The GM Tuner Bash couldn't have happened at a better time. Leaving behind partly cloudy skies, a massive pile of stories to finish, and our livers at LAX, the weather at party central was a welcome surprise: a cool, mild breeze with temperatures breathing down the low 80s, just enough to make you break out into a slight sweat. It's as if someone knew we needed a break and was willing to hand it to us on a silver platter. Though this event is considered one of our biggest, to call it work would be a complete and utter lie. In the immortal words of a certain Mr. Chu, it was "time to get down!" And wouldn't you know it, most of the staff had their banana hammocks ready to go.
Though it'd been nearly 3 years since my last Tuner Bash (which also happened to be the first), I wasn't fully prepared for what was ahead. Sure, I'd experienced the ritualistic ceremony of handing beads over to beautiful birds for an eye-popping experience, but that tradition has long since been banned by the G-rated members of Daytona Beach's city council. So not only did it smell like puke, we weren't getting any free shows either! Wonderful! But Girls Gone Wild (or a lack thereof) aside, with a couple hundred show cars and plenty of automobile aftermarket product nestled right in the heart of the Plaza Resort (and Spa!-JN), we'd have more than enough to keep all the spring breakers entertained. It didn't hurt to have a couple bikini contests either.
Though you can read plenty about the show's success, I doubt none will touch on the experience of Digital Underground like I can. Stepping away from the usual electronica DJs used in Tuner Bash past, we went the hip hop route, enlisting one of the most memorable groups from the '90s (DU) and one of the most popular acts out on the scene today, Fabolous. Friday night's party with foreman Humpty Hump, aka Shock G, went to work with memorable selections from Sex Packets old collaborations with former DU member 2Pac, and the still popular "Humpty Dance," where just about everyone over the age of 25 broke out into convulsions, extremely bad dancing (think the Running Man), and yelling out incorrect lyrics. Though the two-hour freestyle session after their performance wore thin in a hurry, it was still exciting to catch one of my most favorite artists in concert, even if it was 14 years too late. As for Fabolous, I'm still waiting for someone to tell me which song is his claim to fame.
And in the immortal words of a certain Drew Carey theme song: Ohio!!!-Jonny "Ohayo Gozaimasu" Wong-Dong
Rikdaddy's Daily Log Wednesday, March 17:
As always, I woke up very early to beat stupid LA traffic just so I could make it to LAX three hours ahead of time. Interestingly, the security guy who was checking my bags was a Super Street reader. As I waited for Nads and J. Wo to show up, I passed out on the uncomfortable plastic bench at the gate.
We had to swap planes in Atlanta for this little reject cargo plane, and of course our first flight landed really late. If you've never been to the ATL airport, it's huge, and you have to take this stupid tram to get to different gates. For some reason, Nads made us jump out of the tram just as the doors were about to close. (Sorry, one of the passengers had the crooked eye.-JN) We were already late for our next flight, and it isn't exactly wise for a tall Middle Eastern dude, a chubby blonde Asian guy, and a short Taiwanese dude in a red hat to run through the airport.