Musical Musings of a Tiny Rager

Bowlive II: Night Two – Soulive w/ Wax, Pharoahe Monch & Lettuce @The Brooklyn Bowl

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOULIVE!!!

Bowlive 2! Night 2! Soulive kept the Brooklyn Bowl pumping with soul, funk and hip-hop last night.  The power trio, consisting of Eric Krasno and brothers Neal and Alan Evans, hosted hip-hop artists WAX and Pharoahe Monch for a night of hip-hop laden funk.

(Photo by Allison Murphy)

Obscure hip-hop artist WAX opened the show with a few solo songs warming the crowd up before members of Soulive and Lettuce joined for a horn-raging “I Can’t Remember Your Name” and “Shake” As the musicians were plugging in, WAX recognizes that his mic is the only one whose is working.  “I can talk mad shit now! All ya mamma’s are fat!”  He looks at Krasno and says: “I didn’t say yall could come out and play.”

Not sure how to express how I felt about him but I knew I liked whatever he was doing once the band joined in.  I wish I could have understood him better but as I walked around the venue, I could never find a spot that feed me his lyrics in a way I could understand. Here is what I mean:

This is a little better:

The vibe was different from last night’s performance as the audience was filled with more hip-hop heads rather than old school Maceo Parker fans.  However, just like last night, the energy was the UP UP UP!  Prior to the performances, you could find members of Lettuce and Soulive roaming around the venue.  Where as last night it was packed so tight, so early, the musicians knew to stay in the cramped backstage area they normally reside. Even guitarist Kirk Yano was roaming the floors for a while.

There was a raffle that began to help raise awareness and monies for New Orleans Musicians still effected by Katrina.  Buying a ticket for $5 locks you into a possibility of snagging one of the three tapestries created by Michael Weintrob (Michael Weintrob Photography) picturing the members of Soulive in three amazing settings.  Check it out:

(Photo by Michael Jurick)

Fear and Loathing was playing on the big screen in the middle of the room.  I had to smile at that one. Tonight, I also realized that Michael Weintrob (Michael Weintrob Photography) and two of my favorite NYC based photographers, Dino Perrucci (Dino Perrucci Photography) and Allison Murphy, (Allison Murphy Photography) had released a limited edition book of pictures from Bowlive 2010 ($75) all signed by the band on opening night! I’ve looked at the book and everyone should get this one if you were there and have any emotional connection to the musical run that started a GREAT tradition at the Brooklyn Bowl!

(Photo by Allison Murphy)

Soulive

Eric Krasno – Guitar
Neal Evans – Keys, bass
Alan Evans – Drums

This evening would mark Soulive’s twelfth birthday. Around 10:20pm, Nigel Hall introduced the members of Soulive and the bass heavy “Steppin” started it off. They played into a set of songs from their first album Get Down, released in 1999!

Soulive – Get Down! Album Track Listing
1       So Live!
2       Uncle Junior
3       Rudy’s Way
4       Cash’s Dream
5       Turn it Out
6       Brother Soul
7       Right On

(Photo By Allison Murphy)

“We are going old school yall,” shouted Alan Evans. There is something about his voice and the way he MCs, I just immediately snap to attention when I hear him.  Love him. He continued to tell a story of how there was so much hype over last year being Soulive‘s ten birthday that it was overlooked that it was really their eleventh  birthday.  So, the record was set straight and  “Rudy’s Way” was next, followed by a drumming solo by brother Alan Evans.

Lettuce w/Pharoahe Monch

Pharoahe Monch – Rapper

Eric Krasno – Guitar
Neal Evans – Keys, bass
Adam Deitch – Drums
Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff – Guitar
Alan Evans – Percussion, Vocals
E.D. “Jesus” Combes – Bass, Vocals
Ryan Zoidis – Alto Saxophone
Cheme Gastelum – Saxophone
Igmar Thomas – Trumpet
Brian Thomas – Trombone
Eric Bloom – Trumpet
Nigel Hall – Keys, Vocals

Special Guest:

Alecia Chakour – Vocals
James Hurt – Keys
Talib Kweli – Rapper

(Photo by Allison Murphy)

A raging Lettuce set closed out the night with sensational hip-hop artist Pharoahe Monch stepping in and spittin’ his way through “Welcome to the Terradome,” “Shine,” “Desire” and many of his signature songs.  This set was pure fire as drummer Adam Deitch beat on busted cymbals and Neal Evans almost knocked over his keyboard as they played with fierce excitement.

(Photo by Allison Murphy)

(Photo by Allison Murphy)

Neal Evans has really stood out in my mind over the past two nights.  He is really amazing.  He holds down a position in a band that not many other artists hold down as he plays the bass line on the keyboards.  I love when I fall in love with musicians over and over again and right now, I’ve fallen in love with Neal and his amazing skill of playing the bass-keys.  I’d love to get inside his brain and his closet as he is always wearing killer kicks.

(Photo by Allison Murphy)

“Cash’s Dream,”  Nigel’s favorite Soulive song as he would later tell me, followed and I remembered that even musicians are big fans too!

Nigel Hall (The Nigel Hall Band), Alecia Chakour (Alecia Chakour & the Osrah) and Lenesha Randolph (Robert Randolph and the Family Band)  joined in on background vocals  while the horns section consisting of Eric Bloom (The Diane Bitch Band), Ryan Zoidis (Rustic Overtones), Igmar Thomas (The Igmar Thomas Quartet) and Brian Thomas (Pressure Cooker) provided that layer of funk that we all crave.

The highlight of the night, however, was when Talib Kweli bolted out onto the Lettuce stage to rip open “Move Somethin'” & “Get By.”

Soulive keeps the party going tonight with a Parliament Funkadelic tribute with P-Funk member Bernie Worell leading the pack.