Tag: R and B

Shy Girls | Park Plaza Hotel | Red Bull Sound Select’s “30 Days In LA” | 11/23/14 [Review & Photos]

To Check Out Other Bands We Caught During Red Bull Sound Selects “30 Days In LA” CLICK HERE

THE ACT: Shy Girls | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

SOUNDS LIKE: 

THOUGHTS:

I’m a sucker for new R&B music. When I heard KCRW play Shy Girls’ Shy Girls’ “Voyeur’s Gaze” on Morning Becomes Eclectic in 2013, I was hooked. When I saw that they were opening for a band named Phosphorescent, I immediately bought a ticket. I had no idea about the headlining act, but that didn’t matter. It had been close to a year since I saw them perform, and I was jonesing to see them perform again.

The performance was short, but it was everything that I anticipated: smooth vocals over a tight knit band playing music with an 80s and early 90s R&B vibe.

The first two times I saw Shy Girls perform live, they didn’t play the song that hooked me in the first place, “Voyeur’s Gaze”. When I had asked them about why didn’t perform that song since it was the song that KCRW decided to spin, they indicated that the arrangement was a bit too complex for them to play live. They remedied the omission this time around and it was, to my complete satisfaction, performed as a song in the middle of their set.

Apparently, I was the only one in the audience excited to hear the tune. Instinctually, I yelped out a very audible, “Yes,” when the opening vocals and keyboard chord progression were played. I got a few giggles from some of the audience members around me, and under my breath, but audible, I felt it necessary to qualify my blurt with, “Can’t help it, it’s my favorite song of theirs.”

I soon realized that the crowd wasn’t here to listen to Shy Girls smooth R&B jams. I further deduced that headlining act’s style of music was at the opposite side of the spectrum because if the audience wasn’t feeling what Shy Girls was putting forth on stage that night … well, they were here for something else.

And it’s a bit of a shame. Shy Girls is a Red Bull Sound Select artist. I would have thought that Red Bull, the host of the concert series, could have done a better job at procuring a line-up that was more consistent. I went to the Chet Faker 30 Days In LA show later in the month, and I can easily say that Shy Girls would have KILLED IT if they were one of the opening acts for that evening’s music. In fact, switching James Supercave from the Chet Faker night, with Shy Girls would have been my choice.

The highlight of the evening was when Shy Girls’ covered Brandy’s “Sittin’ Up In My Room” (a demo recording of which is above). It was simple and sublime. It was a performance of an R&B classic that anybody with an inkling of appreciation for type of R&B music would have loved. I just wish more people could have truly appreciated it.

VIDEOS: The Instagram videos that I uploaded somehow got corrupted. 😦

PHOTOS:

To Check Out Other Bands We Caught During Red Bull Sound Selects “30 Days In LA” CLICK HERE

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Goapele | El Rey Theater | 11/18/14 [Review, Photos and Video]

Goapele: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Earlier this year, I got a call from management to negotiate a side artist agreement for a track Snoop was to be featured on. When I asked who the featured verse was for, management indicated that it was a female R&B singer named Goapele.

Goapele … that name sounded so familiar to me.

I quickly opened my iTunes and found that I had purchased a compilation back in 2004 titled “California Soul”, and nestled in as the fourth track of the album was Goapele’s track titled “Childhood Drama”. Apparently, after listening to the track 12 times to date, I’ve given the track 5 out of 5 stars. With it’s smooth production value, and dreamy vocals, I was bit surprised that I never opted to purchase more music from this artist.

After concluding negotiations on the agreement, Goapele’s manager offered to give me a comp ticket and a photo pass to her performance at the El Rey. Arriving at the venue for the performance, I got to meet Goapele’s manager and publicist, who let me know, with appreciative glows in their eyes, that Snoop had called earlier in the day to wish Goapele luck.

Goapele’s fans had arrived at the venue early like me, sitting on the steps close to the stage, bordering the perimeter of the venue. As I scanned the audience, I noticed that the audience was filled predominantly with women. Let’s put it this way, if you were a single guy, the odds … attractive odds … would definitely have been in your favor.

I made my way to the front of the stage and staked out my position, engaging in small chit chat with some of the female attendants who would occasionally peek at the photos I took during the show, smiling with approval.

The opening act for Goapele was a singer songwriter name Josiah Bell.

I couldn’t find too much about this artist online prior to his performance other than the fact that he was (as of June 26th, 2014) dating actress Jurnee Smollett of “True Blood” fame and that he was a big fan of vinyl records, so I listened to him with open ears.

