I somehow landed myself in a positin where I book music acts. Its awesome. I love it. However, when you are the one booking the show, the night starts when the concert goers are just starting their “mid-day lets get ready to pary” naps. So for me show time starts with load in at 5pm, but I like to be fashionably early.
4:30pm- Load in. Shinobi Ninja arrived from NYC. We wait in the freezing weather for the lovely employees of Rock&Roll Hotel to show up. We were ready to ROCK.
6PM- The rest of the artists trickle in, all of Feed God Cabbage, Fasil and Chooky of Fuzzy G, Chris and Stephen of Tek Subport, and Hawk and Bez of HABITS, ( Hawk and Bez is the smoothest.. get it)
6:30pm Shinobi starts w/ the sound check. We explore the green room/back stage artist room. One of the more lavish green rooms I’ve seen, huge room, loads of couches, infinite bottles of water, fresh towels, even a shower. Grubed out hard on some chips and salsa and flat bread and hummus, ( I’m a jew, he’s a jew, she’s jew, we’re all jews YEAH) and order some 50% off bar burgers, my “freakin hippie veggie burger” was scrumptious. FYI-R&R Hotel is one of the most hospitable venues I have ever dealt with.
6:45- Myself and fellow 4TheLover Chris “Madge” Madrigal deck out the space with some festive xmas lights, and some blue and white Chanukah lights, (thanks mom). People don’t realize that such a small thing as some lights can really affect the atmosphere and mood of everyone in the building. You see, it’s all about doing the small stuff, lots of baby steps, to reach the pinnacle of the mountain.
7pm- Find Woodrow the writer and Karllito the Photographer, both of whom I had met that day, and get them as involved with the evening as possible. Karllito snapped a cool 883 pics.
730- Rap up sound check with FGC, no time for Fuzzy G, or Mac Boi to test out the equipment. No worries, we can do it before their respective sets.
8:04pm Tek Support kicked of the music with their killer, bass thumping beats. All of their music is engineered entirely by them, no samples, no bullshit, just straight up original dubsteping crunkness. It’s still early, so we hadn’t expected many people as this point, but so far so good.
Aprox headcount: 25
8:37- HABITS hit the stage with lots of energy, and even more excitement. They have been ready for this moment for over a month. I must add that after months and months of writing, practicing, and living music, this is the first opportunity that has arisen for them to perform live. I am just as pumped as they are. Clean, and crisp, and still full of energy, like an IV of Redbull status, Hawk and Bez take turns rapping over BG’s beats. I like what I hear, the crowd, (now of about 35) likes it too. The communal energy level in this Hotel as been rising since, we stepped foot in the door. We are on our way.
9:10 – I make a last minute decision to let Tek Subport rock out again, this time with that ill hip/hop influenced mix I was raving about earlier. I do these for two reasons, 1. People are not really starting to pile in. So it’s a perfect time to jam and mingle and grab a drink before the 1,2,3 punch of our headlining bands hit you like a head-on collision. 2. I wanted to push back the set time for Mac Boi and J.Cash as much as possible. Why? B/c with “Return of The Mac”, Mac Boi’s newest mixtape dropping in early 2011, the more people who can listen to this swagged out live set, the better. But at the same time, the venue manager is pissed at me that we are “behind scheduale”. C’mon bro, this is the music industry. We don’t operate in time. We just make and share music from our souls, there is nothing finite about that. Time is just something created by The Man to hold us down. ( preach on playa)
9:30 – Mac Boi (MACnificent the master) and J.Cash are up now. I have been eagerly awaiting this set for a while now. And even as a somewhat late addition to this show, they came to bring IT, and bring it they did. Minus the small snafu of Mr. Cash running off stage in the middle of their set, (gotta hold your liquor son. Patron shots on me AFTER your set next time) from start to finish was nothing but high quality rapping, delivered better then it has been in the last 5 years. These boys have now begun to carve out their spot in the holy rock that is hip/hop. Seeing first hand, as they grow as artists, both behin
