#PublicEnemy

NYC Hip-Hop Summer w/ Public Enemy, Slick Rick, Salt N Pepa & more

In part II of the Summer adventures I document one of the best things there is about NYC and that’s Hip-Hop, the good the bad & everything in between is at your fingertips whenever you want it. Logically since this is its birthplace that’s how it should be, but for a white kid growing up in Texas, I would have to wait years and years to see some of these acts that I practically bump into at the bakery now. Some of these acts don’t tour anymore or have never toured but will still do the occasional “local” show and local for them means NYC and its boroughs.

Slick Rick & Biz Markie – July 28th – Grammercy Theater – NYC

Their are few things I enjoy more than just a really fun, old school Hip-Hop show with a super hyped crowd. Nobody fighting, fronting, or causing trouble, just there to have fun like it used to be. And if you wanna have fun, why not have it with the Court Jester of Hip-Hop, Biz Markie?
Alot of people don’t like the Grammercy Theater, but its one of my favorite venues in the city – sure security and staff are dickheads everywhere in this city (Terminal 5 I’m looking at you) but at this place, everyone is really cool and it being right off 23rd St for me its perfect. I’ve seen alot of Hip-Hop shows here, GZA, Q-Tip etc.
Speaking of having an awesome staff, when I got there, my ticket was lost so I had to talk to production.
This kid comes out wearing a Houston Astros hat and I know everything is gonna be all right. We talked Texas, baseball and Hip-Hop and he welcomed me strong (thanks Jason) – just in time as the show was starting.

 

 

Biz Mark was first and the vibe in this place was phenomenal, a show like this in Texas might have drawn 100 people, but there was easily close to 1k strong here, really into it and having a great time.
Between Biz and Slick Rick this really great DJ (who’s name I wish I could remember) who apparently was a name radio DJ that alot of people recognized and appreciated played a great set of old school stuff.
Now it was Slick Rick’s turn –
This was my first time seeing Slick Rick so I can now scratch him off the list of all the MC’s I’ve wanted to see. He was equally fun and then Biz joined him at the end for a great finale.The show was over pretty early but it was raining like hell and I was trying to figure out what to do. See, one thing people who don’t live here don’t know is that its not like you can just go home for a bit and figure it out and then go back out, unless your a gazillionaire. For most people, once they bother to leave their apartment, their out, and once they return, their in. It’s just too much trouble otherwise.
I wasn’t that far from my old haunt Lit, which I don’t think I had been to in over a year and decided to head on over. It’s true, you really can’t go home again because I was at Lit for about an hour, and I didn’t recognize a soul and the vibe and crowd was something completely different and not for me.

Public Enemy w/ Salt-N-Pepa – July 30th – Wingate Park – Brooklyn, NY

I’ve been looking forward to telling this story for awhile and have waited to really get my thoughts together to tell it.
First disclaimer: Sadly, it’s just a fact of life that their are still places in this world, specifically right here in Brooklyn that as a young, white man, I am not welcome solely based by the color of my skin – just like equally sad that their are places, probably even more so, that people of color are not welcome for the same reasons.
I had been wanting to check out the Wingate area of Crown Heights for some time now, Curtis Mayfield has been said to have written We’re a Winnerhere -its an area of Brooklyn once known as “Pigtown,” not far from where Ebbets Field once hosted the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Just my passion for baseball alone I had been wanting to come out here, but had been warned not to.
When I heard that Public Enemy was gonna be playing, those previous warnings didn’t even occur to me, and when I heard that the show was free and that Salt-N-Pepa were opening, even if had, not going was no longer an option.
To sweeten the deal, the concert was part of the park’s ongoing Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series this being the thirtieth year anniversary of the series, and today was also Chuck D’s birthday, I was beyond ready.

I came out of the subway and as I normally do when I’m in a new neighborhood for the first time, I just followed the people to the park, their was no signs of anything to fear and it never occurred to me that it would.
When I got the park, the entire atmosphere had changed as the sun was setting – I learned that Wingate Park has it own weight lifting culture like the one at Venice Beach, but this had a real prison mentality, and those exercising, like at Venice Beach were on display to those entering the park, but most, including myself didn’t dare look their way.

Then right past that, getting into this park was also like visiting someone in prison – clusters of cops just everywhere and I was frisked three times at several checkpoints before finally entering.
An hour before the show, organizers announced a special guest, Leaders of the New School, who kicked off the show with a rocky start.

 

Audience members who expected to see Busta Rhymes, Charlie Brown, and the whole crew were disappointed. Only one member of the group, Dinco D., was present. He came on stage backed with only a DJ, which brought into question use of the plural “leaders.” He performed only three songs, the last of which was Scenario, the Tribe Called Quest song that featured Leaders of the New School. The audience started to jump and scream when they heard the bass line. Unfortunately Dinco D. spat only his verse, then put the mic down and left the stage.

One thing that was absent here was that of vendors, for which normally I would have appreciated and support their gesture to keep that sort of corporate element out of the park, but the problem was that I was starving and wouldn’t be able to enjoy the concert further without something to eat.
I didn’t want to have to go through that cavity search as before but I was desperate for some food – I went out the way I came in, asked around and they said that their was a store on the corner.
I walk less than two blocks, its still plenty daylight, when I go in, order a sandwich from the deli portion of this bodega and then began scanning the adjacent cooler for something to drink.
Here was something different, they sold beer mainly in singles instead of in quantity and they were selling for cheaper than soda. A decent side can of Budweiser was going for a mere $.75 – that made that choice easy.

As I’m waiting for my sandwich, a gentlemen that looks so much like LL Cool J, that I have to look twice, is making the same beverage choice, when I ask him:
“Is this right?, this is only 75 cents?” – He replies “Yeah, but drink it in here, you don’t wanna get caught with it outside” – Wait I can drink it in here too???

I retrieve my sandwich, and go back to where I was standing where LL Cool J was already partaking in his beverage and I politely say “Wow, I can’t believe we can drink it in here, thank you for the tip” –
We are having a decent enough conversation when suddenly the patrons that are coming in are doing double and triple takes on me, a skinny, pasty white kid,  eating a sandwich, drinking a beer, talking with a local, standing there in my RUN D.M.C. t-shirt –
In hindsight, I realize that they resented it deeply and the RUN D.M.C. shirt just seemed to antagonize them – it must have just screamed poseur to them and in that moment I seemed to embody everything that had ever been taken away from them.
LL picks up on this, and not wanting to look like an Uncle Tom he shouts loudly “Where else the fuck you gonna drink it?” – I still calmly said “Well I know that some zoning allows open containers” – his response (and purposely very loudly with the intent so that the other patrons can hear) “Not around here, there’s not, maybe yall can in White World, but not around here, don’t be bringing your RACIST SHIT UP IN HERE TO OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!!”
Oh gawd. I could have instead recited Maya Angelou’s I KnowWhy the Caged Bird Singsand he still would have found some vehicle to call me a racist, he was just literally spoiling for a confrontation that I sensed was coming sooner than later. Apparently so did the Italian owners of the bodega as they were looming near, not to protect me, but just to keep an eye out. When I complimented them several times on what a great sandwich this was, they didn’t want to return the pleasantry out of fear.
LL just kept letting me have it – I have been all over the world and walked many miles on many streets but this was the first time I was truly terrified and convinced that it was only a matter of time before something was gonna go down.
Here is an example of the exchange – me trying to make nice – “Hey man, who do people tell you that you look like?” – he answers “LL Cool J, I know that, I don’t need some white motherfucker telling me that, what now you think you know more about LL than us, you little white motherfucker?” –
I didn’t wanna make any sudden moves but I had to get out of there. I wanted to show that I wasn’t afraid and decided to finish my sandwich like normal.
Another patron looks at me and says loudly “That sandwich good?!?!” – I nod yes – He gets inches from my face and screams “WELL EAT IT THAN YOU WHITE MOTHERFUCKER!!” – I calmly smile and nod and finish my sandwich and make my way to the exit.
I make it outside and head to the park but after a few steps some other guys who must have seen me inside yell “Hey Opie, how was your fucking sandwich?”
I have no idea what made me do it, but very passively I actually started walking toward them and said “Hey yall going to the concert?” –
They were stunned, they couldn’t believe it, and just nodded. In hindsight I think what saved my ass was that maybe because I’m so skinny it would have looked bad for them to kick my ass or because I showed no fear, or maybe they just thought I was too stupid.
And technically I was, because right then, with the last piece of daylight I had left I should have just called it a failed experiment and headed back to the subway and got the fuck out of there. Instead I headed straight back to the park.

To unpack things a bit, this was a free show in the heart of a neighborhood that grew up with these artists. What that means is that if any of these groups were playing anything less than walking distance for any amount of money the show would have attracted 200 people. But its like a fireworks display, the entire family can come for no money and its closer to walk to than the subway. So people/families that don’t normally get out much, this was a real treat and all of those comforts resulted in about 10k people showing up.

Salt-n-Pepa hit the stage next.  After 25 years in the business, they were still energetic and fun.
Both Salt and Pepa were keeping it sexy even as they reach middle age. Pepa wore short denim shorts and a revealing black top. Salt was a little more conservative, with a loose silver blouse and tight, shiny black pants.

