Bushwalla visits WGTB, plays some tunes before Jammin Java set 2/22/2010

Last Monday, DJ Catherine Degennaro brought Bushwalla into the WGTB studios to play a few acoustic songs and discuss his latest work before taking the stage at the Jammin Java that night. Catch the in-studio set below along with the interview, and Catherine's concert review with more photos after the jump!
Bushwalla Interview by wgtbmusic
 
1982 Blues by wgtbmusic
Raise Up - Bushwalla acoustic in-studio at WGTB by wgtbmusic
Acoustic Rhymer - Bushwalla in WGTB studio by wgtbmusic

Last Monday at Jammin’ Java, Bushwalla, the self-proclaimed Original Gangster from Cleveland, Ohio, played a short set that mixed music, comedy and clowning. At the end of the Orange Line in Vienna, tucked away between a shopping plaza and Walgreens, Jammin’ Java served as a small but unique venue that was well suited to Bushwalla’s own variety show.

The LA-based singer-songwriter is known by his cult following for bringing his distinctive “hip-hop/soul/acoustic/folk/comedy/optimism/vaudeville show,” as he described it to me, to small venues and house shows around the world. Although everyone packed in front of the stage seemed to know all the words, no one seemed to know quite what to expect. Bushwalla transitioned effortlessly between acoustic numbers mourning the emotional scarring that comes with early forays into the dating world and funky environmentalist raps. Songs were punctuated with impromptu dance breaks and juggling. Mid-song, he even jumped down from the stage to perform a slightly disturbing magic trick involving a balloon, drawing from his years working the children’s party circuit as a clown (this trick would have terrified me as a child—and still sort of did).

 Though he was fighting a chest infection, he held nothing back. Even when his voice couldn’t keep up with the performance, he was good-humored about it and kept on with the song. And although his set’s time got changed and shortened because of a scheduling mix-up, he stuck around afterwards to talk, even stepping outside to play a song or two with a couple of fans while the following two Augustana-The Fray hybrid bands played more polished (and more yawn-inducing) sets inside.
Above all, Bushwalla was an entertainer Monday night. Though his shows may not be for those searching for the poetic lyricism of Dylan, you have to at least give him this: it is hard to be a gangsta with a basket on your bike.

-- Catherine DeGennaro

Host, "Hipsters Don't Lie," Saturday 9-11am on WGTB