SOUL SURVIVAL JAM
(w/ Mary Harris, Rhythm Republik, Kelli Sae & Corey Glover)
At the Wetlands, NYC - 11/18/99
I expected a really good funk/R&B show that night, but I had no idea what I was in for!!
Mary Harris, the Philly homegirl on the skins!
Mary Harris (Philly's star drummer) kicked off
the event with some seriously funky stuff, accentuated by her powerful drumming
skills and Sharieff Ali's (of Burgundy fame) bombastic guitar antics! Hardcore
guitar licks and standout bass riffs bounced off every wall in the club during
the song "How You Like Me Now". Sharieff Ali added a wonderful,
soulful guitar solo during the song, "This Love". "Shine"
was the bomb, with a high-energy, hardcore rock slant. The bass player and
guitarist (Sharieff) were in rare form, as well as the lethal drum attack
provided by Ms. Harris. Mary told the audience that she was going to
"positivititize" the audience and it was time for
"positivititties" (huh? That's right,
"positivi-titties")......shit, I almost forgot the song title
"Shine" because of the "titties"!! (Damn....just when I
thought I would behave myself that night, Mary got my mind in the gutter
again.....gosh darnit!) Oops, almost forgot.......Mary Harris's set started at
8:55pm and ended at 9:35pm.
Click here for pictures of Mary Harris
Kregg Ajamu, jamming with the common folk! (Ha! Like he's so much better than
us!)
At 9:55pm, Rhythm Republik rocked the Wetlands
with seriously funky attitude on the song "Disposable Culture". Mark
Bass provided smokey bass riffs (I should call him "Ole Smokey") and
John Willis "flew on" on the lead GOOD-tar! "Indigo Queen"
was very well done as Kregg Ajamu broke it down vocally towards the end.....he
brought the house down like a wonderful musical!! Tight drumming (by Wildstar)
and an ultra-funky bass intro provided on "Daddy I Wonder".
"Sunchild" was the best funk-rock tune with bombastic drumming,
strong guitar riffs & some extra "spice" by keyboardist Eric
Wilson!! "Secretly" was wonderful with Kim Berry on vocals......she
sounded better than Sister Kye, but I still miss Ms. Roslyn Jackson. (Roz,
where are you, honey?) "All Saints Fall" included a chorus of
"Aaaah"'s during the song's chorus. "Never Put Me Under
(Rise-Up)" was real funky, with a heavy bass and guitar intro! The Rhythm
Republik set ended at 10:45pm.
Click here for pictures of
Rhythm Republik
At 11:05pm, Kelli Sae, started her set with an
intro and "Fallin'", the latter having heavy drumming. "Life
Goes On" and "Change The World" were next, the latter having a
monstrous keyboard solo by Bahnamous Bowie! Kelli Sae's powerhouse vocals were
beyond superb!! Rhythm guitarist Ben Mauro was funky and percussionist Daniel
Sadonwick were tight on "Love You". "Burned" was
magnificent with a classic violin solo by Valerie Vigoda and good acoustic
riffs by Ben Mauro! "Where Did Our Love Go"was followed by the
last song "Vacant" started out as a mellow, reggae-type tune which
turned into a hardcore metal-rock extravaganza! The Kelli Sae lust fest ended
at 11:50pm.
Click here for pictures of Kelli Sae
Guitarist Michael Ciro and vocalist Corey Glover are on fire!!
Corey Glover started his set at 12:15am.
Remember the review of Headfake
at CBGB's in New York City (on 11/11/99) where I
said Headfake's energy was close to a massive earthquake? Well, Corey's set
makes the Headfake shit seem like a weak tremor!! Corey's set was more powerful
than a massive earthquake......it's so difficult to describe the set in
words......maybe the word "Armageddon" suffices? I guess! How the
Wetlands survived the annihilating, bone-crushing force surprised the shit out
of me!! I'm still experiencing deafness from that set, as the group pumped a
million watts of eardrum-splitting madness for 75 minutes! WHEW!!
The first tune (I think it's called "Original Sin") was FONKAY with
hard-edge rock guitar blasts & asphyxiating bass riffs. The drumming was
nuclear-blasting & keyboards were dynamite! The song was more frantic-paced
thrash rock, close to Praxis's sound. The next song started out mellow with a
great rhythm guitar solo that broke into satanic rock! The music stopped and
Corey began to preach and "telling Satan to back the fuck up!"
"You are My Addiction" was soft-rock all through. "Free
Yourself" was da shit with bombastic guitar chords, smolderin' bass, and
some funky keyboard shit! The talk box effect by guitarist Michael was
irresistible!! Several times throughout the show, Corey was in another
zone......the psychotic zone.......screaming, bouncing around like molecules in
boiling water, breathing angrily in the mic, and spraying water onstage! He tossed
water from bottles onto human targets in the audience, including yours truly!!!
DAMN!!! One white guy loved it too much because he would hand Corey a water
bottle, and Corey would just nonchalantly douse him with water! PRETTY FUCKIN'
WILD!!! His attitude basically matched the brutal insanity of the set!!The
psychotic episode ended at 1:30am, following an freak-out encore!! WHEW.....I
was worried that Corey might go into cardiac arrest during his insane thang!
Click here for pictures of Corey Glover
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