But it was definitely a family friendly show, at least for their set. There was no cursing. At one point, they even brought some of their children and other young relatives on stage, which was a lot of fun.  Less interesting, however, was when Salt brought out her husband Gavin, who appeared to have no interest in being on stage, for the song Whatta Man.Thankfully, Pepa stepped in and asked for an audience member to dance with her. This produced one of the most fun
moments of the night, as the guy who came on stage was a mere 18-years-old and slightly intimidated by Pep. But she made him wrap his arms around her and dance. He smiled while Pepa rapped her verse.

And it got even better when they announced an unexpected special guest — Kid ‘n Play! The rap duo came on stage full of energy and performed one song, Rollin’ with Kid ‘n Play.The audience shouted out the chorus. And when Kid ‘n Play broke into their famous foot tapping dance, thousands of people screamed with joy.

I needed that – I was still so shaken up over what had transpired at the bodega, and was so angry. I was mainly upset that what they had taken from me was now the ability to enjoy this, and Kid N Play made me forget it temporarily.

Public Enemy’s set started strong. They had a solid three piece band — bass, drums, and guitar — that started it off. Then the Public Enemy sirens started to sound, and Chuck D. jumped out front and started with Public Enemy Number one.
Last to take the stage was Flava Flav, and audience enthusiasm was high. A big reflection of Flavor Flav’s celebrity that Public Enemy gives him his own personalized entrance. “Say what you want, but we all got one of these in our family,” explained front man Chuck D, as he affectionately introduced Flav “The key is not to have two of ’em!”

 

It was playful but hinted at the strained relationship so much so that when I used my crendtials to get a better look, I could hear them openly arguing with each other, and the source of this seemed to stem from Chuck D’s frustration with an obviously very stoned Flav when he went into the first of several digressions that interrupted the flow of the show. Flav thanked everyone for supporting “my second career, which is called reality TV” which got some laughs, cheers, and jeers. This eventually lead into a rousing version of 911 is a Joke.

 

The bulk of their set came from the group’s two crowning achievements: 1988’s It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Backand the 1990 follow-up, Fear of a Black Planet. Those albums have aged beautifully, but they didn’t resort to producing simple facsimiles of their hits like a heritage act. They did several including I Shall Not Be Moved, from their impressive (but sadly almost entirely ignored) new album, Most of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear on No Stamp

When the various messages got lost in the blur of their music, Chuck was more than happy to provide snappy sermons about the dumbing-down effect of technology, the futility of chasing youth and the banality of radio.

As they performed the early classic Timebomb it shed some light on the bond that has kept Public Enemy’s twin focal points united through a quarter of a century of insurgency and insanity.

 

Let’s hope they keep it together for a little while longer, because hip-hop will never know a group like them again.

Photos –

Roy Turner
Erez Avissar
Nicki Digital
Chris Becker

 

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 w/ Slayer, Public Enemy & More (Nov/2011)

Ok so after an incredibly busy last few months, I was now headed back down to Austin for the Fun Fun Fun Fest. These always look totally awesome and have such an insane and random lineup and yet I’d never been to one until now. The lineups always looked good but there was always something in the way etc. But with the promise of Public Enemy, Henry Rollins, Kool Keith, and Slayer all in one weekend, I was ready for action.

2011 Fun Fun Fun Fest – Nov 4th-6th – Auditorium Shores – Austin, TX

Erin has a house in Austin and actually claims Austin as home when asked and she’s always excited about going down there when we do, so the drive down was actually really fun. Her having a house down there makes it super easy and I was looking forward to a great weekend.

Nov 4th

I get in the guest line and get our wristbands and to my surprise the guy behind the desk hands me a shitload of free drink tickets. He’s wearing a Boston Red Sox hat and says that we met at a Never Got Caught/Clutch show a few years ago. Thanks man!

It was after 7pm before we even got there but the festival had started at noon – the only act I wanted to see that was left was Public Enemy.
Last month, I was at the All Tomorrow’s Parties event in Asbury Park where we saw PE put on one of the best shows of the year and threatened to steal the entire festival.
So needless to say I would have already been looking forward to the show but after what we saw just a few weeks ago, the anticipation was even higher.

They have the stages set up in pairs right next to each other, so that the minute one stage stops, the next one can begin immediately so its continuous non-stop music – one of the better ideas that the Warped Tour has brought to the table.

We were actually standing directly behind the two stages watching Four Tet do his thing –

 

 

We were actually pinned between this trailer that was the dressing room and the back of the stage when a few things of mention happened:

One –  was that though we really enjoyed PE in New Jersey, one thing was that the soundcheck was excruciating – It went on for almost as long as their set and was led by what I can only imagine is some relative of Chuck D’s that he needed to give a job to. This older, extremely over-bearing man with zero time-management skills who’s idea of getting the crowd ready was to scream “AAAAHIGHT??” – About one million times.
Well while we are watching Four Tet, sadly for him the soundboard was to his right while PE and annoying stage mgr were soundchecking to his left.
PE’s stage mgr was actually shouting orders to the soundman at the board thru Four Tet while he was performing on stage!
I couldn’t believe it – Four Tet, a super nice guy would occasionally (and incredulously) shoot a look over at PE’s stage mgr with a confused smile as if to say:  “Can you not see that I’m actually in the middle of my set right now dude?”.

Two – While we are watching this, again its a tight squeeze and only one person can pass between the back of the stage and the dressing room & see that Chuck D was squeezing his way through.

Three – So after Four Tet wraps and again so that the music can be seamless PE is about to start and we are now standing on the side of the stage a mere feet from where they will be performing, when suddenly the entire stage/backstage area is cleared as if the President is coming to watch PE (maybe he was? – I could see that) – Instead it wasn’t the President, it was actor Ryan Gosling and company. Sadly, their will be much more about him as this post progresses.

Public Enemy

Ok so now we are kinda half in the photo pit and half in the crowd and let met tell you something, Austin is passionate about their politics and they are equally passionate about their Hip-Hop and now here were the kings of the game ready to get down. Their was nearly a mini-riot before they even took the stage and when they hit all fucking hell broke loose.

I didn’t know if they were gonna stick to what they have been doing this year which is all of Fear of a Black Planet but the show certainly started out that way.
The effect was briefly transformational, Chuck brought the crowd back into the present by referencing and praising the nationwide “Occupy” movement. Flavor Flav followed that by thanking the crowd for making him the biggest reality television star ever. Thud.
In effect completely loosing all of the momentum that the first three jams had whipped everyone up in.
At one point he brought his teenage Godson up there who he commanded to freestyle rap on the spot – It appeared that Flav might have only met this kid once before and it was probably earlier today and to please his famous Godfather he might have mentioned that he “rapped”. The fear on this poor kid’s face that Flav was throwing his teenage ass to the wolves, was almost as cringe-inducing as the one “rap” the kid actually made which was:

“I came to the fest to have fun, because I’m Flavor Flav’s Godson”

The crowd moaned but clearly felt for this kid –

In spite of this and other Flav shenanigans, the set was not only genuine but it also extended the PE political mythos further into the group’s third decade.
Sending everyone home happy with the belief that the hit parade they’d just seen was part of something far more meaningful. Whether it was that or not was almost entirely immaterial. Friday’s headlining spot was built on the idea of Public Enemy as a relevant and provocative cultural constant, and if you went into the night holding that stock you certainly were not’t in selling mode at its close. In that view as well as most others, it was a success.

Setlist –

Contract On The World Love Jam
Welcome To The Terrordome
B Side Wins Again
911 Is A Joke
Meet The G That Killed Me
Show Em Watcha Got
Bring The Noise
Don’t Believe The Hype
Cold Lampin’ With Flavor
Can’t Truss It
Night Of The Living Baseheads
He Got Game/Anti-Negro Machine
Burn Hollywood Burn
Black Is Back
Timebomb
Shut Em Down
Rebel Without A Pause
Fight The Power

Epilogue – Now during this, the other main attraction (and perhaps for some the main reason for coming) was that Danzig was staging something of a career retrospective and even more importantly something of the closest you will get to a Misfits reunion by including a set of Misfits songs to be performed with famed Misfits’s guitarist Doyle Von Frankenstein.
I mention this because sadly this festival will be remembered mostly for Danzig’s complete and total meltdown (in a history of his meltdowns) and besides Ryan Gosling, this is all everybody talked about for the rest of the festival. Apparently he had made some really weird demands involving soup that even when they were met didn’t prevent the show from melting down and the Misfits portion never happening. Lots of soup jokes followed the rest of the weekend.

You can read festival organizer Graham account of the situation here –

Now let me say this – Even if PE weren’t playing I would have skipped this – As completely blasphemous as this will sound, I do not, nor have I ever cared even an ounce about anything to do with Glen Danzig, not even for a second. I have never owned a Misfits record, nor do I care to, I couldn’t even tell you the names of any of their songs if Metallica hadn’t covered several of them. That is how completely uncool and unpunk I am and what a total square I am, and I could give two shits who knows it.
However, I do know that the band holds great importance to many many people, and I’m sure it was more than one person’s decision to come based upon this appearance and to have Danzig shit all over it is really lame and unfair to them.

