Wu-Tang Clan

[Drunk Monk]

Wutang Clan @ Grand 12/3/8
I had a great time.  RZA hooked me up with all access passes.  There was some microphone issues, which sucked.  RZA stopped the show at one point and berated the sound man because there wasn't enough clear mikes to go around.  But the show was awesome.  RZA dominated like the head of Voltron. He can pump up a crowd like no one else. Inspectah Deck and GZA were on fire.  The free rap stuff was amazing.  Wu skillz are massive.  They're playing a lot of intimate clubs on this tour, which is where hip hop really shines IMO.

I got to hang with RZA backstage after for a while. We talked movies, of course, and killed a bottle of Patron.  As many in DOOM will testify, DM is not a tequila drinker (or absinthe for that matter).  Tequila leads to kareoke...and RZA has learned the art of Chinese hard liquor drinking fu.  He poured some tall shots, did the old Chinese two-hand toast, and refilled my cup as soon as it was drained.  He could have kicked my ass drinking. He did it before when we were in China. But he was merciful and gave me that Chinese 'out' to save face. "You can sip this one. This is a sipper."  Before the Patron, RZA put down a magnum of champagne during the performance (although he did spray some on the audience). Hip Hop drunken style.  He let me in on a lot about how Iron Fist is going and asked for support, which I most willing gave.  Hook RZA up with martial artists for his film?  This I can do.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Martial artists? How about a fat, old, bald fencer with bad knees? You know where to find one of those.

[Drunk Monk]

...which is on the newsstands now, btw. better let the ppfy fan club know so they can buy up those issues. sure to be DOOM collector's items.

DM has now been able to humiliate 2 DOOM bros in the mag. 2 down, 1 to come, the rest to go.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

You might need to work on your math a bit more. I'm still missing King Bob, Cranefly, Scapino, thatguy, and HK. Maybe they do math differently over at the magazine?

[Drunk Monk]

The 2 down are LB & PPFY. LB still reigns as the top hobo. It was method acting.
You know who the 1 to come is.
KB, CF, Pino, tg, & HK are the 'rest'.

Yo, PPFY, I think their looking for fat, old, bald fencers with bad knees at the Dicken's Faire. :o

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

DM babbled nearly incoherently:

Yo, PPFY, I think their looking for fat, old, bald fencers with bad knees at the Dicken's Faire.

Hah! I have my pride! (or do I...?)

[Drunk Monk]

I watched the NFL championships from a sushi bar on Van Ness with a handful of SFers. It was fun as we were all strangers, except for the lesbians sitting next to me who didn't know the first thing about football but cheered SF on as that's what you do. Then I stood outside the door of the Grand in the rain, waiting for my pass to come through. Never did. Had to lay the ol' RM card and get in that way.

See now Wutang is NY. In fact, it's the epitome of NY hip hop - the show was sold out and many fans came in Giants jerseys.

The Wu came late because they wanted to watch the game and hit the stage immediately. They delivered an amazing show, one of the best I've seen by them - it was a victory party. Then after, the Wu handpicked some groupies and set their personal bodyguard at the door with the instructions 'no dudes. chicks only.' 'nuf said. I'll follow up on email, but I understand.

I hung out with RM a little. I've only ever been there once before for the last Wu show (actually was there for some other shows long ago, before it was an RM gig, but I can't really remember what...perhaps that was even with ED) Mostly I just jumped up and down with the crowd and flashed my WU salute. Enjoyed the Wu, all things considered.

[Drunk Monk]

---

[Drunk Monk]

SLA 6/22/19

What an odd night. No, I didn’t get to hang with RZA & the Clan. His manager did reply to a text saying she wasn’t in the house and that’s another manager was there that I didn’t know ir have contact info. But I did get see a lot of friends, do a bit of work (enough to impress the nooBs) catch some of Enter the Wu-tans (this was the 25th) and grab Trejo’s tacos with Daniel Wu.

[Greg]

Maybe you are only allowed one celebrity friend at a time and you have exchanged RZA for Wu?

[Drunk Monk]

Is that how it works? I just get rationed one Wu? 

That sux.

[Greg]

Read the fine print next time.

[Drunk Monk]

lemme get my glasses for that fine print...

So, this is solstice weekend.  For years, this meant SNWMF, but due to the passing of one of the primary promoters, it was cancelled this year.  There was a gathering at Boomville of staff, but I opted for this - the 25th Anniversary of Enter the Wu-Tang with De La Soul, Pharacyde, Eric B & Rakim.  I did reach out to RZA and his agent a week prior but nothing came of it until last night when his agent said she wasn't present. Alas...

I did have a bunch of old friends in town for this, most notably was Daniel Wu. He came by with another friend, Matt, and two of his cousins.  We grabbed Trejo's tacos together and caught up. So cool. He said Cannes was dull and he didn't do much and that his project with RZA fell through, so now he's just hanging out at his shop, working on restoring that vintage Honda. Matt is doing some work with STS9 here in the Cruz, so we planned to get together soon, maybe next weekend - I owe him dinner after he treated me in Dublin. One Asian RM vol recognized Daniel. She pulled me aside later and asked how I knew so many people. She said she grew up watching him and was totally starstruck.  I failed to get her name, but that was super cute.  

I took a very long break to hang with Daniel and on the way back, bumped into two groups of friends who I didn't expect to see, making my break even longer.  They didn't put me on radio, and I was technically assigned to 'the annex' but wound up hanging out at table service because it was more fun working the crowd.  When I got back, there was a shroomer patient for me - a Turkish dude who just needed to sleep it off.  His friend was there and taking care of him so it was a softball.  Another snoopy vol was all "I wondered where you were - you were working!"  Yeah I was.  Totally.  There was another patient that tried to bolt with his friends and this ODC nooB chased him down.  I was told to be 'the parent' in that situation. They said he was drunk, and that might have been, but his behavior and blown pupils told a different story.  The nooB vol got a lesson in pupillary examination.

I only caught part of Enter the Wu-Tang - the first few tracks and some in the middle.  Bring the Ruckus was fun.  I spent more time socializing than tuning in. Honestly, I'm not that into Hip Hop.  I feel I can't sing along because it's got too many n-words.  And I can't rap worth a crap.  

Nevertheless, it was a good night.  I felt really in the groove and got to touch base with a lot of old friends, and even make a few new ones.  

I was originally hoping Tara would tag along - it would have been fun to introduce her to Daniel since he introduced me to his daughter - but Tara was reconnecting with one of her good friends who stayed over. They were still up when I got home at 1AM.  I just treated them both to brunch at Seabreeze. It's been a good Sunday.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Good weekend. You have earned it and many, many more.

[Drunk Monk]

I think we’ve all earned a good weekend.

Except maybe Greg. Cuz he’s moved to sunset paradise replete with cats. What more could you want?

Two more random notes on the weekend: 1. I ground scored a pair of Oakleys. After thoroughly sterilizing them, they are in good condition, almost new. 2. A patron donated a cannagummy. Said is was a 10 mg. Dm’s tabling partner didn’t partake (like most RM nooBs now, which is actually very empowering because dm can impart any ridiculous ‘fact’ about drugs that comes to mind with wise authority and is generally beleieved). Dm now has a lot of edibles and need some to eat them before they go sour.