Friday, July 3, 2009

Multifest...

Since there is no Regatta in Charleston this year, why not go to Multifest?

Ok, so far, there's not a lot to see.

On the upside, at least the food is decent --even if there's not much else going on. I have no idea who The Whispers are. Never heard of them, which isn't all that surprising. I grew up listening to redneck classic country, redneck classic rock and heavy metal then moved into punk, stoner rock and alt. country after a brief flirtation with bubblegum pop in the mid 1980s (I was hoping to get laid).

I'm sure I'll get a strongly worded e-mail about all their fine accomplishments and contributions to music. They were probably giants about thirty or forty years ago. I am and will always be a philistine.

The only little problem I have with Multifest is that as white bread as Regatta often was (and it was), Multifest is primarily an African-American event with a half-hearted nod to a few other communities. Credit where credit is due: a couple of years it looked like they reached out a bit (belly dancers, a booth for an Islamic center handing out copies of the Koran, somebody selling some vaguely Asian food), but the major entertainment is usually soul, R&B and some flavor of Hip Hop --which is fine. I'd love it if they'd bring in Public Enemy, but so would a lot of middle-aged white guys who still listen to Rage Against The Machine and get nostalgic for smart, aggressive and political rap.

Fat chance on that one, whitey, if their budget affords The Whispers as their headliner (by now, I've read their bio, their wikipedia page, and will venture, regardless of their many fine hits, I still have never heard of them).

Still, a little more diversity on the stage would be nice. I won't be going for the music. I'll get some fried fish or maybe some ribs. If I luck out, they'll have a reggae band plunking away on a Saturday afternoon.

That's not terrible and given the long haul to next year's FestivALL, you have to soak up whatever passes for a party in Charleston.

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