After-show –

Kool Keith – Empire Automotive

One of the cool things about this fest too is much like the ACL Fest the organizers take advantage that Austin is the live music capital of the world and host after shows all over the city. I love Kool Keith and was glad he was booked to do his own late-night weirdness in his own setting, instead of on a big stage in the middle of the day. And let me tell you something, this show couldn’t have been any weirder even for him.
Since we had only seen really one act we were still roaring to go, and even if I was tired I would have made the effort to see Kool Keith.
So much weirdness, where do I begin? First of all it was weird/typically Austin cool that he was playing in an auto body shop.
Secondly, when we got there which was around 10:30pm he wasn’t going on for like three hours haha.
I had wanted to see Trash Talk but they had just finished and when I asked the merch guy who was coming on before Keith, he turned into this caricature of a human spouting slang so cartoonish I thought I was being Punk’d.
So for three hours we sat in this body shop waiting for the weirdest (and arguably the most talented) MC of all time to come on. During which time we had beer spilled on us which seemed like a half a dozen times, but Erin and I were actually in good talks and good spirits.
Then finally Kool Keith took the stage –

 

 

Let me tell you something, I’ve seen him perform on every tour since the first Dr. Octagon LP and so I have seen some really brown shows of his, but this one takes the proverbial shit cake. I have seen him literally kill onstage before (Coachella 2004) and I’ve seen him start selling cdrs from his back pocket in the middle of the show (Dallas 2005) to many other examples (and we had also just seen him at the Ultramagnetic MCs reunion in Asbury Park) but this time he was downright scary, but no less entertaining and funny, until he wasn’t.
He had Kutmaster Kurt DJ’n and he came out as usual, but then it was a mess from there on out. Kurt would just play something, Keith would rap a known song over it, and then if he didn’t feel like finishing it, he would just abandon it, leaving Kurt to catch up. This has value as theirs probably not a rapper alive that can effortlessly freestyle like that and just move and shift at will. On the other hand its execution feels like the ramblings of an insane homeless man.
We enjoyed some of it, when he was doing stuff like Get off my elevator and alot of the Dr. Doom tracks – but what we were enjoying more was watching people’s reactions and then watching them leave.
Not just because of the late hour, by the time he got to the real dirty stuff like Sex Style and Girl let me touch you there people were dropping like flies.
It seemed to have no rhyme or reason or no end. We even saw the guys from Workaholics walk out shaking their heads, but we stayed till the end.

Nov 5th

Finally get parked and get inside to start the day and the first thing we see is a wrestling ring set up right in the middle of the field with a match in full swing taking place.

Anarchy Championship Wrestling

That was something else I was loving about this festival was it kind of had a carny sleaze to it – It wasn’t glossed up like Lollapalooza, and the randomness of having wrestling and other events really worked. Not to mention, I’m a huge fan of wrestling –

 

The action was sloppy of course but so much fun, and it was great that you knew that you were surrounded by people that were probably being exposed to wrestling in this capacity for the first (and some surely the last) time. While Erin was taking pics of the action suddenly this dude walks up to me who is dressed like Rayden from the fucking Mortal Kombat game and it standing oddly and very close to my face. Because of the wind and dust, the place was over run with dustdevils and for which the hipsters were remedying themselves with by wearing fashionable bandannas around their faces like they were about to hold up a bank in the Old West. Rayden was wearing this obscuring his face and his gay ass Rayden hat – when he pulls his bankrobber gear down and sporting a shit eating grin to my reaction of “Who the fuck are you pal?” look on my face to reveal that it was my old pal Justin – for which if you knew him this was par for the course.
Good times –
This was just the start of The Day of Running into Musicians from Dallas Day – This was followed by as were walking over to the backstage area, we were perusing the wares that were for sale in the local villagers market they had setup and I desperately needed a pair of sunglasses, when we ran into Mike Graff and Peter Schmidt, two accomplished musicians from Dallas.
Graff was the guitarist for the greatest band that you have never heard, Course of Empire – seriously one of the best bands ever – that had a major label deal and the label had no idea what to do with them and they faded into obscurity.
Schmidt was in Funland with drummer Will Johnson that went on to become Centro-Matic and Clark Vogeler is now the guitarist for the Toadies.
I practically worshiped Graff in high school and we have had a great rapport for 20 years so it was really good to see him and catch up.
Speaking of the Toadies, right after this we ran into my buddy Todd who sings and also plays guitar in that band and had a good laugh as always.
Later that night we ran into and had a great laugh with the always funny and interesting, Wayne Coyne.Ryan GoslingAs if I give two shits, I wouldn’t be accurately describing the experience of the festival if I didn’t mention the mania over Ryan Gosling. I mentioned earlier about how we was responsible for us having to leave the backstage area of the Public Enemy to make room for his royal douchyness. The way that we exchange information is so insane these days that by Day 2 of the festival their was a Tumbler account documenting his every move at the festival.The minute we got backstage the first thing we see is Gosling and company being followed by a film crew that we would later learn was Austin filmmaker Terrence Malick shooting some candid footage of Gosling for an upcoming project –

 Unbeknown to me at the time, but the girl next to him (looking like the constant filming is giving her a migraine) is Roony Mara – who went on to play Lisbeth Salander in the English adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – I just thought she was just some super babe worthy of Gosling’s status. I would actually meet her at this same spot four months later unexpectedly during SXSW – .

Ok movie stars and super babes aside, what caught my attention was out of the corner of my eye I spot true royalty. I was having a conversation with Franki Chan while Erin was in the bathroom when I spot Joe Lally.
I knew that our tardiness had all but caused us to miss his set, but I had to ask him anyway – so I approached and he confirmed that I had indeed missed it for which I started cursing the sky and we had a good laugh and a nice talk. Joe is one of the coolest ever.

Wugazi

Ok so when we ran into Joe Lally, I just assumed that he was on his way to see this thing called Wugazi, an apparent mash-up of Fugazi songs and the raps of the Wu-Tang Clan, who were actually billed higher than Joe Lally, a member of Fugazi himself. Not that I thought Joe would have any interest in this but I joked with him that it would probably make him look like a dickhead if he didn’t at least have a small peek and then I teased him about his curiosity.
He seemed to only have heard of it and knew that they were playing but convinced me he had really no idea that they were about to go on 15 feet away.
So we walk over there, where we stayed all of about 3 mins and Joe left before I did – the picture below should do the talking as to why –

 

 

This is something that could only exist today – two extremely white, trust fund looking douche bags, who are able to convince the blogosphere that their idea is “genius” without ever having to prove how solid their work is and suddenly the cool factor gets them billed higher than an actual member of Fugazi. Unacceptable – their work was not solid and the samples they used were weak and the whole thing looked really embarrassing.

Donald Glover

Another attraction of this increasingly weird festival is they also had a tent dedicated to name comedy acts. All I’ve been hearing this year is about Donald Glover as the heir to the throne. That throne being the lineage of Foxx, Cosby, Pryor, Murphy, Rock, Chapelle – and I’m a committed fan of all of these heavyweights so I was very curious and thought it would be fun so we went over to check it out. I knew that his guy also has a rap group that was gonna be performing later so I was a bit leery of him.

 

 

The assumption is that fans of one medium think the other is unwatchable, or the historical pattern is that the artist’s talent resides heavily in one camp and the other “experiment” is hard to watch for everyone. What sets Glover apart is the fact that he is still an unproven fresh face in many respects, and that seems to give him limitless ambition. It’s clear that he takes both sides of his career very seriously. Serious dedication to comedy gives him a reputation as a very silly individual, which eventually ends up as defensive lyrics in his songs about how “hard”’ he is as a rapper. It’s a fine and difficult line that Glover treads sometime skillfully, to varying degrees of success. Seeing him perform for 30 mins in a tent in the middle of the day doesn’t even remotely make me an expert, but I think its fair to say, to that though I appreciate his new school attitude and ways of doing things, his material just isn’t that solid and it feels like it will date it to be trend happening now and overall his comedy seems a little too hip for me.

Dan Deacon

Though I’ve seen Dan Deacon numerous times and somewhat enjoyed it, the only reason we were over here to see this was because:
a) Their wasn’t anything else going on at the moment that we cared about
b) This stage is closest to the backstage refreshments and couches.
c) The act that we did wanna see was going on after him.

I was talking about this the other day, and finally figured something out – Among the colorfully dressed hipster types and their ironic behavior and painfully white guys using hip-hop slang and unnecessary beards, the one thing they are trying to achieve the most is a “moment” – That “moment” can only come when someone gives them a reason for everyone to jump up and down in unison in what looks like a controlled riot – that is what they are after, and even if they band SUCKS, and trust me, most of them do – as long as they are having the “moment” that will make a great pic for the social networks of choice they are happy.
Be it at a Girl Talk show, or Matt and Kim – as long as their cinematically jumping, they are happy.

 

 

This is the only way to fully explain the popularity of someone like Dan Deacon – Here is a guy that is fat, bald, really ugly and dresses like he’s autistic – and doesn’t sing or even play an instrument as far as I can tell – just sets up some gadgets on a table with loops from a Casio keyboard and blasts them though a speaker and that’s the show. But it gives everyone a reason to jump and have the moment and the potential of chaos is enough to attract people to watch and incite it themselves.
To make it even sexier, Deacon apparently doesn’t like stages to make it even more “I’m on your level,” , unconventional and pushes the potential for mayhem even higher – so while we were actually standing on stage – Deacon was setting up his table right on the other side of the barricadeThe sound for his set was atrocious, and you could tell it was killing him. And by extension, it killed me. He had the chance to get the crowd going on a few occasions, but overall a complete waste of time, other than it gave us a chance to actually stand on stage and get a great view. I looked to my right and their was fucking Gosling, dude was everywhere.

