So it was another fantastic show — albeit another poorly attended one — at SCOUT wednesday night.
We’re beginning to think of these more as live recording sessions:)
It would be nice to have a larger than 75 person audience there, because I think it helps the performers out, but this isn’t a “live” album, where we need to hear the crowd and such.
We’ve been very pleased with the music that’s been coming out of these. We’re not at all sure yet how all the tracks are even going to be used. (There are more than 25 hours of shows recorded already.)
Anyway, this last show rocked with a really neat group of people. I’m getting the pictures and video together now, and I will get at least some of it up today, along with some more general information about this great family of artists that Variable Unit had the pleasure of collaborating with Wednesday night.
It was really neat having like 8 different mcs and singers each perform leads and switch to back ups for each others performances all night. They were all obviously good friends that had known each other forever. Gennessee hooked me up by arranging for all of them to come by for SCOUT. I was interviewing one of the other performers out front when they each descended and assembled promptly at 9:30 in front of the Red Devil Lounge.
They all looked happy and ready for action. (They already had the right vibe, and they hadn’t even entered the club yet.)
Here are the performers of which I speak: Gennessee, Cait Le Dee, Genevieve, L*Roneous, Dogwood Speaks, Bazooka Joe Gotti, Prozack Turner and Marc Stretch…hope I’m not leaving anyone out.
There were other great performers that night, such as JBo and his friend Chris Lee (who was just in from Norway visiting this week), Kero One, and Jesse Seaver the Beatboxer. Plus Each the Beatboxer guest hosted.
Anyway, it was a good time.
Hey – if the $7 entry fee is what’s stopping you from coming by, tell the door man you’re there as my guest. And don’t be afraid to bring friends. The more the merrier. (Do buy drinks if you can 🙂
Okay…back in a minute…I’m trying to get as much up as I can today…
Kero One At Tonight’s SCOUT
Kero One is another artist performing at
tonight’s SCOUT, and he’s definitely a star on the rise.
You can hear tracks
here.
From the California bay area, Kero One is an artist who had been emceeing, producing beats, writing graff, deejaying/scratching and collecting records since the early 90’s [more]. In the summer of 2003, Kero One released his first 12″ record entitled
Cait Le Dee At SCOUT This Week — Hear Her In A New Tide Commercial
We have a really interesting group of performers at tomorrow night’s SCOUT — all of which are up and comers who are becoming more recently established. (I have Gennessee, another one of tomorrow night’s peformers, to thank for it, too 🙂
Take Cait La Dee, who currently has one of her tracks being used in a Tide w/Downy commercial. She has a nice voice, and, I’m told, also has some flow.
Honestly, I’m also just glad to have another female MC at the show.
She will be only the second female mc we’ve at in our entire SCOUT series! (The other being Shania D, who played on
May 4.)
Where are you ladies? Give me a holler. There are only two shows left after this one! (Newcomers: this is a chance to debut with the best band in the world watching your back.)
anyway…I’m just trying to give you guys an idea of some of the cool performers we have coming by tomorrow night. It should be a really great show.
I’m probably gonna crash now, but I’ll be up in the AM with more about tomorrow night’s performers.
Prozack Turner Performing At Tomorrow Night’s SCOUT
Here’s an interesting article about one of tomorrow night’s headliners:
Prozack Turner’s Sound Click page.
There are some samples too from his record there.
According to this article, Foreign Legion has parted ways. I didn’t know that — I know both Prozack Turner and Marc Stretch are performing at
tomorrow night’s SCOUT!
Taxation Without Representation: When DreamWorks’ music division was cannibalized, Prozack Turner had a record but no label. So he released it himself…
THE DOMINANT image on the cover of Prozack Turner’s solo debut, Death, Taxes & Prozack, is a baseball cap emblazoned with a San Jose logo. Flip the CD over and scan the production credits: Pete Rock, Alchemist, Supa Dave West, Organized Noize, Jake One, Madlib, DJ Design, Jay Dilla. In the corner, a tiny, out-of-focus insignia that resembles the DreamWorks logo teases the eye.
From the packaging, one can infer that Prozack Turner is a San Jose emcee who recorded an album with DreamWorks and hooked up with hotshot producers. That’s half the story. The reality? Zack “Prozack” Turner is from San Jose. He was in the local hip-hop group Foreign Legion (with DJ Design and Marc Stretch) that released the excellent Kidnapper Van and Play Tight full-lengths. Prozack was courted by Virgin and Grand Royal but signed to DreamWorks for a four-record deal.
In 2003, he assembled his dream production unit and recorded Death, Taxes & Prozack, with a $450,000 budget. In October of 2003, UMG bought out DreamWorks’ music division. Turner’s record, due to drop five months ago, was shelved. He got out of his contract, bootlegged Death, Taxes & Prozack and is selling it independently. If you look closer at the DreamWorks logo on the CD, it’s jacked up to say, “Out of Work.”
“It’s totally illegal the way I’m putting it out,” Turner admits. “They’re like, ‘We own this album.’ But I created this! It came out of my brain. Technically, on paper, they own the rights, but I held up my end of the bargain. I recorded the record thinking they were going to put it out.”
My First Tsunami Warning – Two Quakes Tonight Along The Coast Of California
I’m currently experiencing my first
Tsunami Warning.
