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I recently discovered that my friend's brother does PR for Lee Scratch Perry, one of the first reggae artists and experimenters in dub. Being half-Jamaican, (but born in Louisiana), I was a bit ashamed for only barely recognizing the name, but hey, my dad was listening to The Kinks and The Who at the time, and took off to England as soon as he was old enough, so I had to do my own research. Originally the singer of The Upsetters, in the late 60s-early 70s, Perry built a studio known as The Black Ark, where he produced the music of greats such as Bob Marley & The Wailers, and The Heptones. After the studio burned down, he spent a lot of time recording in England with many collaborators, and in 2006 put out Panic In Babylon on Narnack Records. According to the wiki on The Black Art studio, "Perry once buried microphones at the base of a palm tree and thumped it rhythmically to produce a mystifying bass drum effect; his drum booth at the Black Ark was for a time surrounded with chicken wire to further his distinctive sound; many of his songs are layered with a variety of subtle effects created from broken glass, ghastly sighs and screeches, crying babies, and a mooing cow children's toy."
He is now playing the U.S. with the very enjoyable Dub Is A Weapon, and I was invited to see them at the House of Blues in Hollywood last Saturday night. We had dinner (ahhh, the shrimp poboy) on the balcony overlooking the stage, and Dub Is A Weapon opened up the show, enthusiastic instrumental reggae outfitted with saxophone, drums, guitar, keys, and "dub mixology". The crowd was a real mix of people, a few folks with dreadlocks, both white and black, but mostly a non-style-specific group.
Perry came out around 11 and appeared tiny, in his early 70's, in an over-sized, 80s hiphop style jumpsuit, with huge sneakers and a lot of bling. But the bling appeared to include a lot of Mardi Gras beads. He also sported a large cap and wore a messenger bag, or "record bag", over his shoulder the whole night. The music was similar to Dub Is A Weapon's own set, but with Perry's sing-song chattering over it; in between songs, he spoke to the crowd in a heavy patois, mostly making Biblical references and referring to the House of Blues as the "House of Jews". It was a strain to understand most of it, but I'm pretty damn sure he said "Jesus is on my cock" near the end, because of the gesture and the reaction of the Dub Is A Weapon members - they all kind of looked at each other and glanced away quickly. It seemed pretty random, but hey, maybe there was a segue and I missed it... The crowd cheered so it was obviously the right group!
The music was great, and I was happy to merge the two halves of my heritage in a single night. In case you've never eaten on the balcony (you obviously have to tickets for the show as well), there are Blues greats pictured above in lit-up blue panels that are fun to check out. This is the best my camera phone could do:
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