Kool Keith (substituting for Rakim)

Ok so we got word an hour or so ago that unfortunately Rakim, one of the acts I was most looking forward to seeing, had broken his foot and wasn’t going to be performing today. That sucks for all involved but holy shit as a replacement since he was in town (see above) – its Kool Keith to the rescue!

 

 

I had even remotely recovered from the weirdness of show last night, and seeing him in the middle of the day was as bizarre as he is but we were ready for more (I think) – but I don’t think he was ready for much more than either a nap or more drugs. Same as last night, Kurt just basically solo’d on the turntables and Keith would just rap a few bars of whatever song came into his head. Being one of the most, if not the most prolific rapper of all time, these lines could come from any of the staggering 50+ albums he’s released over the past 20 years. We got a bit of East West Hustlers and Blue Flowers that we didn’t get last night, but the only fully cohesive song he did at both shows was the Ultramagnetic Mc’s staple Poppa Large.
Right after he performed we ran into my buddy Igor, who took most of the pictures on this blog entry. He’s obviously a photographer and was running from stage to stage, so we only hung for a sec, but since he doesn’t drink he did give me his drink tickets. Thanks buddy.

Childish Gambino

Ok so as mentioned earlier, we had seen Donald Glover’s comedy set and now it was time for his rap act. For a guy who, a year ago, was mostly known—if at all—as part of the ensemble of a low-rated sitcom Community, the crowd hyped to see Gambino was staggering.

There are a couple reasons for it. Donald Glover, is an Internet phenomenon, propelled by social media savvy and a non-stop work ethic that has him crossing into many different worlds online.

 

 

We were back in that same position we have been last night squeezed behind the stage and dressing rooms where we met Chuck D. All in all is was actually pretty good, I went into pretty skeptical and I didn’t leave thinking they were any more legit than I did before I saw them, but the musicianship of the band was solid and the execution of the whole show was actually quite decent and enjoyable.

Lykke Li

Making the most of the day since we really only saw once act and taking advantage of our Access passes, we then ran through the backstage thoroughfare up to the side of the stage to see Lykke Li who I am a huge fan of.
More than anyone else we saw over the weekend, her use of visuals (monochrome outfits, thick smoke, billowing curtains and percussion as theater) to enhance her performance really showed forethought and planning—

 

 

Li also transformed Dance Dance Dance from debut album Youth Novels into an awesome drumstick battle with a bandmate, which the crowd ate up. It was a rare moment that one noticed the band, who generally stood back and stayed far out of Ms. Li’s spotlight. As the show pulled into the closing with hit Little Bit,it was obvious some numbers had been cut due to the late start—most notably Love Out Of Lust, which was sorely missed.
Li has such a distinct mix of beauty, showmanship and style. I’ve seen her a half a dozen times before and though you may not be able to tell from the above picture how much she tries to downplay her beauty, always wearing these long shapeless over-size robes, but seriously is their any real chance of hiding of freaking ridiculously hot she is? – One of my fave shows of the whole weekend.

The Damned

If only Danzig had stuck around to take notes while British Punk band The Damned showed them how to command a stage and address their audience. Frontman Dave Vanian was dressed to impress with slicked hair, shades, and leather gloves to go with his polished duds. The band sounded amazing, and even the young ones in the crowd were pulled in for the set. The music was great, and the commentary was too, with Dave and Captain Sensible poking ruthless fun at Danzig and his soup.

 

To drive home the “how uncool I am” narrative from before, I can’t think of this band without thinking about this: Summer of 1998 I had my first love – she was (and I’m sure probably still is) miles ahead of me in everything. She was a punk rawker into all the perverse cool shit, while my soundtrack that summer consisted of a steady diet of shit no one will ever think is cool like King’s X, 311, and Prince during his depressed phase. She was super into the Damned and the fact that they were true English punks and not mainstream in America like the Sex Pistols made it all the sexier.
We made a pilgrimage to legendary indie-record store Bill’s in Dallas where he charged her an exuberant amount of money for this one record, that some fat friend of hers stole that she wanted to replace. On the way home we also realized amid her excitement for getting the record that he never gave her back her change, in effectively doubling the price of the record! – We joked that we should have taken advantage of Bill’s homosexuality and had me purchase the record instead. I of course had never even heard of this band before that day which later soon contributed to her exit. I used to joke when people would ask me why we broke up I would reply “cause I have bad taste, and I don’t know anything about Crass” ( that and course my bad hygiene,which is a contradiction in terms if you think about it) – But hey, I didn’t know anything about her other favorite band, Ween, either and look how THAT turned out – Hang in there kids.

Major Lazer

….and then we walk just a few yards over from something tried and true to something new and fun, but really, really stupid. That’s the beauty of a festival like this. The ridiculousness was all in place, even amplified – more dancers, more songs, the Major Lazer in question still sports a bleached Mohawk and yells ridiculous catch phrases. “IS ANYONE DRUNK TONIGHT? WE’RE GONNA GET YOU DRUNK TONIGHT!”

 

 

 

 

I almost feel silly for criticizing it; Major Lazer has always been an entity that requires a specific state of mind and a specific place. I saw them at Coachella a few years ago and it was one of the most ridiculous and fun things of the whole weekend. I was clearly not in either, and as it wore on it became more annoying than entertaining because at that point I think I had reached musical saturation, and that’s the whole point right?.

…and you would think I would have – as this point of the night we had seen 7 bands, two wrestling matches, several movie stars, a comedian and enough dust covered hipsters to last a lifetime. But when you get locked in the tendency is to take it as far as you can, at least that always tends to be my tendency – see what I did there?

Aftershow –

Mates of State – The Parish

Ok, I always do this, and its so stupid – I convince myself that I have to do certain things, or therefore I’m lame and old, or just lame whatever. I get these stupid ideas in my head and make decisions because of them, no matter their practicality. This would be a perfect example.
Given all that I had been through in the past 24 hrs – drove from Dallas, saw Public Enemy and then a Kool Keith after-show, and all that we had seen and done today, it would be more than fair to just go home and go to bed.
But oh no, their was an after-show and so I kept pushing. One logical said that could be said is that it seems that when we are out doing stuff, her insanity begins to decrease, but left to the idle playground of the goddamn devil than all hell breaks loose, so I wanted to stay out as long as we could.
The other side of that is that, I don’t care one bit about Mates of State. I’ve never owned one record, couldn’t’ tell you one song and the few times I have seen them they were painfully average and boring.

 

 

So why was I here?, so fatigued I could barely stand – but soldiering on just so I could get to the finish line so that I could be satisfied that there wasn’t anything left to do that we hadn’t done. It’s a real character flaw of mine. We finally leave there when they finish and mercifully get home around 2am.Henry Rollins officiates wedding

Though I’m from the Dallas/Fort Worth and I don’t know them at all – I had heard that Henry Rollins was gonna be hosting the nuptials of Dallas-area residents and fest attendees Steven Hart and Page King prior to his show later tonight. This I had to see.

During the brisk and mildly absurd but ultimately touching ceremony, Rollins addressed the couple on the importance of the day before they exchanged their vows.

“Right now the two of you are surrounded and vastly outnumbered by people who want nothing more than your great happiness, and it’s safe to say many of them want for your happiness more than their own,” Rollins said. “With 7 billion people in the world and more than 200 million people in America the chances of you two intersecting are frankly against you. The fact that you found each other borders on being a miracle.”

A brief exchange of vows, ring exchange and first kiss was followed by a serenade by Internet sensation the Sexy Sax Man, who earned plenty of laughs and cheers from the crowd that was still applauding the new couple. This festival is freaking awesome.

Del the Funky Homosapien

Being the life-long student of Hip-Hop that I am and a long time fan of Del, I’ve never seen one of his solo shows. Proud to say that I have seen the Hieroglyphics as well as Deltron 30/30 but never just him doing his solo stuff. So I was very excited to check it out.

 

 

Two things that made this quite a bit of a disappointment for me was, one – again I LOVE hip-hop, and yes I tend to gravitate almost exclusively to the more intellectual based, worldly consciousness stylings of groups like the aforementioned Public Enemy and what is known as “underground hip-hop” which is silly, like Blackalicious, Juraasic 5, Busdriver, etc.
However the one thing that embarrasses me about the whole thing is their is an air of elitism that has nothing to do with me and socially it really gets on my nerves. Its so typical and boring that most of these groups play to nerdy, mostly white male (like me) audiences. But where I differ is I hate when they get on that “This is REAL hip-hop, this is the real shit” – and think they are better or somehow evolved than Lil Wayne or Drake. I personally can’t stand the music of Lil Wayne or Drake but its not because my tastes are so sophisticated because I’m so enlightened to what Hip-Hop really is.
I’m a white dude from Texas – how would this ever qualify me to the authentication of an originally all-black and completely original art form started in the South Bronx before I was born?
I just like what I like and leave the bullshit to the bullshitters, so that’s why it was disappointing when Del went off on some elitist non-sense for most of the time he was on stage.
The other was, I don’t know what she had taken or how much of it but whatever it was it had completely taken hold as every few verses I would look over at her and she was struggling to stand with her mouth wide open, eyes in the back of her head and completely unable to hold it together.
Even when I tried to hold her up she kept falling to the ground and gesticulating in ways that were beyond her control. It was terrifying, embarrassing, and I had no idea what to do about it. People were moving out her way like the casualty she was, while others were looking at me incredulously like “What the fuck is wrong with her?”.
I should have just gotten us out of there right then, but I was so disgusted with her and all that she had put me through and now the thing I had been waiting for all weekend, the 1-2-3 punch of Rollins/Posehn/Slayer were all up next and I perhaps selfishly, I wasn’t gonna let her bullshit blow it for me.I got her some water and we sat down for a bit. Thankfully she loves Henry Rollins and so I was hoping that this was gonna hold and keep her attention but having to stand and listen to someone talk for an hour is an undertaking in any condition.

