For starters "Morpheus" is skedded to take ten hours to wring out all the rock -- a damn long time even by jam-band standards. The music is going to "morph" from metal to techno through the course of the evening, hence the name. Is this juxtaposition normal? Certainly not! If that doesn't sound strange enough, consider this: On the main stage, the Coral Springs bloodbathers of Death Becomes You start the night right at 8 p.m., followed by the messy, destructive Mary Tyler Whores, those fired-up Pank Shovel kids, DJs Ash-Rock and Demented, and then British breakbeat specialists Hybrid (see "Remix and Match,") starting at midnight. Once these acts have had their evil way with us, it'll be time for the "happy hardcore" of Washington, D.C., DJs Berzerker and Lite Brite. Happy hardcore sounds like a good idea. Let's hope it'll sound more pleasant than unhappy hardcore, the ominous, minor-key, scaredy-pantsed techno that takes its cue from 1930s-era Universal Studios-produced creature features.
OK, that last part was made up. Sorry.
At the same time, back in the "drum 'n' bass arena," the mighty morphin' continues, first with local rowdy coppers No Way Out, Simplekill, and Scars of Life, followed by DJs Twitch, Blacki, Tempest, and Deviant. Over in the Astrolounge, another procession of disc artistes (DJs 8-On, D.V.us, Johnny Dangerously, and Weenie Cooper) tear it up from 10 a.m. until nearly 5 a.m. If all this partying sounds taxing on the old constitution, it may help to recall this vital truism: You can sleep all you want when you're dead.
Also on the dance card, Freez (formerly FU*BAR) has resurrected the spirit of The Mix, the long-gone Miami Beach dance club. David Padilla, a SoFla DJ darling, will host the every-Thursday-night event, which has been retitled "Mixture."
On Friday and Saturday, October 12 and 13, the swank drinking hole called the Bamboo Room is hosting a better-than-average double shot of the blues with Mark Hummel and Hans Theessink. Hummel is the real reason to go, as the Oakland, California-based harmonica maestro rarely falls into the stereotypical trad-blues boredom that infects so many of his contemporaries. Harpist Hummel is certainly schooled in the old-school Chicago style but later adopted the West Coast's signature jump-jazz and swing (not in a contrived, Gap ad-inspired way, either).
Theessink, a Dutch-born bluesman with an instantly recognizable, soothing slide-guitar sound, isn't nearly as well known as Hummel, but his take on the blues is every bit as interesting as Hummel's work. First breaking ground as a teenager on the European festival circuit, Theessink developed his singular approach 30 years ago, then fortified it in the 1980s by hanging around Mississippi Delta masters in the Deep South. That may have also made his music more palatable to stateside audiences. Tickets for the 8 p.m. show cost $15.
Plan on heading back to the Bamboo Room's cozy confines on Thursday, October 18, for a free beer-tasting session starting at 7 p.m. Special suds will abound, including that yummy-nummy Späten Octoberfest. Mmmm!
Let's see, what else do we have in the old Bandwidth dustbin? Didja hear about the post-terrorism fallout that hit one band pretty fucking hard? The unfortunately named I Am the World Trade Center probably wouldn't be able to draw flies to a shit-eating contest with that handle nowadays. For now the loopy laptop duo has adopted the tag "I Am The...."
