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An
Evening at the Bluebeat Lounge - Chris Murray, The Intelligista,
The Fabulous Rudies My friend Maggie battled the swarm of cars, limos and stretched Humvees as we entered the realm of Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. Although the area is always busy and difficult to get around, there was an unusual bustle happening. Realizing that Hollywood was closed off, we spotted tons of lights and glitz as we passed. Something big was happening. The Greek parking attendant told us it was "red carpet for black rap singers" - whatever the hell that meant. Quickly we found out that it was the BET awards - packed with stars like Snoop, 50 Cent, Miss Elliot, etc. That would explain the plethora of stretched Humvees we saw. Although shizzling the fizzle with Snoop was tempting, our evening was with the Bluebeat Lounge at the Knitting Factory. The Bluebeat Lounge is Chris Murray's (Asianman Records) little ska evening that he "hosts" on every Tuesday night. The Lounge is in a small side room that it quite intimate (read: small) though very nice. Admission to the lounge is only 5 bones and each week Chris Murray plays some songs and usually two bands play. Over the several months of the Bluebeat there has been very little overlap in bands. Chris Murray started off the evening with a set of Prince Buster songs. Murray had just played over the weekend with Prince Buster at a festival north of LA. For those not highly in the know, Prince Buster laid the groundwork of all ska music and wrote many classic numbers. As Murray played with his usual set up of himself and acoustic guitar, someone playing light beats on the drums soon joined him. Among the songs Murray played from Prince Buster's repertoire included "Enjoy Yourself" and "Rough Rider." Murray's brief set helped establish a sweet foundation to the evening. Coming back into the room a couple of songs into the set of the next group, the Intelligista, Maggie informed me that these guys were super fun. The Intelligista are a wild mod-rock band from Orange County - all dressed in model tight clothes, playing the part as close as possible. Just coming out of high school they have tons of energy to spare. Each member flailing around the stage, the lead singer/guitarist Nick Waterhouse managed to hold a strong stage presence in both vocals and guitar composure. The keyboardist Kevin Van had these stereotypical sunglasses that made him look like either Stevie Wonder or a drugged-out rocker from decades past. Moving through their decent set of songs including covers of such bands as the Who, their last number had each member trade off instruments while trying to keep the beat alive on the song - this was accomplished with varying success. As an acknowledgment of the crowd's feeling of the Intelligista, they were cheered on to an encore. Though the instrument trading slowed their set momentum, almost everyone in the crowd had a smile on their face when they finished.
The final act of the evening was the Fabulous Rudies and part
of this show was for their new CD. They were in doubt an odd assortment
of types from a visual standpoint - each member highly distinct
from the next. Mediocre music coupled with painful singing lead
to an early departure from this odd evening. This may have been
compounded with having to follow the excitement of the Intelligista,
but that is hardly an excuse.
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