Music seen at Empire Dine and Dance, June 27, 2008
By SONYA TOMLINSON | July 2, 2008
Anyone in their late 20s and early 30s can appreciate what a golden era the ’90s were for hip-hop, R&B, and dancehall. The classics that came out of that period are still getting huge play from DJs. Last Friday night got nostalgic as Juba and Boondocks pulled out jams like Souls of Mischief's “93 'Til Infinity,” Mary J. Blige’s “Be Happy,” and Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam.”
A diverse crowd including a zombie bride, the familiar breakdancers, and an older gentleman resembling Doc Brown from Back to the Future intermingled on the welcomingly dim dance floor.
Boondocks can be seen every Monday at the Big Easy. Sadly, we are losing Pore to the Windy City. He will be missed.
Jessica Delfino at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, June 28
A thin crowd can be a challenge in comedy, as was the case with local opener, Amelia Kutch. It was less her material and more her lack of timing that left the 20-person crowd at the St. Lawrence Arts Center appreciative when Jessica Delfino took the floor with a veteran presence.
The stage was set with Delfino’s props — a guitar, a flying-V ukulele, a change of shoes and hat, and a microphone encircled by a set of red rope lights in the shape of a heart. All of which were pleasant precursors to the attractive and ballsy female comedian who grabbed the audience’s attention from her entrance.
Delfino has a way of making you hang on her every word with her use of dead space, body language, audience participation, and absurdly hysterical content. Whether it's a song about defecating on her ex-boyfriend and kindly nicknaming him “Shit Chin,” or a song accompanied by a rape whistle with a list of outrageous made-up reasons for a perpetrator not to rape her, she turns the taboo into feminine and empowering subject matter.
Related:
Awesome tapes from Africa, Vowel free, Going on sale: November 9, 2007, More 
- Awesome tapes from Africa
The music runs the gamut from Ghanaian gospel to Nigerian highlife, dulcet Malian folk to polished Kenyan hip-hop.
- Vowel free
Rcrd Lbl pays both artists and labels like Warp and Modular in exchange for permission to post songs.
- Going on sale: November 9, 2007
Most Serene Republic, Wu-Tang Clan, Spiritualized, and more.
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That old familiar sound
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- Mad dissent
Few rappers practice what they teach, but Staten Island’s NYOIL — a former member of the early-’90s outfit the U.M.C.’s and current revolutionary rap stalwart — acts as loudly as he rhymes.
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43 bands, 32 hailing from Rhode Island, all for a recession-friendly $7.
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Topics:
Live Reviews
, Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music, More
, Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music, Mary J. Blige, Jessica Delfino, Sonya Tomlinson, Less