Josiah is a solid singer whose vocal range, and timbre, reminded me of Brian McKnight. His music is pure R&B and I was pleasantly surprised with what I heard. Perhaps my favorite part of his set was when his band took a break, and he sang a song while playing the keys. His voice, exposed and raw, demonstrated a tenderness with firm foundation that I wanted to hear more of. I understand that he recently had a string of performances at the Hotel Café. If it was just him and his piano, I’m sure that those performances would have been definitely worth the price of admission.

To see additional photos and video from Josiah Bell’s set opening for Goapele CLICK HERE

When Goapele took the stage, the first thing I noticed was her fierce, blond-dyed short hair and the beautiful angles of her face. With the house lights reflecting off her gold embroidered dress, I was literally in awe of how regal and strong she looked. When she started singing, I basically fell in love.

Her music hit all the right notes with me. From powerful to playful, from longing to seductive, the music both induced me to dance where I was standing and to scan the crowd to see if I could catch the eye of a potential soul mate. Though my dancing was awkward, and my scanning was fruitless, there was no time to dwell on my own deficiencies as Goapele’s music kept flowing and had me vibing … hard. It was almost a musical soul cleansing. It was music that didn’t rely on modern day gimmicks. It was solid songwriting, enhanced by a distinctive Sade-like voice.

Having singed recently to Eric Benet’s record label, Jordan House, she had, to the delight of the females in the audience, Mr. Benet join her on stage for a number.

When Goapele’s set had finished, I made it a point to thank her team for giving me the opportunity to review and shoot her performance. When Goapele came from backstage to greet fans, I was briefly introduced to her by her manager. When she thanked me for being diligent in finishing Snoop’s agreement. I could only thank her for performing that evening so sublimely. If I had known her better, and if there wasn’t a line of at least 70 fans anxiously waiting at the merchandise booth to meet her, I would have told about the rollercoaster of emotions that she put me on that evening and that I’m making some room on my CD racks for more of her music, because having only one of her songs is simply not enough.

VIDEO:

PHOTOS:

Goapele | El Rey Theater

 

 

 

 

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Josiah Bell | El Rey Theater | 11/18/14 [Review, Photos and Video]

To Check Out Other Bands We Caught During Red Bull Sound Selects “30 Days In LA” CLICK HERE

THE ACT: Josiah Bell | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

THOUGHTS: (Excerpted from the Full Length Concert Review that you can read by CLICKING HERE)

“[…] Josiah is a solid singer whose vocal range, and timbre, reminded me of Brian McKnight. His music is pure R&B and I was pleasantly surprised with what I heard. Perhaps my favorite part of his set was when his band took a break, and he sang a song while playing the keys. His voice, exposed and raw, demonstrated a tenderness with firm foundation that I wanted to hear more of. I understand that he recently had a string of performances at the Hotel Café. If it was just him and his piano, I’m sure that those performances would have been definitely worth the price of admission.”

VIDEO:

PHOTOS:

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Nick Waterhouse | Ink-N-Iron | 6/7/14 [PHOTOS & VIDEO]

When retro-soul is done right, I love it. Last year, I was unable to catch Nick Waterhouse’s concert on the Santa Monica Pier. When I heard that he was scheduled to perform at Ink-N-Iron, I was thrilled. Some may argue that a “kid” in his mid-twenties, couldn’t possibly know about retro-soul. I’d have to disagree with them.

Dressed in a dapper suit, and his trademark Buddy Holly glasses, Nick Waterhouse and his full band took to the stage and the anxious crowd roared. They had waited eagerly to hear some music that harkened back vintage 50 and 60s soul, and they got it

Accompanied by backing vocalists, horns, drum, keys and bass, Nick managed and conducted his band through a set of music that really breathed a new kind of funk into the retro-soul genre. The only thing “modern” about the set were the iPads that the horns used for their setlist and (I’m assuming) score.

The band was terrific. Obviously a tightly knit group of players, each instrumentalist played off each other with the kind of synchronicity you would expect from a seasoned Motown band. Hidden in the not so apparent details, Nick Waterhouse’s musicality was on full display. His orchestration, and his musical arrangements, was proof positive to me that his retro-soul sound is no fluke. He may be young, but he’s got it, and he’s got it in spades.

