Real Music People

Going to a concert is always a fun thing to do. It’s especially fun if artists have a little something planned too. Fans at the House of Blues in LA on Wednesday night got fun, more fun and even more fun.

Common was the one scheduled to take the stage but after a couple of songs, Kanye West came out to perform ‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing’ and ‘Good Life’. If that wasn’t enough for you, Busta Rhymes also busted out on the stage and performed too. Essentially, that’s 3 shows for the price of one – how lucky can you get?

He may not be all that nice to his fans of over 200 lbs. but he is nice to his homeless ones. Wyclef Jean was feeling charitable at his show at the House of Blues this past weekend. He actually decided to give a free concert ticket to a random, homeless parolee he met outside. He didn’t catch the show though. The grateful man grabbed the ticket and immediately went after some scalpers because seeing a show probably wasn’t very high on his “I need to get my life together” list. It was a nice try Wyclef. It would probably be better if you threw a twenty next time.

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Reggae covers and dub-wise improvising are regular features of Gov’t Mule’s marathon shows. Mighty High focuses on that heavy Jamaica in singer-guitarist Warren Haynes’ modern-Dixie redesign of classic British blues rock. Actually, there is as much Free as Lee Perry in the opening detonation of “I’m a Ram” — from Al Green’s 1971 album Gets Next to You — while drummer Matt Abts’ New Orleans backbeat under the Band’s “Shape I’m In” affirms the mix of Crescent City and funky Kingston in the original. The Rolling Stones’ “Play With Fire” is overstuffed with weed-whacked production, and the suite of dub versions in the second half of the album could use more jolting drama. But the closing remix of “I’m a Ram,” titled “Plasticine Era,” is a hip minefield of wah-wah-guitar bark, snare-drum crack and singsong bravado by Jamaican vocalist Willi Williams, whose 1978 single “Armagideon Time” is a Mule cover waiting to happen.

Blues singer Etta James is in stable condition in a Los Angeles hospital, suffering from complications following abdominal surgery, her manager said on Wednesday.

The 69-year-old rock ‘n’ roll pioneer was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, following the mid-June surgery, Lupe De Leon wrote in an email to Reuters.

James hopes to be well enough by the end of August to join blues icon B.B. King and soul veteran Al Green on a tour that began in Florida on Tuesday.

“If it had been left solely up to her, she would have checked herself out of the hospital and started the tour regardless of her delicate health,” De Leon said. “However, her doctor advised that were she to do so, it would put her at very great risk.”

R&B singer Chaka Khan is substituting for James on the tour.

James helped pioneer rock ‘n’ roll in the mid-1950s with tunes such as “The Wallflower” and “Good Rockin’ Daddy.” She diversified into mainstream blues, soul and R&B during the 1960s, after signing with Chess Records. The three-time Grammy winner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, and remains an active recording artist.