Slightly Drunk, Slightly Baked, Slightly Stoopid.

So Wednesday night I went up to Petaluma, a sleepy town about 45 minutes north of SF, to watch one of my favorite bands, Slightly Stoopid, play at a little joint called the Mystic Theatre. One of the ironies of my liking them so much is that they are a SoCal stoner/surfer band , and I am not a surfer or a stoner. They are very similar to Sublime, although I think they are even better, and they have the added benefit over Sublime of all being still alive. There are not many bands that I would drive so far to see on a weeknight, but they are certainly one. If these dudes come to your town, and you dig Sublime, Long Beach Dub All Stars, G. Love or even Jack Johnson, then go check them out.



The theater was very cool, and old single room movie house that has been converted into a concert venue- pretty intimate. We got there in time to catch the 2nd of the two opening bands, some group called The Wylde Bunch, who were actually very good. They were what would result if Ozomatli and Outkast had a love child of a band: 2 rappers, 2 guitars, a drummer, and a 3 piece horn set, highlighted by a tall woman in a miniskirt playing the shit out of the trumpet. Pretty good stuff actually, and they finished off by back to back versions of "Boyz In Tha Hood" by Eazy-E followed by "Sweet Dreams" by Annie Lennox, and amazingly it worked.

As the intermission wound down I was starting to feel pretty good as I finished my 2nd 22 oz beer and all of the high school and college stoners started to flavor the air around us. Then the boys came on stage, and damn if the saxaphone player wasn't rocking a blue #10 Zizou France jersey- I was so fired up that they could have walked out and announced that the show was canceled and that would have been just fine.


Even if your band completely sucks,
I will be predisposed to like you if
someone in it walks onstage wearing this shirt

They proceeded to absolutely knock it out of the park for 2 hours and send me home a happy, albeit slightly stoned from secondhand smoke, man. I don't really care that I am one of 7 people in the building over 30 or 1 of 7 who isn't blazing up- the music is outstanding and takes me to a happy place. Miles and Kyle both sing, and both play guitar as well as bass, and they switch often during the show. There is a drummer as well as a dude who plays bongos. The addition of a kick ass trumpeter as well as Zizou on sax was outstanding- I can only hope that they will both feature prominently on the new album that will be coming out this summer.

As excited as I was about the show, I was even more excited at the announcement over the weekend of the upcoming "Summer Haze" tour, featuring full sets from G. Love & Special Sauce, Slightly Stoopid, and Ozomatli together in one show. Holy shit- that is 2 of my absolute favorite bands and a third that I like that absolutely rocks their live shows. Oh, and it just so happens that on Saturday Aug 11 they are playing at The Greek Theater in Bezerkely, one of the coolest concert venues there is. Pretty much a dream show for yours truly- the only way it could be better is if Arsene Wenger spoke between sets and PV4 and Kanu had a kickabout up on the lawn above the seats. So don't even think about getting married that day if you want me to be there.