I loved the set. I was grooving in my spot the entire time, and looking around to see how others were reacting, everyone… and I mean everyone … was doing the same. Towards the end of the set, uninvited concert goers even snuck their way onstage to dance and groove to the music. I seriously look forward to hearing- and seeing- more music from him.

I couldn’t find a setlist of his set online, so if you attended the event and know what his setlist was, please post it in the comments, and I’ll add it to the post.

I’m particularly proud of some of the photos I took during Nick’s set. I hope you enjoy them too.

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Banks | Coachella | 4/12/14 (PHOTOS)

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After catching two post punk bands, I decided to switch gears and slow it down a bit and check out Banks. Jillian Banks grew up in Southern California and I first noticed her when she did a stint opening for The Weeknd‘s international tour in 2013. Her album, “Goddess,” is still on my list of LPs that I still need to pick up.

Though I thought her set would have been better suited for a time slot later in the day given the downtempo nature of her music, perhaps Goldenvoice  knew that she would be a strong draw no matter what time she performed before because she packed the Gobi tent at 3:45pm.

I had a difficult time snapping quality pics of her with the mid-day, natural light beaming into the tent, stage lights, and large hat worn by Banks which cast a sizable shadow over her face, but I did what I could. What do you think?

Unfortunately, there is no setlist available online for Banks performance the first weekend of Coachella. If any of you Banks fans know what songs she performed, please let me know in the comments so that I can add it to the body of this blog entry. Thanks!

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT BLOG ENTRIES OF OTHER BANDS I SAW AT COACHELLA!

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Cody ChesnuTT | The Troubadour | 3/30/14

 

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On March 30, 2014, Cody ChesnuTT restored my faith in R&B music.

Over a decade ago, I first learned about Cody ChesnuTT  when he was featured on The Roots cover of his own recording titled “The Seed.” I made a mental note then to keep an ear out for more music from him, but for whatever reason, his music and my ears just didn’t cross paths.

Fast forward over a decade, and somehow I stumble on a live, radio-station, video performance of Cody performing songs off his latest release titled “Landing On A Hundred” without a backing band. I’m immediately amazed.

It was a sound so raw and soulful, it made me think of all of those legendary R&B and soul singers of the 70s. Music from the heart. Music from the soul. I absolutely fell in love with the music. Some people have compared Cody to Marvin Gaye. After listening to “Landing On A Hundred”, I’m willing to make that comparison as well.

As soon as my iPhone notified me that tickets for a show of his at the Troubadour were on sale (god-bless concert related iPhone apps!), I purchased tickets. Having gotten permission from Cody’s management to snap pics of the gig, I got to the venue early with a friend to get up close and personal. I just knew, in my gut, that it was going to be a mind-blowing performance. I was right.

When Cody, with his trademark helmet cocked on his head, and his band took to the stage, the audience erupted with a joy that I haven’t felt from an audience in a good while. A sudden emotional warmth enveloped The Troubadour, almost as if the venue itself exhaled at that moment. It was, at least for me, a surreal moment.

Cody’s performance was beyond enjoyable. In fact, with the breadth of emotion he revealed during his time on the stage; from pain, frustration and struggle, to joy, love and hope, I can truly say his performance is on my list of “favorites of all time”. Being able to capture some of those moments with my camera, gave me visual proof after the fact that I wasn’t just imagining it.

What made the performance so real was Cody’s interaction with the crowd. He engaged us. He talked TO us. He made us understand why the music he was singing meant so much to him. For example, he told us how the music on The Headphone Masterpiece saved his life; and though the music from that album came from a different time and space, having its own unique vibe, he could sing some of those tracks in the present because they matched and marched with his current vibe. He explained that “Love Is More Than A Wedding Day” was his favorite song off  “Landing On A Hundred”, further preaching to the audience that it takes effort to overcome martial struggles. He openly reminisced about the story of how his wife bought him his first guitar from a pawnshop; and how her belief in him and his dreams makes him want work that much harder to keep the relationship fresh.

Before he performed “5 On A Joyride,” he explained that that track was written after he had gotten dropped by Hollywood Records and ended up in a car with four friends tripping on magical mushrooms cruising the streets of Los Angeles. He even took a moment to give a shoutout to Suge Knight for being a man who actually gave him the creative freedom to create during his stint on Death Row Records.

I was blown away with Cody’s live show.  If you are a fan of R&B and Soul music that speaks from the heart, I beg you to attend one of his shows. You won’t regret it.

For the setlist, please click through the slideshow.

