For any Fishbone fans on this board, I just found out that Fishbone is releasing a dvd called "Critical Times: The Hen House Sessions" on Oct 5th.

For a picture and track listing, check out this link (although at this store it has a release date of Nov 30th):

http://www.cduniverse.com...lk_mysimon

At amazon.com and a few other sites, the release date is Oct 5th.

http://www.amazon.com/exe...82-9824919

Aw, COOL!! Thanks for the Headz Up!

Yeah, I have seen Fishbone numerous times and have met Norwood Fisher a few times as well. Fishbone paved the way for acts like The Chilli Peppers. They're legendary out here in L.A.

Yeah, I've been meaning to start a thread about this for the heads here.

Did anyone hear about the Chicago show they recently did? I heard Norwood pulled a Courtney Love.

sinisterpentatonic said:

Yeah, I heard.

blackguitaristz said:

I was disappointed after hearing this! I'm like damn, I hope this band doesn't have a tragic end. I also heard Dirty Walt wasn't with them at this show, do you know if he's still with them?

Love Fishbone. I'll have to check out the new DVD.

The last Fishbone show I went to, Prince was there as well in the soundbooth.
[Edited 9/10/04 12:25pm]

sinisterpentatonic said:

Yeah, I'd like to know about this, too. I've been hoping that Fishbone could hold it together, but it seems that every couple of years, another key member departs...

Norwood pulled a Courtney Love???? Sinister Pentatonic please fill me in cuz this is news to me? Don't leave me hangin' like that I saw Fishbone in concert just recently (May 20th) and was very disappointed....this was the 5th or 6th time I had seen them in concert but before this last time I had not seen them in about 3 or 4 years live. Anyways, Dirty Walt is definitely no longer with the band. The lineup was Angelo and Norwood (of course), John Steward on drums...then they had Rocky George (formerly of Suicidal Tendencies) on guitar. I was really looking forward to seeing this guy live since I had heard a lot about them but I am sorry to say that I was NOT impressed by this guy at all. I thought his playing was very very weak, definitely no John Bigham or Kendall Jones or even Spacey T. To round up the lineup, they had 2 new young guys...one guy on keyboard was named Dre (I believe) and some other guy on trumpet/background vocals. I hate to say it but neither one of these 2 new guys looked to me like they belong in Fishbone. After having seen Fishbone with Chris Dowd and Dirty Walt, these 2 guys definitely have downgraded their respective positions in the band. Neither one of their playing was anything spectacular at all.

In the past I have been about a big a Fishbone fan as you can be but this last concert was so disappointing that I actually left about 40 min. into it because the performance was so subpar. They were playing practically all old material (Unyielding Conditioning to open, Freddie's Dead, BeerGut, They All Have Abandoned Their Hopes). While I love all these songs, their performance was pretty weak and I think that in the 10+ years since these songs were done they should have come out with some newer material...Just goes to show how much Kendall Jones and Chris Dowd must have meant to their songwriting. I'm still gonna get the dvd though. Sinister Pentatonic, please let me know what happened with Norwood...Thanks.

Emilio!!! I wasn’t at the show, but a good friend of mine, who happens to be a hardcore Fishbone fan was there. He said that was the last Fishbone show he would ever ever ever go to, which is unbelievable considering how devoted a fan he is.

First of all the band came on stage extremely late (typical rock star stuff ) . Apparently the only way out of the dressing room was across the stage, after the band took the stage their groupies decided they wanted to leave the dressing room too, so they followed the band out and before one of them left the stage they turned around and started tonguing Angelo for a long period of time. My friend found this pretty tasteless because it was so obvious these females served the band up before the set.

Anyways, I guess they launched into a song and everyone in the band was going strong with the exception of Norwood. He just stood there with his bass not playing a single note, it became apparent after a couple of bars that bruh was having some issues. The band stared him down looking at him like “What the fuck is your Problem” Well, they go into another song and Norwood still hasn’t played a single note, so in the middle of the track Angelo tells the audience “we’re experiencing technical difficulties in the bass department” and stopped the band and said “we’ll be right back”. Before leaving the stage Norwood took the mic and told the audience “Yo!! I’m fucked up! I’ve been drinking for the last 3 days!!” then he asked “does anyone have any weed out there? Does anyone have some coke? Cause I’ll do it RIGHT NOW!!” then one of the members grabbed him and took him backstage.

