Third Time's a Charm - Big Wu finally plays San Diego

report filed 7:26 am, 4/19/00 - Finally hooked up with the Wu! Those of you keeping score at home will recall that BigWu's show at San Diego State University a few weeks ago was cut short for what the campus popo deemed to be excessive volume. Although our film crew arrived right at the stroke of high noon, which was the scheduled start time, the band was already breaking down their gear. Seems they started a little early and by the time we got there, the show was already over.

After that debacle, a bar gig at Winstons was cancelled due to scheduling and logistical complications. Wu was now '0 for 2' in San Diego. Frustration turned to elation though when the Wu hit the stage Monday night. It had been dark and cloudy all day, with some torrential rains on and off all afternoon. Although the night sky was relatively clear, the streets of O.B. were pretty quiet at 10pm when Wu started. Situated a half block off the main drag, Winston's does a strong walk-up business from folks on the street that hear the music and get lured into the club. Wu didn't have that benefit on Monday.

While the crowd was somewhat sparse, particularly during the 1st set, everyone there was focused on the music and there was plenty of room to dance. After recent WMO and Psydecar shows at Winstons, which were packed with a few too many people, the low density/high intensity ratio was a joy. Not only for dancing, but taking photos as well. And the band sounded great!

Mixing new and familiar originals, with a few carefully selected covers, Wu successfully engineered the evening's musical program with outstanding dynamics. A little bit of space, plenty of groove, and a healthy dose of St. Olaf boogie proved to be a potent combination...

By the end of the night, there was probably just under a hundred people in the club, getting down to the Wu. Not a bad turnout overall. Guaranteed the next time Wu's in town there'll be twice the crowd...

In other news - the cavalcade of CD reviews has begun! This week we've got write-ups on the new releases from: Ulu, The All Mighty Senators, and Soup. All are live recordings, released on the Phoenix Presents label. Gotta hand it to the crew at Phoenix, they are putting out some great stuff!

As documented in last week's update, Wise Monkey's US Winter Tour 2000 had its grand finale at Winstons last Saturday. Dave Ellis sat in for the show, which was recorded for a new live album WMO will release in early Summer. We're happy to report that AG has completed his tour journal with two new entries, culminating in the strange but true behind-the-scene's circumstances of the Winston's date...

Congrats to Tracy Patterson, Tim Campbell, Paul Smith, and Cindy Skocypec, winners of the WMO Story and Photo Contests!!! Thanks to everybody that sent submissions, the contest was a success and we appreciate everyone's input!

So that's the buzz here - aside from continuing to plow through more CD reviews, we've started the research for an upcoming feature article on Napster.com and the raging controversy surrounding its online music services. We've also got a few interviews coming up for the Relix book, and with baseball season underway, we might just take in a Padre game in the not too distant future...

OK, that's it for now - check back next week when this adventure in music journalism continues...