Henry Rollins

We get over there and it felt like forever while we were standing there. People around us knew she was in bad shape and it was embarrassing and I had this fear that Rollins was gonna come out right as she finally nose-dived and then he would know it too and there would be a big scene.
We were right up front, (she is very short) and of course right when he starts, what looked like the local basketball team shows up and decided to stand right in front of us. I was aggressive with them and I didn’t care. Finally Rollins takes the stage and things are looking up.

 

 

 

 

Here are some of the topics he broached: travelings, North Korea, Blue Velvet, scaring the bejesus out of Dennis Hopper, John McCain, drugs, politics, life, longing, and “Life is short. You’ve got to get as many of these stories as you can under your cap.” In his parting words to the audience, where he enthused the importance of the contributions from each generation, he also imagined a world of “24-7 p-funk, Ramones block party.”
Freaking awesome as always.

Brian Posehn

Though we only caught the last half of Posehn’s 30 minute set – it was funny as hell and I was certainly in the need of a good laugh. Feeling inspired as always after seeing Rollins, it was great to laugh, if only for a sec before Slayer. I was also enjoying that, if you don’t know already that comedian Brain Posehn is a HUGE metal fan and one of its biggest ambassadors outside of the Metal community. He was a regular on the Sarah Silverman show and other Comedy Central programming. So this had to have been a freaking DREAM for him – instead of doing his bit in small two-drink minimum comedy club in some Midwestern city, here he was performing like a rock star on the biggest stage of huge festival in front of 10k people, in effect opening for Slayer. How fucking cool is that?

 

 

He talked a bit about that and did this great bit about ICP fans and a few other jokes I had heard him tell. And then he finished with a quip about masturbation and gave the horns and said “Now let’s get ready for Slayer!!”
Sounds good –

Slayer

There was a genuine roar from the crowd as the band—obscured on stage for the very beginning of the set by a huge white sheet upon which they projected pentagrams—launched into the brutal opening riff of the title track from 2009’s World Painted Blood. It’s okay, guys. Slayer is here.

 

 

The band’s set proceeded to dish out absolutely, non-stop, pummeling metal, because that is what Slayer is and does. If you wanted anthems of destruction and odes to Satan, then Slayer is your band.
Slayer is a singular, iconic artist. It’s more appealing now than ever, to more people than ever, to hear a band that just does what they do without any of those other concerns.
Slayer does not care how y’all are doing’ out there tonight, Austin. (Singer Tom Araya did make a “Are you having Fun Fun Fun yet” joke early on)

To drive home where I was mentally, you would think I would have OD’d on Slayer by now. This was my third show this year and my fifth in 13 months and have seen at least another dozen shows or more over the years, but I needed this. Being objective about the actual performance would be impossible for this night, normally I stand in the back and rawk a bit but overall I’m an analyzer, I don’t go for that “This is where you let your aggressions out” bullshit – but I needed an outlet for my frustrations so desperately, and holy shit is their a better therapist than a fucking Slayer show?
Yes there where other bands there that I knew and liked, but I needed something that I knew every word to – and let me tell you something, I rawked harder than I ever have in my life, and perhaps more than anyone there. You know that guy that you kinda fear because he’s so into it? That was me – I even almost jumped into the pit –
Saw this in the bathroom backstage –

 

 

We finally get out of there and instead of heading the Beauty Bar for Diplo‘s after-show party, I had to get her home and I was so beat I was ready myself.

All Tomorrow’s Parties NJ w/ Portishead, Public Enemy & more (Oct/2011)

Ok so this blog post picks right up where the last one left off – literally the next day after seeing the David Byrne installation and feeling the wrath of the Curse of Primus (read all about it here) Erin and I made our way out to Asbury Park, for yet another unforgettable experience.
This time as a journalist once again covering the All Tomorrow’s Festival I’ll Be Your Mirror – curated by none other than Portishead who would headline both nights. This marks Portishead’s first return to the East Coast in 13 years, that will be followed by a more proper return with an additional two nights at Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC – their first shows in NYC since the famed Roseland orchestra show in 1998.
Inviting some of the greatest luminaries in Hip-Hop history to join them, this was a unique festival in a unique location that oddly I had never been to.
Travel tip – rent a car – fuck the cabs.

Oct 1-

Ok so Erin and I head out to Penn Station to take the train out to Asbury Park, amid a flurry of excitement as I can’t believe I’m finally gonna see this historic area, not to mention that we are gonna see Portishead, two nights in a row – and not for the last time this week – among a slew of other activities that this festival will have in store for us.
We get off the train at Asbury Park and to get to Asbury proper and our hotel, you have to take a taxi. What seems like a good deal at first quickly revealed a sleight of hand scam, that by the end of the weekend I could have rented a freaking jet for what this cost. If you know me, than you already know that I loathe taxis and their drivers – easily one of the scummiest professions in the modern world.
The cabs pull up and will take the first 5 people and charge them all a small flat rate. In this case it would only be $6 a person and we thought we were getting a deal. When he drops everyone else off we are the last ones left and for some reason he can’t find our hotel. I call the hotel to confirm their address and they are located less than 2 miles away in a small suburb called Wall Township. I inform the driver of this and this parasite is trying to take us for another kind of ride – immediately insisting that the fare will now be double. I try to negotiate that we will agree but he has to let us check into the hotel and then take us to the festival all for the same rate, and he rejects that offer and says it will be the same rate back.
Meaning that to go from the train to our hotel (less than 6 miles) than to the festival (less than 4 miles) he was trying to take us for at least $50.00 – and we are supposed to do this all weekend? – Hell no, I could have rented a corvette for that kinda money.
I tell the driver that he will be taking us to our hotel for the original amount of $6 per person or he can let us out right here and get nothing.
Since we were the only ones left and he was to return to the train station for his next pickup, he threatened to take us all the way back.
I was sitting behind him and told him that if he didn’t pull over right now that the next vehicle he will be occupying would be an ambulance.
He doesn’t take any chances and pulls over – only to attempt to keep our luggage hostage if we didn’t pay up front.
I grabbed him by his collar and screamed in his face – ” OPEN THE TRUNK MOTHERFUCKER OR I’m GONNA STUFF YOU IN THERE!!!”
Poor Erin is having a nervous breakdown – twice in less than 24 hrs I’ve been in a fight with someone.
He gets the message and pops the trunk and as we are getting our luggage out he’s screaming threats at me – I go to close the side door, throw a $10 bill at his face and tell him to go fuck himself.
Not the best way to start a trip –
I get on the phone to another cab company and we are back in another one in literally less than 5 mins and on to our hotel for a reasonable rate.
This was the only hotel I could find, and let me tell you something – I’ve stayed in quite a few shitholes in my day, but this place was downright frightening.
We had a healthy sense of humor about it and even kinda took pride on our little shithole – its one of those hotel that only has one floor, and when you open the door you are outside and they look they have hourly rates – a real turd bowl.

 

 

 

After we check in and get settled into this fleabag, its time to get over to the festival site, so the pursuit of yet another cab is on the rise – Our third in less than two hours. The next driver guy comes and he is initially a breath of fresh air, but we soon realize that he’s probably the scummiest of them all.
We get in and we are talking music and this guy is a smooth fast talker, but he for some reason I feel comforted by him. I know he’s on the grift but he takes me off guard with a great story about some time he spent with Eddie Van Halen. I thought he might have been pulling that psychic short hand cause I’m normally wearing some piece of VH paraphernalia on me, but not this time, so lucky guess on his part.
He’s awesome but still charges us $15 for a 3 min cab ride and gives us his card and says to call him later and he will take care of us.
Ok whatever, – this festival has infested and setup shop in every nook and cranny of the park with the central focus and convention like atmosphere being at the
Convention Hall.
The festival started yesterday but the two nights of Portishead begin tonight – across the street from the convention is the hotel where all the acts are staying and where the production office has set up shop. We get over there, get our credentials – take a quick look around and grab some greasy food before finally heading in.Our spirits are high and I’m very proud to be here and the anticipation is manic as we enter the main thoroughfare –

As we enter the Convention Hall, I was shocked at how small and unoccupied it was – sure we were three bands from Portishead but it was like we were getting a treat, like we were cheating somehow – that even if this place fills up, we are getting something of a private show. The odd thing is that even till the end, though the floor will fill up, the seats will not look much different than they do here, as we get ready for the first band we wanna see – Battles.

