On the drizzly Saturday evening of Dec 10 I ventured once again to Seattle’s El Corazon, this time to see California ska/funk masters Fishbone.
I look forward to seeing what front man Angelou Moore will wear as much as I look forward to seeing them play. This time he wore neon green baggy pants, an equally bright yellow and red vest and Kufi hat. He looked fabulous. Bass player Norwood Fisher was just as colorful in bright tie dyed coveralls.
They began their set with Sunless and the packed club went wild. I got jostled around quite a bit by zealous fans on the floor. Keyboardist Christopher Dowd is the only keyboard player I’ve seen actually pick up the entire instrument and dance about without missing a note. Angelou played three different types of saxophones — one was so tiny it looked like a toy and one that was as tall as he was.
When they played Party At Ground Zero (my favorite FB song) followed by Skankin, there was barely a still body in the entire club.
At the end of their over two-hour set Christopher took over on lead vocals, often emoting and leaning into the audience as if serenading everyone personally.
Before their set was finished though, the club had really cleared out. I guess many didn’t feel like sticking around the full two hours. They missed out. The remaining members of FB are Drums – John Steward, Guitar – Mark Phillips, and Trumpet/Vocals – Walter Kibby II (Dirty Walt).
Playing prior to Fishbone was a band calling themselves Jer. These guys have no FB presence that I could find but they completely wowed me. Their singer/front man Jeremy has a bit of info on a Band Camp page but that’s all I could find. He was quite the showman and oozed charm. He strutted and gyrated about the stage non stop and even did a stage dive at the end of their set. The band also included two female horn players who were quite the fashion plates in black fishnets. Their bass player looked like a young George Harrison and their guitar player tortured his strings to the point it sounded like they were screaming for mercy. They were a great band and I really loved their set.
Jer was preceded by another wow band called King Youngblood. This Seattle band was beyond amazing and I don’t know how they slipped under my radar. They’re young. I doubt any of them is 30. Their front man is Cameron Lavi-Jones. He has wild hair and a wild on stage persona. When he wasn’t singing into the mic he was all over the stage and at one point took to the floor and danced with the crowd. Chet Peterson is the band’s cello player extraordinaire. The cello was small and he often held it aloft, spinning about as he played. He even played a bit of Bach. I emphasis again the word extraordinaire. Cameron also is a human rights activist and often brought up human rights issues. He mentioned the recent bloated military budget while people go homeless and live in poverty. He also told people that if they don’t speak up for the oppressed then they are also oppressors. (I’m one who does call out the bigots and fascists on FB and am currently in FB jail for it for the rest of this year).
I will keep diligent about future shows from King Youngblood. The remaining members are Alix Daniel on drums and Samy Garcia on bass. They were all amazing and judging by their young ages and musical prowess, must have been learning to play while they were still in diapers.
Opening the night was Action Buddie. I arrived late and only caught about the last ten minutes (at most) of their set. What I did see impressed me and I was sorry I arrived so late. They totally rocked and the audience was responded very enthusiastically.
This was a fun night with four outstanding and talented bands. I’m stiff and sore from standing for most of the six hours and getting bounced about by enthusiastic fans, but I’m ready to do it all over again.
