The TakeOver Tour Update:
Wow...its been full throttle since we hit the road, and we're building
steam as we go. Starting out in UC Riverside, we moved up thru Santa Barbara,
UC Santa Cruz, Sacramento, and Humboldt. Next, we hit Eugene, bounced to
Seattle, then did it big in Portland. All the shows have been well attended and
on the verge of selling out. Its been hella fun!
The new show is killin' em every night. If you don't know, the new
configuration is with a live band! We've got Jetman on the drums (the heartbeat
of the funk), soon to be legend Kev Choice on the Keys (who's rockin a dope solo
set every night), Codany Holiday murking the melodies (soul to the bone),
AmpLive on the conductor tip (flippin a masterful mpc solo), and Zumbi (me, its
time to get down)! The live set up is giving us even more room to stretch and
bring the vibes to another level. Its something we've been working toward for
years, but this is the first time we've been able to bring it on the road. On
several occasions ol skool fans have commented on how this is the best show
they've every seen from us, or that they've ever seen! Its big folks.
Okay, now to the reality factor. I've got to take time out to apologize
to all our fans in Portland who witnessed us getting our set cut off by the
venue (Berbati's). Now, I know that they've been going thru some major
transitions with their primary booking agent, but that's no excuse to cut off
our sound 45 minutes into our hour long set.
Basically, it went like this. We hit the stage after about 4 other
groups performing that weren't scheduled to rock, plus the Bayliens and Kev's
set. Our tour manager/ booking agent, House, was having problems with the
faulty arrangements from the venue's booker. Aforementioned "booker" had no
idea what he was doing, which eventually led to us getting our sound cut. The
floor of Berbati's was divided into 21 and up, and all ages by a janky black
divider. Right before we dipped into "Don't Lose Ya Head", the soundman cut the
sound and announced thru the mic that "All Ages have to leave now!". I was
baffled? I asked him what that was about, and he said that curfew was up.
I went on to tell the all ages crew that they had to leave, and started
giving them pounds. Just then Amp dropped into "Don't Lose Ya Head", so I
followed suit. Some of the all ages kept leaving, but others saw the big beat
as an opportunity to wild out one last time. By the time we finished the song a
fight had broken out in the 21 and over section, and the sound was shut off and
wouldn't come back on. I jumped off stage to holla at the engineer and he told
me that the owner had ordered the shutdown. I went back to the stage and
apologized to the crowd for such anticlimax.
Afterwards, Amp and I hollered at the owner and expressed that we should
have ordered the all ages out from the stage. Yet, we felt that we should have
been told what time that the kids should leave, so that we would have adjusted
the timing of the entire evening. That way, everyone could have at least seen a
full show. She seemed cool, but I later heard thru the homey Mic Crenshaw that
she was talking trash about us. Weak...Especially since we've been rockin' at
this club since 2001 with success on a consistent basis. Plus, we were 10
tickets away from selling out, they made good money that night. I'm just
feeling like they need to get their management game back up.
We've got some dope footage of the night, and yall can decide for
yourselves the get down. Its coming soon to TakeOver TV! Stay tuned! Shout
out to Geo & Sabzi from Blues Scholars, Mic Crenshaw, the Bayliens, the
Roots, MyGee, Lyrics Borns Band and all the homies we've gotten to kick it with
since we've been on the road. More to come...YEE!!!
ZoOm!