Reinforcements!

...in the war against disappearing snack foods, that is.

Not long ago, I railed against the decreasing availability of one of my favorite snacks, Peanut Butter Twix. Thankfully, I have been able to find some occasional avenues to find them, but the veritable drought at many of my former channels continues. But EXTRA-SPECIAL THANKS AND PROPS to NTG-regular Cable, who also happens to be my sister Kristen. [Sorry to blow your alias K, but props had to be given properly... no pun intended...] She sent a supply of two family-size boxes, which, incidentally took about 9 days to make the trip from Pennsylvania to New York. Didn't George Washington move armies of men from PA to NY in less than that time? WTF, USPS?

But let me tell you, I'm glad they got here in time for this weekend. It was an interesting one.

Friday night I saw Kool Keith play at B.B. Kings in Times Square. It was a personal first for both the artist and the venue for me. Ultimately, neither disappointed, but I'm still luke warm to Keith's overall showing.

Opener Slum Village came out solid. They were energetic and tight, and they came across like they were having a great time doing their show, not even missing a beat when a fight broke out on the floor. Apparently someone threw some ice, which pissed someone else off, which resulted in both punches and a table being thrown. But they just kept on rapping, didn't miss a beat.

Then there was a seemingly interminable lag before Keith and his crew of like 20 dudes finally came out. Keith's reputation for missing shows is widely known, so there was always the possibility that he would just not even show. When he finally did, he came out strong for the first half of the set. Personally, I'm a big fan of his earlier stuff, so I was glad that some classic Ultramagnetic MCs tracks were among the first songs (he actually couldn't have picked a better Top 3 from Critical Beatdown, for my money: "Break North," "Ease Back," and "Ego Trippin' (MCs Ultra Mix)"). He also dropped "Blue Flowers" (complete with re-mix!) and "Girl Let Me Touch You There" from the Dr. Octagon record, the title cuts from Black Elvis/Lost In Space and Sex Style, and launched into a pretty spirited rundown of "I Don't Believe You" before leaving the stage suddenly. One of his hype guys came out a minute later and said how "Keith isn't feeling the vibe" and all that. The crowd, overall, was pretty lame (what you'd expect from a B.B. Kings Friday night crowd), so I can understand him being pissed. But even when he was out there killing songs (like I said, he was real strong as soon as he got started), he came across as distant, aloof, and unfocused. The whole time, he wore purple wraparound shades, so the audience never even saw his eyes. Finally after some extended audience browbeating, Keith came back out and did another song or two, then did a comically extended round of audience high-fives. One of his dudes introduced Keith's mother and father, who had been hanging out at the back of the stage throughout the whole show, then there were more high-fives before they all filed offstage.

Ben chalks the whole thing up to Keith being Keith, and maybe that's the best explanation. For my first time seeing him live, I enjoyed the show but think Keith came across as being distant and kind of sad. He still does what he does better than most, but Keith's moodiness clearly showed through the music.

Saturday and Sunday were a flurry of long naps, tea, chess, movies, and avoiding the bitter cold that gripped the city. On the chess tip, I'm proud to say I played to a stalemate against my neighbor Russ. It was the first time I played him, but I knew he was a good player. It felt good to think tactically, move-for-move, against a former Marine and play to a draw.

And then Sunday was the long-awaited reunion... HAL9000 came home to 116th Street, after a month-long journey into the hibernative sleep of almost-death. After some surgery and TLC from Lord Chauncery, he's going strong again, with an even bigger hard drive. Chauncery also treated me to homemade pizza and we watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Throughout all of these events, it felt comforting to know there was a kitchen full of Peanut Butter Twix awaiting me. We rode out another storm, and I'll continue fighting the war, one battle at a time...

What else can one man do?


*****N*T*G*****

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