Johari's latest good idea, which she did not come up with, but which she is certainly coproducing, is a tribute to the R&B singer Mary J. Blige. The idea first came to one of the show's featured singers, Ashanti Proctor, who wanted to do a kind of musical play about Blige. But Johari encouraged her to just make it a tribute. Also, they only had a three-month window to organize the event. But why Blige? Well, she has an impressive track record. Her career began in the early 1990s, when she brought the street cred of hiphop to the R&B world without sacrificing its apolitical and black- elegant principles. She has more hits than you can remember. She is still making hits. Lastly, she's been in the game so long, that, like Bill Murray or Snoop Dogg or Martha Stewart, she's won the honor of just being cool. It will be fascinating to see what Proctor, Johari, and the rest of the lineup do with her work.