Black Violin, White Stuff

Last night I made the hour trek to Lawrence, Kansas to see Black Violin. All by myself and through another (albeit smaller) snow storm. It was soooooooo worth it.

I'll get to the performance in a sec, but first.... Mother Nature, will you meet me at camera 3?

Mother Nature - I get it already. Enough with the cold and snow. Please stop. Are you upset because Father Time hasn't asked you to be his Valentine? I totally understand. I haven't had a valentine in YEARS but I don't see that as an excuse to go around dumping piles and piles of frozen depression (aka snow) on everyone. Maybe we can be each other's Valentine? I wouldn't go the ordinary route of chocolate or flowers with you, my lady, but rather I would plants trees, pick up trash and recycle paper goods for you. By the same token, I don't need sweets or cards. I just want you to light my fire. And by that I mean please raise the ambient outdoor temperature to above freezing. Thank you.

Snow or no snow, I was resolved to see the show. Brother Daniel saw them a couple years back and got their CD. When we lived together, said CD was left on the coffee table for approximately 3 months and after giving up the dream that it would find its way back to Daniel's CD case, I gave it a listen.

So, Black Violin - if you're not familiar, is a trio made up of a violin, a viola... and a DJ. Only if they would let me cover them in buttons and curly ribbons could I love them more. Seriously. For the most part, their act consists of the DJ (TK is his name) mixing music while Kev Marcus (violin) and Wil-B (viola) did their thing over/with it. They sample Rihanna, Akon, The Temptations, Beyonce and many, many more. Did I mention that I love them?

There were two highlights to last night's show for me. The first came when Kev and Wil-B free styled. The second was when they, and this is a direct quote, "threw some stank on some Bach." Their arrangement of Brandenburg Concerto Number 3* was SICK and the beats the DJ threw down had the old white couple in front me bustin a move. Johann Sebastian would have been proud.





Overall, they stuck with music from this century, but I hope that in the future they produce an album entirely of classical music.... but with some stank thrown on it.

And speaking of stank... I had the Sweet potato and Feta sandwich at the Wheatfields Bakery before the show. Inventive AND Delicious. Obviously last night's theme was "take 2 relatively unrelated things and mash them together and JUST LIKE MAGIC Natasha is insanely happy."