04.02
Full Support for Susan G. Komen Music for the Cure
By: Ryan French – Music Director/Producer: Boise By Bus
Tuesday night, March 27, The Knitting Factory was the place to be for the Boise Music For The Cure Artist Showcase. This event is held to raise awareness for the fight against breast cancer. The night was emceed by WILD 101′s Rick Moorten, and featured an appearance by Miss Idaho 2011, Genevieve Nutting. Artists featured included Boise’s James Orr and Marcus Eaton, as well as Soul Serene, rappers Dunson, and Silver Medallion. The headlining act of the night was Shwayze and Cisco—no, not the “Thong Song” Sisqo.
I don’t know if the people of Boise just have a burned image in their head of that silver hair and terribly great music video from Sisqo, but I could not talk about Shwayze and Cisco without getting that response. It seemed to me that everyone knows who Shwayze is, and that made it harder for me to imagine, since I know and follow him and his partner in crime-Cisco, that they couldn’t imagine another person with the same name. And that mentality seemed to also be true for artists like Silver Medallion, Soul Serene and Dunson, who as they performed, people were murmuring, “Who is this?”
Silver Medallion, a Brooklyn native, had an interesting act, where he decided to finish his act with the exact same song he opened with. For his sake, this was probably a smart choice since that was his only popular tune with the crowd, and probably because it was his only song that was purely his own. His DJ mixed the instrumentals from top 40 songs that were clearly not altered much and just let Silver Medallion run with the words to it. He didn’t have the greatest voice, but the guy had great energy and his rave scene vibe and sound helped his act, and that seemed to hold the crowd together until his set was over. All the artists had a great response from the crowd, and all 25 that were standing at the stage.
Dunson was able to pull the crowd away from the bar and onto the dance floor. He was a great crowd pleaser and really got their attention by throwing out CD’s. But who doesn’t like free CD’s? The main stage act was set to be a killer show, the anticipation was built, and the night was ready to end with a bang from Shwayze and Cisco Adler. I personally was getting very anxious to just see Shwayze perform, something I haven’t been able to do since before I moved to Boise from southern California, back in August.
New Pulse Producer Tim Crenshaw and I were lucky enough to get to interview Cisco and his DJ/Intern, DJ GNash, prior to the show at their room in Hotel 43. You can hear the interview below. What night wouldn’t be complete without the drama of rock stars and the showbiz of music though? Halfway through one act, my friend returns from the restroom and tells me some of the toilet talk these guys had in the urinals. So the word is, that Shwayze can’t get a flight into Boise and that he isn’t going to show up. Ok, I thought, this kind of makes sense, but we will have to wait and see if this is a stunt or just things gone wrong. Then five minutes later Cisco’s manager explains the real low down. Indeed Shwayze got stuck at an airport, missed his flight, and couldn’t get in to make the show. To me this seemed to be a sure disaster for the headlining act, right? However, I think there is a larger theme behind what transpired.
Cisco took the stage, after the removal of one of the two mics set up, and gets right into spinning some tunes for the crowd. There is no mention of Shwayze until half way through the act, where his songs, performed awesomely by Cisco, were given due credit and a shout out to San Francisco International Airport for holding him. Cisco held the fort down! He had the crowd amped, pumped and jumping, and he went through all the songs as if they were his own. During one song, a guy in the crowd with a Bruno Mars hat was pulled up on stage to rap the Shwayze part to a song. With all that Cisco has going for him, his launch of a brand, Banana Beat, his own album to debut shortly, and his collaborations with G. Love, I think that having the stage to himself was a great opportunity and will push him to stand on his own two legs.
I know the people of Boise sure seemed to support it, even though they were disappointed in the drop of a star act like Shwayze, but I think we will be enjoying a new headliner that is emerging. You can hear what would have been the Shwayze and Cisco act by listening to their new album on my show, Boise By Bus, Monday 5-7pm MST at BSUpulse.com, where I will also replay the interview with Cisco.
