Saturday August 24th was AfroPunk and god, I had fun. Given my health problems and work pressures intruding on every part of my Blerdy life, this was my vacation. My one chance to rock out and Boy did I take advantage of that...
Took the LIRR to Atlantic Terminal and that walk to Commodore Barry Park is one of my great joys every year. Seeing beautiful people enjoying a beautiful day as I walk alongside LIU Brooklyn campus is awesome. Was literally the 10th person in line to get into the show, Did my usual tradition of walking around to get a sense of the layout and get early pics. As I did this, GabSoul was doing a great old tunes meets new age mix around the Green Stage. No better way to ease people that were on line into the party. From there I wandered over to the Red Stage and checked out Vibe World Order, whose sound is like Wu-Tang Clan meets Boys II Men. Made for an interesting sound.
Headed over to the Gold Stage after that to get a taste of the party sounds of Boston Chery, which had an early 80's chaotic house party feel. Met up with Afronerd around the Green Stage soon after to check out Hello Yello and their hip-hop meets grunge sound. From there, we did a little t-shirt shopping then took in Black Haus rocking the Gold Stage. Came back to the Green Stage to catch the R&B meets classical sound of Kelsey Lu followed by the thrash sound of Anahata on the Black Stage. What a combo!
At this point, we caught a bit of Soulection over at the Red Stage which was a perfect setup for what was coming at the Green Stage: Tank & The Bangas. Southern styled R&B themed rock at its finest. The mosh pit started up again for Red Arkade at the Black Stage soon after making for a weird contrast for the smooth sounds of Ravyn Lenae after on the Green Stage.
Took time after this to wander around a lil bit, and this is when the park got really crowded. Managed to get some Jamaican food into my system. Afronerd managed to get with Spike Lee for a brief talk and pictures. DJ Nativesun providing an electic background soundtrack which whet my whistle for the GREAT Gary Clark Jr. Wooo what a performance! He's a must listen folks. After that, we had one last venture into the merchants area and entered the Tephlon Funk area. Had a great conversation with its creator Stephane Metayer as DJ Moma spun a set. This was followed by Leon Bridges' smooth funk as day turned into night. DJ Moma returned after as the stage was being set up for MZ Jill Scott. She didn't disappoint folks! Her rendition of Radiohead's Creep to lead off her set is now firmly in my top 10 AfroPunk performances.
Whew! What a day. I know folks will have their problems with the current nature of the event as opposed to past years BUT the music...goddamn the music that I caught was top notch. That is what I was there for and for 11+ hours, the rest of the world disappeared for me.
There youhave it. Daryll B's AfroPunk Saturday in a nice tidy blog. SO until next time faithful readers? Keep Fantasizing (and Rocking Out!!)!
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