Friday, June 09, 2006

I always get wet





I don’t know what’s up, but every time I go to a Vanilla Ice show I get soaked. When he performed at Amos’ Southend a few years ago, a chick spilled beer down my shirt. Last night at ML, a new nightclub in Concord, Vanilla sprayed me.

I’m taking pictures near the stage when the rapper-turned-rocker empties water from his bottle onto the crowd. It wasn’t a one-time thing. He had a case of water.

Here’s my night: I approach the stage, snap some shots of Ice then try to duck before he throws water on the audience. I’m not sure what was worse, wiping off my camera and watch (neither were water-resistant) every few minutes or watching guys sprint to get the bottles Ice tossed on the floor. I mean come on, it’s Vanilla Ice. What are you going to do, show the water bottle to your friends and say Vanilla Ice touched it? Please.

If that wasn’t bad enough, I got elbowed in the jaw. I wasn’t paying attention and once again I ended up in the middle of a mosh pit. Although, this wasn’t the typical hardcore punk mosh like you’d see at the Milestone. I like those guys, they’re into the music and moshing is a way to express their love for the artist. The moshers at ML acted like they had something to prove. They were walking around poking their chests out as if to say, “Who wants some?” That was corny and besides, who moshes to Vanilla Ice?

Ice was animated, but if you went expecting a rap show you would have been disappointed. He did a hardcore rock set and threw in “Ice Ice Baby” and a couple of other rap songs to please his old school fans. He gave fans just enough rap to get a couple of people breakdancing so that was cool.

I interviewed him afterwards, and he was surprisingly nice. I asked him what was up with throwing water. He said he cools the crowd off. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that there were only a couple of hundred people there so overheating wasn’t a problem. To hear my full interview with him log on to the Paid to Party For Your Ear on Wednesday.

A new spot

A new spot
The Vanilla Ice show was my first time at ML, which is part of a Mexican restaurant about five miles past Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord. It’s a hike getting out there, but for the right act, it’s worth the drive.

The place is huge with a large dance floor, a raised stage and a booming sound system. It’s perfect for rock, metal and reggae acts. There’s seating around the main dance floor and a projector screen. The capacity is 1,500. They only had one bar open, which is all they needed for the crowd of about 200 people on Thursday. If they ever have a show that draws a capacity crowd, they’re going to need another bar and some beer tubs. They will also need more parking.

The manager Jose moved here from Las Vegas about three months ago. He has a lot of big ideas about who he wants to bring to the club and what he wants to do with the space. He’s energetic and is working with Red Tottle, formerly of the Beat radio station. With his energy and her connections, they should be able to make some things happen. Jose wants to bring Pink, Three Six Mafia and My Chemical Romance. If he can pull it off I’ll be there. We’ll see.