Political Animals. May 4th, 2012

     Typically when this much time has passed after a show I consider writing about it a lost cause. However I liked Political Animals a lot and have been wanting to plug them on my blog for a while. Not that this blog has high traffic and it will benefit them at all, but it's the thought that counts, or so I think.

     Less than two weeks before this show Connect( of Fortified PhonetX) hit me up about trying to help out a Connecticut hip hop band.  Being the prematurely jaded 24 year old that I am, I offered little to no help with finding a venue. Booking is stressful, and without proper time to promote getting a decent amount of gas money for the touring act, above a rental fee is near impossible.  Luckily Connect showed more chivalry than I did, and found a venue(The Smiling Moose) that was willing to do a free day show and give the acts a percentage of bar sales. This was good because it was low risk for us "promoters," but it was also going to be low reward for the touring act, unless I got in full lush mode and used my self destructive drinking habits to support Political Animals' tour.
     Finally, I thought to myself, I'm drinking for a cause and not just because. I had the noble plans of drinking only high end beers, not only support the touring act, but also to trick everyone at the show that I was a baller. However when I showed up and there was a game day special I found myself double fisting dollar beers at the bar as quickly as possible to get my buzz going before the special was up and the sun was down. And I did so ef ficiently, buying beers upon beers in advance for myself to stock up for after the special. Completely disregarding my initial plan of using my alcoholism to financially support the touring band as much as possible.

     Luckily I played first before my buzz completely settled in and I said too many embarrassing things on stage. Next was Proseed who always kills it, and subsequently is also always sober for his sets. Political Animals played third and brought to the table their live band and conventional boom bap style. Positive songs about elevating hip hop instead of getting diluted by mass media rappers, and also elevating and being positive about yourself. I dug it. I also dug how humbled they were, and how honored they were that Connect would help them out so last minute. Last was Fortified PhonetX who always kill it. All this before 9pm, it's pretty rad to see what can be done by artists when they respect each others music enough to help them out. Get drunk, play a show, get paid, all before turning into a pumpkin.
Stillborn Identity
Proseed
Political Animals(download their free ep)
Fortified PhonetX
@ The Smiling Moose. May 4th, 2012