Ides of July
Just bought tickets for the Afrocelts show Tuesday night at the Showbox. I got their latest album, Seed, a couple months ago and it’s been growing on me the last couple weeks (just add water). It seems a lot more “Celt” than “Afro”, but it rocks along, and I think I hear the ingredients of a good live show. Tuesday night’s show is hosted by DJ Derek Mazzone of KEXP, who has a world music show called Wo’ Pop. You can’t fail to come away from his radio show without at least 2 ideas for new CD purchases.
The show is listed as All Ages, which concerns me a little - I usually like to have a buzz at live events, and the Showbox bartenders are pros. I think I’ve been to so-called “all ages” shows there before, and they handled it by separating the drinking areas. Plus, I’m not sure what gives since they passed the liberalized successor to the Teen Dance Ordinance. Guess I’ll grab a ‘rita beforehand just in case, and see what happens. One advantage - I think the show starts a little earlier, and I won’t be out til 2am on a so-called “work night”.
We heard Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra at Chop Suey a week or so ago. I’d had oral surgery that morning (a dental implant) and needed the distraction as my anesthetic began to wear off. A felicitious combination of Vicodin and Bombay got me nicely through the evening. There’s a little more “Afro” in their sound, even though only 2 or 3 band members are black. We had heard them at Bumbershoot last year. I don’t know how they do it financially, but they travel with about 13 band members, including a 5-person horn section. On this night, the horn section played extensive solos. The baritone sax provides a singular voice to the ensemble, and they were tight and hot. Catch them if they get close. I’ve been playing their Liberation Vol. 1 album a lot.
We had designs to go up to the Capitol Hill Block Party and hear maktub, but we both had vigorous days Saturday (me kayaking on the Olympic Peninsula), and today has been sort of a chore day. We heard Reggie Watts, their lead singer, Thursday night at the Baltic Room as he released a solo CD. He’s got an amazing vocal repertoire, but my feeling is that he’s more of a performance artist than a soul singer, which you’d expect from Maktub’s music. Once your expectations are set in that direction, though, he’s a lot of fun.
