Slightly Stoopid with Fishbone and Simeon of Outlaw Nation at Cannery 2-26-11
by Thomas Harding on Mar 02nd, 2011
Fishbone at Cannery 2-26-11. Photo credit: Andy Hollingsworth
Photo Gallery: Slightly Stoopid with Fishbone and Simeon of Outlaw Nation at Cannery 2-26-11
There are few things that bring as many grizzled punkers, bunches of frat brothers and sorority socialites, wanna-be white-boy Rastafarians and true dreadlock Rastas together as a show which matches bands of the same genre, different generations and two extremes of credibility. Slightly Stoopid and Fishbone are an example of such a bill.
I had known Slightly Stoopid fans. They were the at first lovable potheads in my dorm that all rushed Greek organizations and turned into total dicks. So when I got there and saw so many being turned away, I thought perhaps there would be a shortage of these folks. The whole community must have forgotten to buy tickets and now the show had been sold out.
Fishbone started playing and I felt as if I had stumbled into a surreal dream. I waded though the crowd trying to get closer to the stage when my path as blocked by four bros who looked to be sharing two girls as dates. One girl draped herself over the back of one. As the band began the next number, the girl began to back it up on the guy behind her and he began to high five and thumbs up the other two friends. He began to move his hips with her – a familiar sight as I had seen it at parties and clubs for years. In fact, I would have paid them no mind except in the dense crowd, as he gyrated and wiggled with her, so too he backed his thing up on my leg. Again, nothing new; I had seen this situation at big shows and clubs before too. What happened next I had never seen.
As Fishbone began to cook with “The Suffering,” the chap in front of me gave his buddy to his left a friendly pat on the hindquarters ala college football tradition. No big deal, just two dudes affirming that they were having a great time at a ragin’ show. Then he did it again. Perhaps he thought his bro hadn’t noticed since the pat was not reciprocated. Maybe I had imagined it in the fog brought on to the sudden introduction of a large amount lit marijuana cigarettes in an enclosed space. but then it happened again. And once more. Then the dude starts going to town slapping his buddy’s ass as the girl began to grab beers from the hands of all in reach and pounding them back. I looked at my feet and saw them blanketed in a large number of empty aluminum Bud Lite bottles.
I pushed forward, where I watched Fishbone groove with my ear about a foot away from the Ballroom’s massive PA speakers. The sound left much to be desired and I assume the only place where one could hear every nuance was next to the sound man at the back of the room. This has been a problem at every show I’ve been to at Cannery Ballroom and is due to the poor relation of the stage to just about every wall in the joint. Yet the band still sounded tight. As they played, you could see the band was showing its age. Norwood has greying hair in his beard now; Angelo doesn’t bounce around the stage at the speed of light anymore. Granted, that may have bee a function of the cramped stage.
The audience just did not seem to get what these crazies were doing. As the band ripped into “Party at Ground Zero,” an anthem for Fishbone fans (and by extension, fans of third wave ska), the audience stared almost catatonically at the band, nodding their heads in time to the beat. No one danced, no one moshed. Norwood had explained how he loved to watch the fans go off during the song no matter the gig, but here in Nashville only a dedicated few fans even sang along. By now I was right up front (maybe two people between me and the barricades, which I think are incredibly lame to have at shows) and I felt a tug at my sleeve. I turned, expecting to see a small lost child. I wasn’t far off, for what I saw was a small, drunk girl ― similar to a lost child in many respects. “Why…Wh..Why aren’t ‘chya dancing!?” I looked blankly at her and pretended not to understand. It wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have, so I mouthed “What? Can’t hear! It’s so loud” and then turned away.
That question stuck in my mind. Why weren’t other people dancing and why did I stand there, arms folded nodding to the beat? Would it have been that hard to get a dance floor cleared? Would it have been out of line to start a pit at the appropriate times? Who’s to say really, but perhaps I should have taken matters into my own hands and got that party jumping by any means necessary. As Fishbone’s set drew to a close Norwood announced that the next song was about rape. I knew where this was going and considering the stereo types held by jaded punks concerning frat guys, it was sickly ironic when the band launched into their cover of Sublime’s “Date Rape.” The joint finally began to hop as 518 (roughly) Sublime fans began to dance and sing along. It was nice to see everyone having a good time singing a much-beloved classic. For the first time, I felt at one with the crowd and not out of place.
The band took their leave and, like any classy opening act, did not play an encore. I was hoping that they would and that it would include “Sunless Saturday” but no such luck.
Slightly Stoopid took the stage and the first thing that struck me was their expanded lineup with horn lines, etc. They began playing reggae reminiscent of the material of Sublime or Long Beach Dub All-Stars. I was unimpressed and retired to the lounge behind the bar. I wondered if I could use my Sinizine.net press badge to get back stage, but opted not push my luck on my first assignment. As I watched through a window cut into the wall, I saw the crowd erupt when the band launched into a thrash part. This was new to me; I’d never heard this in any of my encounters with Stoopid’s material. The song ended and a string of people came from back stage: crowd surfers escorted out by security and returned to the crowd. The next song started and followed the same formula: Reggae, Jam, Thrash part, Reggae. This time, as security emerged with another man gesticulating wildly, I heard ambiguous shouting that I imagined as two mad Italians arguing over the state of politics. Then suddenly a third man approached. He too began flailing his arms as he shouted. There was a pause. The man who was being escorted recoiled and then began to nod. Soon all were laughing and slapping each other on the back. I don’t understand what I witnessed, but I knew nothing would strike me more than that at this show.
In the car I thought about all that I had witnessed at what the is most surreal show I have ever seen. Ugh, it was too much and I was hungry. I saw a Krystal Burger and took the exit.
Experiential Reviewer: Thomas Harding
[...] Sinizine has a review & photos from the recent Slightly Stoopid/Fishbone show at the Cannery Ballroom. Previous [...]
[...] The following interview took place over the phone at 88.3 WMTS in Murfreesboro, Tenn. three days before Fishbone played with Slightly Stoopid and Simeon in Nashville, Tenn. on 26 February 2012. [...]