Celly Cel Live @Brothers Gemini 6/22/19

This is the second time I drove deep to the oddest of places to see Cel perform live. I took this solo drive to deep Port Angeles , WA this time, which is like a hill billy town with the tallest building about 3 stories high. I decided to take the ferry to cut the drive time thru Tacoma but still was hours from the Bremerton Terminal to get to the show. The venue itself had good reviews online but when I got there they had a weird layout with the bar in the middle and the “stage” off to the side which was just a built in platform with railings. Wasn’t terrible but just small area. The towns people all gathered in there and you had to wonder where these people came from. I even spotted an elderly lady at the bar as if someone misplaced their grandmother. The bartender looked like 2 hours after her 21-first birthday and took about 60hrs to pour drinks so I was sure to get doubles and double fist. There was cheap motels nearby so don’t stress where to stay for shows but ZERO uber or lyft out there so you gotta go old school and whistle a cabbie to get around town. As for Celly Cel I was front and center after the 4-5 openers (too many I think) performed and like the last time I saw Cel he walked in with no entourage just hella G by himself walking through the actual crowd. It was at that point it dawned on me that many just have not heard of Cel to need security for his shows and also because he looks built like a line backer if you see him up close. With hands the size of catchers mitts like he could palm a face in Killa Kali. I digress, the show was cool, although you catch some slight lip syncing but mainly because they turn his background vocals up real high so he is rapping over himself almost like tracing a drawing. I noticed that at his last show but the amount of energy he puts into his stage presence along with the fact he recorded these songs himself in the 90’s you can’t complain. He did tracks from G Files, Killa Kali and some new stuff to keep the crowds ears well versed. After the show he hung out a bit, took pics, signed a couple posters for people and he and I shot the breeze outside. I told him to stop doing shows outside Seattle, WA because it’s like an artist doing a show in CA but never performing in LA. I hope to see him in Seattle next time and would for sure support this original at his next show but feel I have paid my dues on the long treks.

Wu Tang Clan Live @WAMU Theater 6/21/19

“Wu Tang Clan ain’t nuthin to fuck with!” I have always wanted to see this legendary rap group but have missed every Seattle show. However not this year and even though I hate WAMU theater for shows I still had to make attendance. WAMU is a huge area usually with an entire general admission venue with some exceptions on folding chair seating and stands in the very back. The sound quality inside is never good, it echos and loud bass and tremble over powering the performers. They are very strict on what you can bring inside and it cost money to check your shit into lockers outside, real pain in the ass. Not to mention they only have one area when you first walk in for drinks and nothing can be taken into the venue-performance area. So that means you sit in a long ass lines for a $10 beer that you can only buy 1 per person and it can’t leave the beer garden which the show cannot be seen from. WAMU is located in downtown Seattle and a terrible parking zone. About the only benefit to WAMU is at least you know the artist made their money of housing a huge place for lots of ticket sales. Anyway, the group did decent for the shitty venue and the ODB cover /tribute was on point with much energy. My favorite of the group that specific show was Method Man, he was about the only one who had the crisp original voice while others were distorted due to the venues low capabilities. They did all the classic tracks and mixed a few songs together which sounded good the way they did it. The lights and background effects added great appeal and the crowd went crazy as seen here they all put up W’s to show their support to the group. All and all worth it but would never see them again if it was at this venue. WAMU Theater should just stick to EDM shows with lasers and shit.

Blindspotting Movie (2018)

Great movie displaying life in Oakland CA. Many of us reminisce of the golden era of 90’s hood movies but take a ride in the current time through CA with references to modern-time themes. The two actors are real life childhood friends from Oakland who spent about a decade writing this film. It was limited release and written in a spoken-verse-style which is commonly known as a rhythmic poetry. Daveed looks like a version of O-Dog from menace II society and Casal looks like Machine Gun Kelly and G-Eazy made a baby. There is some comedy in it especially the scene of where a young man explains a story he recalls of Daveed and Casal beating up someone but then also much drama and real life struggles that give the viewers full understanding of each persons characters. Also you have realistic trials and tribulations of young men trying to stay out of trouble in a city breeding trouble at every corner. You see clear comparisons of neighborhoods blossoming gentrification including a camera shot of new modern built homes in between older homes. You see racism tackled in multiple different ways including a very different approach I can relate to but never seen on screen much. The ending is interesting and not one you really would expect but the entire film has great engaging scenes to keep you curious of what will happen next. I enjoyed this and each character played a very believable role. Many of us watch movies or hear music of Southern CA but this is a great story of Northern CA worth watching.

