Steve and the Tank! - "I'm at a concert and I'm not drunk!" Black Eyed Peas Concert

Saturday, August 26, 2006

"I'm at a concert and I'm not drunk!" Black Eyed Peas Concert

Since I rarely drink alcohol and Jones Beach Theater does not serve alcohol, that phrase could only be uttered by "White Fedora" Mike.

Who is "White Fedora" Mike you ask? I did too as I looked for him Friday afternoon at Penn Station enroute to the BEP concert. Sara, Linda, and her cousins from Italy went to Jones Beach earlier in the afternoon to take them to the beach as I looked for Mike at Penn Station. I saw an elderly gentleman in a black fedora praying. That's not Mike. Finally, I called his mobile and a bald man (sarcastic hint "white fedora") comes up and says hello.

Anyway, after a laugh, it's off to Jones Beach for the concert where we meet up with the rest of the gang.

The Pussycat Dolls were supposed to open but they had to cancel for illness or some "rock and roll" reason. There was some other fill-in performer from MTV but we didn't watch them as the ladies were distracted by the hair care display and us guys went to get something to eat. "White Fedora" Mike and I really don't have much hair to care for as we have shaved and receding hair, respectively. :-)

Onto the moving to our seats, kudos to Linda getting them close to the front but elevated in the second row of the second section -- basically a great view of center stage!

Though I am familiar with most of BEP music (basically "Elephunk" and "Monkey Business" when Fergie came on the scene), I didn't know what to expect going into the show because I had never seen them live before. They got off to a fast start and kept the show moving. In researching the BEP, I read a review that Fergie is Gwen Stefani with better moves. Granted, Fergie is hot, has a great vocal range (including a great cover of Guns and Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine"), and did cool cartwheels while singing but Gwen is still the Queen even on maternity leave because she has produced more music and is prettier. (I am definitely willing to give Fergie another five to ten years to prove me wrong.) Let's hope Fergie's new "Dutchess" solo album because doesn't pull BEP apart as Gwen's solo departure pretty much marked the end of No Doubt though they'll probably do a reunion tour down the line to rake in the big bucks like The Fugees.

BEP cranked out hits like "Shut Up", "Pump It", "Let's Get Retarded", etc. as well as mixed in great samples of hip-hop classic "It Takes Two" (Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock), "O.P.P." (Naughty By Nature), and "Jump Around" (House of Pain). Special Guest Dante Santiago had the joint jumping including yours truly to the shock of "White Fedora" Mike and a kid near us. Though I am past the "American Idol" cutoff age, I can kick it with the best of them.

I have listened to quite a bit of hip-hop over the years including still being a member of gansta rap label "Death Row East" long after the label's peak. I actually got "recruited" into "Death Row East" as a van pulled up near the MTV Video Music Awards in 1996 across the street from Radio City Music Hall. I still have the t-shirt they gave me as I was going to Rochester Big & Tall for a new dress shirt for work. Dominican Lou (the real one from work, not the one on "Saturday Night Live" played by Tracy Morgan) did tell me the other day at work that I am black. I always thought I was white. Maybe I need the laser vision more than I think. Regardless of my real or outward looking race, I have crossed numerous musical, racial, and other boundaries as a global musical envoy (six karaoke continents, only South America remains).

Pre and post concert conversation ranged from a harsh critique of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to discussing the NBA and Stanley Kubrick in Italish (Italian and English and Linda translated the words we didn't know), and if German porn is better than American porn. The man who made the German porn quote was thankfully NOT in the car ride home. Though I am a very patriotic person, I don't know what the difference between German and American or any other ethno-nationalistic porn for that matter. Porn is porn in my book except for the weird "inter-species erotica" found in "Clerks II". This high and diverse level of pseudo-intellectual conversation can only come from the Tank and his long-time and new friends. Linda sailed (I mean drove) the Titanic of a rental car back to the City. All in all, a great time had by all.

Post by The Tank in NY.

Pop Culture

Saturday, August 26, 2006 6:27:07 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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