Kool and The Gang Concert Review

What is the most unlikely musical pairing you can think of for a concert? Miranda Lambert and Chris Brown? Marilyn Manson and Jars of Clay? Yo-Yo Ma and Odd Future? Van Halen and Kool and the Gang might rank fairly high on this list too, which is why these two groups currently touring together throughout the country seems like an odd pairing at best. I saw them at the Verizon Center in DC a few weeks ago and thought I would share a few thoughts about the show. Sure, I could write about how Van Halen still rocks and how David Lee Roth is slightly (or more) crazy (he showed home videos of him and his dogs on his ranch and yelled several times to turn off the f@#ing blowers), but I saw little coverage of Kool and the Gang’s performance, so I figured I would write something here.

First of all, how did the Van Halen-Kool and the Gang partnership come together? Here’s the answer from Kool (or perhaps one of the Gang):

We were excited when we heard about it. We were surprised too, because Van Halen being hard rock and we're funk pop. But then as I was speaking to David, he told me he saw us performing at the Glastonbury Festival. We had about 60,000 people, and we rocked them. I guess when he got together with Eddie and Alex, he said, "I want Kool and the Gang to be our support." They said, "Why Kool and the Gang?" He said, "Hey, man, I saw these guys get down in London." He said, "We were the rock party band of the '80s and you were the pop-funk band of the '80s. Hey, Kool, let's go out and have a party."

So there you go. As you probably expected, the Van Halen crowd was slow to warm to Kool and the Gang during the first few songs. To their credit, KATG (it’s easier to type this instead of Kool and the Gang over and over) knew the audience...and soon enough won us over. I guess that happens when you’ve been around for 40 years and have numerous hits. Seriously, it seemed like I said to the guys next to me during every song either “I know that song” or “I didn’t know that was Kool and the Gang.” It also helps that Jungle Boogie is an awesome song (the horns were amazing).



So a few random thoughts about KATG and their performance:

Who knew that Kool is the bass player?

What is the “It” in KATG’s song Get Down On It? Is it safe to get down on it?

Naturally, everyone was on their feet for Celebration, the finale of KATG’s performance. By the way, for my entire life, I thought that the sing-along part of the song was Woo-hoo or perhaps Yoo-hoo. Apparently, it’s Yahoo. I disagree with KATG here.

I hope I have as much energy as some of the members of KATG when I'm that age!

In case you wanted to read more about the VH concert, check out The Washington Post and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

National Love

When we last checked in with the highly successful rapper Pitbull, we noted that he displayed his lyrical skills by rhyming Kodak with Kodak. Since that time, "Mr. 305" earned 11 2012 Billboard Latin Music Award nominations and VH1 featured him on a recent Behind the Music episode. He also teamed up with Chris Brown (probably not the former Tennessee Titans Running Back) for the single International Love. Let's take a look at Pitbull's latest masterpiece.

You Put It Down Like New York City
I Never Sleep
Wild Like Los Angeles
My Fantasy
Hotter Than Miami
I Feel The Heat
Ohh Miss International Love

This is the chorus. Now, I acknowledge that my geography skills are probably average at best; however, the chorus features three cities: New York City, Los Angeles & Miami. Therefore, shouldn't Pitbull rename the song National Love or American Love? You can't throw in London, Tokyo or Paris in the chorus?

The song also featured two more lines I feel the need to share.

In Lebanon Yeah The Women Are Bomb

I feel like referring to people or things as "bomb" or "the bomb" stopped in 2000.

And in Greece, you've guessed it, the women are sweet

I didn't guess it. My guess would have had something to do with the Greek economy. Is Pitbull making some type of reference to baklava? I hope Pitbull isn't attempting to rhyme Greece and sweet. I think he should have tried peace, hairpiece, geese, crease or fleece. Here are my two suggestions for the remix:

1. And the women in Greece like to wear fleece
2. And in Greece, the women like Marc-Andre Fleury in the crease

Perhaps, I'm not qualified to be a rapper.

Anyway, despite some odd lyrics, Pitbull knows how to create catchy songs. Enjoy.

Grammy Awards Notes

I only started watching the Grammys at 10:00, so I have no comments from the first two hours. I just watched the Smokey Robinson/Lionel Richie/Chris Brown performance. Smokey sang “The Tracks of My Tears,” Lionel sang and played piano for his song (sorry, I don’t remember which song he performed) and Chris Brown danced for his song “Run It.” It was an exciting performance and Brown is an incredible dancer, but he barely sang his own song. Chris Brown may have a terrific career as a dancer or actor, but as a musician, he will never be in the same class as Smokey Robinson or Lionel Richie.

P.S. I have Mary J. Blige on my fantasy celebrity league team (more on this tomorrow), so I’m hoping that she has a big night. I did see that she has won at least one Grammy.