SUGAR DADDY & MICHIGAN BLACKSNAKE
At the Baby Jupiter - NYC (3/09/01)
Baboo & Cashton Keyes........two of the best funk musicians in the Boston
area!!
At 10:20pm, the Boston-baked funk band, Sugar
Daddy, started funkatizing their audience........actually, there were only 2 or
3 asses in the club that were funkatized--the rest of the crowd was a bunch of
Sir Noses! Also to the band's disappointment, there were only a handful of
people checking them out! DAMN!
The first tune was "When You Were
Funky"........a funky extravaganza with some nasty synthesized riffs by
Sweetstick, sweet-ass bass riffs by Baboo, moments of tight drumming by
Candyman, and guitar licks by Cashton Keyes......licks that were too strong
for many of the Sir Noses's taste!! The bass solo was PHAT......it was smokin'
like some eggs left in the skillet way too long!!!! The special highlight of
the song was the ending.....it was the all-too familiar guitar riff from
Parliament's "I Call My Baby Pussycat" and Funkadelic's
"Hardcore Jollies". The next
song was pretty much similar to the first. "Underground" benefited
from s'more nasty, funked-up synthesizer riffs! "Shower Song" was
so filthy that it had me showering at least three times later that night, just
so I can scrub off the too-strong, pungent funk!!!
The hardcore rock breakdown was the highlight
of "Buried Sunshine".....well, the intense bass popping & smokey
guitarisms weren't bad either!!
"Interplanetary Freak" (my most
favorite Sugar Daddy tune) featured some stank bass riffs that melted the
speakers!! (it was so funky that it could have summoned the real
"mothership") The only problem was that the guitar was too low in
the mix. "Focus on the Funk" featured some more intoxicating bass
riffs......the band threw in samples of P-Funk's "Quickie",
"Take Your Dead Ass Home", "Get Off Your Ass and Jam", and
the chant "We Be Funkin' Over Here, Over There Ain't Shit!" (from the
Prince & George Clinton collaboration, "We Can Funk") Sugar
Daddy attempted to revive (give CPR) to some funk-dead asses in the club with
"Good to Your Earhole", mostly to no avail. The Sugar Daddy clan
concluded their funkalicious set at 11:05pm.
Click here for pictures of Sugar Daddy
The funky lead vocalist & guitarist, Greg Luttrell!
At 11:25pm, another "Beantown" funk
group, MICHIGAN BLACKSNAKE, showed the crowd that they are some tight
MF's......by the time, the crowd size had doubled but still so many people were
Sir Nose'd out! The keyboards (by Ben Hillman) and sax riffs (by Dan Abreu)
were very good, and Mik Mersha's bass riffs were smokin'! On good lead vocals
and guitar was Greg Luttrell. For the next song, drummer Tony Hall took over
the lead vocal spot on a mellow tune.
The next song started with a slice of rock
guitar heaven (thanks, Greg), which led into a funk landscape that filled in
with some spicy organ riffs by Dave and a soaring lead guitar solo!!
Michigan Blacksnake's version of "Fire" (originally by the Ohio
Players) was good, but two criticisms:
1. the dry, falsetto screeching by Mr. Luttrell can GO!
2. the sax riffs that ended the original O.P. song were
missing!
"Doreen" was a strong funk cut with
some odorious bassisms & more good keyboards. The bass solo was kickin' (good bass popping) on Sly
& the Family Stone's "Thank You Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Again"!!
"Tear the Roof Off the Sucka" was a nice
addition.......Sugar Daddy's Cashton Keyes and Candyman joined the Blacksnake
onstage for the chorus vocal support, along with one Dr. Brookenstein!! SO
FUNKALICIOUS!!!
The band even
tackled Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" with some funky attitude! The
Michigan Blacksnake clan ended their venomous attack at 1:05am.
Click here for pictures of Michigan Blacksnake
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