I was SO late picking up Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape, just got into it this week & I can't stop playing it. Dead Nigga Blvd. & Hot Night just kill me.

I remembered Meshell was due for a concert in San Francisco & wouldn't you know it - I missed it by a few weeks. She played in October & I'm kicking myself right now. I knew it was coming & I skipped it on purpose. How fucking stupid am I???!!!

Anyway, who went to see her & how were the shows? I saw on Free Your .com that she's in out of the country touring. Any idea when she'll tour in the US (the West side) again??


Sq

CalhounSq said:

several of my friends in SoCal said her recent LA performance was TERRIBLE and she's not too good live. Just their opinions tho...

sorry,blonde tonight... also, LOTS of people were leaving during the show. Love the album tho...

INSATIABLE said:

No way!! Really? I've seen her live twice, she's great! Must have been an off night for her...

CalhounSq said:

ive seen her numerous times too...and this concert has been lacking...i myself, who love closing my eyes and listening to her jam found myself at the bar halfway thorugh

..dont know why. but i for one cant wait for her next album and tour...these new songs just dont translate well during a show.

I saw Meshell in Cleveland a couple of weeks ago at a club called The Odeon.She had a very talented D.J. warm up the crowd for at least and hour,with mostly old school jams and even a Prince/Prince related song or two.
Meshell and the band performed for about 70 minutes and I felt disappointed that she didn't comeback for an encore.

SHE NEVER ONCE LOOKED AT OR ACKNOWLEDGED THE CROWD.

I'm told she is very sensitive to harsh lighting but it would have been nice had she realised just about everyone there knew all the lyrics to just about every song that was performed.

The hightlight for me(aside from being mesmorized by the gifted and sexy bass player in the band)was when she sat down at the keys to perform"can't nobody eat my pussy the way that you do..."LOL

I might get some heat from this opinion but I think Cookie is the weakest album she's produced.There is something too inconsistent and kind of mainstream about it.With having said that,I consider her past three albums near masterpieces.

CalhounSq said:

"Dead Nigga Blvd" and "Hot Night" are my favorites off the album also. The album as a whole is ok. I could do with out the segues and the spoken word interludes, especially when they overlap and drown out the music.

As for the concert, I saw her in DC this past summer. The show was not the greatest. As a matter of fact it was just ok. She cussed out her sound people several times. The sound for the first 45 minutes was straight crap. She didn't play much keyboard and played even less bass. She performed at an outdoor amphitheater. Not a good venue for her.


.
[This message was edited Mon Nov 18 13:46:57 PST 2002 by Ifsixwuz9]
[This message was edited Mon Nov 18 13:47:30 PST 2002 by Ifsixwuz9]

CalhounSq said:

that's too bad. i went down for her san francisco show and it was great.. then again, who's going to listen to my opinion on this matter

glad to hear you finally picked up "cookie." i personally skip the final track so it comes across as her original vision for the album (not the one that maverick forced on her.)

thanks2joniandu said:

No heat from me, I agree. I don't think it's a terrible album or anything, but it doesn't seem as compelling and doesn't have that flow she generally has. But that's ok, she's human.

Ifsixwuz9 said:

I have a feeling Meshell is going through some personal things.

Supernova said:

such as folks not respecting her wishes of not using flash photography on her.

go to the site below for more info.

Meshell's show have lost some luster, the energy isn't really there which is mostly due to the setlist from her new album which i agree didn't hit me at all except for God, Fear, Money which totally kicks arse. I'm from the bay area & have seen her about 7 X. The show i saw at slims a couple years back was an all out funk attack, as good as I've seen from anyone including our boy princey. Hopefully she goes back to that in your face funk.

