June 10, 2002
Showbox Theatre
Seattle, Washington
Dear Mr. Shadow,
You are a beautiful man. I have to say it once and
for all, you are a beautiful man. If you remember Mr.
Shadow, I wrote you a letter three years ago when you
played in Seattle during your Goodwill Tour. It was
the first time I saw you live, and it was great to
hear all of this great music.
Three years later, and I am under your spell again.
It's kind of like a good smelling woman, you take a
whiff and your eyes get watery and you're like "oh
shit!" I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
We head to the Showbox, and what did we see? A line
around the block. At the Showbox! Each time I've
been there, there has NEVER been a line. When I got
in line, there were two women from Japan who flew into
Seattle specifically for the concert. For you, Mr.
Shadow. This was an all-ages show, which leads to
wonder: is this your decision to allow more people to
see you play music, or MCA's way to make sure their
money is well spent? Today a packed Showbox, tomorrow
Total Request Live. Hi Carson, you're a dick.
Mr. Shadow, I wasn't sure what kind of crowd would be
at the concert, especially an all-ages one. When I
got in, DJ P was on the one and two's doing his
"hip-hop mixed in with 80's pop" thing. When he did
the drum & bass treatment to The Beatles' "Help!", I
seriously wanted to smack the shit out of him.
Immediately after he finished his set, Anti-Pop
Consortium came on. They said this was a show where
we would feel like we were "back at the lab". Fuck
The Neptunes, these guys were the true "NERD"s. One
guy looked like Busy Bee, the other guy looked like
someone from "Band Of The Hand", and then there was a
Fatlip-looking guy with a leather jacket. I didn't
know whether to cringe, laugh my ass off, or what,
because what Anti-Pop Consortium were doing last night
is the EXACT type of music I was doing 7-8 years ago.
It felt like I was in my living room saying stupid
shit to stupid beats. It was annoying and great at
the same time, and the crowd ate it up.
And then, you came on stage, Mr. Shadow. I had seen
some photos from the current tour at solesides.com, so
I was somewhat prepared for what was to come. Someone
recorded your recent show in New York, and when I saw
the setlist, I could not believe it. Will the
elements of that setlist be played out in Seattle? I
hoped so.
I couldn't believe it, but B+ was there. You
introduced him as the person who is creating the stage
setup and imagery behind you.
You then played the short film by B+, "Keepintime". I
had been wanting to see this for awhile, and it gave
me chicken skin. Anyone who collects records and
loves the drums will eat this film up, I don't think
the importance of the film was appreciated (or known)
by the crowd. Too bad James Black is dead, he would
have been a nice addition to the film. I too always
assumed Hal Blaine was the most recorded drummer, but
as Earl Palmer himself said "I didn't know that I was
the one". Think about it, do understand it.
And then you started your thing. I loved the episode
of M*A*S*H where Radar is asked why he is crying so
much. He pulls out a Recordio, and plays his audio
"letter from home". Since the Korean War was in the
early 1950's, and Recordios were popular around that
time... I tell you Mr. Shadow, you sure know your
shit.
As soon as I heard the opening chords to "Fixed
Income", I knew the show was about to begin. All of a
sudden, the three screens behind you started showing
images set to the music. It was a planet, that slowly
came down to an island, which went down to a
neighborhood, which went down to a subdivision, which
went into a yard, which showed a man digging through a
crate as his dog watched, and his two-turntable setup.
It was great. But you went further, and when I saw
the images that followed, I almost cried. Believe it
or not Mr. Shadow, I had the EXACT images in my mind
for years, and it felt like when I first heard
ENDTRODUCING, where I finally heard out loud the music
I always heard in my head.
Let me explain. The images in the back of you went
down to the turntables, then to the record. Then to
the grooves. Then to the stylus tip. But it didn't
stop there. It went INTO THE GROOVE. Mr. Shadow,
this touched my heart in a way I cannot explain to
anyone other than vinyl junkie like yourself. It's
getting lost in the music, reading those grooves until
you get pink eye, smelling the cover for that old
smell, and to see it happen in front of my eyes was
too much.
