I went to Indiefest Thursday night at Club Beyond to see Jason Wheatley. I haven’t been to too many places like Beyond recently (take their virtual tour to see what I mean), so it was a bit of culture shock. Kixx records invited a number of performers from different genres to come play two or three songs. I don’t remember exactly what order people played in.
1. Jason Wheatly – Jason should feel great about his performance. He went on right after heavy rap/reggae artist, Ital Tha Ruffian, and the crowd probably needed a break. I heard a lot of people talking through the first song, but by the second you could tell the audience was listening. When he finished he got a great response.
2. AJ Swearegin – A fantastic voice. He has one of those voices where you don’t even care what the hell he’s singing about. That can come in handy while writing songs.
3. Priscilla Hartranft – I’ve heard her a few times at the GSP open mic, but I recognized her teal guitar before her face. She’s pretty talented, even though she participated in something called the Philadelphia Idol competition. That can’t be good.
4. Mick Choder – I’ve seen this guy before and he must be really motivated. Please ditch the white boy acoustic rap.
5. Ernie Migali – This world needs many things. One of them is not country/rock/rap hybrid performers, unless you’re jesting. Maybe I didn’t get the joke. He also played along with a CD, which probably rocks on karaoke night.
6. Josephine Sincere – Her intro was hilarious. A weird echoed voice asked us “Who is Josephine Sincere?” over and over. She’s a great singer, but again she sang along with a CD that included tons of backing vocals. Who knows what was her and what came out of the studio?
7. Cubby St. Charles – Remember when I talked about what the world needs? The world needs more of this guy… his fashion sense at least. He’s the kind of R&B singer you know got tons of action in the 70s. Too bad I couldn’t find a real website for him.
8. Wellstar – Their singer must have passed up a career in the WNBA. These guys were really good, and I liked their first song the best. The guitar player looked like he just quit a nu-metal band yesterday, but don’t mind me, I’m just trying to be funny.
9. Micki Barocca – She went on first and I don’t remember much about her, other than that she did some original R&B songs. Adrien mentioned she thought Micki was good.
10. Dezzie – Gospel singer. So loud I think God told her to keep it down.
11. Ital Tha Ruffian – The name fits him completely. The only words I could make out were “nudie wudie.” He totally reminds me of the music my college dorm neighbor listened to. As I said earlier, Jason had to follow Ital Tha Ruffian.
Comments
One response to “Indiefest 3”
“Mick Choder – I’ve seen this guy before and he must be really motivated. Please ditch the white boy acoustic rap.”
Thanks for the compliment. I certainly don’t feel motivated, but if that’s the best you can say about me, I’ll take it. In any case I only have one rap, and I got a holla from audience when I did it, so I’ll keep doin’ it even though I can’t rip it up like some folks I know. I enjoyed IndiFest ’cause there aren’t too many opportunities to mix folk, rock, country, hip-hop, and R&B all on one stage. One day I’ll come visit your open mic and I promise I won’t rap
–Mick.