I agree, the Slim's show a few years back was amazing! This last performance in SF was not her best, but I still think Cookie is her best yet.. she is usually amazing in concert.. fyi.

i'm curious ... has she performed any songs from "bitter" on this latest tour? i think she had the perfect one-two punch with "peace beyond passion" and "bitter." i ain't digging the new album that much, though. it isn't as organic as her other work, and sounds a little forced.

in san francisco she performed:

• plantation lullabies (plantation lullabies, 1993)
• wasted time (duet with k'alyn (bitter, 1999)
• the way (peace beyond passion, 1996)
• better by the pound (cookie, 2002)
• god.fear.money (cookie)
• quentin mack (unreleased)
• ecclesiastes: free my heart (peace beyond passion)
• i'm diggin' you like a soul record (plantation lullabies)
• earth (cookie)
• fellowship (unreleased)
  
• encore 1: dead nigga blvd pt1, dead nigga blvd pt2
  
• encore 2: pocketbook (original version)

every night is different though with her... she still loves to perform faithful & satisfy.

twice recently in nyc she had to go to the hospital cause folks were taking photographs.

so when folks complain that she didn't once look at the crowd, or had her eyes closed throughout her performance, now you know why.

(since folks aren't visiting the definitive site for me'shell ndegéocello to find out that information.)

calhounsq... check out 'wefunk' at freemyheart. her oct24th performance at kcrw is still archived there (video & audio)

enjoy

suomynona said:

Wasted Time is my FAVORITE song from Bitter, that shit KILLS ME!!! FUUUCK, why did I miss this show???!!!





AHH, SWEEET!! Thanks!

CalhounSq said:

you're welcome... you may also be interested in today's downloads... especially 'soul record.'

enjoy

anemone said:

wow...how many of us were at that slims concert?


while i agree that she rocked during that show...i still say her Roxy performance was her best (and my all time favorite concert experience by *any* artist)...

and yes soumynona, we all know she has eye issues..still doesnt justify her dull Cookie tour...IMHO.

I have seen Meshell two times this year...

The Roxy Theater, Sunset Strip, Hollywood, CA, June 2002
Great show. The music was transcendent and the mood was right. I enjoy the songs and comedian Paul Mooney was funny. It was my first Meshell concert and I was not disappointed.

St. Andrews Hall, Detroit, MI
Different vibe atmospherically, but nice music nonetheless. The audience was much more "rawer" than the glitzy L.A. audience. The DJ played some nice songs, but he was better the first time I saw him. The merchandise was also better the first time. The Hot Night Tour seemed pretty dull to me. I enjoyed the Cookie Promo Tour much more. But, I will definitely see her again next year. Man, I wish I was in attendance at the Bitter shows. All I have are MP3s to remember it by.

P.S. Her eyes were closed entirely during both performances.

SkletonKee said:

interesting way to put it... "eye issues"... i'd call it idiotic fan issues.

one fan said after she'd been rushed to the hospital "i thought she was far enough away that the flash wouldn't affect her."

call it dull, or unjustifiable.

i call it brave. everytime someone takes a flash photograph of her, they might as well be shooting a gun at her.

call me being over dramatic.

but both runs to the hospital following performances in nyc where idiots took her picture (after being asked NOT to several times that evening) says otherwise.

it's shameful, and what will eventually happen is she'll stop touring because of this, or she's going the have such a bad seizure one night that it's going to damage her.

either that, or some fan is going to be assaulted by a mob of admirers that are tired of reading about how one or two idiots are shooting at her after being asked not to.

i mean,wtf. it's the same as asking for someone's autograph. what is up with that phenomenon? same with taking a photograph. is your memory that awful that you need to bring in your $10 flash disposable camera that you bought on the way over to the venue at 7-11 and endanger someone's life because you can't remember what it was like at the show?

do i miss her joking around with the crowd like she did during the "bitter" tour? hell yes.

however, i also understand what her manager said too:

Why cameras are never allowed at Me’Shell’s shows
Q) She’s in the hospital since last night. Egypt on WBLS said she can’t disclose details. Meshell was supposed to be on her show today. Does anyone know what happened?