 

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How To Dress Well | The Roxy | 3/18/14

 

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The first time I saw Tom Krell p/k/a “How To Dress Well” perform live, I thought to myself, “I really need to see him perform in an intimate club venue.” On March 18th, at The Roxy Theatre, I got my chance.

What intially hooked me to How To Dress Well’s music was twofold. First, the music leaned dark, simple and atmospheric; the kind of music you could press play on a rainy day, lie on a couch and let it sooth you to sleep. Second, I was very partial to Tom’s tender and vulnerable vocals stylings. A lot of male singers can use their falsetto, but not all male singers can use it the way Tom does.

Before the set started, I scanned the room to see what kind of audience was in attendance. I didn’t have to ask. By the looks of it, I may have been the oldest one in the room. I was a bit impressed insofar as the music that’s been released thus far is quite mature (both lyrically and musically). I asked the two fresh faced kids standing to the right of me (who weren’t wearing drinking bracelets) how they got into How To Dress Well’s music, and they said Spotify. I asked the young girl standing to my right the same question. She said Spotify.  A quick non-sequitor … even if major recording artists are complaining about the amount they get paid from streaming services like Spotify, it would appear that Spotify led at least 3 kids to spend their extra cash to buy a ticket to see an act like How To Dress Well perform at a Hollywood club on a Tuesday night. Just saying …

The music of the evening was stellar. I knew that Tom was in the process of recording new material, but I wasn’t expecting that he’d be showcasing a lot of the new songs at the gig. It was truly a pleasant surprise for me. He had the drummer from Broken Social Scene play with him (he used a drum machine at FYF Festival) and that added a new life to the music’s live effect. I was again impressed with the way he used his two-mic set up (one mic without reverb and one mic with) to give his songs layers of depth and feeling.

And I was right about wanting to see him perform in an intimate venue. The concert-going experience was magnified 10 fold for me. For How To Dress Well’s music, you want to be captivated. You want to focus on the emotion that Tom is purging from his body and hang on very word/note. Being in an intimate venue afforded Tom the ability to interact and really connect with the audience.  When introducing songs, I really got the sense that Tom wanted the audience to connect with its meaning, and it’s a lot easier to do so when the audience is captivated rather than tent-hopping at a festival. When I say intimate, I don’t necessarily mean a small club venue. In fact, if could pick another venue for Tom to perform in, I’d love to see him perform at The Orpheum.

I didn’t quite catch the names of all of the new songs (some of them were still untitled) but I did my best to list them below, together with little concert notes that I took.

  1. “Two Years” (?): A song about his father
  2. “The Power” (?)
  3. “What You Wanted” (?): A song about how you feel when you have a desire that you can’t control
  4. “Cold Nites”: After he sang this song, he told that audience that he got shivers while he was singing it stating, “That felt really good”
  5. “If You Were My Girl” (?): A dance song
  6. “No More Death” (?): He asked for the venue to turn the lights down since it was a “really dark song”
  7. “I Don’t Know What’s Best For Me” (?)
  8. “Suicide Dream 1”: A song about a friend
  9. “Childhood Faith in Love” (?): Inspired by “You Can Have The Best Of Me” by the Starting Line
  10. “Repeat Pleasure”: A song about controlling emotions even though you know that “if you do something once, you’ll probably do it again”, Tom suggested that this was perhaps the most “poppy” songs he’s written and that it was going to be a big hit
  11. “Words I Don’t Remember” (?)
  12. “Set It Right”

Encore

  1. “Baby” (?): Tom mentioned that in the next part of his life, he wants a baby, but that this song is his fear of the fragility of babies, derived from a fear of wondering if a baby is alive while its sleeping (A cappella)
  2. “Lovers Start” (A cappella)

 

Unfortunately, the Flickr slideshow below is not available on mobile devices. If you are on a mobile device, please click THIS LINK to get redirected to the set of photos. If the slide show below isn’t working, then Flickr has disabled their embed option for WordPress and hasn’t yet updated their HTML code, which totally BLOWS! If you can see the slide show below, hooray!

 

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Stevie Wonder | Songs In The Key Of Life | Nokia Theatre L.A. Live | 12/21/13

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Have you ever thought about what you would say or do if you were in a room with one of your childhood idols?

One of my childhood idols was Stevie Wonder. I discovered his music by way of the 1993 cover of “Lately” by Jodeci. When I started doing some research browsing the CD racks at the local library, the first CD I pulled of the rack was “Songs In The Key Of Life”. I must have been too eager to play the music, as I started with disc 2 rather than disc 1, and the first song I heard was “Isn’t She Lovely”. I was hooked.