Goodybagg Live @Genesee Park 6/8/19

I first heard this live band at an Adult Prom that I was stood up at. The sounds were amazing and they did lots of classic R&B, 90’s rap covers with some classic MoTown and Funk. If you ever heard any 90’s rap song actually sang with live instruments, saxophone, drums, and guitar it changes the whole sound in a great way. Almost like a brand new song yet very familiar. Seen here is Genesee Park located in the Souf End (not to be confused with “South”) Anyone really from South Seattle area calls it “The Souf End” just always been that way. Anyway, this park is large and close to Seward park with the area pictured to set up for family BBQs or live music. This specific event is an annual Spodie that a bunch of people put on once a year to sort of kick off summer and bring the community together. This includes residents, families, friends, motorcycle clubs as well as a few food truck vendors. It was $15 a cup and all you could drink so I imagine people were hammered at some point. I left after the band was done and Goodybagg was doing great covers by snoop dogg and Ice cube with the Sax really doing major justice to the songs behind vocals. Check out Goodybagg they perform regularly across Seattle, Tacoma and various places like The Royal Room, Edgewater and casinos.

Brotha Lynch Hung Live @Crocodile 6/4/19

Growing up in the 90’s Gangsta rap was a huge thing for people that lived it or just wanted to listen to the stories told by the people who either saw it or lived it themselves. To see this artist touring was not only great but also to see Mr. Lynch at the Crocodile in Seattle, WA was even better. This venue is located in Belltown and the venue has been home to many 90’s grunge artists who caught their big break from there. It has an upper deck and lower main area that anyone can go to and from. Lynch put on a great show, new songs and classic ones from his earlier albums. He interacted with the crowd doing handshakes as he sent the lyrics into the ears of the audience. He showed up in sweat pants displaying he is still Brotha Lynch from the Garden Blocc. Lots of these 90’s rappers never made it very far when they stayed in the gang life but it’s reported that Lynch is one of the few to leave the gang life behind and then rap about the stories he may or may have not lived or seen. Lynch also is one of the originators of “horrorcore” which is a rap style that comes off evil and sick to some, not just killing people but dismembering and rapes with guns. However many of his classic tracks were blasting thru the speakers of many youth then and to this day, great show and glad to say I was there.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise Live @Paramount Theater 5/31/19

I go to a lot of Paramount Theater shows, great venue, easy to get to with a historical touch makes it a great place to see live music. Lower open standing area as seen below with seating in rows up above. I received an email with this band name on their weekly newsletter and with a name like that I had to check it out. I was amazed at how many people actually knew of the band and were chanting all the lyrics during songs. I felt they were “okay” not terrible not amazing. The lead singer put on a great show, interacted with the audience as well as his band mates. Some decent guitar rips and good lighting effects in back. If you aren’t familiar, they have this indie-alternative rock sound to them with some hints of other musical sound but most of their stuff had me scrolling thru my phone to pass the time. Meanwhile the crowd was going wild so fuck my opinion but just how I felt. The main reason I went to see them was because I liked the song “Fever Pitch” which was the only one I enjoyed at the show. The rest I just couldn’t get with. The band is interesting themselves. The drummer up on a platform doing his thing, while the lead singer looked like a spokesperson for Neighbors night club in Capital Hill with a beard and about 5’4″ tall and some tight hammer pants on. One guitarist was a chubby dude with glasses looked like he was really good at math and leader of the chess club. Then to the right was a tall chick in white bell-bottoms/long hair and wait..nope it was a dude actually and what gave it away was the flat booty, sleek aerodynamic chest, hair line, long feet and hands that really told me…yep that’s a dude. However, in light of the whole LGBT movement the Seattle rainbows were in full effect. Rock on you little colorful souls and I will quote Owen Wilson from Zoolander on this; “I haven’t heard a lot of their music, but the fact that they are still making it, I respect that.”

Terminator 2 Judgement Day (1991)

