Road to Paid Dues Tour at Fine Line Cafe, Minneapolis (03/02/13)
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Paid Dues Tour
03/03 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre
03/05 – St. Louis, MO – The Gramophone 03/06 – Lawrence, KS – Granada Theatre 03/07 – Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room 03/08 – Boulder, CO – Fox Theater 03/09 – Salt Lake City – Kilby Court Gallery 03/11 – Boise, ID – The Neurollux 03/12 – Missoula, MT – The Badlander 03/14 – Vancouver, BC – Fortune Sound Club 03/15 – Bellingham, WA – Wild Buffalo 03/16 – Seattle, WA – Crocodile Cafe 03/17 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre 03/20 – Reno, NV – 1Up Bar 03/21 – Sacramento, CA – Harlow’s 03/22 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s 03/23 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst 03/24 – Fresno, CA – Fulton 55 03/26 – Bakersfield, CA – B Ryders 03/27 – San Luis Obispo, CA – SLO Brewing Co 03/28 – Santa Barbara, CA – Velvet Jones 03/29 – La Jolla, CA – Porter’s Club 03/30 – San Bernardino, CA – NOS Events
Somehow, this Paid Dues Festival goes hand-in-hand with the Smokeout Festival (see next item).
More artists to be announced later, but in the meantime legendary Wu-Tang Clan is headlining.… |
Murs is the headliner, and he’s brought together Fashawn, Black Cloud Music, and our friend Kosha Dillz to the Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis last night, March 2nd.
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BLACK CLOUD MUSIC
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After DJ Kid Disko spun some tunes to a darkened Fine Line, Noa James and Curtiss King came on stage. They are two of seven members of Black Cloud Music – however, I could have sworn I saw David May on the sideline.
Anyway, the two seems like an unlikely pair as they traded singing duties. They ended their set with “OhMyGod”.
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KOSHA DILLZ
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Kosha Dillz (real name: Rami Even-Esh) was next. Although he was allocated a thirty-minute set (as were all the openers), he did not jump straight into his set. Instead, he had a listening party and played two of his favorite songs to get us pumped up.
Set included: “Everything is Kosha”, “Cellular Phone”, “Garage Sale”, “Hangin’ Out”, “They Don’t Know”, (freestyle), and “The Future”.
My favorite was the freestyling portion. This is the part of the show where audience members were encouraged to put whatever they have in their pockets on stage and Kosha Dillz would just come up with raps off the top of his head based on those objects.
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FOSHAWN
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I’ve never heard of Fashawn, but I can tell he was a big deal. The audience was clearly there for Murs and Fashawn and loved all the songs about weed and how it never rains in “Sunny California.”
Incidentally, when I found out that he was from Fresno, I kept thinking about “Fashawn” Fair. That’s a joke for any Fresnian.
Finally the man of the hour closed off the night. DJ Foundation introduced Murs as he came on asking “whatupdawg?”
While most people will probably list “I Used to Love H.E.R.” or the Nate Dogg homage as their favorite of the night, I was more drawn to the funnier “67 Cutlass.” According to Murs, this is based on a true story that happened to him. I did think he embellished the story a little, but the more factual aspect is that he had a pipe dream of making mad money by buying two pounds of pot in Mexico and driving back to Los Angeles with intent of selling and distributing. Of course, a sheriff pulls him over. The song takes it on a more comical point of view.
Road to Paid Dues is the tour. If you can’t make it to the big music festival this year, catching the Road to Paid Dues is a pretty good indication of what you’ll get at the stadium show – but on a smaller and more intimate scale.
BONUS: Be sure to listen to my interview with Rami, aka Kosha Dillz. He confirmed on the recording that his new project will be under Rami Rules name. The name has a double meaning, that he “rules”/awesome/in charge and that there are “rules” you follow.
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Murs at Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis (03/02/13) |
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[ Smiles ] Very entertaining! I have never heard of Fashawn either, but there is a first time for everything!