Since then, I’ve amassed a considerable collection of his music (on CDs and LPs) even spending hours making a detour to an HMV while I was touring Japan with my college singing group to search for albums I hadn’t ever seen before. While the rest of the group members were doing touristy things, I found a copy of Stevie Wonder’s  harmonica album “Eivets Rednow” (that’s his name spelled backwards if you couldn’t tell).

Fast forward to the relative present, I had to pick up a paycheck at my bosses’ business manager’s office. I stepped into the elevator, and with the doors closing to take me up, a hand jammed in the middle to open the doors back up. One man walked into the 5ft by 5ft compartment, followed by another man directing an older gentleman wearing a daishiki and sunglasses. That man was Stevie Wonder.

All of a sudden, my stomach turned and my palms got sweaty. My mind started racing, searching for something to say, but as the elevator came to a stop, it’s doors opened and my teenage idol slowly departed the space, with me there silently watching … watching him walk away as the doors closed me in.

Ever since then, I’ve repeatedly thought to myself what I could have said in that space of a few seconds …”I used the lyrics of ‘Send One Your Love’ for my best friend’s wedding toast” …  “‘Sugar’ and “Anything You Want Me To Do” are my favorite songs form “Signed, Sealed and Delivered” … “‘Music Of My Mind’ changed my life.” …  “I plan on using ‘Ribbon in the Sky’ as a song at my wedding, whenever that happens” … Yeah, I guess you can say that I’ve thought about what I’d say to Stevie the next time I was ever in a room with him.

When I heard that Mr. Wonder would be performing “Songs in the Key of Life” in its entirety for his annual “House Full of Toys” charity concert in Los Angeles, I used my industry connections to ask for orchestra seats that had been announced on Ticketmaster as being “sold out”.  Weeks went by, and it wasn’t until the week before the event that I was notified that a pair of tickets would be held at will call for me. I was set, and I could only eagerly count down the days before attending a concert whose music meant so much to me and my life.

When I picked up the tickets at will call, I was surprised to find that with my tickets were VIP passes to the private bar of the venue. I’m not typically a VIP kind of guy, but knowing that the venue was huge (maximum capacity is over 7000), I appreciated not having to wait in line for a beer.

As me and my guest were about to enter the private bar, a security guard halted our progress. I scanned the room and noticed the hallway to the stage door in front of me and …. AN ELEVATOR immediately to my left. My stomach turned and my palms got sweaty. Sound familiar?

As I nervously joked with my guest that, “I bet you Stevie is in the elevator,” the elevator doors opened, seemingly in slow motion … in a way that made it seem like the universe was playing some twisted joke on me … and the man of the evening, Stevie Wonder, stepped out of the elevator with his entourage.

The room was quiet. I was quiet.

My mind racing to retrieve one of the gems I had thought of years before, a woman standing behind me, interrupting my train of thought, yelled, “I love you, Stevie,” and with that my mind yelled out the only thing I could think of…

“I love you too, Stevie” … and with that, he disappeared behind the stage doors.

Epic, EPIC fail. LOL.

My epic fail aside, the concert was everything that I could have hoped for. The list of special guest performers was epic: Greg Phillinganes, Joe, Frederic Yonnet, John Popper, Chick Corea, Eric Benet, Esperanza Spalding, John Mayer, Ledisi, India.Arie, Herbie Hancock … the list goes on.  It was a backing band fit for a king, and Stevie ruled the stage. The Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone Magazine wrote terrific reviews of the show, so I’ll spare you my rambling.

While you click those links to read what they had to say, I’ll be over here in my corner practicing what I’ll say the next time Stevie Wonder is in the room.

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Unfortunately, the Flickr slideshow below is not currently available on mobile devices. If you are on a mobile device, please click THIS LINK to get redirected to the set of photos.

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Shy Girls | The Spare Room and Bootleg Bar | 12/12/13 and 12/13/13

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I was driving around town while listening to KCRW when the silky vocals and opening keyboard chord progression of a smooth jam gently flowed through my car’s speaker circuits. A rhythm guitar stealthily crept in, sweeping into a late 80’s, early 90’s, drum program with a subtle flourish line added to the chords that caught my attention. I know it’s dangerous to fiddle with your phone while driving, but I had to open up Shazam to find out who the artist was. It was Shy Girls and the track was “Voyeurs Gaze”. A throwback to the smooth R&B I grew up with.