In light of the fact they are currently finishing an official 3rd T3 movie which will be direct sequel to this excusing the other installments as if they were never made (which the fans are ok with) T3 “Dark Fate” will be released 2019 and will have the return of both Arnold and Linda in it which is something long anticipated if ever to be another. However the uncertainty if Edward Furlong poses a possible loss to making a masterpiece in my opinion. Anyway, back to why T2 was so legendary. James Cameron is genius using trick photography old school film making tricks combined with audio and visual professionals bringing everything together perfectly. T2 was and is my favorite movie of all time. In the film they give so many illusions of the way they want the city portrayed. They even wet the streets in certain shots to give better dark scenes, not to mention audio samples in scenes to create bigger suspense. Edward was cast as a part of open casting and found in a group home with the right amount of street smarts and a bad attitude to make his role super believable. Linda was coming from T1 and her story evolves into a hardened soldier preparing for WW3 against the machines seen in her flashbacks. Those flashbacks were made with real miniature robot models and real explosions not CGI. Many trick camera angles and cameras on cameras to give certain illusions the right clout to the story. If you were living under a rock somewhere the basis of the plot for every Terminator is that machines are secretly taking over and once robots are built they can turn on us. However in each movie you are only seeing a fraction of the potential power the machines have before they “become self aware” meaning they figure out they can kill humans off and take over. Arnold plays the ultimate tough guy/robot in this and protector of John Connor (Edward) but you also see a drama story of a lost/scared yet dangerous woman and a troubled kid who all start to semi have a family. All of the crashes, explosions and stunts are very real in this and lots of budgets went into staging the areas in CA to make it all believable. The story-line makes sense for what story they want to portray and much of the sound effects in the action scenes were thought out well and created to be very very realistic for it’s time of production in the earliest of the 1990’s. They put so much detail into every scene and it’s often overlooked how much the trick photography is used with other techniques like Cinema Verte which is the illusion that you are the camera man right there. I talk about cinema verte in one of my other blog posts. However that camera style is only used in scenes like where Sara Connor holds the medical doctor hostage as the camera bounces around as if it’s on your own shoulders. Also the use of “Magic Hour” right around sunset which gives the best natural lighting for any movie creator. Many scenes James Cameron waited for that exact moment before shooting. This movie is my favorite movie of all time and besides Arnold kick’n ass and Edward being the idol of young kids across the globe AND not to mention Linda being the OG badass chick of the era….it’s just a great film that broke records at the box office for years until The Matrix finally brought in box office dough to compete. Either way the next T3 or technically T6 they better come correct and try to use as less CGI as they can. Go old school for the win James and don’t be a sucka ass bitch and exclude Edward Furlong due to his rough times. Get him together and on the set like the family you all were suppose to be!

Gifted Youngstaz Live @High Dive 5/17/19

Mannnn, very impressed by this young buck. Seen him open for lil Debbie and at first I was mid conversation not looking at the stage and heard his voice, sounds of sharp ear puncturing lyrics and I mean that in a good way. His delivery to every flow was like he was going to war. Then I look up and see him squinting his eyes and pointing at the air with each lyric like he was shooting down enemy troops. At that moment I had to walk closer to the stage to get a better view of this microphone destruction. The young kid has clean rhymes that send the message he could rap battle anyone and it’s believable. I watched him finish out his set and when he was front row paid him respect in person and he was a real nice dude, he was thankful for the support. Watch for this guy as he lives fully up to his rap name.

Lil Debbie Live @High Dive 5/17/19

I first heard of her stumbling across a picture of her show/event page on social media. I was curious if the notorious treats had a spokesperson. However she is not even close to the small snacks you are use to, this chick is the real deal. She is a rapper coming straight out of Oakland California and her lyrics are on point, the message is clear, she has the look, the confidence and the passion for music. So think twice about who you expect to be on stage rap’n to the beat because it’s 2019 mutherfuckers and talent is talent. So now that we got that out of the way, this chick came out in her cute braided hair, skirt with tennis shoes and kept the whole crowd moving. The venue High Dive in Fremont Seattle is a very small venue which I was surprised to see her at but great place for live music. Her vocals were clear and even though I only watched one single music video prior to her show I was feeling all of her songs at the live show. She raps about being herself and living life how she wants to live it. She is about her women and not taking shit from assholes. I can dig it and if you have never been to the areas of California where people like her live concrete jungle life then you just don’t know. Check this chick out as she is a great performer as well as fun to watch. Lil Debbie has my vote.

Boyhood Movie (2014)

This movie started filming in 2001 and finished in 2013 which means you actually see the lead character grow up on screen. Also notable is that there was never a real script for this just focal points the director wanted to include in the story. Also each lead actor was given the chance to add things to the script either in their life or something important they wanted in the movie. You see various stages of his life leading to the point of college and leaving the nest. The parents are divorced early on and you see what he goes through during that time leading to high school and his first heartbreak. However also leading to the moment of new beginnings. As the movie progresses you hear early 2000’s music playing in the background as well what trends were happening at that time leading to a more present time towards the end. This is a great film that everyone can relate to in some type of way. Do not expect suspense or theatrics like most films, instead find a more real story you can relate to in some type of way. Not every scene will be like your life but there will be more than one scene everyone can relate to.