All the imagery throughout the show was appropriate,
from the buzzcuts of flesh in "Walkie Talkie" to the
images of flowers and plants in "Blood On The
Motorway". I interpreted this as things we often take
for granted in this lifetime, and we realize their
importance when we can't enjoy them. Thus... the
blood on the motorway.
Mr. Shadow, when you played "In/Flux", I thought of
all the people I've known from the mailing list that
bares its name. It felt like "our song", and while
I'm not a member of In/Flux, I hope when people who
are/were on the list, they will feel what I felt.
"Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain", mixed in with
"Monosylabik", was a personal favorite, since B+
combined images of Filipino nuns (!) playing
basketball mixed in with the Monosylabik images of old
school pictures. WHAT--YOU--GOIN'--DO--NOW?!? It was
eerie, because the old photos of the students could
very well be us, looking back at our old photos in a
few years. WHAT--YOU--GOIN'--DO--NOW?!?
The mix was nice. What did you have, three
turntables, three Pioneer CD turntables, and a video
mixer? Mr. Shadow, nice setup.
What I also liked was the mixing of various UNKLE
elements, especially "Bloodstain". Good touch.
Not surprisingly, the songs that got the most applause
was the music from ENDTRODUCING. It gives me chicken
skin just thinking about it, Mr. Shadow, when the
video for "Midnight In A Perfect World" played, and
the audience went nuts. The crowd went more bezerk
during the infamous shot where you walk into the store
and the image of the front cover pops up. That, as we
say in the hip-hop world, is "much love". But you
already know that.
Every element of your show was too much. Basically, I
feel that there was a time when people felt you were
no more than an outsider, perhaps as the guy in the
background, the white kid creating funky beats, that
"trip-hop" kid. But what I saw last night, you are
setting the standard for what this music should be,
and should have been all along. I remember three
years ago when I first saw you, all I saw behind you
was your name and some tie-dye looking psychedelic
lights. Lame. The films in the back remind me of how
Pink Floyd utilizes films for their concerts, and some
of the cut-up images are very Art Of Noise.
For your encore, I saw what you had ready on stage
right. I hoped he showed up. I then saw a scruffy
looking young man with a cigarette. I was like "yes,
there he is, that's that motherfucking Malcom Cato!".
So I yelled my head off, "MALCOM! MALCOM!" I knew
what was about to happen, and people were around
looking at me like "who the hell is Malcom?" You then
said "I would like to introduce a good friend of mine,
Malcom Cato". You talked about how you two had done
some demos last year, possible for inclusion on the
new album (which many fans had heard about) but they
never made it past the demo stage. The music was more
rock oriented, or at least the samples you used were
more rock. But Malcom finally took time to put his
cigarette down to play. I could not believe this
fucker. I liked how he played with his back to the
crowd, as if he was Greg Errico or something. Once he
hit the snare drum, I was in awe. I kept on saying to
myself "oh shit, I am not witnessing this. I cannot
be witnessing this." This is the kind of shit I only
read about in fricken "Big Daddy", the kind of stuff
us Americans are never lucky enough to see in the
flesh (unless we use our parents college money to go
country hopping). Malcom Cato. Thank you Mr. Shadow
for bringing him to the states.
The show closed with Rod Sterling saying "even when
it's midnight... it's high noon", and I knew it would
be the end of your two hours at the Showbox. You let
the record play, and we saw the crowd on the screens
in the back, like it was some big rock show. You
touched those in the crowd who see you as their
savior, not as a DJ or hip-hop savior, but they want
good music. You give them good music, period.
And it was over. Two hours went way too fast, and I
could not speak. Many of the ideas I've always had
for my music, I saw them last night, and it makes me
want to work harder. It made me sick, but at the same
time it felt good knowing someone in this world has
the balls to pull it off.
Shadow, I had intentions of meeting you, once again,
to say thanks for 11 years of great music. I've been
following you for that long, and I think all I can do
is say thanks, for your experiments and contributions
to music has been a huge influence on me. I also had
intentions on meeting your friend, Mr. Supreme, but I
didn't see him either. One day, Mr. Shadow, we're
going to have to team up on some shit. Or you have to
show me your storage facilities. We'll have to track
down Teddy Tanaka's band or something.
Sincerely,
John Book
record dork
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