Last week marked the 500th Toledo Show at Harvelle's.
Tonight we celebrate the 10 year anniversary of it all!!
I know many of the vamps here tonight as well as all the principals. Congratulations to Toledo, Malik, Walter, Brewster, Seabass, Spoonie, Asa, Vicious, Jonathan, Shamari special guests Ultralove and Jessie Payo, and the dames: Nykky, Mindy, Molly (below), Erin, Leah & Annie.
The band has brought it so solid and heavy for so long it's become a West side institution. Soon to be in residence at Harvelle's new Long Beach location every Thursday night starting Oct 6. With a bigger stage and brilliant sound system, its gonna be spectacular.
Tonight the crowd is thick and filled. Giant reverberations of live frequencies fill the room as bass & drum rev it up to see who can play the loudest. And Ultralove!! Yeah representing Monday nights along with Seth and Mike Gunn in the house.
It's cool and calm near the front of the club. I'm chilled out with bottled water sitting in plain site of an air conditioning vent. The dance floor is a different story! Swamp-like, hot and sweaty - more crowded than usual - it was difficult to move through it to give a pound to the faithful homies - those who religiously respect The Toledo Show.
Everyone's present. Dan, Dorthea, Guy, Heather, Nate, new jack Alfred,
the curly haired Italian dude, the 2 metal dudes, even Deon the painter and that guy in the zorro hat
who comes the last half hour and walks from hot young girl to hot young girl kissing hands and kissing ass, as he runs his numbers game in search of an inappropriately young chica. I've heard he has slipped money into at least one of the dame's hand. What's up with that??? - He's here too. A big shout-out to Kristen from Chicago. A Guido's restaurant employee who digs jazz-funk, perhaps as much as I do.
Overall a chill time and congrats to Toledo Diamond for succeeding at raising and nurturing this phenomenon. I'm sure it's inception was really when Mr. Diamond first decided to take the stage.
What will the next 10 Years bring?
We'll have to wait and see...
Venice resident Mike "Ultralove" Wagner spends his days as a mild mannered folk singer, appearing at lounges and happenings around his 'hood. His blend of modern singer/songwriter sensibilities infused with hip-hop hooks, both sung and rapped by the Philly native have created a bit of a buzz down here. And on Monday nights, Ultralove takes the stage at Harvelle's with his group, which is stacked with players who augment his songs with crack-shot arrangements and righteous in-the-pocket grooves.
