I, T-Bird, have always had a soft spot in my heart for New York City. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island... I still haven't been to The Bronx, the birthplace of Hiphop--although for a moment I thought (hoped?) we (Los Chicos) might be hosted there with a kind family. It was a pleasure to be with Maxey on his first trip to "The Big Apple." We had some really nice folks who put us up in Williamsburg (Hey to Spencer, Joe and Jen!) our first night there. Spencer & Joe both talked about Williamsburg being "Hipster Central." There are definitely eateries, watering holes and shops that all support that assertion... Later we went to separate parts of Brooklyn, Max was in Bushwick and I was in Red Hook.
Our first gig was in the East Village, Manhattan with DJ Kevlar for his BirthDAG celebration at Arrow Bar. Arrow is a true dive bar, with a lovely, no-nonsense crew who were great to all of us, but they did have to toss a slightly nutty guy out at the end of the night...
The next gig was in Bushwick, but Max had fallen ill, so I had to represent for both Chicos. "Bushwick Bounce" was held at The House of Yes and was put on by Dallas Wonderland of One Good Reason. The headliner was Rusty Lazer from New Orleans--the home of "bounce" music (NOLA's version of "Dirty South" hiphop)--and hence the name "Bushwick Bounce." DJ Dirty Finger opened up with a nice mix of bass music, followed by $mall Change who played some more bass before taking us on a trip through some NOLA classics and closing with a bounce track based on "Iko Iko..." This lead perfectly into the headlining set from Rusty Lazer featuring Nicky Da B. Los Chicos were next in the lineup after the hard-hitting bounce set... I started out with some of our sexier "tropical bass" to smooth out the vibe, while still keeping the energy upbeat. The crowd enjoyed the variation in my set, particularly the stuff with fat bass tones... The closing set was by Joro Boro, a Bulgarian transplant to NYC who's worked with Balkan Beat Box, Bassnectar & Tinariwen. Given those references, it's no surprise Joro's sound was quite global and still on the fat bass tip. A bit more dub-step than Los Chicos Altos, but still in the vibe and the crowd ate it up.
I'm very happy that we made fans at our various gigs in NYC and we managed to have a great time doing it...
Next stop, San Francisco!
