4th avenue & wilshire blvd.

i was surfing 4th avenue jones' website thursday when i found they would be playing a show the next night at the temple bar in santa monica on wilshire blvd. they're supporting their "debut" album stereo: the evolution of hiprocksoul releasing march 29th. it's not really a debut since they've had several indie releases and one shelved album through a failed deal with interscope records. they're signed to gotee/emi now and after years on the grind, this will be the first album of theirs to actually hit stores nationwide. i heard several tracks off of the album already and they're all on fire. so i decided, that i would not miss the opportunity to see them live for $10, up close, and only 30 minutes from my house.

i wanted to make a date of it, but had no eligible, available, likely-to-say-yes prospects. a friend suggested i take a guy with me instead. those of my boys i could reach were either too far away to make it or tied up workin' or studying. i ended up going by myself anyway, which was fine. if i had brought anyone at all it still would have been too packed to sit down and too loud to hold a conversation.

i don't go clubbing. it's not my thing. i'm completely a homebody and for all intents and purposes, i'm a church boy, so i just straight don't fit in the scene. i kinda have my own more daylight oriented social circles to run in anyway, so it always seems like a brand new and novel experience whenever i walk into the nocturnal atmosphere of a place like the temple bar. apparently, its patrons were having a good time swaying back and forth with drinks in hand. a throwback funk band called greasy beats was on stage finishing their set. the players were all 30-something average-joe type white guys. no slight to the "average white band". they were actually funky.

the ambience seemed simultaneously active and inert. there was a lot of movement going on with streams of waitresses trickling throughout the crowd and what not. each one of them held high a tray with a lit candle atop while taking drink orders. yet, nothing felt alive or engaging about the place. it was alright though. i was there to see them jones, and that's all.

i did enjoy a quicksilver set of favorites mostly from the 80's and 90's that the DJ spun to amp up the crowd before 4th ave came out. rarely lingering on a song for longer than a verse and a chorus, he blasted in and out of ODB "got your money", musiq "just friends (sunny)", busta rhymes "put your hands where my eyes could see", prince "erotic city", chaka khan "i feel for you", lisa lisa & cult jam "i wonder if i take you home", michael jackson "p.y.t.", tone loc's "wild thing", young m.c. "bust a move", and an extended medley of new edition-related joints like "if it isn't love", "don't be cruel", and "poison". i didn't really come dressed to dance, which is just as well. it would just look wrong with me gettin' my groove on in a sweaty dark club and then bein' up front on sunday leadin' praise and worship. still, i did have to rapscreamsing along with ODB and do the double claps on "got your money".

the band came out next and twerked their one hour set well. i had my locks pulled back when they opened with "fabulous dramatics", but i had to take 'em right on out when they went into my favorite song "unhappy birthday". i was jumpin' around too much for them to keep together anyway. they flew through "take me away", "overloaded", "sorry", and "who's watching me" after that. to close, they played two times through their two-minute lead single "stereo" and then let the band jam and solo for a minute and left out on a parody of nirvana's "smells like teen spirit". at this point, i was glad i didn't bring anybody, because i had to act a straight fool. headbangin' with a suit on like i ain't had no sense. they were filming for somethin', so if you see me wildin' out so much that you're not sure it's me. yeah. it is. which is ok. it's different from the janet jackson concert, because now, i would act up just as much for Jesus. have done it before, would most gladly do it again.

"i'm precise wit mine and diced a few fools... / from the life where if you ain't nice, we boo you / boo hoo / go 'head cry if you wanna / what you got's not hot / they rock mine every corner / homey cain't see me / if he try, he a goner / plus he must me smokin' that thai marijuana / it's over now" - 4th avenue jones, "it's over now"

that was a great though. the members of their band are most impressive as musicians and performers. particularly watching their sweet-faced violinist named gailybird battle with their raw as rusty nails guitarist timmy "shakes" stewart. afterwards, i got to meet tena jones. i could have had a photo op from it, but somehow the batteries had fallen out of my digital camera. so i'll probably go see them again next weekend when they have their album release party in hollywood. perhaps we'll call this my clubbin' phase, 'cause but for the musical attraction, you ain't gettin' me that far out the house on the regular.