Fred
03-01-2004, 05:14 PM
Saucy songs earn band <B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">love[/B]
By Michael Belcher - Contributing Writers
<HR>
February 26, <B style=": #ff66ff; COLOR: black">2004[/B]
On Saturday night at 7:30, Emerson Suites housed its second major happening of February — <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] and <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special [/B]<B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B]. After hundreds were turned away when the acclaimed film director and producer Spike Lee spoke on Feb. 5, many feared that Emerson Suites was not the proper venue. But in the case of <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] and <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special [/B]<B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B], the Suites provided a refreshingly comfortable, warm, interactive setting where a poor view was hard to find.
The music actually started 32 minutes later than scheduled because of several inches of snow outside, but <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] and <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special [/B]<B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B] dealt with the weather and offered a dynamic performance that lasted more than two hours.
When the trio made its first appearance on stage, it was hard to say it looked like a “group� at all because each of the members had a different look. The stylish frontman, <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B], manned the microphone and unleashed back-porch styled lyrics like a curbside poet, bouncing to his own flow and hopping across the stage with his pawnshop guitar.
The stocky bassist wore a hooded sweatshirt and leaned hard on his standup bass, with his straggly hair reaching past his six-inch goatee and into his armpits. And the clean-cut drummer looked more like a CEO on his day off, his bright smile outshining the reflections from his thick-rimmed glasses.
The eclectic look of the band was off-putting, but with a sound that pulls inspiration from reggae, hip-hop and blues — referred to by the band as “ragmop� — perhaps the look of <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] and <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special [/B]<B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B] is all too appropriate.
It took <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] and <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special [/B]<B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B] the first half of its performance to hone its sound. After a several upbeat songs that had the crowd panting and waving their hands in the air, the pace was cooled to a sweat-drying rate through several slower, more soulful songs.
When that prolonged series of songs led people to look around for friends, talk and scratch their heads, the tempo was boosted into a floor-bending funk. Audience members could feel the floor shaking and dipping with the beat of the song and the bouncing of the crowd, and it was not difficult to imagine that the floor might collapse onto the Pub below.
<B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] and <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special [/B]<B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B] eventually hit its stride and made the performance successful. The group rocked out singles like “Cold Beverages� and invited the crowd to participate in call and response. <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special[/B] guest Jasper was brought on stage several times, and he added an edgy texture and another raw voice to the songs.
<B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] had the crowd whooping and clapping for an encore, and when the band finally reappeared on stage, it was as though a new set had begun. At this point <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] appeared comfortable and began a very personal series of songs, including a quality acoustic version of “Baby Got <B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B]� that stood strong on its own without the support of the studio and the full-band. <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] stretched the encore to 45 minutes in length, and the trio seemed willing to play until every audience member was satisfied.
Other than easy-to-dance-to rhythms, <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] also connected with the audience lyrically. He spoke, rapped and serenaded about <B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">love[/B], marijuana, politics, the “booty call� and making it big, and almost every lyric carried a positive connotation.
At a high point, <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] broke the fourth wall by high-fiving an audience member. The crowd sang along to the words “<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">love[/B] one another� — perhaps a simple message to balance out the more complex political commentary on campus. In the end, <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] and <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special [/B]<B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B] offered simple, funky beats and one of the best reasons to break it down all year.
By Michael Belcher - Contributing Writers
<HR>
February 26, <B style=": #ff66ff; COLOR: black">2004[/B]
On Saturday night at 7:30, Emerson Suites housed its second major happening of February — <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] and <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special [/B]<B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B]. After hundreds were turned away when the acclaimed film director and producer Spike Lee spoke on Feb. 5, many feared that Emerson Suites was not the proper venue. But in the case of <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] and <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special [/B]<B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B], the Suites provided a refreshingly comfortable, warm, interactive setting where a poor view was hard to find.
The music actually started 32 minutes later than scheduled because of several inches of snow outside, but <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] and <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special [/B]<B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B] dealt with the weather and offered a dynamic performance that lasted more than two hours.
When the trio made its first appearance on stage, it was hard to say it looked like a “group� at all because each of the members had a different look. The stylish frontman, <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B], manned the microphone and unleashed back-porch styled lyrics like a curbside poet, bouncing to his own flow and hopping across the stage with his pawnshop guitar.
The stocky bassist wore a hooded sweatshirt and leaned hard on his standup bass, with his straggly hair reaching past his six-inch goatee and into his armpits. And the clean-cut drummer looked more like a CEO on his day off, his bright smile outshining the reflections from his thick-rimmed glasses.
The eclectic look of the band was off-putting, but with a sound that pulls inspiration from reggae, hip-hop and blues — referred to by the band as “ragmop� — perhaps the look of <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] and <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special [/B]<B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B] is all too appropriate.
It took <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] and <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special [/B]<B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B] the first half of its performance to hone its sound. After a several upbeat songs that had the crowd panting and waving their hands in the air, the pace was cooled to a sweat-drying rate through several slower, more soulful songs.
When that prolonged series of songs led people to look around for friends, talk and scratch their heads, the tempo was boosted into a floor-bending funk. Audience members could feel the floor shaking and dipping with the beat of the song and the bouncing of the crowd, and it was not difficult to imagine that the floor might collapse onto the Pub below.
<B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] and <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special [/B]<B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B] eventually hit its stride and made the performance successful. The group rocked out singles like “Cold Beverages� and invited the crowd to participate in call and response. <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special[/B] guest Jasper was brought on stage several times, and he added an edgy texture and another raw voice to the songs.
<B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] had the crowd whooping and clapping for an encore, and when the band finally reappeared on stage, it was as though a new set had begun. At this point <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] appeared comfortable and began a very personal series of songs, including a quality acoustic version of “Baby Got <B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B]� that stood strong on its own without the support of the studio and the full-band. <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] stretched the encore to 45 minutes in length, and the trio seemed willing to play until every audience member was satisfied.
Other than easy-to-dance-to rhythms, <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] also connected with the audience lyrically. He spoke, rapped and serenaded about <B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">love[/B], marijuana, politics, the “booty call� and making it big, and almost every lyric carried a positive connotation.
At a high point, <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] broke the fourth wall by high-fiving an audience member. The crowd sang along to the words “<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">love[/B] one another� — perhaps a simple message to balance out the more complex political commentary on campus. In the end, <B style=": #ffff66; COLOR: black">G [/B]<B style=": #a0ffff; COLOR: black">Love[/B] and <B style=": #99ff99; COLOR: black">Special [/B]<B style=": #ff9999; COLOR: black">Sauce[/B] offered simple, funky beats and one of the best reasons to break it down all year.