Burning World

Bad Brains' HR performing "Leaving Babylon."

Other than that, last's night's show was a disaster. Below is my review of HR & Dubb Agents for the LA Record:

When you hear rumors of a special Bad Brains performance (at 6th St. Warehouse, no less!), your interest perks. All validity of the rumors aside, you imagine, briefly, Bad Brains in their element. And then you have to go, if not out of sheer curiosity, but to fulfill the subconscious void in your head where Bad Brains should be. I should've known the rumors were false (truth be told, I expected a compromise, at worst.) That compromise? HR and Dubb Agents. HR's Dubb Agents, I'd like to mention, were seemingly hand picked from the shores of Santa Cruz - cargo shorts, flip flops, backwards trucker hats, the works (sans ten foot bong, surprisingly.) HR, meanwhile, lazily sat onstage in a leather office swivel chair, calmly packing away his guitar with a full grin, just to open it all over again. Every so often, HR would feel so inclined to stand, only to sing or introduce his songs (few of which were old compositions) as some sort of greater invitation to peace and love and understanding. HR and Dubb Agents were received with mixed reactions, at best, considering the fight that broke out early on, the thinning crowd as the night progressed, and the endless pleas for "Pay To Cum" and other Bad Brains jams. HR's single recognition of his past, to my knowledge, was performing Bad Brains' "Leaving Babylon." Otherwise, I embraced my necessary trips outside, to smoke and digest what it was I was watching. Sadly, Dr. Know, Darryl Jennifer, and Earl Hudson were nowhere to be found - the idea of Bad Brains performing at 6th Street Warehouse were the irrational fantasies of the night's promoters, just as they were mine and many who also attended. HR's snub of Bad Brains tunes, in favor of his own, was an intentional separation from his past, while I clung to it with growing disappointment.