Monday, June 8th, 2009

Still (De)Buggin’ From The Roots Picnic, Etc.

Here’s a warmup return post, eaaasing back into the thing instead of going full hog.

We’re still working out some bugs in the program here, but other than that, are gratified with all the love yall have been showering on us. Thank you too for the suggestions. We’re gonna keep working…

So I was out last week to NYC and Philly for a bunch of work, and got to spend some of that time following The Roots around, culminating of course in the mother of all picnics. (Roker’s got some photos here.)

The thing to say about the Roots organization is that everyone works ridiculously hard. On Friday alone, they taped two Fallon shows, and had a third rehearsal for the Picnic. Not to mention locking details for the picnic. And finishing the mix for their album coming this fall. All just hours after a rehearsal with Antibalas, Chuck D, and Griff that had ended stupidly late the night before (and featured Griff singing random Kenny Nolan-type songs). Plus, most of the crew still comes up to NYC in the morning on the bus from Philly, and goes home the same night.

Richard Nichols, the manager/studio genius/overall savant, really just call him the godfather, simply had to chuckle and shake his head when I asked him how the idea for the PE “It Takes A Nation Of Millions” set came about. As if there hadn’t been enough work to do already…

(BTW some of the intriguing ideas left on the table–a full performance of “Do You Want More?!?”, a Native Tongues reunion…)

What began as a homegrown affair in 2008 turned into a monster in 2009; it could be remembered as one of the live events of the year. (Check my old tweets for the play-by-play.)

All in a week’s work for the hardest working band in show biz…

posted by Jeff Chang @ 3:41 pm | 1 Comment

One Response to “Still (De)Buggin’ From The Roots Picnic, Etc.”

danamo says:

June 14, 2009 at 6:36 pm

um … first? [looks good!]

Feed Me!

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