One of the guys in The Sweet Remains, used to attend the same church as I do in LA. So when his band was booked to open for K’Naan and Mishka at The Roxy in West Hollywood, a bunch of folks from church decided to go.
I got to the club a little early, and asked someone who looked like they worked there if he knew when they would be selling tickets. He asked for which show, and I said tonight, to which he responded…”I think tonights sold out.” Since I hadn’t eaten yet, and there was still plenty of time before anyone I was going to meet was going to be there, I decided to walk down Sunset in search of some food (I hadn’t eaten yet.)
Around 7pm, a few of the folks I was meeting showed up, and the ticket office opened. We tried to get our ticket and were told that sorry, the show was sold out. It was looking kind of bleak for awhile. Eventually, a couple of the folks in our group who were on the list, were able to get in and talk to the guy in the band, who was able to talk to the folks at the venue and they let us purchase tickets (though we were supposed to leave after they played).
Most of my group filtered out after The Sweet Remains were done, but I hung around, curious about Mishka and wanting to see at least a little bit of K’Naan’s set.
Mishka, was celebrating the release of his new album Above the Bones, his first release on Matthew McConaughey’s record label. Matthew was of course in attendance as well. I hadn’t heard of Mishka before, but I enjoyed him quite a bit. He’s got a mellow reggae style…definitely influenced by the beaches and “roots reggae.”
The last act of the evening was K’Naan, who I was first introduced to when he opened for Stephen Marley at the Roseland in Portland. He’s a Toronto based, but Somali born Hip-Hop artist. His music is definitely influenced by the rhythms of Africa and reggae as well. In fact, he recorded the majority of his new album at Bob Marley’s home studio in Jamaica.
K’Naan is a blast, and I had wished it wasn’t a work night, so I could have stayed for the whole set.
