jammin'

Last night, to celebrate my friend's birthday, some girls and I surprised her with tickets to a concert featuring The Roots at the Gibson Amphitheatre. Originally, we told her that we were taking her to the night zoo, a lame but sufficiently plausible idea that threw her off our scent, especially given how gullible she is. To get to the amphitheatre, we had to walk through University Citywalk, a tacky combination of Las Vegas and Times Square. The whole time, she kept asking me where the zoo was, and I just told her to keep walking until we hit the end of the citywalk. My friend is so gullible that when we were steps away from the entrance, she thought to herself, "Man, there sure are a lot of black people at the zoo tonight." Thoughts like these are why we love her.

The concert itself was fantastic, which isn't surprising because I love live music. In the hierarchy of things enjoyed, I place concerts above five-star restaurants, fancy clothes, massages, and maybe boat rides. What I love most is the sense of being in a crowd of fans who appreciate the music. If the concert is big and it's really good (e.g., Kanye West at Lollapalooza), I feel like the audience is one giant entity, which makes me feel oddly free. If the concert is small and it's really good (e.g., Alexi Murdoch at Schubas), I feel like it's just me and the artist. Either way, a good concert allows me to let loose in a way that I can't really replicate anywhere else.

Akon opened the show with about twenty minutes worth of songs. Apparently, he usually does longer sets, but he had to get his beauty rest for the Grammys tonight. Whenever I hear Akon's songs on the radio, I like hearing his voice but I always lament on how stupid his lyrics are ("smack that?" really?). Luckily, he sang songs from his first album, which came out in several years ago before he went to jail, and those songs are actually much better (i.e., less commercial).

After a short break, the Roots came out, and they really rocked the house. They mostly did songs from their newest albums, but they also did a great cover of a song by Bob Dylan named "Masters of War." I had never heard this song before, so it was really powerful to watch them perform each stanza. It's much better to hear these words rather than read them, but I'll post the lyrics anyway:

Come you masters of war You that build all the guns You that build the death planes You that build the big bombs You that hide behind walls You that hide behind desks I just want you to know I can see through your masks You that never done nothin' But build to destroy You play with my world Like it's your little toy You put a gun in my hand And you hide from my eyes And you turn and run farther When the fast bullets fly Like Judas of old You lie and deceive A world war can be won You want me to believe But I see through your eyes And I see through your brain Like I see through the water That runs down my drain You fasten the triggers For the others to fire Then you set back and watch When the death count gets higher You hide in your mansion As young people's blood Flows out of their bodies And is buried in the mud You've thrown the worst fear That can ever be hurled Fear to bring children Into the world For threatening my baby Unborn and unnamed You ain't worth the blood That runs in your veins How much do I know To talk out of turn You might say that I'm young You might say I'm unlearned But there's one thing I know Though I'm younger than you Even Jesus would never Forgive what you do Let me ask you one question Is your money that good Will it buy you forgiveness Do you think that it could I think you will find When your death takes its toll All the money you made Will never buy back your soul And I hope that you die And your death'll come soon I will follow your casket In the pale afternoon And I'll watch while you're lowered Down to your deathbed And I'll stand o'er your grave 'Til I'm sure that you're dead

That song was written over forty years ago.

Perhaps to lighten the mood, the Roots then went into a long string of random songs that had the house on its feet. It was like being a club when the DJ plays an especially great set, except that the band was performing it right then and there. The only songs I can distinctly remember is Justin Timberlake's "Sexyback" and that "world tour" song that all good clubs play but whose name I can't remember. Halfway through the seven or eight song set, they started playing one of Talib Kweli's songs, and two seconds in, who comes running onto the stage but Talib Kweli himself! The whole crowd erupted, and I thought my friend was going to hurl me across the amphitheatre because she was so excited. Apparently, cameos like this are common in LA shows because everyone lives around here.

As exciting as that was, I think the best cameo came at the end of the night. My friends and I sat toward the back of the amphitheatre, so I couldn't quite make out faces or anything. The concert was reaching its end, so the band formed two parallel lines and did the old Soul Train walkouts. Everyone's doing their dancing when all of a sudden, I notice a tall, skinny black guy with distinctive dancing moves sporting jeans and brown hoodie. I turned to my friend and said, "Hey, is that Dave Chappelle?" and sure enough, the Roots announced Dave Chappelle! Seeing him was the best way to end the night, even if he didn't tell a joke or two. To celebrate Valentine's Day, my friends and I are going to see Common, so hopefully we'll see the same, if not more, familar faces then too.

In other music-related news, I found a website that has a link to Ray Lamontagne's cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." I first heard the original version on KCRW around March 2006. Back then, it was such a cool song because it had this old yet funky element that I had never heard on the radio before. But within two short months, it went from KCRW to KROQ to Star to KIIS (an indie-to-pop progression that Angelenos will understand), and I couldn't really listen to it anymore. But then KCRW started playing Ray Lamontagne's cover probably about six months ago, and I've been looking for a way to buy it ever since. It's acoustic, meaning of course that it's completely different from the original. Not better, just different. Unfortunately, it's not really being sold anywhere, but luckily, I found a blog that plays the song. Listen and enjoy.