A musical trip down ‘80s, ‘90s, and ‘00s memory lane, BOOMBOX! A Vegas Residency on Shuffle left me smiling so hard upon seeing this multi-act residency in the International Showroom at Westgate Las Vegas—starring such notable acts and artists as CeeLo Green, J.J. Fad, Kid n’ Play, Thea Austin of SNAP!, Tone Lōc, and the incomparable DJ Eric B.—that my cheeks ached for the rest of the night.

One thing I especially enjoyed was that unlike most shows or concerts with multiple acts—wherein each act performs its songs and then the show proceeds onto the next act, at which point the first act is finished until the finale—as its name implies, BOOMBOX! shuffles the acts up, and it totally works.  To wit, the evening I saw the show, CeeLo Green opened with “Crazy,” the wildly popular debut million-plus-selling single from Gnarls Barkley (Green’s award-winning collaboration with Danger Mouse). *

Following Green was Thea Austin who got everyone on their feet with SNAP!’s dancefloor anthem “Rhythm Is a Dancer,” which received the awards for both ‘Best House 12” Single’ and ‘Single of the Year’ at the Winter Music Conference’s 1993 International Dance Music Awards.  She would return, later, to perform "The Power" (and did so with a broken ankle while wearing 4" heels, no less!). 

Next up were the Christophers (Reid and Martin) better known as Kid n’ Play, the fun-loving hip-hop duo who, in addition to releasing some enduring New Jack Swing jams like “Rollin’ with Kin n’ Play” (oh-la, oh-la, ayy), created a two-person dance craze (the Kid n’ Play Kickstep, alternatively known as the Funky Charleston), starred in five films (anyone up for a Pajama Jammy Jam?), and had their own eponymous Saturday morning cartoon.  Like the proverbial old married couple, the duo provided comic relief while acting as the show’s de facto emcees.

Green then returned to the stage with his hit 2010 solo songs “Bright Lights Bigger City” and “Fuck You,” before coming down into the audience and leading a conga line through the showroom.  I’d have joined in, but I was seated fairly close to the stage, and by the time I realized what was going on, and had put my drink and camera down, the revelry had literally passed me by. **

One of the highlights of the night was seeing the ladies of J.J. Fad—"MC J.B.” (Juana Barnes), “Baby D” (Dania Birks), and “Sassy C” (Michelle Franklin)—who proved they are very much still “here to rock,” as proclaimed in their 1987 hit “Supersonic,” their Grammy-nominated single that went Gold, and marked the first time an all-female rap group (not to mention two of them!) would be nominated for a Grammy.  Later in the evening, J.J. Fad returned to do a tribute to the ladies of hip hop (I recall shouts-out to Salt-n-Pepa, Lauryn Hill, Queen Latifah, and TLC).  ***  

Tone Lōc came out and performed “Wild Thing” with DJ M. Walk, while bumping and grinding with a number of ladies he invited onstage from the audience.  And while I’d wager that a good number of them were longtime Boniva users, they all seemed to be having an absolute blast, and returned to their seats with huge smiles plastered on their faces.  I was far too busy swooning over the music video, playing on a screen behind him, as it featured my dear friend, Annabel Schofield (whose birthday was that day) vamping on lead guitar.  And lest you worry, he came back later to serve us that “Funky Cold Medina.”

And the legendary DJ Eric B—the turntablist who, with the emcee Rakim, comprised Eric B. & Rakim, the iconic DJ/MC duo behind 1987’s paradigm-shifting album, Paid in Full—took to the wheels of steel and played some of the genre’s greatest hits, before he and CeeLo went to sit in a pair of thrones while Kid n’ Play played around.

In addition to all of this, there was a multimedia presentation, a terrific dance crew, a tribute to the late Biz Markie (“Just a Friend”), and the scratch-tastic DJ PZB.

Future dates for BOOMBOX! A Vegas Residency on Shuffle are being announced, soon, which is good, because I can’t wait to go back!

BOOMBOX! A Vegas Residency on Shuffle
Westgate Las Vegas
Click HERE for info

Get into it!
#Boombox

[Editor’s Notes: * “Crazy” won the award for ‘Best Urban/Alternative Performance’ at the 49th Grammy Awards, and was nominated for ‘Record of the Year’ // ** Like “Crazy” had four years earlier, “Fuck You” would be nominated for ‘Record of the Year’ and win the award for ‘Best Urban/Alternative Performance’ at the 53rd Grammy Awards // *** “Supersonic” was nominated for ‘Best Rap Performance’ at the 31st Grammy Awards (the first year in which the category was presented), as was “Push It” by Salt-n-Pepa]