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Third Rail



Review 12/05/97
From: Dr.Brookenstein

Third Rail feat. Bernie Worrell & Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey                
& The Last Poets in NYC                                                   

I went to check out The Last Poets and Third Rail in New York City on Dec.
5th.  The concert started at 8:15pm with the 2 guys from The Last Poets   
(Umar Bin Hassan and Abiodun Oyewole) introducing themselves to everyone. 
These guys were really funny, as each one was talking shit about the      
other!  Abiodun asked a young boy why was he at the club; the boy said he 
was there to see The Last Poets.  Then, Abiodun asked him for his         
name...afterwards, he said that he had a son by the same name. (Of course,
I'm thinking, "That's either a coincidence, or HE'S BULLSHITTING!!")  The 
Last Poets told their history for about 30 minutes.  Abiodun told everyone
about being stopped in Michigan for speeding at 90 mph, coming from a gig.
The cop made a deal with him:  "Since you are a poet, recite a funny poem 
for me.  If the poem is funny enough, I'd might let you off without a     
ticket."  Desperately trying to find something funny, he finally told the 
cop a HILARIOUS poem dedicated to Michael Jackson, called "Plastic        
Drastic"!!  It was about, of course, Michael's surgery to turn himself    
white, complete with the small nose, miniscule lips, etc!!!  They did a   
few more poems before Bernie Worrell quietly walked to the keyboards and  
began to play.  The Last Poets began one of my favorite songs, "Black     
Rage", but Umar screwed up on the chorus lyrics a couple of times.  The   
song was followed by "If We Only Knew" and something called "The Streets  
are Callin'" (or something like that).  The very last song performed was  
called "This is Madness!!" (or something like that) and it was one of the 
weirdest freakouts I ever heard.  Abiodun started the song by screaming   
and yelling "THIS IS MADNESS!!!!" repeatedly.  That fact, coupled with    
Bernie's eerie, spaced-out keyboard chords, made it one of the scariest,  
heaviest numbers I ever heard, a la "Eulogy & Light" (from Funkadelic's   
"Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow").  The song ended with both Last
Poets guys screaming "THIS IS MADNESS!!!!!"  The Last Poets's set was over
around 9:30pm.  Bernie left the stage first, followed by the other 2 guys.
I got to shake hands with Umar and Abiodun.                               


At 9:50pm, the Third Rail set started with Bernie's masterpiece           
"Atmosphere".  It is entertaining to watch Bernie because he is so        
animated!!  (Watch his face when he is jamming on some freakish-sounding  
riff!)  About 4 minutes later, Amina Claudine Myers (keyboardist/vocalist)
came out, followed by Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey (drummer extraordinare),   
Bill Laswell (bass), and James Blood Ulmer (lead vocalist).               


The song listing:                                                         

Atmosphere                                                                
Grounded                                                                  
Dusted                                                                    
Funk All Night                                                            
In The Name Of                                                            
Give Me The Reason (or something like that, sung by Amina C. Myers)       
Itchin'                                                                   
(Bernie's funny-as-hell segue 1)                                          
Please Tell Her                                                           
Lord Thank You                                                            
First Blood                                                               
(Bernie's funny-as-hell segue 2)                                          
Bigfoot's kick-ass drum solo                                              
(Bernie's funny-as-hell segue 3)                                          


Now, let me explain the Bernie segues:                                    

The first segue is where Bernie suddenly played "We Wish You a Merry      
Christmas" off-key, and man did it sound so freakish!!  I busted out      
laughing!!                                                                

The second segue is where Bernie played the  "We Wish You a Merry         
Christmas" song again, but on-key....except he didn't play the very last  
note.  Amina was watching Bernie as he played it and stared at his face   
when he got to the next-to-last note and stopped!  That's when Jerome's   
(or Captain Hymbad's) drum solo kicked in and the Captain is just too     
fonky!!  Go ahead, Capt. Hymbad!!!                                        

The third segue is where Bernie dug into his bag-o-tricks and provided the
audience when the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb, Little Lamb,     
Little Lamb"!!   HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!                             


Bill Laswell was excellent on the bass and James Blood Ulmer can really   
pluck a guitar.  Of course, Bernie is the main attraction in this group,  
with his funky and freakish keyboard stylings (and one hell of a          
personality)!!!  The Third Rail set was over at 10:50pm.  DAMN!!  It's was
too short.......but then again, the group only has one album out!!        
Everything except "Give Me The Reason" came from the album "South Delta   
Space Age", released on Antilles/Polystar Records.