Who's Got the Real Old School?
I'm still trying to make sense of the Grandmaster Flash/Biz Markie gig last night. It was utter madness, a great time overall but honestly the DJing was a bit hard to take. All three Djs were spinning on those CD-scratch turntables, no vinyl in sight, and while the beat matching and track flipping was masterful, I heard less than 30 seconds of anything I hadn't heard before and sometimes only 30 seconds of the tracks selected. We're talking Michael Jackson, Billy Squire, Soul 2 Soul plus all the urban current hits. There was absolutely no sense of adventure or discovery. The opening DJ pulled off a ramped up version of the Doobies "What a Fool Believes" that caught me off guard in a good way. And you're thinking... so what if they played hits, you danced all night, right? Well I should have been dancing when the first DJ was on because Grandmaster Flash specializes in stopping every couple minutes and giving an oral history lesson. GMF factoid: Hip-hop was in fact invented in 1971. Explanation: none. And after a nice long intro with lots of build-up about old-school and what have you, GMF unfurls his first track.... and it is... hold your breath... PHIL COLLINS?! Way to impress the south-siders GMF! On the plus side, the crowd was really diverse, the show was free and the break-dancing was really solid. This one guy, something Daze from the T&A crew was just amazing, pulling off these really detailed poses in the middle of springing handstands like he was breathing. Biz Markie was doing spins while he was switching from deck to deck when I left the club.