Bash Compactor: A Night of New Music
A night at Webster Hall usually means youre going to dance your ass off, get a drink spilled on you and lose your phone. The opening concert of the New Music Seminar, brought to you by Tom Silverman, co-founder of Tommy Boy Records, on July 19 didnt disappoint.
DJ Rana Sobhany was playing music on her iPad, and watching her perform was fascinating because she moved like she was flipping vinyl. The show opened with singer Matt White dressed like he just stepped off a remake of the Andy Griffith Show in a pink oxford shirt, cuffed jeans and some Converse, but he won me over with his falsetto and bluesy rock grooves. Queen of Comedy and Drop Dead Diva star Margaret Cho, did her usual in-your-face, how-uncomfortable-can-I-make-you set and performed a song off her upcoming comedy album Cho Dependent.
And have you seen that Honda commercial with the black guy rapping and wondered who the hell he is? Thats Mickey Factz and he hit the stage with a presence that reminded me of Kanye (pre-diarrhea of the mouth). Any man that can drop the phrase Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in a rap verse and make it sound gangsta, as Factz did, is alright with me. Kat DeLuna may be a petite Latina but there was nothing small about her stage show. In a shimmery, silky, silver cat suit that accented an ass that made me consider throwing my own panties on the stage, she asked the soundman to turn down the music and turn up her vocals; she wanted the people to hear her. I was worried but pleased to hear she actually has a strong voice. I mean its not Christina Aguilera strong but Im pretty sure she could out-sing Lady GaGa. Yeah, I said it.
Comedian Rob Cantrell urged us to take naps and not masturbate while doing shrooms. The highlight of my evening was hip-hop royalty Naughty by Nature, who began their careers on Tommy Boy Records decades ago. I declare, you have not lived until youve waved your arm, left to right, and chanted Heeey, Hooo led by the original Hey Hoo-ers themselves. Cuban artist CuCu Diamantes, jokingly apologized for her Ricky Ricardo accent and closed the show with her Latin funk collective band, not before shouting out actor Luis Guzman in the balcony VIP. Oh, and I found my Blackberry. Somebody stepped on it, but its fine.