So, after about 20 mins, they come back out and they launched into another song! And Norwood does the same damn thing!!! He just stands there! He doesn’t even put his bass on! Again the band is looking at him like “what the fuck?” Then he sits down on the stage and watches the band play! He does this for a whole song! Then I guess they go into “Party at Zero” and finally the bass tech comes out and straps on Norwood’s bass and starts playing along. While he’s playing, Norwood comes out to him and said, “Give me my bass man!!” and the tech keeps playing. So, Norwood puts his head under the tech’s arm and puts the bass on him! At one point they’re both wearing the damn bass and Norwood continues to yell at him “give me my bass man!!” Finally, Norwood takes control of the bass and starts playing like nothing ever happened! After he seemed to get his shit together, there was only 30 mins left in the set.

I’ve heard stories about Norwood and I know he’s a wild cat, but this is ridiculous. My friend kept telling me Fisbone’s done and over with! Personally, I feel the same as you, after Kendall and Chris left it wasn’t the same anymore, those 2 were the strongest writers.

I’m hoping Norwood just had an off night and these aren’t symptoms of something much worse.

Wow!!!! Thanks man, that is one hell of a story!!!!! Unfortunately, I can't say I'm that surprised. When I last saw them less than 4 months ago, they got on stage and were fiddling with their instruments for about 15 mins (tuning up and just playing some crappy groove) before starting and then in between every song they would do the same thing, 10 min. of just fiddling with their instruments. After awhile it was really lame. Like I said in my previous post, I don't think it's possible to be a bigger Fishbone fan than I was from about '94 through '98, and for me to leave a Fishbone show early is really saying a lot. I mean, when people pay money to see a show, they want to see a show, not adults acting like babies. Most of the times I've seen them live, Norwood asks the crowd if anyone has weed....I got nothing against smoking weed but he should do that shit on his own time. And aren't these guys kinda old to still be getting high all the time? Damn, I would think once you get to your late 30's you get a little tired of that lifestyle. If they really respect and love music than they should show it and be professionals on stage...that doesn't mean they can't be wild and crazy but the stuff I'm referring to and the stuff Norwood pulled is definitely pretty lame. I do think that Fishbone has been going down the tubes for a long time and their permanent demise is around the corner. Just look at this new dvd they got coming out, it was filmed a couple of years ago and just now is when it's coming out. Shit like that pisses me off....I always hear that they should have been as big as RHCP, and a lot of times I agree but I also think no one has done more damage to their career as they have!!! It's no wonder so many members have left...Fish left and from what I see he is now getting a lot of success playing with "big stars." So now with only Norwood and Angelo left from the original lineup, if Norwood leaves then what do you got???? Sad to see it end like this but it seems inevitable. Thanks again Sinister Pentatonic for the story!

Yeah, it saddends me too, that these cats are on their way out! I saw them last year at a small venue and they actually kicked ass!!!! It was a cool show! At first they were a bit lukewarm, but when the crowd started to give back, they lit the stage up! It was such a cool night! I even gave Dirty Walt a ride to Mcdonald's before the show. After the show we sat outside with the drummer for about an hour drinking beer. That dude was cool as fuck and I must say, he was able to hold it down live. Angelo even gave me a page of lyrics he had been writing (I'll post them later) I actually regained some faith in Bone after this show, but after hearing about CHI, my heart was broken.

Yeah, I've always felt that Fishbone could've been bigger. I'm sure there are a lot of variables of why they never attained the success they should've. What baffles me is how 2 of the members could leave after putting together a masterpiece like "GIve a monkey a Brain...." ?
These cats were my musical heros coming up! I felt like they would always break some new ground musically and they did in many ways, but after G.A.M.A.B they seemed to have plateaued or even fell a notch and after "Chim Chim" they fell even further.

I'm sure this vid is going to shine some light on what led to their demise at least I hope it does.

Yeah I saw this title listed on Best Buy's computer.I can't wait!I've never had the joy of experiencing them live.I've always wanted a live cd,too.And I don't know if dr.madd vibe has a cd out,but i want some of that.I saw fishbvone play as the backing band for joi a few years ago and during intermission ,before d'angelo came on stage,angelo performed a couple of numbers.I imagine it was dr.madd vibe.he was incredible!that band has had such talent during its heyday.I really cannot figure out why they haven't had one hit album!!i looove fishbone!!

Just responding to everyones posts about seeing Fishbone lately and being disappointed....

I haven't seen them live for about 7 years, but even then I was disappointed. I've seen them maybe 5 times since the late 80s, and after that last one, I decided that I wasn't really interested in going to see them anymore. I am a huge fan of the band, but as of now I'd rather just listen to my favorite albums by the band instead.