I don’t think I had a moment to rest at all this past weekend, cause there was so much going on…
Friday night I went out bowling with my friends (Hung, Kim, Angie, Lance) and some of their co-workers. Let’s just say I’m a much better DJ than bowler. That’s okay though, cause low scores mean nothin’ when you’re rollin’ with the gutter squad!! Haha, me and Angie had the lowest scores so we came up with that nickname for ourselves. Who said teams have to be good at what they’re playin? Anyway, stayed out waaaaaay too late bowling which was a bad idea because I had to be up the next morning at 7 AM for…
The Tony Yayo and Young Buck show in Jacksonville, NC. Yeah that’s right, I had to drive to Jacksonville on only 2 hours of sleep! This was my first time driving to eastern NC and I have to say that it reminds me of Pembroke/Robeson county quite a bit. Anyway, the reason I was driving there was to DJ for Kaze who was to open for Yayo/Young Buck. The show was being held at a drag strip (okay so they actually built a stage, it was cool). Spent the majority of the day there…waiting and waiting. Finally Kaze was able to do his set, I backed him up as well as a couple of other acts. I met a couple of people to push beats to that day, so that’s a positive thing. We’re all done and waiting for Yayo/Young Buck to show up but apparently they hadn’t even left the hotel when all the opening acts had finished. It was at this point where I said screw it, and just decided to go ahead and drive back to Raleigh. Didn’t do much that night because I was so tired. I went over to Hung’s to watch a movie but ended up falling asleep and missed pretty much the entire thing. I woke up around midnight to Hung cooking steak for me, him, and Kim. Why? I have no clue, but it was good! It’s probably a good idea that I just rested that night, I was quite burnt out, and besides I had another big day ahead of me for sunday…
Sunday Common performed at UNC, and I was scheduled to be the opening DJ. Actually the only reason I agreed to DJ was to get in for free, haha. In the middle of the afternoon I got a call from 9th saying he was gonna DJ too, which was cool with me since I didn’t even really feel like DJing in the first place. Due to my previous experience from the Ghostface show, I brought about 3 crates of records, and 9th brought serato scratch (which I must have, but that’s another topic entirely). I picked up Angie and then we rolled on out to UNC, but the whole way there we were trying to find out exactly where the show was supposed to be, haha. So we get there and me and 9th set everything up, do a soundcheck, etc.. There was still quite a bit of time to kill before the doors were supposed to open so me and Angie decided to roll out for some food. We ended up getting sushi and soup at a place on franklin st.. The name of the place escapes me right now, but it was pretty good. As soon as we walked back to the venue, it was time for the doors to open. 9th started things off, then I played a few…in total we only played for about 30 minutes. Such a shame we had all that music that didn’t get played. Here’s a couple of pics Angie snapped:
After we finished it was time for Common. He had a keyboard player and a DJ/percussionist along with him on stage, so the show had a more “live” feel to it. We watched the show from the sidestage, which was cool because we’d never have been able to go down to the crowd and make it back to the front stage area. He basically opened up with a few songs from BE, then went back to I used to love h.e.r. and decided at that point it was time for his DJ to get some shine. I never learned the DJ’s name but let me just say this dude was sick. He did a battle routine using rob base and ez rock’s “it takes two” and it was insane. I wish I wasn’t so into the dj performance or I would have tried to get a video clip of it. I must say I appreciate him being a real DJ and keeping the art alive (which I told him the next day when I saw him in the airport, haha) After that, Common did a few more of his well known songs, and even pulled a girl on stage for his performance of “come close.” Everyone on the sidestage area with us was basically just chillin and most of them were sitting down. It seemed like me and Angie were the only ones getting into the music, dancing around most of the time. Anyway, Common wrapped up his set (or so he’d have everyone believe) and came off to the sidestage. At this point I’m saying “i can’t believe he didn’t do ‘The Light'” cause that’s his biggest hit. Just when you think the show is all over, the keyboard player starts into the chords from the song and Common runs back onstage to perform. This was probably my favorite part of the show because I love that song, and I love the original. Matter of fact, go ahead and download the original, you need it in your life:
Bobby Caldwell – Open Your Eyes
So Common finishes and we pack up all my stuff and decided to head back to Raleigh to meet up with everyone for bowling again. We managed to take this on the way out though (gutter squad, we ain’t scared!!):
Soo after all that fun in Chapel Hill it was back to the bowling alley in Raleigh where we had to represent for our low scorers. Something weird happened though and I bowled two strikes in a row to start off the game! Everything went back to normal after that though and I got back to the low numbers. Good thing too, I almost got kicked off the squad!! I ended up leaving early because I had to be at work at 6 am (and up at 4:30 am!!!!).
All in all, it was an awesome weekend, with sunday evening being the most enjoyable. I’ll update about halloween tomorrow or something…I have to be up in two hours for work…
Oh, can’t make this long post about Common without giving you a song (a dope one at that):
