"I called Earl from an airplane carrying me from Minneapolis to New York to see if he had secured us entrance to the Fishbone show. He had. So, after some side-tracking with a Wendy's Number 1 Combo, we arrived just in time to hear Pfluid (the new band of ex-24-7 SPYZ Peter Fluid) say thank you and goodnight. Sorry I can't tell you much about it (other than, not being familiar with his work with the SPYZ, I thought he sounded like he was trying to sound like Angelo).

"I can, however, talk about the Fishbone set. We walked in to witness Angelo's typical mid-crowd hang. Just like the baker ever pushing his wares, he was pimping his books of warped poetry and lyrics and encouraging people (repeatedly, no I mean it, repeatedly) to visit Fishbone's website at www.unuttednations.com. It seems that in the absence of label security, the fellas have turned to the web. Smart move. In fact, much of the new stuff they played has been running underground via the web - half the audience was already familiar with it. No albums are available at unuttednations.com (apparently, they belong to other folk) but video tapes, shirts and books are in abundance.

"Did I mention that Fish is no longer with Fishbone? Oh, yeah. A minor observation. Angelo, Norwood and Dirty Walt were there, but there was also a new keys player and no Fish. Angelo told us that he would be damned if he was going to let the band break up. He promised that Fishbone wasn't going anywhere. To punctuate, he and the boys came back for three encores, stretching a show that started at roughly 11.30 pm to a show that ended at 2.30 am. By the end, I was standing on a chair swinging my newly acquired Smoking Fish baby tee over my head (despite the fact that I was the only one in the place not smoking weed).

"It was a damn fine show. The new band was tight and the energy was frenetic at its lowest. It was everything a Black Rock show should be (except for maybe the part with the White boys hanging from the pipes, oh fuck it, even that should be a Black rock show standard). It's just part of the reason that I will go see them whenever they hit a city I'm in. You should too."

Just came home from the show. It was so much fun. Best I have ever heard them.
Who said they were tight in DC? Raise your hand. They were great. 2 hours and
45 minutes of the Bone!!! Even the bouncers were cool. But, that pole in the
middle of Tramps has got to go. Ok, so when will they be back??? Great show.

Yeah, last night in NYCight was pretty fucking kickass... I'll start with the
set list... in album order..

Ugly
Party at Ground Zero
VTTOFTDGF
Lyin Ass Bitch
When Problems Arise
Cholly
Give it Up
Freddy's Dead
Ma and Pa
Question of Life
If I Were a I'd...(all of them)
HouseWork
Behavior Control Technician
Pray to the JunkieMaker
Sunless Saturday
Pressure
Junkie's Prayer
Unyielding Conditioning
Lemon Meringue
Alcoholic
Monkey Dick
Straight Up Maskaraid
Black Box
The Goose
Words and Music
Just Allow...

Ok, everthing was slammin. I was particularly impressed with Words and Music
and Just Allow.. It may be just because it was the first time I'd seen them do
those songs live. It just proved to me that they can still swing, new lineup
and all....
Musically they were on par with most of their best shows. I have to admit
though, I miss Chris alot in the vocals department. His voice worked in
perfect harmony with Angelo. Walt and Norwood work hard in the back up
department, (yes Norwood, he does more vocal work then ever - guess now he has
to), but they still don't equal Chris... to fucking bad.. let's move on..
NIKO

SETLIST FOR DA NUC SHOW LAST NIGHT!!!
(I got spacey T's and Norwoods)

Sunless Saturday
Words And Music
Give It Up
Bonin' In The Boneyard
When Problems Arise (Slow Version)
Cholly
Unyielding Conditioning
Black Box
Alcoholic
If I... (They did all of them straight)
Skankin' To The Beat
Ugly
Ma And Pa
Question Of Life
Housework
Lemon Meringue
The Goose
Junkie's Prayer
Freddy's Dead
Swim

ENCORE 1
Just Allow
Lyin' Ass Bitch
Party At Ground Zero

ENCORE 2
Straight Up Maskaraid
V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.
Behavior Control Technicion

ENCORE 3
Monkey Dick
Pressure

I have a theremin running in my right ear. My legs hurt. My voice is
non-existant. But, ooooh am I happy!

Niko and Adam got the set list right. Except they didn't play Pray to
the Junkie Maker. I looked for Vijay but no dice. Met up with Serena and
Niko. I talked to Gaston. He was kinda bombarded with duties. Not too
apologetic though.

Angelo proved that all men are created equal in a display of penis
shrinkage. I was appalled. He recited Jah Jah on the Telephone and that
new one on Unutted.

A first for me- We could finally see Walter's eyes! I always wondered
what were behind those glasses.

Dieon did some interesting fills and stuff. A little busier than
Phillip. At some point during the set he became a father. Does that mean
he'll be leaving soon too?

Just like someone from DC said, Norwood didn't seem stoned for the
first time in a long time. He introduced a lot of songs and sang mad
back-ups. One thing I noticed was they all seemed so happy!

John Mcknight was impressive, but there was too much high end on the
keyboards. Mixed with the theremin it made for some occasional ear pain.

Spacy T.'s family was in the house. Yes, folks, his father is Mr. T!

Pfluid. assholemotherfucker spit water in my eye. He didn't sing one
actual melody the whole set. Before his last song he had the nerve to
give shout outs to Kendall Jones, Chris Dowd, John Bigham, and Phil
Fisher. It had this vibe to it like he was being controversial. What a
fool.

What a tight-ass show! Pressure had this stop and go thing to it. It was
great to hear the newer shit with a proper mix. Words and Music was
especially pogo-making. I just wish they would play "Are U Wid It?" It
was also the first time the new cats got a chance to really contribute
to the repertoire. Spacy played some interesting stuff on Housework and
Lemon Merenge. He also got to expand his tone a bit.

In case anyone is interested, before Pfluid and right after Fishbone,
that was Fela Kuti that was being played over the PA.

By the way, I still haven't slept since. I ended up geting home at like
10:00 AM. It is time to crash!

Michael Noonan-Goenaga