Big Shug Show…

Big Shug Show…
The Knitting Factory…
I’ve had the pleasure of catching Big Shug live before, back in the day at the London Astoria as a part of the Gang Starr Foundation ‘Full Clip’ Tour, so I was more than happy to check him out again…
We had an easy stroll to The Knitting Factory and were surprised to find a tiny, intimate venue…
Holding down DJ duties was mixtape DJ, Statik Selektah, who did an alright job… After a bit of a wait the first act up was Bostinite Affiliate… I have to say I’ve never heard of him, and after a set in which he performed over the top of vocal tracks; I’m unlikely to check for him any further…
If you’ve bothered to check out Statik Selektah’s debut production album from last year (‘Spell My Name Right’), you’ll be familiar with the show stealer of the LP, Reks, who was next on the roster and delivered a great performance comprising of tracks old and new and a few nice accappellas…
Next up was the draw card for us, Big Shug, backed up by Singapore Kane, and unexpectedly, Gang Starr’s DJ Premier… Shug smacked it, working his way through his classic verses from his own singles and appearances on Gang Starr tracks, and I have to say it was great to see Premier live in New York City...
We dipped after Shug’s set, so missed headliner, Cormega’s show, but were happy with the night as a whole, not to mention the freebies – Ghostface’s DJ, J-Love was passing out free copies of his mix CDs…
On a side note, a big Rest in Peace to KL of Hip Hop groups Kamakazee and Screwball who passed away at the weekend of an asthma attack…

Wednesday 2nd April 2008

Wednesday 2nd April 2008

Another bright and early morning with an amazing amount of sun... By ten we were ready to eat a proper breakfast, made our way to Cowgirl, it was closed, walked up to Pastis, it was closed, breakfast doesn’t start until 11!!! Crazy, I was starving but determined so we walked around the village until 11 and went back to Cowgirl… We were the only ones in there, so the staff were very attentive and helpful… We started with drinks and I have to mention that the apple juice was especially yummy, and it was served out of a jam jar (see photos)! For breakfast I ordered the BLT with egg and avocado, and Mark ordered the omelette… When it came it looked soooo good! The eggs came on the side, and there was also a generous serving of home fries and coleslaw, marks looked pretty good too, but mine was by far the prettiest, hehe… So we begin, I was absolutely delighted by the taste of this BLT, it was amazing, I’m not just saying that, I put the eggs in the sandwich and they had been poached to perfection, I really only needed half of what I had on my plate so the home fries went to Mark… Anyways I will continue the review in the review section, but it was good, well worth going to…

And on we went to shop all of Broadway and do Soho… These shops, though lovely and boutiquey, didn’t provide what I was looking for… In fact all day I only bought a pair of trainers for gym and nothing for fun (not to say that gym isn’t fun, just a hard intense sweaty fun, not a laid back fun)!!! We dropped our stuff home and went up to Times Square as Mark wanted to get some photos, which he did… We dropped into Times Square Footlocker which had THE WORST SERVICE EVER, do not go there… we waited forever to get some service and then it still took forever for her to actually serve us... ouch…

After that I was ready to rest as we had a show to go to… So we came home, snoozed, and got ready for the Big Shug, Cormega show at the Knitting Factory… This venue is crazy, I was expecting these artists to be playing to a large room full up, but it was a tiny room, very intimate, and great for this type of show… It filled up, and though the first act ‘Affiliate’ was crapola, rapping to his own vocals, big Shug KILLED IT! Was very impressed, and after he was done I was also tired so we came home to get some sleep for another big day awaits us tomorrow…