I’m Just A Groupie

Tags

Anuhea, CRSB, Japantown, Jordan T., Keyshia Cole, Mango Kingz, Mezzanine, music, Pa'ina Lounge, Rebel Souljahz, San Francisco, The Fillmore, The Masonic, The Psychedelic Furs

My cousin’s band, Rebel Souljahz, was in town again to do an acoustic set at Pa’ina Lounge. CRSB opened for them. All of the advertisements said that the doors opened at 6:00 p.m. I showed up at 5:55 p.m. and the entire downstairs section at Pa’ina, where the stage is located, was already full. So not happy! Anyways, whatever, I sat at the bar. When CRSB began performing, I could hear them quite clearly. I’ve already seen them 3 times before – once at Pa’ina and twice at Yoshi’s – so it didn’t kill me not to get a direct visual. Besides, when their set was over, the two main members, Sonny and Chris, were hanging out at the bar! Sadly, Sonny’s father died of cancer over the 4th of July weekend, so they were doing shots in his honor. Somehow I started a little conversation with Sonny, he admired my myriad silver rings and then I asked if I could get a picture with them. They had no problem with that, so I was sandwiched in between the two guys while Sonny’s sister took the picture. Both of them are such nice, high energy guys.

When Rebel Souljahz started their set, I couldn’t NOT go down, even if I had a bad view. In truth, I ended up having a pretty good view. The people in seats remained there and others stood off to the side. I’ve said it before, but Poly people seem to show each other so much more respect about these kinds of things. No one blocks each other’s views and are even careful about getting in the way when someone is taking pictures or shooting videos. I saw Rebel Souljahz in April at Mezzanine, on the same bill as the Mango Kingz and Anuhea. Mezzanine is a HUGE venue, so I got nowhere near the stage. it was a “flashy” production with all the dance moves and such. Great show overall, yet I preferred this more intimate acoustic set. The band members sat on stools on the stage, played guitars and ukuleles, and sang. Simple, yet very effective. They did a “Meet and Greet” afterwards, which meant they specifically spent some time taking pictures and meeting whomever of the fans were interested in doing such things. When my cousin ran by, I stopped him to reintroduce myself and chat a bit. He’d thought that I’d moved to Hawaii when he first met me in May! When all of the band members were done taking photos with their other fans, I took one outside with my cousin, with the specific purpose of tagging his dad on Facebook!

Next up on my Hawaiian/Jawaiian concert list? Mango Kingz and Jordan T. (that little sweetie from Maui) at, yup, Pa’ina once again! And then, even though they’ve got nothing to do with the Islands, I’m considering buying tickets to see Keyshia Cole at the Fillmore in August and the Psychedelic Furs at the Masonic (?) in November.