Hey AllOne Family!
Now that I'm just about the middle of my NovEmbark tour, I have a few Long Island shows to reflect on now that there is room to breath in the wake of chaos from performance and travel and the holidays. Many people were confused when I said I had a few days at home on Long Island, and really as I've mentioned before about the tour, there were circumstances that made these events a must and I wasn't going to shirk my responsibility of a friend and a touring peer for the stubborn idea that I needed to be out of state because I'm "on tour from date A to date B". As long as I'm changing things up and moving around, performing with people I enjoy making memories, it is all valid and meaningful to me!
11/19: Katies of Smithtown Benefit For Biv:
A venue down the road from my apartment, Katies of Smithtown was hosting a benefit event for my friend Mark Biv from Kill The Inventors, so I knew I would have to be home for this one to help out a friend in need. For those of you that don't know, KTI is one of my favorite hip hop groups on Long Island and last summer we collaborated on a song together called "DYSTOPIATES" (click to listen). Katies has become one of my favorite venues not just because of its proximity to my new home but because the staff are awesome, the stage/sound is optimal, and my friend Heather runs a delicious food truck in the outside back patio area that had some irresistible foods! I had the opportunity to see some friends I haven't seen in a long time!
The Line Up:
The MOFOS opened the show up with a slew of covers played expertly by members of The Vigilance Committee, Ninja Tree House and Jungle Gypsy that really warmed up the room and got people pumped.
I went up next with BMO and had one of my favorite sets we've ever done due to our song choices and interactions, the energy in the room and a random freestyle session that occurred as well as closing on an unexpected remix of "What's Your Problem?" as requested by someone in the crowd. for the second show of ours, BMO brought his saxophone out and it was even better this time in its cohesive incorporation!
Kill The Inventors went up and had a great set, playing with a drummer (Chris, who was amazing) for the first time in years. We ended their set with a freestyle cypher between Hi-Q and I (as pictured below) which was a ton of fun, I always love doing that and even BMO jumped up and rapped with us! Can't wait to be performing alongside KTI more as the year turns!
Samurai Pizza Cats closed up the event with some high energy full-stage punk and ska vibes that had people dancing. Raffles were handed out, I met a lot of new people, sold a bunch of music that I turned the money over to Mark's cause and the night progressed wonderfully. Such a fun time!
Freestyling with Kill The Inventors at Katies of Smithtown |
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Me, Hi-Q of KTI and Eric Correa |
11/21: Parkside Lounge, Lower East Side, NYC:
On Monday I went back to work so I could make some extra money since I was going to be in the area anyway, which bought me some leeway to take off two later dates in December and extend my trip for a few more dates into the weekend (getting 4 days for the price of two). Thanks to the help of my incredible poet/singer friend Jane LeCroy, I was put in touch with Mike Geffner who has run the INSPIRED WORD NYC open mic series throughout Manhattan for 7+ years and I got the chance to feature during this open mic at Parkside Lounge in the lower east side. I got to meet my illustrator/fashion designer friend Dani Blum for dinner in Astoria, Queens then she showed me how to use the subway to get to the venue because I'm pretty inept when it comes to those transit systems!
When we got there we had the pleasure of meeting up with my friends Adam James (of More Than Skies and Sleep Bellum Sonno), Emily Lazio, Mikey Bilello, Doug Widick and Onodera ! All save for Doug and Mikey performed and I was so proud and excited to see my friends displaying such talent to the room, it felt like we were revealing some of the power of the Long Island scene to the city folk!
There were some great performers I'd never seen throughout the open mic that I'd never seen including comedians, singers, improvising poets, silly hip hop comedy acts like The Retar Crew and beautiful bands. What a time!! Mike Geffner was generous to me and the space was professional, encouraging and had a sort of secretive community vibe about it. Afterward Mikey, Dani, Emily, Adam and I romped around in the city on a quest for hot chocolate that was all for naught and settled on Pizza, which... is probably the best "disappointment" one can experience! I look forward to returning to the series eventually, which occurs every monday night!
A Capella//Spoken Word Setlist @ Parkside:
-Anti-Social-Network-Ethic
-Termagant
- Youthtopia
-Therapy Sessions
-Revealed (Practical)
Onodera @ Inspired word NYC |
11/22: Velvet Lounge Open Mic Feature with Miggs Son Daddy, Lauren Schwind and Freak Tha Monsta:
This show at the ever-favorite Velvet Lounge was the entire catalyst of the NovEmbark tour. Miggs and his artistically gifted lady Lauren Schwind live in Savannah and were traveling up to NY for the holidays so they asked me to hook them up with an event or so. Velvet Lounge has a new open mic series (with art, free food, music and fine art features, vendors and jams) on Tuesday nights so that perfectly lined up with their traveling needs!
I know Miggs and Freak Tha Monsta from prior shows they've played on the island. Miggs and I are actually on a track together from his Happy Thoughts project with Dope KNife entitled "When The World Ends"... They're both really talented rappers and high energy performers. The Lounge was packed out that night on account of people being home or off from college with the holidays coming up so that made the room really interesting. I went on just before them and at the end of my set I ended up freestyling over beats spun by DJ Kaution about a bunch of topics thrown to me by the crowd which by some weird turn of events ended up being all 90's shows! Lauren displayed her art which was so eerie and well crafted, many of the pieces I was shocked to find were created live at events she and Miggs played on a tour over the summer! That sort of joint travel and artistic passion really inspired me. The night was awesome those guys have so much power and energy in their sets and really know how to move a crowd. I can't wait to see those guys play again or do some traveling out their way and share a stage with those cats, such good vibes!
"There's no place like home" is said, which can both compliment home as well as be a reason to leave!
I like the idea of there being positive aspects to each side of that coin!
Tune in next time, I made my Thanksgiving-eve debut in Washington, DC!
-Bruce "AllOne" Pandolfo
"There's no place like home" is said, which can both compliment home as well as be a reason to leave!
I like the idea of there being positive aspects to each side of that coin!
Tune in next time, I made my Thanksgiving-eve debut in Washington, DC!
-Bruce "AllOne" Pandolfo