Was last nights show at the Roxy Theatre on Sunset Blvd, in Hollywood exceptionally particular from any of the other hundreds of shows we've had or venues we've rocked? Aside from the first time that I saw the words, "Apoetnomadali" on a large marquee, not particularly. Sadly enough, not only were my intentions to do something provocative, different, and captivating for the audience who came to see Apoetnomadali, the same, but my expectations of the professionalism and integrity of the venue and its staff (from booking,to sound, to lighting) also remained idealistic. Big Mistake, once again. Lets begin by the number of things that were covered in the days leading up to the show:
Will you have 2 Cordless Mics for us? "Yes"
(truth: No!)
Will the stage be big enough for our dancers? "Yes"
(truth: No!)
Will we be able to sound check? And what time? "Yes...7:30"
(truth: No!)
Will the lighting guy pay attention to our lighting script? "Yes..."
(truth: No!)
Will we have some flexibility in the time of our performance? "Yes..."
(truth: No!)
Will we have permission to film? "Yes..."
(truth: the ignorant security is trying to tell my dude he can't film)
I send these warnings as a preview for other bands, managers, agents who are embarking on this journey in the music industry. Do not assume that others have the same passion, care, or intensity in presenting your vision to the world as you do. It is your responsibility, or your managers, to secure every detail of your show or performance and leave nothing to what often may be incompetent sound guys, lighting guys, promoters, agents, who give 2 shits about what your doing. No matter how good your music is, they think it sucks, their band is better, they just wanna get out of their, their probably underpaid, and they deal with musicians and their egos all night for a living. Do I blame their jaded outlook? No. Do I take it personal when I make every attempt to break their stereotypical notion of how an artist, especially one in the hip hop game might treat them? No. Do I feel like we got robbed when my fans come out to see the best act go on stage at the earliest time, with the shortest set, weakest sound.
Please do not mistake this for an "Our show was bad because of this, this, this, and this." No, I'm from the old school and share the mentality that it is always on the artist or entertainer to triumph in any condition, with any crowd and reach the people, not only on a mental level, but on an emotional and empathetic level. And while I have a laundry list of ways our show could improve (as I compose after every show) from timing, to decisions, to successful or failed attempts at something new, this is more about the general frustration from failed expectations and the ultimate realization that whether its a shithole bar in O.C. or Hollywood, it's all on you baby. Nobody else. Live and learn.
As minutes winded down till showtime, our two major contacts for The Roxy, were nowhere to be found, and I received requests to see them with indignance and a steep neglect of, "You can address whatever you need to with me".
The first sound man, "Bangkok J" as they called him openly defies that the hollowness of the stage will have any impact on my DJ's records skipping. As I proceed to bounce and watch the record do just that, "skip", he proceeds to tell me that, "of the thousands of shows we've had here, we've never had a problem, and that yeah if you stomp like that right next to it, it would skip, but aside from that, no problem." In my stupidity and contradiction to the empirical scientific method I for lack of any other solution, take his word for it, and assume he's a professional and he knows what he's talking about....fastforward....15 seconds into the show, in mid verse, record skips,....fastforward.....60 seconds into the show, record skips....fastforward......2 minutes into the show....yup, you got it, record skips...
During our set the sound kept cutting in and out the whole time. The monitors kept changing levels, one mic is too loud, the other is too low. They opened the curtains at the beginning of our set while our DJ was trying to sort out the situation with our camera man and clear permission for him to film, (although it had previously been cleared, our keyboard had no monitors, and we were told although no third mic was provided us, we still lost time on our already short set.
Did the crowd notice any of these things? Some yes, some no. That's not the point. The frustration no longer comes from my sound as a performer not being ideal, or the stage being too small for, or ego driven other bands insecure with what they bring setting up first and limiting any ones ability to do anything, or even being put on first and "opening" for another act. I can deal with all those things, because the confidence in skill, music, and showmanship is enough to turn any less than ideal situation into a beautiful landscape of new converts. The frustration comes from people "not giving a fuck" and my artists, performers, and fans suffering. They are like my family whom look to me as the protector and I feel like I let them down when these things (which should be the least of my worries as an artist) become active nightmares.
Magically our contacts reappear when the show is over and every sour faced individual is alit with kindness as they all of a sudden are the sweet as molasses because it's time to pay the Roxy for all the fans who came and purchased presale tickets. I tried to be open and direct with the staff and my contacts and they assured that because of our repoire and the type of show we put on, they would like to have me open for some "big acts" and have my own night there, as they would like to make it up...
Aside from all that nonsense, the intro to the show was absolutely beautiful, mixing classical piano, with spoken word poetry and lyrical dancing. We repped for our latino people on a nice musical breakdown of let's get it crackin. And my new single OCD, got mad love from Los Angeles, and we could here the phenomena of a song being sung by the crowd over my rippin (nice feelin...). There were some other nice highlighted moments in the show that you'll just have to come and see, cause I can't explain the magic.
I'd like to thank my performers, Jus-B, Tia, DJ lil Fader, and Chris Beach for their performance and professionalism.I'd also like to thank Maggie Dormier for her beautiful dancing and choreography and my dancers for the evening Shawn Vitale Brittany Willut, and Liane Takano; all of whom learned a routine in very little time and performed on a less than appropriate sized stage for what we were tryin to bring. And our OCD model for the last couple shows Kira Torres.
Once again thanks to the undying support of my fans who see my music and the movement as something even bigger than myself, you are beautiful and your dedication moves me.
Did we still kill the show? "Yes..."
(truth: Yes!)
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