| Kurtis Blow gave no meaning to his name 'Blow' this past Friday night when he had to be restrained by Berkeley police from throwing 'blows' at a concert promoter for not paying him. The way it all went down was like this..The 20th Anniversary Fresh Fest tour kicked off this past Friday at UC Berkeley's Greek Theater. About 2 thousand people showed up to watch Run DMC, Whodini, Sugar Hill Gang, Mele-Mel and Kurtis Blow put it down like they used 'back in the days'. Whodini opened up and completely shocked the house. They got the crowd so hyped that it was obviously a major oversight on behalf of the promoter to put them first. Whodini let crowd know their sentiments about having to open up. Ecstasy explained back stage that they were gonna leave the crowd exhausted and let down by the next act. BTW Ecstasy explained that Whodini will soon be doing all their business on the internet. They are in the process of launching their new website and will be following the lead set by Chuck D and others.. Ecstasy's words rang true as Sugar Hill Gang followed with a lack luster performances which was sparked up by Mele-Mel who is now an official member of the group. That's right, there ain't gonna be no Grand Master Flash reunion anytime soon Mele told me he's now making albums with Sugar Hill.. Hopefully Mele- can help them tighten up their performance a bit. Mele explained that he now considers himself Mr Multi-Media. He intends to do everything. He has a movie about to drop around the beginning of the year which will chronicle the career of Grand Master Flash and The Furious Five. He also explained that he's been lifting weights and training so he can eventually get into the whole wrestling scene. You have to admit he has a colorful name. Run DMC closed the show with a stellar performance which left the crowd standing.. Make no mistake they are truly the 'Kings Of Rock'. Backstage, Jam Master Jay told me about the groups upcoming new album which he insists will be off the hook. He talked about a hot track he just did with Old Dirty Bastard. One of Jay's partners pointed out that ODB because of all his craziness and controversy is set to sell a million records. Jay noted that ODB doesn't sound like some one who is that crazy with his new song 'Get Your Money'. Maybe there is a method to ODB's madness. Lastly he clarified some of the events that took place during the MTV Music awards. He explained that when Diana Ross removed the statue while Adam from the Beasty Boys was talking, it was only so his face could be seen on the large screen tv inside the venue. As he was speaking on the situation at Woodstock, his award was blocking his face.. Anyway Run DMC showed and prove they are still in the game.. The evening belonged to Kurtis Blow. As the crowd was leaving, many were wondering what happened to Kurtis.. His entourage which included members of New York's famed New York City Breakers were present, but alas no Kurtis. As the stage was being shut down and the houselights turned on.. Kurtis Blow came rushing onto the stage. He grabbed a mic which happened to be on and started shouting to the crowd that he was Kurtis Blow and he was here to perform for them. Everyone stopped in their tracks to listen. Kurtis continued to explain that he was delayed by Southwest Airlines.. Apparently he was in Cleveland for the Rock -N-Roll Hall of Fame conference that afternoon. Kurtis told the crowd that he wanted to do at least one song, but the promoters wouldn't let him. 'Can I at least do one song?' , he asked the crowd. They yelled back with much enthusiasm. "they won't let me perform', Kurtis pleaded . 'I flew all the way out here to perform for you and they won't let me do at least one songs'. The security that was headed toward the stage to remove Kurtis had to back off once they saw the crowd was fully behind him. One of his dancer started busting a headspin on the stage and the crowd went nuts. Somebody managed to re-hook up the dat machine and some of the disassembled equipment and Kurtis Blow dropped his signature song 'The Breaks'. Needless to say, everyone loved it..especially when Kurtis began executing break moves with his dancers. It was a great way to end the evening as everyone left completely satisfied. Now this is where the drama begans. Backstage the promoters informed Kurtis that he wasn't gonna get paid because his performance forced the venue to go over time..Kurtis had a strong difference of opinion. His flight had messed up and he did his best to get there and rock the house.. Kurtis was up in the promoter's face demanding his money.and the promoter was saying 'No'. The police and other personnel ushered Kurtis and the promoter to a side room to work things out.. As I was chatting it up with Mele-Mel.. I suddenly saw a swarm of people and an angry Kurtis Blow throwing jabs like Mike Tyson. The flustered promoter was whisked away and police held Kurtis back.. I'm not sure of the final outcome.. but I do recall one of the officers saying out loud how they grew up listening to Kurtis and didn't wanna have to take him to jail. Hopefully the situation gets resolved. If you don't see Kurtis on the subsequent Fresh Fest Tours, then you will know why. Props to Kurtis for a great show even if it was last minute.. Bad move for him to take the street approach toward resolving his dispute. A lawsuit and an assault charge is not the way to go out especially for a Hip Hop pioneer. As I've often pointed out such outcomes set back Hip Hop in a big way. Heck if Kurtis didn't get his loot he could've taken his case to Judge Judy and sold tons records as a result of the publicity and notoriety.
|