department of prognostication: Street Scene @ the Del Mar Fairgrounds?

Sometimes my blog predicts the future... and here is something i've been seeing in the last week coming through the google searches- "Street Scene @ the Del Mar Fairgrounds". That's all I know- people are searching that phrase. So... consider it a rumor.

band you should be able to reference: orange juice

why? it's probably the favorite band of BOTH Fifty on Their Heels & the Prayers, so... they're from Scotland late 70s, front man Edwyn Collins had a fluke hit in the 90's ("Never Met a girl like you before...") Part of the Post Card Records crew- other notable band from that era is Television Personalities. Etc. You should know- and if you DON'T KNOW, now you know...

Orange Juice- Moscow (Mp3)(YSI)

Orange Juice- Blue Boy(mp3)(YSI)

show review: the clipse, them jeans, mc flow @ belly up tavern in solana beach

can we please stop the hand wringing about the state of hip hop? please. especially you white, college educated types bemoaning the sorry state of rap lyrics. shuuutttttttt upppppppp! there is nothing NOTHING worse then "conscious" hip hop. snooze. conscious hip hop, like most of indie rock, bores me to death. it's popular music- not high art.

here's the problem with, um... every single hip hop/rap show i've ever seen:
fifty guys on stage, all of them with microphones, drowning out the music and making the lyrics unintelligible because all the mcs are shouting at the same time.

one of the reasons i actually enjoy seeing mc flow is because she eschews that approach- you can hear the lyrics, you can hear the music, it's actually a good live performance.

i was a little bit nervous for her performance last night- not sure how she was going to go over with the clipse crowd. of course- it was the clipse at the belly up tavern in solana beach, so no need to worry. there were a fair amount of flow backers in the crowd when she took the stage, and as i circulated through the crowd i heard nary a heckle. kudos to belly up for putting flow on the bill- and thanks to flow for hooking me up with the free ticket.

next up was them jeans- or at least, he was on the bill, but he wasn't there last night. instead we got five rappers from chicago. what's up with the inaccurate posters? i guess them jeans was @ sxsw. then there were two more rappers from nyc- always a good idea to tell the crowd who you are, fellas...

then it was time for the clipse. the first three songs were pretty electric- just the two guys trading verses- good stuff. but then, wouldn't you know it- they brought out the whole re-up gang- four mcs in all, plus one dude who did nothing but stand next to the "dj"(by "dj" i mean guy who was pressing "play" on the cd player and pushing the button that made the bomb explosion sound after each song (original!) hey flow - you need another body on stage? call me!

at that point is was just like every other lame rap concert i've ever been to, so i left. props to the belly up for booking the show in the first place- the crowd was well mannered and well behaved. i read lots of bullshit about venues around town being unwilling to book hip hop shows because it brings in the "wrong" (read "black") element and all I have to say about that issue is fuck you you racist assholes. you obviously don't have a problem booking filthy punk bands whose fans are at least as bad as the hip hop crowd, but somehow that's ok because the punk fans are white.

in 2007 it should be totally fucking obvious that white people listen to rap music as much as black people, and that wealthy yuppies are just as likely to be at a rap concert then poor black kids- probably more so, since a ticket is likely to be $20+ at a venue like fourth and b or house of blues(the house of blues isn't afraid to book rap shows- which is the one good thing about that godforsaken hellhole of a venue)

i picked up the mix tape (cd) they had for sale- $5! i love the psuedo-bootleg mix tape world- i must get myself to fam mart and drop some ducats on some local versions...

the belly up was not packed, but those who were there were enthusiastic. over all, glad i went, but the clipse didn't wow me. flow made it worth the drive - go flow!