Mad Professor @ The Urban Lounge 2/9/09
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| This was one of those shows where when I first read about it I wasn't sure if it were actually true. THE Mad Professor was going to play the small, dive bar The Urban Lounge? Is that right? Well, it was true! No way was I going to miss this! Mad Professor is a generally unknown entity amongst the American public, but considered an almost legendary musical genius in the reggae, dub, and dance circles of the U.K., Europe, Japan, and Australia. Mad Professor (real name: Neil Fraser) is a very influential artist and producer from Birmingham, England. His sound is best described as a heavy, experimental, mutant dub sound. While most of his work is distinctly concentrated in the realms of reggae, over the years he has been an increasingly sought after producer and remix specialist by a wide variety of artists including Massive Attack, Primal Scream, Depeche Mode, and The Beastie Boys. I had been lucky enough to see him with Tee about 10 years ago at The Metro in Sydney, Australia. It was a great show and the crowd was about 3 or 4 times larger than the capacity of Urban Lounge. So the idea that he would come all the way to little 'ol Salt Lake City to play live in such a small and modest venue as Urban Lounge was a lovely thought! I had originally arranged for my friend Derek to join me for this show, but as it turned out Derek threw his back out earlier in the day and had to go to the hospital and receive a cortisone shot. That obviously made it impossible for him to join me for the show. Unfortunately all of this happened quite late in the day and I was stuck with no one to attend the show with me. As much as I dislike going to shows alone I will do it, and have actually had a couple of nice experiences attending concerts alone. I wasn't going to miss seeing Mad Professor, so I was just going to have to buck up and try and be optimistic despite having no one to share it with. I went downtown fairly early. Not sure why. I found myself driving around looking for a place to get some dinner and a couple of drinks before going over to The Urban Lounge. I initially began driving up South Temple in order to check out a new Thai place called "Sawadee," but as I passed 5th East I took note of a bustling and inviting new restaurant called "The Wild Grape." I had read a positive review of the place in the City Weekly perhaps a month or so before and thought I'd give it a try. I went in with my book and took a seat at the bar. I was immediately struck by the comfortable yet sophisticated atmosphere. Straightaway I was treated to some very professional and friendly service by the bartender/waiter Sean. It's been a long time since I've had such a immediately positive impression of a place. I sampled three items from the appetiser menu in order to get a broad view of the quality of the food. I had the crab cakes, which were good if not great. I had the Kurobuta pork belly which was outrageously delicious (and decadent). I also had the liver mousse; a dish unlike any I've ever had. Again it was good, but probably not anything I would order again. Sean was very engaging and kindly made several suggestions on various wine pairings. I took him up on a particularly interesting red wine called Jeriko Granache Noir. I loved it! Sean was also kind enough to inform me about various aspects of the restaurant, i.e.; it's vision for itself (a place to relax and yet with expectations of high quality dinning), the food (seasonal, varied, local), and it's clientle (people who want an unstuffy atmosphere but high quality food and drink). They seem to be hitting on all cylinders from what I see. He emphasized the fact that they seek to have the bar area in particular be a place where people like myself can feel they can drop by anytime (they are open all day and stay open late) and can leisurely dine while reading a book, visiting with other customers, or watch a game on the big screen television mounted off to the side. I like this philosophy! Sean eventually introduced me to the restaurant's owner, Troy. We had a great conversation about his background in running other restaurants in town and his reasons for opening up "The Grape." When the conversation turned to sushi we discovered we had some mutual acquaintances in local sushi circles, and shared some stories about local sushi "politics." (Mostly concerning the history and eventual demise of Utah's first sushi destination, Mikado, and it's former parent company Latitude Group.) He also mentioned that our mutual friend and king of Utah sushi, Takashi Gibo and his wife Tamara had already made The Grape a regular after hours haunt. I vowed to come back regularly, and I have. I made my way over to the The Urban Lounge (only a couple blocks away) and was able to park right out front. It was still relatively early and I must admit I felt a bit awkward being all alone, but was able to find a fairly comfortable spot to sit while I sat drinking my Bass Ale and listened to the sounds of DJ Rebel. Eventually the warm-up act, Dub Life Sound System, took the stage. Dub Life is a side project of local reggae/dub crew Afro Omega's Bronte James, and is obviously heavily influenced by Mad Professor. Bronte brought some seriously heavy beats and did some major knob-twisting throughout his 30 or 40 minute set. After Dub Life had finished up DJ Rebel starting spinning again as people causally talked and mingled throughout the room. It was during this time that I noticed there was a guy on stage plugging in some gear and tweaking some of the equipment. He looked like he could very well be just another roadie, but it took me all of about three seconds to realize that it was Neil Fraser, The Mad Professor himself!. The stage at The Urban Lounge is nothing but a raised platform off to one side of a small designated dance floor, yet no one in the entire room seemed to realize that the guy up on the stage preping the equipment was Mad Professor. I watched him tinker with his equipment for a minute. Then I saw him ever so nonchalantly walk over to a quiet corner of the room and start sipping a bottled water. No one gave him a second glance, and so I made my move. I casually approached him and offered my hand, saying: "Mr. Fraser, thank you so much for coming all the way to Utah to play for us." He immediately shook my hand and gave me a wide grin. "My pleasure." he said. I told him how I had last seen him in Sydney all those years before and he genuinely seemed to remember that tour. We talked for another minute or so and I came away understanding that this was a truly humble and good man. He was very kind and receptive to my approaching him, and although soft-spoken, he conveyed a real sense of gratitude for being able to do what he does; including playing his music for a modest crowd of people gathered in a small club in Utah. Once Mad Professor took the stage it was bliss. The dubs rolled out loud and heavy. I truly couldn't have asked for anything more as the sound shook me and I watched him do his thing from a mere 6 or 7 feet away. I called Derek on my phone, let his voicemail pick up, and let the music play for a minute or so. Most of Mad Professor's music is instrumental, as he doesn't sing, but he did have the well-know reggae singer/rapper/MC Maka B with him this night to take over any needed vocal duties. He was a lot of fun, and very effective at getting the crowd going on several tunes. In case you're wondering, Mad Professor is featured in the photo I took of him at the top of this review, while Maka B is in the photo below. |
| As I was leaving the venue at the conclusion of the show a beautiful, raven-haired girl with a distinctly sophisticated Gothic look tugged on my arm and said "I'm sorry to bother you, but can I ask where you got your tee-shirt?" I was a bit surprised by the question because this question has been asked of me before at this club. A couple of years ago I attended a Sister Carol show at The Urban Lounge and was offered $40 for the same shirt (see my write up of that show on this site below). I was told at that time that the image on the shirt of a lion's head donning headphones was the old image for a now defunct local dub/reggae record label called appropriately enough "Lion Head Records." Well, it turns out that this very attractive and well-spoken young lady, Tia, was the owner of Lion Head Records and was pleasantly surprised to see me wearing the shirt. We talked for a while out front of the club and she told me how she was putting together a new release from the label which should be out soon. It was fun talking to her and left me with a feeling of having capped off the night properly. As I drove home the snow starting falling heavily, yet gracefully. I was then reassured completely that sometimes one CAN have a beautiful and satisfying night out even on one's own. (Below is the image from the shirt I was wearing that night) |