d the scenes, in the studio, the style of their raps, and then how the kick it live; it is truly amazing. ( track names) During fan favorite “Throw it in the air”, J.Cash raps, “We getting money, throw it in the air”.. after their set I picked up 27 $1 bills. Sweet! Again, its all about the baby steps, 27 $1 now, 63 $2 next. Aprox headcount: 94
d the scenes, in the studio, the style of their raps, and then how the kick it live; it is truly amazing. ( track names) During fan favorite “Throw it in the air”, J.Cash raps, “We getting money, throw it in the air”.. after their set I picked up 27 $1 bills. Sweet! Again, its all about the baby steps, 27 $1 now, 63 $2 next. Aprox headcount: 94
10:05 Feed God Cabbage is ready the rock, and thanks to Mac Boi, J.Cash and StreetTeam so is every single body in the building. “Who are these guys Wood?” I was hearing a lot. “They feed god what?” I wasn’t worried. As soon as (drummer) hit his drum and started singing, the guitars and bass started jamming, the roots, rock, reggae had lifted off. The confused and questionable “Who are these guys?” turned into the jumping and jamming “Who are these guys!!” ADD MORE BE SPECIFIC
Aprox Headcount: 150
10:55 FUZZY G AND COMPANY… I’ll cut directly to the chase with this one; armed with an arsenal of new songs that Fasil and his producer/genius Chas ‘Chooky’ Derr had conjured up over the last few weeks, Fuzzy G killed it once again. I feel safe in saying this was his best performances of 2010, even though there was no acrobatics, (stage diving into the pool of festival goers at Wilmington’s 4TheLove Music and Arts Fest) it was truly a spectacle in its self. His rap skills are at an all time high, experimenting w/ his voice and his sound, and everything that is Fuzzy G music, pushing the limits in regards to who ‘Fuzzy G’ really is… I should stop though. My biggest concern with this amazingly talented musician is that all this bs talk and hype people say will go directly to his already enflamed head. But as long as he stays true to his roots, keeps that guitar in his hands, and doesn’t rely too heavily on his ‘rapping,’ Fuzzy G is on the right path.
Aprox Headcount: 150+
12:00 Shinobi Ninja attacks once again, (Am I getting too repetitive here?)- It’s getting late, but I have been waiting for the Ninjas to rock in front of this DC crowd ever since the very first time we crossed paths back in June at Europa in BKNY, and they have been anxiously waiting to show DC their Ninja skillz ever since their 4:30pm arrival to the R&R Hotel. At this point in time, its getting harder and harder to review and analyze these crazy cats, show after show, rocking hood, and always with the upmost professionalism, (which makes my job easier), not only the way they handle themselves on stage, but how they conduct themselves off stage both pre and post-show. So yet again, they killed it, and yet again the chatter of those in attendance were, “Who the f*ck are these guys!!”
Aprox headcount: 150++
Great sets all around, overall great show. Guests begin their trips back to the surrounding suburbs of DC, mainly Silver Spring and Takoma Park. My night is far from over.
1:20am Clean up my x-mas lights, thank all the R&R employees for their help, thank my photographer for his last minute help, assist Shinobi in loading up their van.
1:45am Talk w Rock & Roll Hotel Manager about having another show there, would be perfect to make a stop during the Shinobi Ninja SXSW tour I have been setting up. See you guys again on Feb 12th…
2:00 “Yo Dave, (Machinist, Shinobi’s wicked drummer), y’all gonna come party in MD or what?” I ask him as enthusiastically as humanly possible. I have been working all night, I’m ready to get dooown!!
“Can’t bro, gotta head back to NYC right now.”
I know they would all love to come get wild, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I bid them all a farewell, but I know I will be seeing them again very shorty.
2:30 Drop off my friend in D.C. somewhere.
4:00am Finally make it home to Silver Spring, MD, what a freakin way to jumpstart my 23rd birthday. Gotta wake up in 3 hours to catch a train up to NYC. Good night world.
Fun Fact: Later on in the day, (on my 23rd b-day, which happens to be on the 23rd) I find myself at a casino. I decide to play a friendly game of roulette; I go big or go home on red 23…. VICTORY.
The rest is silence.