Matisyahu 11/28/08

Such an event!!!

On what is colloquially known as “Black Friday” Twist & Shout partnered with our neighbor to the West, The Colfax Events Center, to present a once-in-a-lifetime event. Orthodox Jewish Reggae/Rap star Matisyahu came to the events center and with a stripped down band that included special guests beatboxer Kamikoze and rapper Nosson Zand, he played well over an hour of new or re-imagined material that held the diverse crowd of 400 entranced the entire time.

The greatness of the event was fourfold. First Matisyahu proved to be an imaginative and sincere artist with as much talent as conviction - and that’s a lot. His willingness to experiment with his music and band configuration in front of a live audience was inspirational. He also was a total sweetheart to the audience visiting them while they waited in line to get in, and then signing autographs for the hundreds who stayed after to meet him. Second, was the amazing venue. The Colfax Events Center is a fabulous, classy and historic room that should be used by EVERYBODY. Special thanks go to Rob and Herb for their professional courtesy and great attitude throughout. Third was the audience. This crowd was unlike any I’ve ever seen at a Twist & Shout event: families, hipsters, high school kids, orthodox Jews and orthodox reggae fans. Everyone was serious about it, and they were polite and seemed to get that this was a rare opportunity. Fourth was the fact that we filmed and recorded the event for a future release (hopefully first quarter next year). Thanks to soundmen Ian and Allen and film producer Andrea Allen and her great crew of friends. This should be a prestigious addition to our ever-growing cache of Live at Twist & Shout releases.

Thanks also go to DVC and everyone at Sony who made this happen. It was a huge success. We sold a bunch of Matisyahu’s great new indie- store-only EP called Shattered and some of his older stuff as well. It was a great kick-off to what will hopefully be a bright holiday season.