On March 8th 2007, there was an evening of deejaying and a mix of live
hip-hop and reggae performances above Back 2 The Grind café
at a place called “The Studio Downtown.” A feature of the night was a performance by Rumour Rumour featuring Andrew Bees, formerly a lead vocalist of seminal reggae group Black Uhuru. Rumour Rumour is a group consisting of rotating members that play instrumental sounds that reflect an amalgam of styles primarily one would find in regions in the Carribean and along its U.S. coastline. On the night of March 8th, it was their reggae music that was playing throughout HMS studios downtown.

It was close to 1am when the featured music of Rumour Rumour featuring Andrew Bees began. Their set lasted for approximately 30 minutes and it was a mix of material, much of it apparently coming from Andrew Bees’ solo material Hardest of Andrew Beez, as songs such as “System” caught my attention while other remaining tunes were made up of a few classics like Black Uhuru’s “Guess Who Is Coming To Dinner.” The multimember band Rumour Rumour provided tight musicianship. There was a cross section of players/musicians: drummers (drum kit, djembes), rhythm guitarist, bassist, keyboardist (w/effects), saxophonist and vocalist (backup vocals). Andrew Bees’ voice was clear and strong on this night and was able to carry the surrounding music to a harmonious place. Andrew found himself dancing (mashing it up) on stage at moments when the band bridged or jammed intermittently on certain songs and it helped people also feel the music and move around a bit more as well. It was good for people to receive and give the energy.
In final, the set was solid and a good intro for new and local comers to reggae music.

Respect.

A list of players that were apparently in the band lineup on the evening of the March 8th show were: Andrew Bees (lead vocals), Cherith Neely (backup vocals), Json Hedge (drum kit), Juan Carrasquillo (keyboard), Mike Cazares (guitar), Chritopher Bryant (guitar, back up vocals), Tim Newkirk (bassist), Kevin Hooper (percussion, djembes), Joey Hernandez (Saxophone).

To listen to the KUCR field interview with members of Rumour Rumour and
Andrew Bees, click below.

 

[mp3]http://kucr.org/audio/kucrpodcastandrewbees.mp3[/mp3]To download the KUCR Podcast of this interview, click here.

For more information about the artists:
http://www.myspace.com/rumourrumour
http://www.myspace.com/officialandrewbees

This is Armando here with exclusive some footage from the recent Aggrolites show at the Barn, shot by the one and only Dex.

watch?v=WQMm4C9S3zw

For those of you unfamiliar with the song, you really need to get out from under that rock you’ve been living under for the past couple of decades. I’ll let it slide this time and let you know, it’s the classic song, ” don’t let me down”, by none other than The Beatles. Looks pretty intimate doesn’t it? You could probably give Jesse a high five if you felt like it.

This is just a taste of what’s to come next quarter as we continue to bring you shows at the Barn. We’ve got some good things coming up that you definitely won’t want to miss. Can’t tell you too much about it now though, but expect some more info as we get closer to the start of the Spring Quarter Barn series, presented by KUCR and hosted at The Barn (thanks, Housing!). I can tell you this much however, next quarter’s barn series will kick off April 9th. Same day and time, Wednesdays from 6-9 for those of you just tuning in, so bring yourself and we’ll bring the music. To stay up to speed, look for us on facebook, or check out the unofficial KUCR myspace.

Good Luck on finals everyone!

For those of you who got locked out* of the party in The Barn on 20th February: things was bananas in there. Watch:

This, of course, was from the smash success Zion I / Mistah FAB concert put on by ASPB. Dude may have shown up over an hour late, and I don’t know about those yellow bus sneakers, but the young man did put on a show. Of course, there’s some Zion I footage up in here somewhere that I have to dig up as well. Feel free to post this all over your corner of the internets.

And as the video intimates, big things coming in 2008. Watch this space.

*seriously, kids, The Barn is only so big. When we say get there early, we mean it.