On an extremely busy February 13th, I found time to head into the local Upper Playground store located in Seattle‘s University district.  Not only was it Friday the 13th, but I also had a drunken birthday party to appear at that night and it was my 3 year anniversary with m’lady.  The reason that I headed into the apparel/art retailer was actually to figure out my schedule for the palindromic following Friday,  Feb. 20th (02/20).  Kool Keith was scheduled to perform the same night as UP‘s opening night for an exhibit by artist N8 Vandyke but, after speaking to the staff, it was clear that there would be absolutely no conflict for me to attend both events.  “Don’t worry.  We’re all heading over to Kool Keith from here.  We’re actually helping to sponsor the show.” they told me.   I also recieved a proposal from the manager, Jen, asking me to contribute some writing to the Upper Playground blog The Citrus Report.

After leaving, I was pretty amped and was even more focused on making it to see Kool Keith this time around.  Even though we’ve had a preview in our suggested events section for two months, I had still completely spaced the date of the show until the last minute and never bothered to try and get passes until that week.  I spent the next few days tracking down whoever released the rappers latest album, while waiting to hear back from my connection at the venue about if he was able squeeze me into the overly packed guest list.  He couldn’t help me this time and it was my fault but, I did have a few back and forth emails with Threshold Recordings, Kutmasta Kurt‘s label.  The first email that I received from them went as follows: “Sorry, kool keith does not encourage show reviews, only show previews“.  I was a little confused because that is usually only the case with venues.  Reviews don’t help the venues because they are written after the events have already passed but, reviews still work to promote the artists.  I responded by pointing out that I had already posted a preview to which they replied with “Sorry keith’s policy is no show reviews“, “…we meant a full preview with interview etc etc“, and that they may be able to get me a pass if I “promise not to write a show review” and if I would, “guarantee a feature article on the new dr doom album“.  Of course, I would have been down to squash this article, if they would have worked out an interview and sent me the album but, it was taking days at a time to get a response and, by this time, it was the day before the show.  Plus, I had never been offered passes to NOT review a concert before.  It was all a little strange yet, somehow fitting for Kool Keith.  Fuck it, I already bought a ticket at this point anyway.  I sent them an email stating that, if they arranged an alternative option for my article, which included an email interview and an album for review, I wouldn’t write it.  Otherwise, I was going ahead with my plans.  Out of respect I waited but, it’s been long enough and I haven’t heard back.  Next time they should try leaving a sixer of Magic Hat and a sausage grinder out on a table in front of me and ask me now to eat it while they’re out of town.  I might wait an hour but, eventually, I’m gonna drank that beer and eat that sammich. Read the rest of this entry →