Next time you're in Zia Record Exchange, don't be surprised to find Cure discs in the Eric Clapton section or the Grateful Dead where Gwar is supposed to be.
Last Wednesday night, perspiration proved to be the mother of invention for an overheated crowd of around 300 at a free "Mid-Summer Night's Jam Session" headlined by hip-hop crew Jurassic 5. With the outside temperature hovering above 100 and Zia's air-conditioner on the fritz, dozens of folks yanked the thin, plastic bin cards from the CD racks to use as fans. Before long, the area surrounding the back-corner stage was a blur of motion, as place-holders for John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix and Metallica fluttered at a dizzying pace, providing pockets of relief in the otherwise sweltering store.
Zia actually started heating up during an opening stand-up bit by actor/comedian Brian Posehn, accurately described by the Just Shoot Me! regular as incongruously "filthy" for a mixed-age audience at 8:30 on a weeknight. The sea of bodies swelled considerably during a 25-minute set by leadoff musician Rocco DeLuca, a singer/songwriter/guitarist who played folky blues-rock reminiscent of Led Zeppelin III.
As Posehn and DeLuca performed, patrons continued shopping wherever they could find room to operate, browsing through the DVD and vinyl sections seemingly oblivious to the live sounds emanating from the speakers. When Jurassic 5 stepped in shortly after 9, however, all eyes and ears pointed toward the stage, though the country music aisle remained strangely free of spectactors.
A small oscillating fan sent a stream of cold air toward the quintet, but judging from the sweat running down their faces and necks, the five men barely noticed. Zaakir, one of Jurassic's four MCs, remarked that he felt like a preacher delivering a sermon as he toweled his face between numbers.
With latest album Feedback set to drop on July 25, the early buzz has hardly been superlative for the socially conscious, underground hip-hop giants. DJ/producer Cut Chemist recently bailed for a solo career, leaving longtime partner Nu Mark to work the turntables alone, and the group also appears intent on making a mainstream impact this time, as evidenced by Dave Matthews guest spot on first single "Work it Out."
If J5 is slipping, you wouldn't have known it from their 35-minute in-store stint on Wednesday. Though the group's bass-heavy beats yearned for a more robust sound system, fans didn't seem to mind, bouncing their palms as Zaakir, Chali 2na, Akil and Marc 7 smoothly traded intelligent rhymes as if they were the Harlem Globetrotters running the weave.
The towering 2na—who thrilled a 2004 House of Blues crowd with his retro Reggie Theus UNLV jersey—commanded the most attention again on this night, grinning broadly as he reached high to touch the ceiling one moment and copped a Frankenstein pose for the "I'm the verbal Herman Munster" lyric in "What's Golden" the next. That song, along with other Jurassic oldies "Concrete Schoolyard" and "Quality Control," drew the loudest reaction, though a few diehards also sang along with new numbers, a sign that Feedback has made the rounds in Vegas since leaking online a few weeks ago.
The instant Jurassic said its goodbyes the crowd surged toward the exits, leaving the suffocating space for the cooler, three-digit temps outdoors. "Is there a coke machine in here somewhere?" a woman asked, shaking her head in disbelief when informed there was not. One young man shouted "Get some air-conditioning!" as he headed toward his car.
Scottish transplants Driveblind were slated to close the event, but if they actually played, only a brave few stuck around to hear them. The rest dropped their makeshift ventilation devices at the door—as they were instructed by a Zia employee—or stuffed them haphazardly back into the racks, upside down, sideways and, in most cases, not where they'd resided earlier that day.