Dec 05 1998 @ The Chance Poughkeepsie, NY

Hi y'all. Man, what a weekend! I don't know if I have the energy to drive two hours to Pilly tonight for the trifecta, but I sure am thinking about it. Last night's show in Poughkeepsie was phat. No NYC by any means though. Some kids got the set list before me so I will have to give you a rundown by memory. I took the hour and a half drive to the Chance, which was a really small club. There were three opening bands. I only saw the last two. Sargeant Skagnetti: straight up ska, good sound. Flipside: Totally sucked ( the singer looked like right said fred, but sang in a whiny like Paul Westerberg type voice. Saw and talked to Gaston before the show. Angelo is such a trooper. I think they forgot most of their tee-shirts, so Angelo was out in the booth makng up tee- shirts using white tees, iron ons and signing the shirts and selling them for the same $15 that the others would have been. The crowd was pretty weak (at least at first...but they got into it). The average age was probably 15 or 16 and they for the most pert seemed to be kids who have caught the ska wave and know a few fishbone songs. But the band was tight. The pit was really weak. Like if you tried to go up at first. People would get scared and dispers. Chris from Perfect Thyroid (ska band from Kingston)was there and he stage dove and hardly moved in to catch him. The cool thing was that you could get up on stage and the band was so tight that people started to get into it and really get theior groove on. Angelo came out in the crowd onec and I am proud to say I caught him. He shocked the others who were there by just sprawling into the sparse crowd and he landed literaly right in my arms (he aint too heavy, and i'm only 150 pounds) and then others lifted him up. I got up on stage for lemon merangue and danced the whole song. It was so awesome. Walt noticed the youth of the crowd and said "Man, I know this is a young crowd, but we are going to sing a song abou fucking" before going into bonin'. Thge whole time people were shouting out requests..."Play Monkey Dick!", "Play Servitude" Then Walt was like "First of all you don't want the Monkey Dick, second of all you know we're not a request band. It like the ghetto, you get what you get". But musically they were really tight again. The crowd could have been bigger and more into it, but it was cool that people got to dance on stage. Angelo called them and us the "Fishbone dancers". Angelo seemed like he was trying to get Dion and McNight into the action on the Chim Chim songs. He would motion to Deion to speed up and John as well. They played one encore and the show ended around 1:45. They did a really really phat version of Party at Ground Zero. They jammed a lot in between and it was so well done. Angelo played a sax solo and Norwood got the cowd into it while they were jamming chanting and having the crowd echo.."Hey Mother Fuckers...Don't you know...If you push that button...Your ass is gonna blow" But overall it was a phat time as all Fishbone shows are. Not as good as the NYC show, but phat as well. I hope I have the energy to hit Philly. I don't know though. Got work in the morning. After the show last night I headed to chill with some friends at SUNY New Paltz and crashed there. Just got home. Here are the songs they played last night (in no prticular order):

Party at Ground Zero (extended version with jam session) Skanking to the beat When Problems Arise (slow version) Give it Up Cholly Sunless Saturday Lemon Merangue Rock Star Ma and Pa Black Box Just Allow Maskeraid Rock Star Alcoholic Beergut Lyin Ass Bitch Bonin' in the Boneyard (there might have been a few more, but those are the ones I remember)

Encore: Words and Music the Goose Monkey Dick

Peace, Vijay

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