Jon E Cash Show Disappoints

went to the jon e cash show last night

things didn't go too well, but greg and dinesh realize as much

people just need to be patient while the kinks get worked out

among the problems last night:

(1) the venue -- crash mansion -- too antiseptic in feel -- you could be anywhere -- the space just feels "corporate" to me somehow -- i think the best place to throw a grime party has got to be williamsburg (or else avenue c) (or why not deep in brooklyn) -- and you need a bar that has got its own crowd -- i.e., a bar w/ its own crowd will likely have at least some character -- i.e., it's not simply an empty space that the crowd coming for the show then fills -- so a bar in williamsburg, w/ its own young crowd -- again, i felt that overland trading bar was a good choice back in february -- though i've heard of some other spaces in w'burg that i think could be better (i.e., based purely on hearsay), but i need to do the leg work before i can have an opinion

(2) it took too long for the HEAT event to get going b/c some band had been playing immediately beforehand -- so at 12 midnight there were still band members moving their equipment out of the way while greg and dinesh were trying to hook up their turntables, check sound, etc -- which meant that greg didn't even start to play records until, say, 12:15, and then jon e cash probably didn't start to perform until 1:45 or so

(3) jon e cash was seriously deficient in charisma -- he had absolutely no stage presence -- perhaps he was suffering from jet lag -- but he showed up in an all-grey sweatsuit and looked like an over-the-hill boxer -- and then he delivered a very pathetic mc performance -- the crowd began to scatter w/in minutes of his taking center stage -- and then maybe 10 minutes into his set he sat down on a chair! -- and so he was just sitting there on his chair while his dj played records -- and so there was jon e cash, direct from london, ready to show nyc how to party, and he's sitting on the chair and going "oh my gosh" and "whoooosh" and "oh my gosh" -- and he sat there like a tub of lard for a good twenty minutes or so -- until finally mc deadly crisis took the stage and began to rap, which at least had the effect of getting jon e cash back on to his feet == but by this point, at around 2:15, the party could not be saved -- pretty much everyone had left

(4) dj dread d was not a bad dj -- however, the music didn't fit with the space -- so it wasn't really his fault -- but he was playing very raw, stripped down tracks w/ all the action in the bass -- this music would have worked in dark squat-style space w/ simply a couple strobe lights going -- but at crash mansion the music served only to chase all the girls off the dancefloor

as for the silver lining:

(1) it's clear that HEAT have a pretty sizeable crowd willing to show up at their shows -- so hopefully the crowd won't be demoralized -- hopefully the crowd will give greg and dinesh a chance to work out the kinks

(2) the HEAT mc's -- in addition to mc deadly crisis the crew now includes mc d la and mc lucky b -- mc lucky b in particular has charisma -- she's beautiful, sexy, and hot -- and she knows how to dance -- i haven't the slightest notion what any of them were up there saying, but the three of them together have good energy -- but lucky b has star quality -- before she took the stage i just thought she was a girl in the crowd, and i was thinking to myself, "damn, this girl owns this place"

according to greg poole, all three mc's will be on hand for future HEAT events -- i.e., even the smaller events at white rabbit

so in summary, the jon e cash event was a definite downer

but people should stick by greg and dinesh -- they're determined to work things out

polystyle des said:

but i've seen the crowd that hangs out that venue , nothing going on there !

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that's b/c the venue has no crowd

that is, i don't think anyone actually hangs out there

i think different people come for different shows

unfortunately, the next big HEAT event will also be at Crash Mansion

but since the event features dj cameo perhaps it will go better than this past one

Dubquixote said:

Not to be a hater but Dinesh is a shit promoter and 90% of his parties that I've been to have been completely without vibe. He's too slick for grime, and watching his yuppy crowd pretend that they're feeling grime is a painful spectacle to behold.

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i agree about the lack of vibe

however, i think lack of vibe can be chalked up -- though not entirely -- to fact that there really is no indigenous scene for this kind of music -- unless you were to come at it from a hip hop crowd angle

that is, there is something very artificial about all the grime events i've been to

except for the glorious night a volume when dizzy rascal performed -- that night had vibe in a very serious way -- but that's b/c it was like a rave reunion

as for whether dinesh and greg have a "yuppy crowd" -- my view is that choice of venue determines the crowd to a very considerable extent -- so if you go see greg & dinesh at white rabbit you will encounter yuppies en masse (w/ proviso that it's a racially diverse yuppie scene) -- however, the crowd they had at crash mansion seemed to me fairly diverse in terms of race & class & what i call "world view" (i.e., i imagine people's value systems based on how they look, move, interact w/ others, etc)

also when you say "yuppie crowd" -- against what kind of crowd are you defining this?

that is, if you think the student or intellectual or overly self-conscious hipster crowds that one encounters at rothko or subtonic is the answer -- then you're even further behind the curve

i.e., it's all about CROWD DYNAMICS -- i.e., promoter as mad scientist who combines X w/ Y w/ Z and then a touch of A and B and C -- and that's how you get a cool party

and that's why i think overland trade back in february was a good choice -- b/c of the crowd that the bar already had -- to which you merely had to add all the people specifically interested in hearing dj cameo

but yeah i think greg and dinesh need to think a lot more carefully about choice of venue and crowd dynamics

and i think they realize as much

though it remains to be seen whether they can make all the right moves

even so they still get credit in my book for pushing new sounds and bringing over UK talent