52nd City

Angelo Moore @ City Museum this Weekend

Thanks to the good folks at the City Museum, Bill Streeter (of Lofistl.com) and I were able to meet with Angelo Moore of Fishbone, who's at the City Museum this weekend under the guise of Dr. Madd Vibe. At the CM, he's playing the newly refurbished pipe organ, along with playing some sax and spitting some poetry. Last night was his first night of a three-day/night residency and Bill and I asked him a few questions, which brought... some answers. As Bill mentioned, they weren't always the answers to the questions, per se, but they were entertaining.

And, hey, who doesn't want to hang out with Angelo Moore on a Friday night? Even for a few minutes, it was cool to catch up with a performer who's probably deserving of the legendary label, resplendent in his bowler and vigorously working down a green-and-yellow lollipop.

52nd City: I'm thinking a lot of people do what Bill did earlier - and what I was going to do, too - which is telling about shows that they saw you at back in the day. Is it fun to hear those stories.
Moore: A lot of people think of us here at Mississippi Nights. Is that still there?

52nd City: There tore it down last year for a casino.
Moore: WHAT? They tore it down for a casino? A casino? Wow. There's a lot of shit like that going on in LA right now. Tearing shit down and building new buildings.

52nd City: What makes the shows exciting these days, as opposed to the old days? Do the crowds feel different today?
Moore: Do they feel different?

52nd City: Well, are 18 and 20-year-olds today as crazy as they were when I was 18 or 20?
Moore: I think they're less crazy and shit. Depends on where you are. It's hard for me to tell because I'm on-stage and coming from a whole different perspective. Yo, check it out. We play to a lot of different crowds. And some of them are pretty hyped. There ends up being some crowd-surfing every night, so... Shit! Yah!

52nd City: I saw this (City Museum) Fishbone show. What was special about from your angle?
Moore: Just the whole interior, man. The whole interior. It does a lot for creativity. There's an underwater scene. We're Fishbone and there's this whole underwater scene. That sting ray, that manta ray over there!

52nd City: How'd this gig come around, was it Gi Cassilly?
Moore: Givonna, yeah.

52nd City: I have a feeling it's not something she had to talk you into, that it was something you really wanted to do.
Moore: Aw, yeah, dude.

52nd City: This is maybe trivial, but I've wanted to ask you this: I heard that John Cusack in "Say Anything" was playing Fishbone on that stereo, and they overlaid the Peter Gabriel track, instead, into the movie.
Moore: The Peter Gabriel song?

52nd City: Yeah, the famous scene where he's holding the stereo.
Moore: Well, I don't know. I know that there's a Fishbone track in there, "Skankin' to the Beat." But I don't know that story. I haven't seen that movie in a long time.

52nd City: I don't mean to make everything generational, but it's gotta be interesting to have people coming out with the kids, who were seeing you way back when.
Moore: That's a trip, yeah. That shit's pretty crazy. I've got a 10-year-old daughter.

52nd City: What does she like about Fishbone?
Moore: Oh, she likes it.

52nd City: I'm going to try to get this up tomorrow. What should people expect when they come in tomorrow and Sunday?
Moore: In here?

52nd City: Well, with you.
Moore: Well, man, they're going to see this guy. He'll be wearing a saxophone and talking to them as Dr. Madd Vibe. And he ain't going to give a shit if they're listening or not! HA-HAH! Ah-ha-ha-ha. That's how you gotta do it and that's how it's going to come out. It's going to be really good. That's when I'm working off of and that's what I'm trying to remember.

Pic at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51252573@N00/2169226491/.