Jack The Nation
Chicago Feb 24, 1996
The Jack the Nation party had the flyer to end all flyers. DJ Rolando,
James Pennington, K Hand, Boo Williams, Robert Armani, Aux 88, Blake
Baxter. Roy Davis Jr., etc, etc. It was billed as a uniting of the
forces of Detroit and Chicago techno. How could I not go?
The reality of course was different. Robert Armani was a no show.
As far as I know, Blake Baxter was never in the house. The ambient
room never happened, and who knows if the after hours ever took place?
I got their early and helped move PA speakers. After a while, the Aux
88 posse showed up, and stood around, waiting for M.B.
to bring the gear they needed to play live. M.B. never showed, so they
left. So I got to say Hi and watch them stand around, but didn't get
to hear them play. Maybe someday, but a dream deferred is a dream
denied, aint that right?
To all you Detroiters: Don't come down too hard on Davey Dave, as it wasn't
his fault. Dave was very upset about the equipment no-show, not in the least
because it gives him a bad rep with the Detroit crew. And for the
acronymous M.B. -- damn him to hell. Blowing off a gig is some pretty
week shit.
At any rate, at about 11, they started blasting some kind of hard acid
crap downstairs. That's not my thing, and it was even more not my thing
because they were running the mix through compressors, and the DJ's were
pushing the Bass EQ full tilt. So the sound was just a huge bass boom
with no other detail. Darwin Grosse had brought his wife (who'd never
been to a rave before, poor woman) and I was embarrassed that she had
to endure this pathetic squandering of amperes. She was a good sport,
though.
Meanwhile upstairs in the House Room, they were having trouble with the PA,
so the only entertainment was the marvelous lights set up by Magic Lantern.
My thought at this point was "Damn! Glad I didn't pay to get in!" But,
finally, the upstairs house room sound got sorted out and Roy Davis Jr
came on. Things immediately began looking up; he played a nice mix
of newer house grooves and old school stuff. Things were looking up.
After Roy finished, Boo Williams came up to bat. Boo's set in 3 words:
SMILES ALL AROUND. He played a very eclectic mix of stuff for a House
DJ, starting off with the 7th City Xtrak record. Big Up, Todd Sines!
From there on out his set was a thing of beauty -- great jams, including
an unreleased Boo track that I think takes things to the next level
and beyond -- it had that house groove, but it had great melodic riffs
over the top that just built up forever. State of the Art.
He was a joy to watch as well. He's one of those guys who has the skills
in mixing down to where it took maybe %5 of his attention. Mostly he
was smiling and goofing at the maniacs at the front of the crowd. When
he played one of his records, he cracked the shrink wrap before throwing
it on. One record he played and then threw into the crowd. K Hand
was sitting behind him on stage, and he handed her every other disk he
played, and she appeared to be taking notes. School was in session!
He played that great Moodyman 'Small Church In Detroit Cut' and practically
remixed it on the spot with EQ.
After he finished up, I went downstairs to see if the headache DJ was
done annoying people, and DJ Rolando was up. He played a damn good sampling
of the UR back catalog to great effect. The shit eating grin that had
formed on my face during Boo's set was in full effect.
Then James Pennington came on, and tore the house up. Fast and furious
only begins to describe it -- he was playing like a man possessed. If the
crowd was rocking, he rocked harder, dancing behind the desk like a man
being rode hard by Legba. Every record he threw down was a winner --
his own stuff, Rob Hood, Jeff Mills, Mad Mike's acid tracks. The crowd
around the tables kept getting thicker and thicker, and he played them
to the hilt -- he'd hit the faders to drop out a beat and lunge over the
tables at whoever was standing there, eyes bugging like Flavor Flav.
The man obviously has every trick in the book -- fades, eq, spinbacks,
scratches, split second cross fades, the works. But when you can do it
like he does it it's not a trick anymore, it's what DJing should be --
a complete recreation of the music. About 3/4 of the way through the
set, he threw down the Rev. Martin Luther King's 1963 speech on the mall
over an acid track, and the pure magic of King's voice and words rang
out. Pennington even stopped the music for 5 long seconds on Dr.
Kings "and furthermore," just to make sure people were listening and got
it. By the time King got to "FREE AT LAST" the people were insane.
And he went on an on, ending up on Richie's 'Spastik', but just as K Hand
prepared to take the wheels they cut the music and announced that they were
closing the space. Some dimwit had overflowed a toilet, and the power cables
for the PA were underwater. Damn!
So after fighting our way outdoors, we met a phalanx of Chicago police,
threatening to arrest anyone who hung around. I think they were mostly
concerned about 2000 suburban white kids getting the hell away from
Cabrini Green before something ugly happened. Which is a fair concern I
suppose, but my personal pasty faced white guy experience is that the
black people in Chicago have been unfailingly kind and pleasant, and that
every asshole I've met there has been white.
Gotta go guys, but that's the way it was. Those of you on 313 who
know Mr. Pennington, give him a hug for me, because he was the fucking best.
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In an expanding universe, time is on the side of the outcast. Those
who once inhabited the suburbs of human contempt find that without
changing their address they eventually live in the metropolis.
-- Quentin Crisp
Kent Williams kent@inav.net
(319) 338 6053 (home)
(319) 626 6700 x 219 (work)
(319) 626 3489 (fax)