To: Matt G
From: michael stephen fuchs
Subject: Cold Lampin' with Flavor
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2005 02:06:37 PST

I went and saw Public Enemy at the Forum last night.

That might be 'nuff said.

But I'll say a bit more: They are *amazing* performers
- haven't lost a trick. Incredible show. Flav came out
in full regalia (clock, pink sunglasses, do-rag,
cocked hat); and Chuck was his usual revolutionary
self, leading "Fuck Bush / Fuck Blair" chants and
warning Britain against becoming the 51st state.
Professor Griff was wearing a Che t-shirt - leading
Chuck to discourse about the importance of hip-hop
revolutionaries maintaining their intellectualism. I
was literally 15 feet from Chuck and Flav.

But not to forget the music - wow. Live guitar, live
bass, live drums, an amazing DJ (not Terminator X, but
some new guy). A lot of old favourites - Shut 'Em
Down, Fight the Power, Can't Truss It, Rebel Without a
Pause, even 911 is a Joke. Flav sat down at the drums
and kicked a beat for awhile. Amazing DJ set break. I
wish to God I had thought to put your number in my
phone beforehand. I called Danielle and gave her a
good dose of 911 is a Joke.

m

 – 
michael stephen fuchs
msf@michaelfuchs.org
www.michaelfuchs.org



To: Danielle F
From: michael stephen fuchs
Subject: Re: Cold Lampin' with Flavor
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2005 07:38:43 PST

Danielle F  wrote :

> What was the london crowd like at a
> public enemy show?

White.

But quite exuberant for all that. I was about in the
fourth rank from the stage. It was very lively, but
generally respectful, down there. (Aside from the
endless f'ing photosnapping with phones and cameras.
But I suppose that's epidemic everywhere now.) There
was, though, one moment - right in the middle of Shut
'Em Down - when a couple of whiteboy wannabe-hardcore
arseheads start slamdancing like, well, like
slamdancing arseheads. I got knocked/retreated about
15 feet from where I'd started - plus I got a beer
thrown in my face (literally). Luckily I had my Cross
of St. George bandana to wipe myself off.  After
that, it was amusing: first the people around the
white-boy arseheads made it pretty clear (judging my
reading of lips and body language) that they were
going to kill said white boys if they continued. Then
this remarkably large, taciturn, black security guy
(the adverb applies to all adjectives) waded out and
made it unmistakeably clear that he had dibs on
killing the whiteboys if they didn't check themselves
(before HE wrecked them).

Shortly after that - and I hate to accentuate the
negative, because it was a very small part of the
evening, but an interesting one as you shall see (and
you did ask about the crowd) - I got hit by another
flying beer from behind. I wiped off again. And
shortly after that, a flying beer tagged - square in
the chest - one of the PE security of the first world
guys onstage! Wo-hoah! Chuck and Flav and Griff turned
and immediately stopped the song. And they proceeded
to just fucking LAY INTO whomever had thrown the beer.
It was fantastic.

First Chuck pointed out that the shit was dangerous,
and no joke. He further expressed curiosity as to why
someone who disliked them enough to hurl things at
them was there in the first place. Beyond that, it was
suggested that whoever had heart enough to throw this
[holding beer] might additionally have the heart to
come up on the stage and claim it. It was made
clear that that person would be the unlucky recipient
of one full minute of going round and round with
Professor Griff - who did not at all look like the
kind of person you'd want to go round and round with,
even for a minute.

Griff speculated that whoever had done it was probably
now crawling around on hands and knees in the back of
the crowd. Chuck suggested that if the malefactor
wasn't willing to stand up and take credit, then
someone around him surely knew who was responsible. He
requested that those in the know would kindly either
push the malefactor out the door in the back - or else
push him up to the stage. And if the latter, Chuck
opined, "that's his ass".

Flav called the beer thrower a "punk-ass
motherfucker".

The crowd wildly cheered each excoriation.

It was actually a really neat opportunity to hear the
band members speak unscripted - and they were rather
inspired!

xxm