MUSIC REVIEW: Party in the Park: Black August, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad
By Brendan Giusti on Jul. 18th, 2008 at 9:18am 3 Comments
Believe me, I've heard the hype. Hell, I've been listening to Frank De Blase talk about the band for months now. And after finally seeing Black August perform for the first time at Thursday's Party in the Park, I believe every bit of it. The band emitted this classical soul vibe with short, almost choppy, chords jumping from the guitar. Never mind the vocals -- singer Danielle Ponder belted out sounds of pure elation while jumping, dancing, and doing just about any sort of movement or facial contortion that helped pump the sound out even further.
There was a rap group (listed as M.G. on the festival's website) that filled some time before Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad took over the stage. But listening to someone repeatedly shout "throw your hands up" to a seemingly uninterested audience is never fun. It just ends up being some sort of half-assed formality that leaves everyone involved feeling a bit uncomfortable.
The show was back on when Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad started its set to close out the night. The extended reggae jams were pretty infectious, and certainly inspired their fair share of dress-twirling from the packed crowed. But of course, it's hard not to move whenever Jamaican roots music fills the air.
Next Party in the Park concert: Thursday, July 24, Duke Robillard and Redline Zydeco
User Comments
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Mary on July 18th, 2008
We are a bit confused because we were from the beginning. Different people were there to see their favorites of the performers last night. I didn't know Black August but I was there for M.G. You are not accurate about the crowd response to his performance and it is a shame that the promoters shut him down 7 minutes into his act. M.G. is a positive rapper who spoke about the goodness of God to the crowd and non-violence before his performance. The crowd was responding to his words and his music. Black August asked the crowd to throw their hands up and the crowd seem uninterested in their attempts to engage the audience. Not M.G. We were there, we loved his performance, his stage presence and wished he could have been on longer. His music is popular in Rochester, he is Mayor Duffy's favorite rapper. Nobody was uncomfortable and that is your opinion. We are tired of people who don't love rap music who judge performances of black performers and don't give the music or the performer a chance. Especially the clean rappers who try to set an example and try to be a role model for other young black men. There were people from 1 yr to 70 years old, all races to hear him including his church. Why shut down the voice of a role model when there is so much violence now in the city. He did not deserve you disregard for his talent. If you couldn't find something positive to say then say nothing at all. Are you POSTIVELY ROCHESTER and for non-violence? Are you? We want the city of Rochester to know WE LOVE M.G. and there are a lot of us and a lot like us that love him and his message and his music and his performance. So come out and see him the next time he performs. We want to thank everyone who bought his music, his teeshirts and came out to support him.
D.C. on July 20th, 2008
I think your review on M.G. was unfair. You didn't review him by his performance, instead you reviewed him by the audience "so called" uninterested response.
well in case you didn't notice M.G. is a rapper, he doesn't sing reggae. And that was what the audience was there to hear reggae.
If i came to an event to hear hip hop, and some poor soul comes out on stage in between my hip hop singing country western, I think i would be a bit confused to say the least.
I really think you owe M.G. another review. He should be allowed to perform for a hip hop crowd, and lets see if the crowd is "uninterested"
SubMoon on August 20th, 2008
I am a lover of hip-hop. I was there and MG was bad. He said nothing interesting and he tried to hype the crowd before he gained any creditbility with them by saying something.
I thought the act was out of place, not becasue it was hip-hop, because it was bad hip-hop.
Peace.