DJ Review: Z-Trip at Abe and Jake's Landing, 9/11/08
By ANDY VIHSTADT
It’s hard to imagine that someone with Z-Trip’s accolades would ever play to an empty house. Given that the man once paired up with the quasi-local legend, DJ P, for the groundbreaking Uneasy Listening album (thought to be the birth of the mashup movement), coupled with the fact that the show was free, I expected Abe & Jake’s hotel-lobby-meets-Davy-Crocket museum interior to be bursting at the seams. It wasn’t.
The Lawrence stop was part of the Bacardi Live Tour, and during DJ Troublemaker’s opening set, the scantily clad hired help may have outnumbered the fans. There was plenty of shwag to be had, along with a video screen that played a non-stop ad for rum. The only ones dancing were on the Bacardi payroll.
Without pausing between sets, Z-Trip took over the turntables while N2Deep’s “Back to the Hotel” saxophone break was losing steam (Wreckx-N-Effect’s “Rump Shaker” had been played earlier). He let the audience know that he didn’t “give a fuck about playing to a thin crowd.” He was there to have a good time. His set was a good mix of hip-hop, rock and any odd combination in between.
Z-Trip has been known to mix politics with pleasure, and he’s been active in supporting Obama’s bid for the White House. His next show is a fundraiser for the Democratic nominee and he’s made mention of an “Obama set” on his Web site. I was hoping to hear a preview, but this was a corporate gig. The most we got was a “Happy 9/11”. Then again, maybe that was a good thing.
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