Slightly Stoopid
Fishbone
The Beautiful Girls
Fine Line Music Cafe
Minneapolis, MN
6-4-2005

By Paul Bowman

The Fine Line Music Caf? is quite perfect. If you?re there for an unpopular solo act. If the band has four or more members or any kind of realistic draw, you will find yourself in a sweltering club until closing time. It is a caf?, it really isn?t meant to hold as many people as they shove in there. The floor space is overly-congested more often than not, and ridiculously hot on the balcony (when you?re on the balcony, you have to look over the reserved tables.) In order to avoid fire hazards (an overcrowded railing) on the top floor, Fine Line has placed reserved tables along the entire front row of the balcony. This line of tables is the best part, provided you have the extra twenty bucks to purchase a seat. With this extra twenty dollars (added to your ticket fee), you are given twenty dollars of food from the kitchen, as well as one of the coveted seats along the front of the balcony. It should also be noted that the kitchen closes at nine (arrive early to use all of your free food money) and that the twenty dollars does not include drinks of any kind. These tickets stand as the best kept seat-cret in Minneapolis concert venues, so take advantage!

Yet, this time, I did not have any such access to a table. Luckily (for me), many people with table seats had not arrived as the first band took the stage. Judging solely by their name, The Beautiful Girls, and a brief glimpse at their website before the show, I wasn?t enthused. As they took the stage, and lead singer Mat McHugh said, ?We?re The Beautiful Girls from Australia,? I was admittedly more intrigued. Then Felipe, a guest keyboardist from Brazil (he?s not listed as a member on the website) began playing the melodica. In case you aren?t familiar with this instrument (I only am because a friend had a toy version), it is basically an accordion without the squeezing. To rephrase that, you play the keys like an accordion or piano as you blow through a tube connected as the foot pumps on an organ function. Anyway?Felipe played a melodica solo in the first song. Second song, Felipe played harmonica. And he?s not a member of the band !? The song writing is good, close to the topics of Bob Marley (women, Babylon, soul-searching), most written by Mat McHugh, and the rest by the band themselves. They didn?t find it necessary to play any covers. What I liked most about this band is that they want to be musicians rather than rock stars. Though they only had a half-hour set, the band just played rather than making nervous jokes that nobody is listening to. They even managed to shove their equipment on stage with Fishbone?s and didn?t seem cluttered at all. If you?re looking for a band alternative to Jack Johnson, that actually knows how to improvise (or at least write good jams into their songs), check out The Beautiful Girls.

Next up on stage was Angelo Moore, a.k.a. Dr. Madd Vibe, the front man of Fishbone (vocals / saxophone / theremin) performing slam poetry for the crowd before the band took the stage. Angelo began the spoken word outlet in 1995 as the band went through turmoil with their record label. Now, he has a book out called The Missing Link Presents the Dr. Madd Vibe's Comprehensive Linkology, in which Angelo uses poetry and pictures to combat racism and social unconsciousness through his writing.

After four or five poems, the band began to come on the stage (as Angelo continued his slam). All of a sudden, the song-turned-poem ?Rock Star? was done and the band was ready. For me, Angelo?s introduction felt like they were giving you the gist of the lyrics before they performed, just in case you wouldn?t comprehend them once they took stage.

I had never seen Fishbone before, and heard very little (maybe a song or two in my punk/ska days, and a video on MTV). Now I?m pissed. I needed Fishbone then. Even though they?ve been around since 1979 (they formed in junior high!) they still aren?t off the charts popular. Hell, they were opening for Slightly Stoopid, a younger band I had heard even less about (the SS name is nothing to brag about to friends or otherwise). Now I am found, twenty-six years into their career? better late than never?

The show opened with an instrumental and worked its way into ?Everyday Sunshine? from 1991?s Reality of My Surroundings. As the song progressed, Angelo noticed the only attendee not moving to ?Sunshine,? three rows from the front. Possibly mad that he had to wait for Slightly Stoopid, but why are you already that close? So Angelo hopped into the crowd and messed with the guy?s hat as the song played on. The guy, still in a bad mood, pretended that he didn?t notice by looking away (despite Angelo?s hand on his hat) and stood there.

Before the next song started, Angelo was angry. He pointed right at the glum boy and said ?What?s your name? You, in the blue hat?? ?Bob.? ?Well, Bob. My name?s Angelo. We came all the way from LA to play for y?all tonight! We?ve been on a bus with nine rusty ass niggaz and we?re still havin? fun. If you?re not having fun, move! By the end of this night, you?re gonna hear us, you?re gonna feel us, you?re gonna love us!? The crowd and band erupted as the ska-core song ?Karma Tsunami? began. The most ridiculous part of this song was when the keyboardist ran from the back and said ?Karma tsunami standing high comin' down on you / nowhere to run or hide / what chu gonna do? and ran right back to his keys.

The next song was ?Premadawnutt? (pronounced like ?prima donna?) from their live release Live at Temple Bar. This ska-core song is great, reminding us that even the perfect celebrities and rich folks still have to go to the bathroom? the sun doesn?t shine out of their behinds either.