The first earthquake, measuring a 7.4 on the Richter scale, struck at 6:50 p.m. San Francisco time, centering 90 miles northwest of Eureka, California. A second earthquake measuring a 5.1 struck at 7:57 p.m. 92 miles northeast of San Francisco…
A tsunami warning was issued for the western coasts of the U.S. and parts of Mexico and Canada after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of California, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in an e-mail alert. A second earthquake struck 76 miles west-northwest of Sacramento, the state’s capital.
A tsunami warning was in effect for the coastal areas of the California-Mexico border to the northern tip of Vancouver, British Columbia, the West Coast Tsunami Warning Center said. A warning indicates that coastal locations in the warned area should be prepared for flooding, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
oh wait…it just got cancelled.
Well…that was exciting!
A tsunami warning initially issued along the Pacific coast has since been cancelled.
The 7.0-magnitude quake struck at about 7:50 p.m. southwest of the coastal community of Crescent City and 300 miles northwest of San Francisco, according to the U.S. Geological Survey Web site.
Witnesses felt buildings shaking along the California coast but there were no immediate reports of damage.
A tsunami warning was briefly in effect from the California-Mexico border all the way north to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, but was called off about an hour after the quake hit.
KCBS radio reported that residents were being evacuated from low-lying areas of Crescent City, which was struck by a tsunami after an earthquake four decades ago.
Stuart Weinstein, a geologist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, said that if a tsunami were generated, it would not be as strong as the Dec. 26 killer wave in the Indian Ocean.
“We’re not expecting anything huge from an event this size,” added Charles McCreery, the center’s director.
Check Out Felonius, Stateless, and Bright River In Hamburg, Germany
I know I have a lot of readers in Germany, so I wanted to let you guys know about this rare chance to get a slice of the city by the bay.
As I might have mentioned earlier, Felonius is going to play SCOUT again on the last show June 29th. (Here’s video and an mp3 of a track from its May 11 appearance, to give you a taste of these guys.)
In the meantime, Felonius is in Hamburg, Germany, this week, playing a show and performing “Stateless,” a hip hop play starring Felonius’ Dan Klein. Battle flutist Tim Barsky is with them. His Bright River hip hop play is also performing in Hamburg this week. (Soulati and Infinite from Felonius are also in Bright River.)
I haven’t seen “Stateless” yet, but I’ve seen Felonius and Bright River in action, and I’m sure it’s great.
Any of these shows will give you a chance to hear some of the best San Francisco Bay Area beatboxing, mc-ing, and hip hop theatr-ing going on right now.
Sidenote: Bright River is simply a great play, by any theatre-lover’s standards. (Like a “go to Jekyll and Hyde with grandma one night, go to Bright River with grandma the next night” great play. Like, “there’s no way this thing isn’t making it to Broadway” kind of great.)
Here are the details:
Felonius is playing Friday June 10th at the Fabrik
show starts early at 7pm
Stateless (w/Dan Klein) is playing Saturday June 11th at 8pm
and Sunday June 12th at 10pm at the
Monsun Theater (www.monsuntheater.de)
Bright River (Tim Barsky and Carlos and Tommy) plays Saturday June 11th at 10pm at the same place (The Monsun Theater.
Neat Art Installation Opening In San Francisco This Friday Night – June 10
I was emailed an invite to this today. I can’t make it, but it looked really neat, so I thought I’d let you know about it.
***
Scion Installation art tour this Friday, 6/10/05 Scion presents…
Installation Art Tour
Featuring 35 works by:
David Choe, Crash, Daze, Dr. Revolt, Mear, Fuse Green, Andy Howell, Freddi C, Blaine Fontana, Chase, Stay High 149, Kofie, Saber, Sever, Eklips, Justin Hampton, Swank, Tim McCormick and many more!
Opening reception
Friday, June 10, 2005 6pm-10pm
Live art by Sam Flores
DJ sets by Sake 1 and Hakobo
Artists in attendance: Chase, Fuse Green, Stay High 149 and more
On Six Gallery
60 6th St.
San Francisco, CA
94103
Join The Organic Rebellion!
This thing is funny as hell, but its message is extremely important:
non-organic food can be bad for your health.
It’s sad to me that, instead of regulating our “regular” food so it’s safe (doesn’t contain pesticides, hormones, or other harmful ingredients), we’ve sort of given up on our regular food and decided to try to start up a brand of “healthy” food that won’t hurt us.
STORE WARS
Come To SCOUT Tonight – Nice Review Of Mayhemystics OutBreaks In San Francisco Bay Guardian
Variable Unit just got a great review in the San Francisco Bay Guardian for Mayhemystics OutBreaks.
See Variable Unit for yourself at tonight’s show!
Featured MCs include: Wonway, Conceit & Top.r (Strangeface)(Hardly Celebs), Wordsmith, Boac (Earthlings), Rush, M.C. Mars, the Supah Intergalatic Street Poet, Amuzition, Hall of Fame
(Eboo, Exec D, Da Kid St. Nick, M.O.B.) and Ryan Greene.
See you there!
Interview with Variable Unit’s Jacob Elijah Aginsky
Here’s an interview from the SCOUT show on May 11:
Variable Unit keyboardist Jacob Elijah Aginsky.
Here’s a video clip and mp3.
