GO STETSA!

On Halloween I went to this free show hosted by Prince Paul and featuring CL Smooth, Dres from Black Sheep, AG (formerly of Showbiz & AG), Juggaknots, Freddie Foxx, and some others. Now, those are all artists I've admired at some point in my life, but I probably wouldn't have paid $ to see any of them in 2006. And there was something kind of sad about their performances. Many were promoting new albums, but really, who's going to be checking for a new AG record? Of course, the audience got hype when CL did "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" and Dres did "The Choice Is Yours," but the energy level was pretty low the rest of the night.

For the most part, I could have stayed home. But I have to say, it was nice to see the Stetsasonic reunion. No live band, just Prince Paul on the decks. But MCs Daddy O and Delite seemed so damn happy to be on stage again -- no matter that there were hardly 50 people left in the audience at that point -- and their joy was infectious. It was a very short set, but they did all their classics like "Sally" and "Talking All That Jazz."

There was a definite contrast between the festive vibe of the Stetsasonic performance and the somewhat desperate vibe of the other acts. Which makes sense, I guess. The bill was made up predominantly of artists from the 1990s who are grasping to stay in the game. Whereas Stetsa are really an 80s group and purely nostalgic -- they were just there to relive the good ol' days and have some fun. The audience had fun too....the most fun of the whole night.