The next song, possibly my favorite part, Fishbone went into Curtis Mayfield?s ?Freddie?s Dead.? This was the first band I have seen play this other than The Derek Trucks Band. Angelo added a short theremin (misspelled by some, including myself, as therAmin) piece to this song. Next musical instrument lesson: a theremin is what made all of those weird spaceship and alien sounds in the science fiction movies of the 40s and 50s. It sounds like a transmitter radio. The sound is made by disrupting an electronic force field created by the instrument itself. The only other person I?ve seen play one of these is Keller Williams. The theremin has an interesting history, check it out at www.thereminworld.com. By the way, more people should listen to Curtis Mayfield.

The next song was ?I Like to Hide Behind My Glasses,? in which Angelo pulled out a contrabass saxophone, the deepest and largest of the saxophones (think tuba-sax). This song ended with a synchronized can-can at the end. The keyboardist came out to sing the dub vocals for the next song, a reggae song called ?Suffering.? The trumpet player went to play keys and Angelo went back to theremin for the verse portions of the song. That went into a verse of Paul Blake & The Bloodfire Posse?s "Rub A Dub Soldier,"( ?I?m just a rub a dub soldier ? fighting? to keep the rockers alive / I?m just a rub a dub soldier ? working? from a nine until five.?), back into ?Suffering.? During this point was about the first real guitar riff as there were technical issues for guitarist Rocky George throughout? but it was a great riff.

Changing the pace once again, they began ?Alcoholic,? a ska-core song with the introduction yelling ?Ohh Alcoholic / Ohh real good liquor / Ohh make you clumsy / Ohh make you throw up.? Angelo stage dove during this song, singing and surfing for about fifteen seconds. Rocky George blazed a quick AC/DC ?Back in Black? riff during this song, back into ?Alcoholic.?

To close this amazing hour-long set, they played another cover, ?Date Rape? by Sublime, with a fierce saxophone solo by Angelo. They concluded the set with Angelo yelling ?What?s the name of this band?? ?FISHBONE!? ?What?s the name of this band?? ?FISHBONE!? ?What?s the name of this band?? ?FISHBONE!? I will never forget it.

The band?s attitude could have filled up an arena. The amount of energy and unity in their stage presence was like they were playing to a thousand people (despite the Caf??s small capacity). Throughout the show I just couldn?t understand how a band that?s been around this long is opening up for anybody? so I was pretty excited to see Slightly Stoopid. For Fishbone to open for them, they had to be good.

I was impressed with their introduction, 2 drummers (both kit and percussion) led into a bass riff, which led into a guitar riff, making a dub groove. Next they played ?Officer,? which played much like the Operation Ivy song of the same name? that made me feel different about the band. Like they had taken another song?s groove and made it theirs. Next, they played a punk song. Then they played a Wyclef Jean cover of ?Perfect Gentleman.? As I look at their website, they actually recorded it on an album. I don?t get it? that song isn?t even close to aged yet. The guitar and bass work was all very similar in each song. After about forty-five minutes, the songs did not seem to differ from a formula. The guitarist/bassist, Miles Doughty and bassist/guitarist Kyle McDonald duo created an interesting mix of vocals (they alternated lead from song to song), but it all sounded like Sublime, 311 or the Ziggens. SoCal surf rock that?s already been done well. When any guitar work actually came, it was obviously pre-arranged and short.

This band really didn?t push the limits of anything, but I guess I liked their lyrics. Well, I like them now when I read them. For example, the song I knew when they played it, ?Collie Man,? has some very interesting story points ?and some man live his life / for profits alone / that very same man / he lives his life all alone / and the road to life / yes it goes up and down / doesn't really matter / as long as the music goes on,? but drops the ball when it gets back to a stoner song ?hey mister collie man / look I didn't come to disturb / you best not be come round here / unless you've got me sensi herb? and that?s the end of the song.

I have to give Slightly Stoopid some credit though, despite their name. They have a great light show for a punk or reggae band. They have good songwriting. So much of it felt so clich? though, such as ?this is a song for the ladies,? ?Does Minneapolis smoke sensimilla,? seriously. Angelo helped out on a number of songs, singing vocals and playing saxophone.

Since I saw Long Beach Shortbus in Madison, Wisconsin in September 2004, I have extracted myself from listening to the southern California genre of rock, reggae and punk, which Sublime brought to a forefront. Long Beach Dub Allstars was different, but became very stale without Bradley around, ending up with something of a cover/tribute feel to it, rather than its own separate entity (or Sublime itself). Though I do like Shortbus better (it leans more toward the punk side rather than the reggae side), neither of them feel right. You might as well listen to a Sublime CD. Or better yet, a Fishbone CD. That?s how I felt during Slightly Stoopid.

The final straw for me was the encore. ?This song is dedicated to Eric Clapton because he?s a bad mother fucker.? Then they played ?Wonderful Tonight.? It had to be a let-down for the fans too. Then they brought a guy out to beat box on stage. Then I had to leave. I couldn?t figure it out. How were all of these people still there? Maybe they?re more dynamic than Sublime, but Sublime wrote the book on playing punk/reggae/ska/jam music. Wait, no, it was the Ziggens first, Sublime?s inspiration. If you like Slightly Stoopid, check out the Ziggens, please, you already know some of their songs.