Battles

After the departure of vocalist/guitarist Tyondai Braxton last year, the announcement that Battles would continue came as a surprise. A year later, their sophomore effort Gloss Drop revealed that Battles were mostly the same: unpredictable and rhythmically rich, but not quite as propulsive. Some of the power may have diminished, but Battles are still a force of nature live that gets the body moving. In the Convention Hall, the vocals of Braxton were played as a background sample during Atlas, as with Gloss Drop guests Kazu Makino and Matias Aguayo, effectively driving the point home that they are in control and can get along without him.

Ultramagnetic MCs
 Up next was something for the bucket list – How cool is it that Portishead invited so many important players of Hip-Hop for this festival, and some reformed just to play this show. To know me is to know my life-long obsession with Hip-Hop and is their anyone in any genre crazier than Kool Keith?
Though I’ve seen his solo show many times, to various degrees of success, his original outfit, the legendary Ultramagnetic MC’s were invited to play after being on a long hiatus and their first with Kool Keith in over a decade.
Ced Gee and TR Love came out first and got it going early with Funky/Mentally Mad from their classic 1988 LP Critical Beatdown.
That album singlehandedly introduced many new sampling techniques. Many believe that without Ced Gee, the group’s primary producer, the golden era of sampling may have looked very different. Their albums were some of the first to use many James Brown samples, which became very prominent in Hip Hop in ensuing years.
Everyone was anxious for Keith to appear, and knowing is reputation, was he even gonna show up? – and if he did, what condition would he be in? – how weird was this about to get?
The answer is yes, and shit got weird in a hurry as he took the stage –

 

PortisheadPortishead was truly a thing of pure magic-first East Coast show since their famed Roseland performance in 1998 -first of 4 nights with them.
It would be impossible to overstate my anticipation for this show nor could I ever exaggerate the role this band’s music has played in my life. If their is some type of World Record for listening to an album continuously, I might be in the running. I have listened to some piece of both of their first 2 lps everyday for the past 18 years (even today) it’s just part of my day and I don’t even think about it. When I worked for the man I used to jokingly fill out the section of the application that says “Special skills or achievements” by putting “I have seen Portishead live” –
In hindsight you could say that these two shows were mere warmups to their big return to NYC in a couple of days with two big nights at the famed Hammerstein Ballroom, and given the size of the crowd and condition theirs an argument to support that, but being there and experiencing it, it felt like anything but.

There are not many artists that can pull off headlining two nights of a festival full of fascinating artists, but one of them is Portishead. Performing their first shows on the east coast in 13 years, Portishead were the main attraction on Saturday and Sunday nights, giving their 2008 album Third the proper tour it deserves.

 

In Threads, the penultimate song of both headlining sets, Beth Gibbons unleashed an otherworldly anguish so overwhelming that the frustration behind it defined comprehension. Glory Box sounded more seductive than ever, while Wandering Star had its sensual beat stripped away to give it a delicate haunting quality shared with The Rip.
The vocals of Beth Gibbons ran the gamut from sultry to pained, and the effect never ceased to hypnotize. Gibbons appeared to be in high spirits, smiling throughout and even jumping into the crowd for a brief surf at the end of set finale We Carry On. Most unsettling of all is this uncanny ability to tap into the vastest of emotional depths seemingly at will. Disconcerting, but gorgeous, Portishead is back and better than ever.

Setlist:

Silence
Hunter
Mysterions
The Rip
Sour Times
Magic Doors
Wandering Star (Geoff/Beth/Adrian solo version)
Machine Gun
Over
Glory Box
Cowboys
Threads

Encore:

Roads
We Carry On

After the show we walked across the street to Asbury Lanes, this charmingly shitty little bowling alley for the after-party that was to be Peanut Butter Wolf w/ a surprise appearance by Prince Paul, that apparently just showed up. However the line was wrapped around the building twice and it was one in and one out. I was pleasantly emotionally drained after seeing Portishead and we had already had a long travel day and had to be back up early tomorrow so we looked forward to settling into our rat-trap hotel for the night. I called the cab driver with the cool Eddie Van Halen story to come get pick us up, and he did – for $25 bucks.

We had so much fun making fun of our own hotel and how shitty it was, and jumping up and down on the bed – One of the best and silliest nights her and I have had in a long time and it was great fun. We hadn’t really eaten today, so we walked to the McDonald’s next door and had to go thru the drive-thru on foot (that’s never embarrassing right?) – but it was just so surreal and ridiculous that we couldn’t stop laughing -Really fun.
When we got back to the fleatrap, we had a food fight with fries and started rough housing – I felt bad because I tossed Erin’s little 90 lb body a little too hard and with her infinite clumsiness she fell on her ass in hilarious fashion that we both screamed laughing at, but she bumped the old staccato wall and it skinned her elbow for a little blood.
Even more hilarious was, given the nature of the place, I think the guy next door thought I was beating her and we could hear him outside our door doing some investigating, which only led to more laughter. Good times.

Oct 2nd

So now that today is not a travel day, we had the day to take it easy, take in Asbury Park and enjoy the area and see everything it had to offer.
It’s now Sunday, only our second day here, but the third and final day of the festival. We had opted to not come on Friday because:
a) They were doing some odd thing with the credentials for just that day, surrounding Jeff Mangum (who I can’t stand).
b) We thought we were seeing Primus in Manhattan on Friday (see last entry for story).
c) We thought we would save on a night at a hotel by waiting till Saturday because their was also really only one band we wanted to see, Shellac, who we also knew we would be seeing back in Brooklyn in a few days.
d) i.e. we skipped Friday

Shellac (surprise early show)

Only to learn just what a good decision this was when we got word that Shellac was going to do an early Sunday Service show around noon at the aforementioned charmingly shitty bowling alley – Win!
An authentically ancient bowling alley Asbury Lanes. Dark, loaded with cheap beer and greasy food served by the friendly, tattooed staff, and so technologically out of the loop that score keeping had to be done on paper; the alley had the kind of charming environment that epitomizes this festival.

Main dude and all around creep Steve Albini starts the show by saying “Thank you for coming to the bowling alley, we’ve played several bowling alleys, and this is among the nicest bowling alleys we’ve played at in New Jersey.”
Albini then lead his band, a total sound and fury machine, through a blisteringly powerful set.

Not long after that Albini told us that he was hosting his usual poker game – this time at the Berkeley Hotel across the street from Convention Hall – the hotel where we checked in to get our credentials, and basically the entire hotel is the Production Office for the festival this weekend. We went over there to check it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn’t stay long and I didn’t play, though I would have liked to, just to do it. Also I like poker and it would have been fun – but as cool as that sounds, it also by the same token, meant staying indoors playing cards in the middle of the day with a notorious asshole, and we hadn’t even seen the beach yet.
I’m also really good at poker so I would have enjoyed fucking with Albini – but it was fun just to watch for a bit and go check out the rest of the boardwalk.Silverball Pinball Museum

Ok, so if anyone knows anything about me, knows that pinball is a lifelong passion of mine, right up there with music and baseball. I’ve been fortunate to have played and seen some amazing machines all over the world. I’ve competed in the Brooklyn Tournament every year since 2006 and coming in 3rd in 2007. I’ve played at Redondo Beach before they took the machines out and visit Pacific Pinball everytime I’m in Las Vegas – so how could I come to the Pinball Capital of the World and not play!! – No way man, I was looking forward to this almost as much as the music!
This festival feels tailored made for me, Public Enemy, Kool Keith, two nights of Portishead, some of the best seafood I’ve ever eaten – and now I was in pinball heaven –

 

Enter – The Silverball Museum – home to more than 120 classic pinball machines. But unlike most museums, the Silverball is hands on. A 10-dollar pass will buy you an hour of time on the most popular vintage machines dating back to 1933. I wanted to drop to my knees and worship. Just look at this place!
Boardwalks and pinball go hand in hand, and here I was playing pinball on classic machines in Asbury Park – One of the best days ever.Then, as I’m walking around like a kid in a candy store, I see Portishead main man Geoff Barrow checking out an old Neptune machine from the 1960s –

I am no fanboy and normally in this type of situation I would have said nothing and certainly wouldn’t have taken a picture, but its not everyday that I see one of my idols participating in one of my passions outside of their vocation. Still wearing his ATP credentials, I thought back to that scene in the Roseland DVD where he is walking around outside the venue, still wearing his laminate – odd but kind of a full circle moment for me. We chatted for a bit and moved on – I had to see if they had Earthshaker haha (they didn’t) – but damn this place was cool. We walked out of there shaking our heads going, “Did that just really happen?”.We still had time before the bands we wanted to see started to check out a few more things. Shepard Fairey’s propaganda style art pasted on the surrounding buildings really tied everything together.

And then we finally got to take a walk on the beach before heading into the Convention Hall for another long night of incredible music – what a wonderful day.

 

Company Flow

 

This was only Company Flow’s third show in the past decade, but they appeared to have not missed a beat in their hiatus. A good way to warm up the crowd for what was to be a really incredibly performance by Public Enemy, Company Flow brought old school rap to ATP much in the same way Ultramagnetic MC’s did the night before.Company Flow together again, for what was apparently their 3rd show together in 10 years. I’ve seen El-P and Mr. Len separately, first time seeing Bigg Jus perform.

