LETTUCE, featuring Eric Krasno & Fred Wesley
(with Screaming Headless Torsos)

At the Wetlands - NYC (1/17/01)

 


 

My birthday gift was to check out Lettuce & Screaming HeadlessTorsos do their thang at the Wetlands. Fred Wesley was the special guest for the Lettuce sets, and Eric Krasno (of Soulive)was one of the rhythm guitarists for the group!







Dave Fiuczynski, on the double-neck guitar!!

At 9:35pm, Screaming Headless Torsos started their set with "FreeMan", which was some high-energy funk-rock with slightly distorted guitarisms by Dave Fiuczynski (original guitarist for Bernie Worrell & The WOO Warriors) and the phenomenal drumming of Gene Lake!! The lead vocalist, Freedom Bromner, was actually very good....doing half-singing & half-rapping! "Softee" featured high-energy percussion work from Dan Sadonwick (from the Kelli Sae band), powerful Lake drumming, heavy bass by Fima Ephron, and driving funk-rock guitarisms!!!! "Smile in a Wave (Theme From Jack Johnson)" featured a heavy drum &perscussion intro, smokin' lead guitarisms, and vocals that mimicked some of the rhythm guitar licks! "Reason For Silence"was a slice of slower funk/less rock with a distorted guitar intro and breakdown, and off-the-wall guitar wailing that sounded like Buckethead's sonic blasts in the Praxis song "Vacuum-Mass"!!!! "Torsos Jungle" was an instrumental jazz tune with lots of different percussion sounds and strange guitar riffs........the riffs sounded like "sound waves from deep in outer space" (orperhaps feedback noise)!! "Vinnie" returned the show back to the rock format with a funkafied chorus......the tight drumming,FONKAY guitar, and smelly bass also reminded me of Funkadelic!!!! The percussion solo was outstanding! "Fuel" was some slow funk-jazz with excellent percussion! "Dead Christmas Tree" was in the vein of "Free Man"......s'more heavy drum/percussion workout!! "Cult" was the last song before they ended the set at 10:45pm.




Click here for pictures of Screaming Headless Torsos




Fred Wesley gets a little "horny" for the P-Funk fans!!!!

At 11:15pm, Lettuce started their set with some super heavyweightfunk that'd knock you out like Mike Tyson would!!! Fred Wesley took the spotlight and blew the horns into a state of infinitefunkativity!! The audience also loved the second song, with more Wesley soloing, meaty bassisms & Eric Krasno's funky rhythm guitarisms!!! The third song was a funk-for-all tune where the horns just accentuated the funky chorus and the funky organ stinked up the Wetlands for hours!!!! Guest vocalist Stephanie McKay did some steaming vocals for "Use Me".....the bass was strong and Eric's rhythm guitar licks were tasty! "It's Your Thing (I Can't Tell You Who To Sock It To)" featured more of Stephanie's vocals, excellent horns and some tight drumming!!! "Soul Power" was the next song, followed by a taste of P-Funk with the horn riff from the Brides of Funkenstein's "Disco-to-Go". The last song featured s'more smelly bass, powerful drumming, and organ funk "to-the-millionth-power"! The first set ended at 12:35am.




Click here for pictures of Lettuce (featuring Fred Wesley)



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