terri Richards and Patricia Woods were prepared to see October London, comparing his talent to Marvin Gaye.
Richards confirmed that she has been coming to the Taste of Soul consecutively for four years and each year keeps getting better. They talked about their favorite moments, such as the time they saw Stevie Wonder at the Taste of Soul.
Formerly known as Keisha Marie, La Fleur is a singer/songwriter from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After rocking the stage with her song, “Cali Dream” she sat with her feelings on the couch in the KJLH artist lounge.
She imagined herself on stage so many times and after living that reality, La Fleur said, “There was a time where I was in Pittsburgh and I was like, I want to move back to California so I can just do what I want to do—there’s not much you can really do in a small city.” The song represented her dream to come to California and pursue her dream as a Musician.
“It’s a little bit cereal, I feel like I visualize stuff like this a lot, so I have to pinch myself and be like, ok this is real, this is actually happening, this is progress.
Sometimes when you are going through it, you don’t see how far you actually come and then you’re like, oh snap, ok, we are doing something here,” La Fleur said.
After getting off the KJLH stage with Sean 2 Miles, Paschan high fived her dancers and relished in the energy after performing her song, “Moving.”
She stated, “I feel hot—temperature hot— and I feel like I did a hot a-s-s job. My favorite part was watching the audience gravitate to the stage with that first song.”
Passion expressed that she felt like dancing when she made “Moving,” and she performed it at the Taste of Soul in hopes of moving the crowd in the same direction.
102.3 FM carry themselves as the top Black-owned radio station in Los Angeles. KJLH has been broadcasting music for more than 55 years and counting.
The station gave away concert tickets throughout the event, people were able to win tickets to see Kirk Franklin, Bia, Burna Boy and more.
The KJLH stage was made possible through the efforts of Delete The Divide, headed by County of Los Angeles.
It is an initiative to try to help young people, and small companies in underserved areas who are negatively impacted by the digital divide.
Relationships with governmental, corporate, academic, and community-based groups have been developed to coordinate efforts to ensure that members have direct access to, and access to training and assistance with current technology.