Feb 23 2000 @ Wild Duck Eugene, OR

The show was incredible! My girlfriend, Melissa, and I arrived at the Wild Duck a few minutes early. It really didn't matter much since there was only a couple other people outside the doors. We saw Norwood eating in the restraunt, but since he was eating I didn't want to bother him. After getting in, I talked with some guy that was with the band. He let us come backstage with him and I got to meet McKnight, Angelo, and Steward. I didn't get to talk to Angelo that much, but I chatted with the two John's for a bit. They were both really nice guys.

Fishbone took the stage with some warm-up type funk instrumental. At this point there are about six people in the "crowd." One of the band members said something to the effect of, "We would like to thank this venue for letting us do a dress rehearsal here." They proceeded to play "One Planet People," "Lyin' Ass Bitch," "If I Were A...I'D" (two times, the second one was the Marine one), "Just Allow," and "It All Kept Startin' Over Again." Though there may have been a bit of a lower energy level, I thought they sounded GREAT! They had some guy playing congas and there was also a female backup singer that had thigh high boots and long braids. I met both of them but can NOT remember their names!

Vicky Calhoun went on after Fishbone. But first, Dr. Madd Vibe showed up with his new laptop. He read some poem about "bitches" and how men and women were changing rolls. I would look it up in my poetry book, but it seems that I have misplaced it. Vicky was backed up by most the members of Fishbone. I guess it would be classified as R&B? She had a great voice. Unfortunately, she only sung three or four songs.

After Vicky's set, my girlfriend and I went backstage. I got to meet Norwood, Spacey T and Walt. I got my picture taken with Norwood and Spacey T. Melissa and I also met Vicky. She's going to send my girlfriend a CD! I talked with Norwood for quite awhile. Here'a a condensed version of what we talked about. The Trulio D. and Dirty Walt's CDs are still in need of a distributor. The one they were working with was also going to release Angelo's CD (same one). After listening to it, he decided that he didn't even want to hear the other stuff. Apparently he didn't "get" it (Angelo's CD). They are looking at a few other labels for distribution. They are hopefully going to do a world tour with the new album. Norwood said that it would take them to places that they had never been before. Rowdy has the masters to the "Nuttcase Scenario," but Fishbone still owns the rights to do whatever they want with them. The ten song promo will probably be all the songs released on the new album. This is the first time I ever talked to Norwood and he was a really nice guy. He was really easy to talk to.

The next band to come out was One Nutt Stand. From what I gathered, it was mostly Fishbone members and then a few members of Weapon of Choice (Fish wasn't drumming). I really didn't pay much attention to these guys. I was talking with Norwood for the first half of their set. They weren't bad, but I really don't remember any of the lyrics or much of what they sounded like. At this point there is around 60-70 people there.

Laundry played next. We were hungry so we got nachos and missed Laundry.

After Laundry, the porno rap-master Blowfly took the stage. He was a riot! Fishbone was also backing him up, so how could it be bad?? He was pointing out girls when he was telling all the guys how to see if they are loose or not. I don't think I really need to go into details here. He's just NASTY! One of the biggest problems with the Blowfly set was that they needed to turn his mic up.

Once again, Fishbone took the stage. They started off with "Freddie's Dead" and then moved on to "Aids & Armageddon," "The Suffering," "Where'd You Get Those Pants," and "Shakey Ground." There was also a song in there that I don't know the name of (it's unreleased). It was great to hear the new materail live!

Fishbone kind of morphed into Trulio Disgracias. Their first song lasted 35 minutes! The guys in Fishbone must be getting tired on this tour. They spent a good 3.5-4 hours on stage! We only stuck around for 40 minutes of T.D. because we were both beat. Norwood was rapping instead of playing bass. He didn't do that bad! Besides Fishbone, there was the bassist for Laundry, the singer (?) for One Nutt Stand, a different drummer, the lady with the thigh-high leather boots and LONG braided hair, the bellydancer girl from One Nut Stand and Vicky was supposed to come back out for T.D. It wasn't as big of a group as when they played in Portland in '96/'97. The sound guy apparently didn't know what he was doing because various people tried to get him to turn up the volume on their mics, and he couldn't get it right. When we were leaving, John Steward stopped us to say bye! He said that he was screwing up all night, but I thought he was doing pretty good. I ended up burning two 24 rolls of film last night. If the pictures come out good, I'll be placing some of them on my web page.

After last night's show, I think I found some new respect for each member of Fishbone: John Steward: I payed attention to him a lot last night. A lot of his parts seem easy, but can sure pound on those drums when he needs to!

John McKnight: Besides just playing keyboard, trombone, and singing backup, he also throws some guitar in there! What CAN'T he do?? He also sounds really great on the trombone.

Norwood: Slap Bass. Need I say more? The rapping was pretty cool too.

Spacey T: I love his guitar work. He really gets into his playing! He can play those poppy- ska songs or whip out those metal licks! Plus he was doing these "record scratches" on the guitar when Blowfly rapped.

Angelo: Angelo is an all around performer in every sense of the word. He as tons of enery and looks like he's having a great time! He is the ringmaster AND the circus! :) You can tell that he puts a lot of heart into his work.

Walt: Walt didn't really stand out last night. They had his small trumpet there, but he didn't play it much. He mainly sang backup. Walt has a really great voice.

Sorry for going on forever. This is actually the shortened version, believe it or not!

Take it easy. Chris Schatz

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