From BigKumquat Sent Mon, May 10th 1999, 18:51
Speaking of the Reich Remixed live show in NYC, the reason I was close enough to the stage to notice Spooky's midi kalimba device was because I was jockeying for position for Coldcut's set. I wasn't disappointed. After getting a close-up view of Coldcut and crew (including our own ninja jeff) constructing the performance apparatus, the real pay-off came when they went right into "Music For 18 Musicians," complete with video footage of diving whales and their huge crashing tails (timed to co-incide with the swells in the music), giving me the much-desired gooseflesh rush. When the introductory beats from "More Beats and Pieces" sparked to life, the crowd started to get going...there were shouts of "turn it up!" Soon infiltrators began invading my front-and-center location, including a black-leather-clad woman who had to be at least six-and-a-half feet tall. She decided to stand right in front of me...although she did apologize sweetly, so I let told her not to worry. I decided to further defend my hard-fought turf in the best way I know how...by dancing wildly, helped along by the song's killer funk licks. Soon, I found myself in a knot of people who (I later discovered) were grooving harder than just about anyone in the room. During the middle section of "More Beats and Pieces," brothers Cold and Cut segued into an extended clip from Disney's old "Jungle Book" animated film...the scene where the monkeys are jamming on drums and Baloo the Bear is leading a stomping sing-along for all the jungle creatures. This hilarious scene was projected on the video screens...it seemed enough to send a heartless Disney lawyer immediately reaching for his/her cell phone (and this being Manhattan, such a person could very well have been in the house). Speaking of video, the video element was a huge factor in this performance, basically being constant throughout. Apparently, the concept was "Coldcut TV," complete with a "CCTV" logo. Coldcut's extensive cut-and-paste samples were mouthed by corresponding characters in the video snippets, essentially a "video sampling" approach which made me think of Emergency Broadcast Network. And, interestingly enough, I had run into Gardner Post of EBN at this show! Basically, I saw a dude wearing an EBN jacket, in the government-official windbreaker style made popular by FBI and ATF stormtroopers. Being a huge fan of EBN's videotapes, I had to ask this fellow if he was in EBN or if he just happened to have the kewl jacket...and it turns out to be Gardner. He was quite a nice bloke, although we were both a bit jittery; it may have been because this annoying beefhead security guard kept shouting "You must have a wristband to drink alchohol!" at the top his lungs several yards away from us, making for a surreal conversation. As far as EBN updates go, he said that "TVT is basically useless" so I don't know if they'll be putting out anything more with TVT. Probably they'll mostly sell stuff through their own website, although the website isn't up yet (sadly, because I crave more EBN video madness!) Gardner mentioned that he was friends with Coldcut, which made sense to me...with both acts being at the forefront of the media slicing and dicing scene. He said he might "jam" with Coldcut during their performance...I wondered what he would "play" during this jam...video cut-and-paste software? Anyway, I didn't see him up there on stage with Coldcut, so I guess the CCTV/EBN megajam didn't go down. Regardless, it was a fine evening...I haven't even mentioned the stunning live performance by Bang On A Can, which seemed to puzzle a good amount of the audience (saw a few with hands covering their ears). Before Bang On A Can began, they acknowledged Mr. Reich himself, who waved to the crowd from up in the "reserved only" area. I didn't see him jacking his body on the dancefloor or anything, however. And oh yeah...no sign of Hulk Hogan protesting outside the venue (see related posts from about one month ago). - Fred Church xxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx