Funky guitarist/vocalist, Dan Jost!!
At 8:00pm, Vineland (New Jersey)'s own Disciples of Groove started their performance with a heavily funky dose of a new song called "Had Enough"...these guys were JAMMIN' on this tune, especially the "bragg-a-dociously" tight drumming of Mr. David Gardner (I learned that word from BOOTSY, y'all!)! The only bad part was that the lead guitar wasn't really turned up...for the solo. "Like The Day" was another funky song, followed by the pop flavor of "Silver Screen". "Aeroplane" was a return of the D.O.G.-style funk, followed by the lighter "Syllabus" and "Chemistry". What followed was a seriously funky scratch-rhythm guitar solo by Dan Jost! "The Simpsons Theme" was okay (spotlight-ing the sounds of saxman, Matt Totora)....like I said once before, it's cute the first couple of times that it's played, but it gets old very quick! After "Hilikus", it was time for Rob Smith to throw down with the nastiest, thumpin' slap bass riffs ever heard in a D.O.G. show! The show ended at 9:00pm, after the band performing "Big Disappointment", "Stranger's Advice", "The James Bond Theme", "So You Can See" and "40 Winks".
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Brian Williams on trumpet!!
At 9:20am, Blue Method started....THIS WAS THE BEST PERFORMANCE BY THE BLUE METHOD....EVER!!!!!! They started with new songs from the newest Blue Method release "Kill The Music: Vol. 2" (THIS WAS THEIR CD RELEASE PARTY!!!) They started with (I believe) "Get Back Home (The Bounce)" featuring the soulful vocals of the great Brian Williams with backing vocals by Topaz Wise and Alesia Dessaus (from the Philly R&B/funk band NATURAL SELECTION)...this featured some red-hot lead guitar riffing by Michael Patriarca and standout synthesizing by Luke O'Reilly! "Other Family" was a lighter R&B song that reminded of Lil Brian & the Zydeco Traveler's "Summer Girl" (for those who are Lil Brian fans). Blue Method performed one of the best funk-gospel jams EVER..."Spinning"....this was some 'Graham Central Station-partying in the pulpit-Holy Ghost Fever- Stomp all over the devil' party music that featured some of the baddest slap-technique, rumble-in-the-jungle funk bass grooving by Mr. Rah M. Sungee and power drumming soloing by Theron Shelton!! After that mesmerizing spiritual-funk throwdown, the next three songs ("Things I'll Do", "Sad Thing" and "Don't They", featuring some audience participation for the chorus) just didn't compare. Soul-clapping (FUNKY people know what that is) was the order of the day for the intro of James Brown's "There Was a Time".
Tom Long, bad MF on sax!!!
After performing a ballad, Blue Method tackled the Buddy Miles classic "Them Changes" and THEY RIPPED THE LINING OUT OF THAT MUGG!! Blazing guitarisms by Michael were the order of the day (along with the odorious bass lines of Rah)..."Maggot Brain" was a bonus that was thrown into the set (this Was NOWHERE near a "partial note-for-note" copy of the original, which is a shame but it still had a lot of intensity). "Machine Gun" was another Michael power-guitar spotlight...then it was back to "Them Changes"!! "In the Running" was another rockin' funk/jazz blast, featuring a jazzy ending where Luke was playing his butt off on jazz piano! "Something Divine" was a good R&B tune, featuring a gospel organ solo by Luke in the intro portion....the only bad part was that I couldn't hear the backing vocalists that well. "Let Me See You" was TOO FUNKY...a cross between James Brown's "Sex Machine" and Tower of Power's "Soul With a Capital 'S'", complete with the horny horns of Tom Long and Brian Williams, and a poppin' bass performance by Rah...but the best part was the OUTSTANDING SOLO spotlight with just Tom on sax and Theron on drums!! Even better was the part when the two began to SERIOUSLY COOK on some HIP-HOP BEATS, with Tom throwing out horn lines from classic hip-hop stuff like DJ Kool's "Let Me Clear My Throat"....the World Cafe Live Downstairs was almost PACKED TO THE BRIM with FUNK FANS, and EVERYBODY WAS JAMMING!!!!!!!!! Blue Method ended their set with some serious JB groovin'...."Payback" and "Get on the Good Foot"....James Brown is somewhere in heaven smilin' right now!! It was all over at 11:15pm.
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