A) "meshell has epilepsy; flash photos are bad. we make the announcement at every show, but people don’t seem to trust their own memory or their own experience... they gotta take it home with them, make it tangible. so frequently, folks don’t listen. people often complain that meshell performs in her own world, eyes closed, head back... well this is why. its a defense—she’d rather close her eyes than post up behind some big ass rock star sunglasses. or we could get like prince and body cavity search everybody before they enter the club, but we think that the police do enough to criminalize everyday people.

so last night, someone flashed her; she later said, “i heard the announcement but thought i was far enough away.” brilliant. too bad; meshell and band were in a zone, which might account for why cody chesnuTT and bilal were studying so hard up front. she’s fine. just needed some water and some sleep."

ktaha
’02nov06 16:58 (est) @ another site's message board

suomynona said:

hope u didnt take offense to my statement...however, at the SF show *I* attended, there were no camera flashes...thats why i dont feel *that* issue explains why this concert was so dull...

like someone else mentioned, theres something going on...her performances are lacking this time around...and we as fans are paying for these shows so I dont think its wrong to comment on how we feel about our experiences...

get my drift?

SkletonKee said:

yeah... and i agree. while something may be lacking (the humor, etc) i think there are extenuating (sp?) circumstances.

maverick completely fucked up "cookie." the album was finished in july of 2001. they delayed the album repeatedly and made one horrible change that put a twist on the album that is leaving everyone with a bad taste in their mouth. folks are tired of hearing me rant about maverick. shoot, i'm tired of ranting about maverick. things are just the way they are. she has no support. i just wish she could move on...

the material (the music) is also different than her last tour. bitter was a different kind of tour because the songs were written differently (on guitar instead of bass, etc).

i also think 9/11 had an incredible effect on her (moreso than any other artist i can think of simply because of who we know she is.) check out the interviews following 9/11 in the 'museum' at freemyheart.com. i think the upcoming war with iraq is weighing heavy on her mind too. that's just how it is when folks are deep. and me'shell's as deep as they come.

combine that with the repeated rushed trips to the hospital after multiple seizures this year, i tend to find myself not thinking about what others call dull (i don't find that offensive, unlike some prince fans & prince, me'shell's admirers & me'shell herself can handle criticism), i just find myself grateful that she's playing at all right now. do i feel like i got my time & money's worth for spending 20 hours taking the greyhound down to san francisco last month to see her at the fillmore? hell yeah.

the san francisco show was everything her past shows i've seen her at were (short of the humor/toying with the crowd that she normally does)... everything else was the same... in fact, short of the lack of guitar theatrics we got on the bitter tour (again, those songs were written on a guitar, the new material was not), i felt this is her best band yet. jonathan maron (from groove collective) is an incredible addition on bass... and k'alyn... well... k'alyn is k'alyn. can't nobody mess with his voice... i've never heard anyone not say they didn't get butterflies when hearing him do that part in 'earth' on the kcrw performance...

do i think this is a permanent change for her? who knows. me'shell is constantly changing as an artist. i know that two of her biggest influences are jimi & miles, and they never felt it was necessary to play to the crowd (like for instance, prince does)...

i think that's both good and bad. i think in a good way it makes folks just concentrate on the music... however, i'd miss out on her sense of humor that she's displayed in the past. i think she'd make a great comedienne.

nah, i got no beef with you skletonkee i respect your opinions... and can appreciate where you're coming from.

i'm just trying to maybe shed some light on what she's dealing with too...

I think this Album had some Good Moments.I dig Her Spirit&Her Playing Vibe.some things over Her Career work more for me than others but Overall She gets much Props from me.I still think&Feel She would be a Helluva Producer Behind a Great Number of Acts.She could teach Missy how too do it as a Producer IMHO.

CalhounSq said:

great, great album!

JANFAN4L said:

WHAAAT??!! DAMN, that's the perfect night! Start off w/ comedy... Paul Mooney

... end it w/ some kickass music!! Damn, I gotta move to LA :O