Public Enemy

The group, complete with DJ Lord (who replaced Terminator X) and full band in tow, were originally booked to play Fear of a Black Planet in full. But after the cancellation of Mogwai, they were given a two hour slot. In response, Public Enemy declared they would be playing Fear of a Black Planet “remixed” meaning we heard nearly every song off the album, in addition to numerous other PE hits. Now we were getting two hours of PE? – Could this day get any cooler?

But that meant that she show had to start and no disrespect – but we had to sit through one of the longest and most excruciating soundchecks I can ever remember, just painful. The whole thing was led by what appeared to be a older family member, probably of Chuck D’s, something to keep the gentlemen employed rather than his actual qualification to do it – and this dude was an exhausting taskmaster – (It would not be the last time we would seen him, stay tuned next month).
The show was starting, Erin took her place in the photo pit (after successfully defending her ground with some asshole from the production staff, even more impressive was that this dude looked King Kong Bundy).
Backed by a band with metal leanings and the turntable wizardry of DJ Lord (who masterfully connected the subversiveness of Public Enemy with Nirvana), Chuck D came out like a prizefighter and showed why he’s still one of the best MCs in the game.

With his politically-charged rhymes as relevant as ever, here comes his foil Flavor Flav who was a bundle of bottomless energy. Whether running back and forth from one end of the stage to another, leaping into the crowd, or commanding them to jump, Flav kept the energy levels high. Erin snapped one of my fave pics of PE ever check it –

They blew everyone away with one of the more energetic performances I’ve seen in a long time. Say what you will about Flavor Flav, the man is an iconic performer and had more onstage charisma than pretty much any other performer I had seen all weekend. Chuck D, of course, still has all the MC chops that has made him one of the most highly respected rappers of all time.
At one point as if the level of world class talent onstage couldn’t get any higher, Chuck D invites legendary drummer Dennis Davis to join them on a couple of tracks. This was now officially one of the coolest days of my life and Portishead hasn’t even gone on yet.
To educate/remind the crowd of Davis’ incomparable resume, Chuck D asked he crowd “Even heard the song Fame with David Bowie and John Lennon?, wanna know who played drums on that track?” – and proudly pointed to Davis – a jaw dropping moment.
Also need to mention how skilled a turntabalist DJ Lord is. And that famed Twitter music critic Chris Weingarten (1000 Times Yes) was brought onstage to rap Don’t Believe The Hype, which was actually the only thing he said into the mic before jumping into the crowd. The whole set was freaking awesome, and a highlight of the entire three day festival.

Setlist –

Contract on the World Love Jam
Brothers Gonna Work It Out
911 Is a Joke
Welcome to the Terrordome
Show ‘Em Whatcha Got
Bring tha Noize
Don’t Believe the Hype
Cold Lampin’ With Flavor
Can’t Truss It
Night of the Living Baseheads
He Got Game
Harder Than You Think
Anti-Nigger Machine
Burn Hollywood Burn
Power to the People
Bring the Noise
Timebomb
Who Stole the Soul
Shut Em Down
Rebel Without a Pause
By the Time I Get to Arizona
Fight the Power

Portishead

I wonder if it’s weird to be Beth Gibbons, to look out at a teeming auditorium, and to realize that everyone in the room has probably had sex to your music at some point or another.  Gibbons is basically our Isaac Hayes, our Teddy Pendergrass. And though Portishead is a studio band through and through (Geoff Barrow has said in interviews that they’ve generally not enjoyed playing live), they did an amazing job at bringing the dusky, cracking feel of their records to life onstage while at the same time playing around with their songs’ compositions.

Geoff Barrow, the group’s production mastermind, switched between percussion, guitar, bass, and turntables. He was impressive on all those instruments, but his scratch-solos were serious highlights. Barrow’s big moments didn’t’t exactly flaunt their technical mastery, but they always made perfect musical sense for their moments. Guitarist Adrian Utley ripped though delirious ’70s-soul solos or bottom-heavy fuzzbombs whenever he had to. The group’s live drummer proved to be great at recreating Barrow’s dusty breakbeats without so much as a single extraneous fill. This is a group of people very good at what it does.

With its militaristic, gunfire-like synth march, Machine Gun was as experimental as it was visceral, and tonight, Chuck D accompanied it with a verse from Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos.

Gibbons, who barely spoke a word to the audience all night, seemed small and wraith-like onstage, her face usually hidden under hair and shadow. But at the end of the set, when she smiled huge and pulled off the world’s least likely stage-dive, it suddenly became obvious that she’d been having fun all along. Her voice was warm and tremulous, and it sounded absolutely incredible throughout the night.Though the energy level was completely different than last night. I was in absolute bliss.
Setlist:  (abbreviated as it differed from last night)Nylon Smile (instead of Hunter)
Machine Gun(with Chuck D)
Chase the Tear
We Carry On (w/ Simeon from Silver Apples)

After-party with DJ Shepard Fairey – Asbury Lanes
  We learned after last night that the after -parties at Asbury Lanes fill up quick and this being the last after-party of the festival and Shepard Fairey was gonna be DJ’n, we knew we had to haul serious across the street to get over there and get in. The cool thing is that we were some of the first to arrive so we had no problem getting in. After being their for only about 20 mins I learned just how lucky as I when I went outside to smoke the line was already stretched to Pennsylvania. It was also during this smoke break where the wheels of this perfect day began to unravel. You can’t take away all that we saw/did today, one of the most unforgettable days of my life, and we were ending it at Asbury Lanes, the same place we started at this morning with Shellac, I just wished it had ended as well as it had begun.
I’m not here to divulge too much private information, I’m just trying to tell a story here for you, myself and for the sake of posterity – so if anything is revealed, its only in the name of advancing the story and that is my only agenda. So with that in mind I must tell you that Erin is not supposed to be drinking alcohol, like at all, and we had a deal on this trip that she wouldn’t.
However given the amazing day that we had, and all that we had seen, and now we were about to get down with Shepard Fairey, and I wanted a beer too, when she asked if she could have one, I relented and ordered us both a drink. Big mistake.
That’s what gets me, I always think its going to be ok – but it never is and its never just one. I wanted to smoke and they were only letting people out one at a time and normally letting me out of her sight for one sec would have caused big problems but she was totally okay with me smoking alone (that should have been my first clue).
Though I was enjoying her all day, I prolonged my cigarette break to enjoy a rare moment to myself and it would cost me. Having said that, I was still only gone for about 15 mins and when I returned I saw her before she saw me and when she did she quickly threw away an empty bottle of beer while still holding another.
I don’t know how many she managed to get down in my absence but in 15 mins time she went from the excitement of just seeing Portishead to being smashed, and I was super pissed off.
I tried to just grin and bear it but soon it would become inescapable.Shepard was setting up and it seemed like the entire festival was here – He was playing all of that fun shit that I like and that I like to spin – None of that Dubstep nonsense or trying to make some artistic statement, just getting people to dance and have fun. All the fun shit from Run-DMC to Rob Base, to Pete Rock etc.

I  tried to get into it and just forget about what was happening with her while still keeping my eye on her to make sure she didn’t hurt herself, and I did for awhile, totally losing myself in the music, but her bullshit was catching up fast. Not only did we see Geoff Barrow again but the entire Portishead crew were here.
She insisted that I go talk to Geoff and I did for a bit (dude probably thinks I’m stalking him today).

But I was just so angry that I was in a dream situation with all of my heroes,that I certainly am not likely to be in again, and I couldn’t go hang for fear of what her situation could yield (trust me on this). It wasn’t like I was gonna get pics with them and ask for autographs, but I had a chance to hang for real and I know the score, and I had to just idly keep my distance and let the opportunity pass me by. Their was no way I was gonna live with being embarrassed in front of these people so I just let it go and decided to enjoy just being there and in their presence.
I called that same Taxi guy to get us back and he shows up and takes us and four others (all to the same fleabag) – and when we get there he says that its only $9 bucks – Ok cool, and I even thought he meant $9 bucks per party, but oh no, it was $9 bucks per person. It would have been highway robbery to charge just us $18 for this 8 min cab ride, but he bled the lot of us for $60 bucks for this short ride. I’m telling you if you are ever in Asbury Park, rent a car, DON’T TAKE CABS –

Shellac – The Bell House – Oct 3rd – Brooklyn, NY

Ok so the next morning we pack up and of course we have to get into another cab, I didn’t call the EVH guy, last night was the final straw, and we lucked out with a nice dude that didn’t actually rip us off this time.
We took the series of trains to get back to Brooklyn, and even cooler was in the same car as us, and just in the seats in front of us were Public Enemy’s live band riding shotgun. The drummer had a white girl under each arm all the way back to Brooklyn.

Before we got news and eventually attended the “secret” Shellac show yesterday at Asbury Park (and even so that show was admittedly abbreviated), we were content on waiting to see then when we got back to Brooklyn. They were playing one of my favorite venues in the whole country, perfect for what they are about and it was gonna be a full set.
When we got there we discovered that the show was sold out, but the crafty door girl was enterprising. She just so happened to have an extra pair that she only wanted face value for – they were the kind of tickets you print out. We gave her the money, and she granted us access but wouldn’t let us keep the print outs of the tickets – hmmmm – I have a feeling she had been doing this all night and business was booming. Even so or even if we did get the last two tickets I was super happy to be here and excited for the show.

