Well I get to the Palace, meet Elson outside, Mariko and her sister Sumiko
inside and the first act "Pocket Lent" goes on for 4 songs. Elson knows
these guys from Jazzid Up and they're okay, nice groove, good sax player,
nothing special though.
Next up is the Long Beach Dub Allstars, who are the former members of
Sublime and a few others. I was a little wary about this "dub" band but
whatever, I've got an open mind, right ;)
NO! GOD! These guys were so HORRENDOUS it was first embarrasing, then
aggravating, then finally disappointing. I should've been warned by the
heavy "OC" (Orange County) crowd that was there to see the "LBDA" and not
Greyboy. They go on, do a few songs that are nothing close to dub but more
like bad punk with a singer with an accent. Then the lead singer tells us
he's going to invite some friends on. First its the "Mexikanz" who are two
rappers who were so talentless it was astounding that anyone ever listens
to them. I mean "Put your hands in the air!" and shit like "Say ho!" is
just so out.... It gets worse though, because next up is the Jamericans,
who are two "Jamaican" rappers (one with a decent singing voice) but who
were worse than the "Mexikanz." Then finally there was this singer "HR" a
guy in dreds who came on stage for four songs and was so horrendous, I was
crying in my drink by this time, sorry for myself for paying $17 to hear
this bullshit. By this time, the "dub" band was down to the drummer (who
couldnt keep rhythm), bassist (who was nothing special) and guitarist (who
was really bad...REALLY BAD) who were essentially playing bad punk/ska and
letting this dredded guy just croon awfully on stage. I'll add that they
had their whole entourage of "OC" fans on stage in the wings (like 40
people) which made for a real professional feel. This music was so
infantile and dated, I was just dying.
Finally, at 11:30, they left. Phew!
I stayed 30 more minutes, heard 4 amazing songs by Greyboy Allstars and
went home happy to have heard them, but wondering which crackhead placed
these two bands on the same bill.
Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. I cant even begin to describe
how talentless the Long Beach Dub Allstars were. It was literally amazing
to find out that these guys had the following they did. Doesn't anyone
have any taste in Long Beach or what?
Embittered...
Gen Kanai <gkanai@earthlink.net>
(in honor of ShannonM's recent post, I bring back this choice quote...)
Sex is something you do while your motorcycle parts are on order.
--Kimberly Bouwens