Tourblog By Tripp : Slim's : San Francisco : 9-27-08

Our show at Slim's was something I was looking forward to pretty much from the moment we booked it. It's been incredibly difficult for me to formulate a blog for this show in my head nevermind actually typing!) because there were so many things to fit in to any kind of synopsis. But at the urging of my fellow cohorts, this show is really something I really want to share with you all. That being said, here goes...

It was a homecoming of sorts for us as well, since BLVD had been doing tons of touring during the summer, but without many performances in the Bay Area. We had also been selling hard copies of our new album "Music For People" at our shows for a couple months, but our Slim's show was the official release party marking the date when people could actually buy the album through online channels.

The album "Music For People" represents many things for BLVD. For starters, it's our first release with our MC: Souleye. The last time we performed at Slim's, Souleye was relatively new to the group, and the CD we were releasing (the all-instrumental and electronically produced "Digital Disorder") didn't even feature him. It was refreshing to have an album with his vocals. In addition, we finally had a release that was way more characteristic of our live show! Our previous efforts, while exciting studio projects, didn't really capture what people heard from us live.

It's always been a battle for BLVD to try and bridge the gap between the live music venue and the DJ club, anyway, and this show was no different. The show itself was fun to put together...our friend Random Rab opened things up at around 9pm, which was maybe a little early compared to when most people are used to seeing him, but I thought he tailored his set to the circumstances really well. It's not every weekend that a DJ is done playing by 10:30pm, haha!

We took the stage at around 10:30, and played every song from our album, in addition to some newer tunes that haven't been recorded yet. We've also been playing a lot of tracks from "Digital Disorder" that have been modified and augmented to include live instrumentation. It's always been fun for us to represent older material in a new format, which is what we've done with songs like Brown Eyes, Deep State, and Stained Glass.

After we were done, James Christopher took over the stage to present "Savage Journey," which was a project he had been working on for over a year mixing drum'n'bass with documentary footage from Hunter S. Thompson's life. What I didn't realize until the show was that it was actually a full-on stage performance...Chris as Richard Nixon, MC Manny Vibes and Rob Newell (a.k.a. Dave Laser from Seven Minute Style) as a secret service agents, DJ Majitope as a 60s-era hippie, just to name a few...it was a kind of organized chaos and a pleasure to behold. It was hard to know whether to dance to the banging beats or watch and try to unravel the mystery of what was unfolding onstage!

After the show came to a close, we all walked outside to see our sleek new Dodge Sprinter van that our manager had pulled up in earlier. People kept coming up to me offering me their congratulations, and it was hard to know whether they meant the van or the show we had just played, haha! The Slim's show was the first date beginning our upcoming fall tour, so it was nice to know that we'd be a little more comfortable driving east the following week. Anyone want to buy a '99 Chevy Suburban? (grin)

Check out this highlight video of the Slim's show by our friend Luxvibes...