reviews

Victor - The Establishment Collective: Seattle, WA 6/17/04 @ Crocodile Cafe for Planned Parenthood Benefit

Holy Cow,
last night was very unusual, but in a good way.

It was HOT inside but the vibe was good. A variety of Shawn/Establishment-related folks milled about both inside and out the Croc. I was fortunate enough to speak briefly to Regan, Berg, Stoney, Lonnie Marshall, etc. Lonnie mentioned he teaches electric bass and guitar (and a class called "Funk Camp" -- word!) at the Silverlake Conservatory in CA (music school started by by Flea of The RHCP's). After last night I can see why!

Magneto opened, then Matt Costa (nice acousticy set), then a speech from PP, then the Establishment portion began:

Stone on drums, Lonnie on guitar/vocals
Stone on electric, Lonnie on bass/drums (at the same time!)
Stone on acoustic/vocals, Lonnie on drums

Then Regan and Berg and some others began joining in and out, switching it up. Stoney remained on vocals for a while. Ty Willman showed up to do Stoney's "Cadillac" (first live performance!). A highlight for me was Lonnie on vocals on Sly Stone's "Everyday People" -- flashbacks for any PJ Chicago 1995 fans?

Shawn and his band were next, featuring (I think) Mark Cardenas (ex-keyboardist for Morris Day & The Time, played w/ Shawn at the March Chop Suey gig) and Thad Turner from Maktub. Set was mostly from "Shield of Thorns" though they opened with a new (I think) song called "Empty Room". Also did a cover of Prince's "17 Days" which was VERY funky.

Brad then played, with Lonnie filling in on bass for the last 2 songs. They did Buttercup, Screen, Low (this time w/ Stone on guitar and Lonnie on bass), and then 20th Century. During the latter, Lonnie spontaneously started playing Stoney's guitar riff -- on the bass! Sweet God it was awesome. It took him all of 7 seconds to pick it up, live, on stage, mid-song. Man, he is awesome. I talked w/ Regan afterwards and he was likewise very impressed.

Glenn Rockowitz was also there, doing some filming for the Shawn documentary. Talked with him and thanked him for doing that. Nice guy. Also talked with Bruce Tom, who does photography duty for the boys and helps run the Establishment Store. He and his wife were really nice too.

So, in summation, a good ~3 hours of Establishment-related rockin' out. Many firsts, featuring a cast of thousands, ha ha...
and all for $10! Not too bad.

Big props to Shawn and his friends and Brad and the Establishment-related folks, both on-stage and off, and definitely to Lonnie Marshall, who kicks a$$!!

I'll try to get some scans of pix and the setlist up later.

-Victor