Marlon Irving vs. Wynne Greenwood

…vs. the undistilled self.
Quannum World Tour kicked off last night in Portland; if you are unlucky enough to live elsewhere, I advise to beg, borrow, steal, or hijack a Ticketmaster/local news satellite van for tix in yr town. It was sold-out to 1500 people, but was so much like a house party, bulbous with love and posi-energy, I felt compelled to ask my neighbors if they wanted cookies or lemonade, and show them the way to the bathroom. D-Sharp, Rev. Shines, Xcel and Shadow DJed behind a long table a la The Last Supper; emcees emerged alternately for two numbers each (including Latyrx united like Germany), and then banded together as one. Fuck a Ziegfeld Folly; presented simultaneously, they are dazzling pinata-candy of styles. I wasn’t even mad that Lyrics Born/Joyo performed virtually the same set as their show last week, cause it felt like a celebration. It’s nice to see a show and feel innately that the performers have healthy self-esteem, and a clear and present respect for humanity; that their show is FOR YOU, not FOR THEM, or TO FULFILL A ROLE or vacuum you into their personal artistic vortex–that all showperson energies are directed outward, altruistically, fed into a genuine audience vs. performer interchange, with zero dynamics of validation/worship/reverence. I believe this phenomenon is entitled “breaking down the fourth wall.” They lift us up, so that they may lift us up.
One question: did Lifesavas kill my fave Tracy and the Plastics with the DVD turntable? Will technology squash her worst/best idea video-splicing muscleonix? Shadow announced mid-set that the Quannum WT’04 extravaganze is the first ever to incorporate the device into a whole tour; essentially, it syncs up audio with video (no, REALLY!!) so if someone’s DJing a sample of Heavy D, you will also see the accompaying Heavy D video on the giant screen behind them, for the length of the sample. For Lifesavas’ “HelloHiHey,” in which Vurs converses with his own ego about his stratospherical/megalomaniacal emceeing, a pre-recorded Irv on the DVD rhymed the ego parts, conversing with the real Irv on the stage, a la Wynne Greenwood performative-art, transgressive-boundary, commentary of the self. Irv, however, was not wearing a wig. Wynne’s probably safe, but non-multimedia concerts from here on out are in peril; there’s something satisfying about watching the video for “Deception” while the selfsame Gift of Gab rhymes it in reality. Things to look at: I want more.