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When I got home, I immediately got online to listen to more tracks by Shy Girls. After listening to tracks from their latest EP “Timeshare”, I pulled out my credit card and purchased the LP. I’m selective about the vinyl that I buy, only purchasing records that I could let the pin drop and let play without having to get back up to skip tracks. For me, “Timeshare” was one of those albums.

After finding the artist’s Facebook page, I noticed that they had two scheduled performances the following week in Los Angeles, one at the Spare Room and the other at the Bootleg Bar. Being that the artist was from Portland, Oregon, I decided that this may be my only chance to see them perform for a while, so I planned on attending both shows.

I had a feeling that the shows would have been perfect for a date with a significant other, but c’est la vie en Los Angeles. The music is sensual. Being single, and living in Los Angeles (where convincing people that the music you like is in fact good is like pulling teeth), I’ll admit that I had second thoughts at the idea of going solo. I shrugged it off.

I was right. On both nights, Dan Vidmar and his band brought a mood I haven’t heard at a concert since I saw at Maxwell at the Hollywood Bowl. Like Maxwell, Dan Vidmar made good use of his breathy, falsetto singing engaging the audience to willingly become seduced. If I were at the show with a date, I would have made my move after the first song.

If “Timeshare” is the precursor to a full length album, there’s a lot for me to look forward to, and hopefully, by the time he goes on tour to support that album, I’ll have a date for the show.

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The lighting in the venues was extremely difficult to deal with, but I did what I could. Unfortunately, the Flickr slideshow below is not currently available on mobile devices. If you are on a mobile device, please click THIS LINK to get redirected to the set of photos.

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Snoopzilla and Dam Funk “7 Days Of Funk” Record Release Party | Los Angeles Exchange | 12/10/13

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[Note: The video I took of the event is, unfortunately, unusable, so you’ll have to make do with video clips I found online.]

Snoop’s record release parties are always a good time. There are always big names in the building, and a special performance set by Snoop of a mix of new tracks and classic hits. The record release party for Snoop and Dâm-Funk‘s “7 Days Of Funk“? A mini music festival of funkedified proportions. There were a lot of artists billed for the event, but I wasn’t expecting each to perform their own 30-35 minute set, and all of that music made for one motha-funkin evening of music.

Steve Arrington (who rendered side artist vocals on a couple tracks off of the album) was the lead vocalist of Slave and did a short set of some of his well known hits like “Just A Touch Of Love“.

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Egyptian Lover, one of the original DJ’s who rocked the mic during his live sets in the clubs back in the day, then took the stage armed with his Roland TR-808 and turned the crowd up … way up. Perhaps the highlight of his set was when he got the entire crowd to ravenously chant “8-0-mutha fuckin-8” for over a minute. He was, by the way, one of the original innovators of producing funky, hip-hop beats on the 808 back in the 80s.

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Dam-Funk then took the stage to perform a short set of his solo material, proving to the crowd that he is a capable torch bearer for So-Cal Funk.

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After Dam-Funk’s set is when things got dicey. Apparently, there were a few technical malfunctions that threw a wrench into an otherwise great start. Though, some may focus on criticizing the venue’s apparently poor house crew, I thought that that the technical difficulties were actually a blessing in disguise.

Saving the day, if only for a couple songs, Bootsy Collins, took a working mic and performed a couple of Funkadelic songs over instrumental recordings, engaging the audience and having the audience sing for him. I heard through the grapevine (second hand, mind you) that Bootsy wasn’t scheduled to a perform, but was supposed to be main acts hype-man. Backing track or not, being able to see Bootsy Perform “(Not Just) Knee Deep” was an immense pleasure.

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Flea, of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, got on stage to slap his bass guitar, but it would appear that his performance was a casualty of the poor technical setup as his playing was inaudible. A disappointment, sure, but his being there was a strong co-sign of the funkiness of the album.

Once it seemed that things had been sorted on the technical front, Snoop and Dam Funk performed several tracks off their collaborative effort.

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It was a weeknight, and I had an early morning call, so I had to depart the party early, but I heard that after Snoop and Dam Funk performed a handful of selections off the album, the party kept going with Snoop DJing for those who didn’t have a curfew till way past closing time.

As Snoop and Booty’s have preached, it “Ain’t No Party Like A Snoop Party”. Chuuch.

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