The Bell House was staging this for two post-All Tomorrow’s Parties hangover shows, but the next one is tomorrow, the same night as Portishead night one at Hammerstein so this was our only chance.
Ready to give their loyal (and very male-dominated) following a world of aluminum guitar-scraping hurt, their trademark side-splitting Q & A sessions and one-liner between-song zingers.

 

 

Worshiping at the Albini altar is routine, but the first of the band’s two Bell House shows displayed why the band deserves the props. The musicians were ass-tight meticulous, the song selection stellar, the sound immaculate (Albini called the Bell House “the best place to play in the NYC metropolitan area”), and the set lasted a staggering 100 minutes.

Albini’s bizarro-world, rhythmically challenged dance twitches are worth the price of admission alone, but the between-song shenanigans and banter set Shellac apart from the typically abstract inside joke jargon usually spewed at shows. Some highlights (or lowlights), if you will:

• Best joke of the evening, courtesy of Weston: “What’s brown and sticky? My Beyoncé poster.”
• Funniest song intro, courtesy of Albini: “This song is called “I Came In You.” “It’s about intercourse.”
• Best baseball-related advice for the recently manager-less Chicago White Sox, courtesy of Albini: “They need to hire Buck Showalter.”
• Best hot-dog-related advice from Weston: “Last year, I ate three hot dogs. I got sick but not from the hot dogs being bad, but because I had three. My tummy hurt.”
• Best advice from Albini about purchasing gear: Don’t go to Guitar Center. Albini bought a new guitar strap there for $44.
• Best friendly natured jab at Albini, courtesy of Weston: After being asked by an audience member “What’s better: jam or jelly?” Weston retorted with “I am going to jam (and jelly) my dick up Steve’s mom’s ass.”

Setlist – Canada
Copper
Watch Song
Squirrel Song
My Black Ass
A Minute
You Came In Me
The End of Radio
Steady as She Goes
Dog & Pony Show
Crow
Spoke

Portishead – Hammerstein Ballroom – Oct 4-5th – NYC

Ok so we had blowing and going for a week straight – everyday since she got here, and now we were gonna cap off her last two days in the city with the historic return of Portishead to NYC.
We woke up to the good news that our beloved Texas Rangers had won the ALDS last night and were headed to the American League Championship series for the second year in a row.
How do we celebrate the Texas Rangers win? How about 2 more nights of Portishead? –

Oct 4th

We had a good day in the city and the anticipation for tonight had me manic with excitement, but some of her bullshit rose to the surface right at the zero hour that we were approaching the venue for the show.
When tickets had originally gone on sale, I was past my limit on my card so we used her card and I just gave her the cash for the tickets. I had the same type of paper printouts that the door girl at Shellac wouldn’t let us have, folded in my breast pocket.
I was like Fred Astaire, dancing around, I didn’t even mind that the line to get in was almost to 10th Ave – And as we were approaching the entrance/nirvana they were two lines:
One for Will Call
Another for people who had tickets in hand.
I naturally got in the line for people who already had their tickets because like I said I was waving them around like a newborn baby, when she quietly tells me that we have to go to Will Call – oh fuck.
Not wanting to spoil my spirit she waited till we got up here and didn’t really tell me till after we got in but I knew what was up.
Remember before last week we hadn’t seen each other in almost 2 months, and even last week when we were making the plans for her to come visit we were having problems and arguments and at one point a decision for her to not come at all was close to being reached by both ends.
So, though these were my tickets, her insane jealousy allowed her to jump to the conclusion that if she didn’t come, I would take someone else, and not just anyone else but naturally someone that would render the entire evening scandalous, and so therefore without telling me, she called her Ticketmaster or whatever and said that she changed her mind and wanted to pick up the tickets at Will Call.
Meaning that what I was holding in my hand was worthless this whole time, and though they were my tickets, if she hadn’t come, I would have learned that cruel truth at the height of my excitement as I was walking into the venue, not to mention the embarrassment I would have suffered in front of whatever friend I had invited, not to mention their own palpable disappointment.
It was insanity and a viciousness I just couldn’t reconcile and once again had to suppress on a night I had been waiting for not only for months, but in retrospect for over 13 years.
However I wasn’t letting her and any of her baffling dysfunction take this from me – It was too personal and meant too much to me to let it go awry over stupidity. We soldiered on and headed into the beautiful Hammerstein Ballroom for the first of two nights – Portishead, were finally back in NYC.

The band let every piece of their show get absorbed by the environment around them. Going through the greatest tracks of their discography, the band exhausted every element of strength, surprise and subtlety, striving to exceed their own expectations. Beth Gibbons took her familiar place in front-center stage and delivered her signature, achingly beautiful vocals, never letting up in the slightest.

 

 

 

 

 

Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley provided the unequivocal ambiance of all things Portishead, with keyboards, percussion, metallic snare drums and turntable tricks strewn about. It seemed like as the night went on, the group’s dynamic intensified throughout, with each song becoming more rigid, building up on an emotional level that made the cast of thousands simply watch in awe.

All in all, seeing Portishead live was the equivalent of the life cycle of a human heart living through the most extreme of emotions. That, in and of itself, is unforgettable.

In terms of the setlist they just repeated the same show as the first night of the ATP Festival in Asbury Park. In terms of what the crowd was like, I have to admit that I was at times beyond annoyed. This little gay dude in front of us was so obnoxious and selfish with his gesticulations as were crammed in like sardines, and given my anger from earlier, I don’t know how I didn’t punch him. I think Beth Gibbon’s unbelievable expression saved the dude a beating and myself from going completely insane.

Oct 5th

 

 

 Erin’s little tickets stunt almost came back to bite her in the ass – See this was her last night in the city and she wanted to do something different which I can completely understand. I’m the one obsessed with Portishead not her, so on her last night, I can see why she wouldn’t wanna go see the same band that she’s seen three of the last four nights, a band that until last week hadn’t ever heard of except from me. Just like in Los Angles earlier this year, she didn’t wanna spend her last in Los Angeles seeing Prince for the 5th time (and that time she got her wish as I rolled solo to that last Prince show).
So I was fine with her not going though it was her last night in NY, and though it may sound selfish if this was any other band I might have relented and said “You know what? three nights in a row is enough, this is your last night, let’s do what you wanna do” – But this was something special that I hadn’t been waiting so long for and she knew and agreed to that before hand, and also, her jealous antics with the tickets and that shit she pulled our last night in Asbury Park really wasn’t motivating me much.
But remember, at the very least since she pulled that shit, she now had to go to Hammerstein to claim the tickets and then what? So if she was gonna go through all that why not just see the show with me? Her true motivation was to keep an eye on me for sure.
Enough of this nonsense, let’s see Portishead one more time :)Everything about the show—from the wall of live video carefully manipulated in real-time behind them, to the thoughtful set-up of individual and overlapping spotlights on stage, to the crisp and perfect sound—was immaculate. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a live performer with a better voice than Beth Gibbons. What a heartbreak machine that woman is! Don’t get me wrong, the newest material they’ve put out has been ace, but hearing her note-perfect in taking on the old Dummy torchsongs like Mysterions, Sour Times, and Glory Box was jaw-dropping. On Wandering Star, stripped down to an intimate duet with her and Geoff Barrow both crouching at center stage, she kept elevating her devastated moan, higher, higher, until the crowd just totally lost it. They lost it a lot. Every time her face flashed on the big screen, warped and ghostly from whatever distorted filter they were using, it had a grimace of emotional exhaustion. .

 

 

As a live band, with five on-stage players beside Gibbons, Portishead are double impressive. It was on this level that material from 2008’s Third really hit. Hearing them work into krautrock grooves, two drummers pounding, on something like Machine Gun, you were kind of amazed at the heaviness (it was ominously accompanied on the big screen by a slow crawl down some murderer’s warehouse hallway). Adrian Utley’s guitar solo on We Carry On is something you’d have never expected from their 90s work—aggressive and agitating rather than coolly removed. On material from their creepy-crawly 1997 self-titled album, Geoff Barrow did some live record-scratching, or most likely simulated it on some newfangled computer program. Rather than sounding dated, it added a compellingly huge dose of freaked-out noise to songs like Cowboys and Over.

It all sounded dark and fresh in the face of the ironically smooth crooning, day-glo keyboard noodles, and tiny, reverbed ditties that our borough has recently produced. For elegance, they might never top that famous Roseland show with the New York Philharmonic. For transporting power, I can’t imagine I’ll see a better show for the rest of the year.
In terms of the setlist, they did the same setlist as they did the second night of ATP – so those two shows (minus the special guests) mirrored these two, but somehow these two shows felt special and powerful and I’ll never forget them.As we were stepping out after the show that night – Brooklyn Vegan snapped a shot of us (unbeknown to me until someone emailed me to tell me) – and its got to be the worst pic of me ever – I notoriously take bad photos, but look how tired I look – I look like 15 years older than what I really am, as compared to looking 10 years younger like I normally do which is source of pride for me. I know the hustle is hard, and I hustle like no one else, but the stress is clearly getting to me.