The Roots Live…WOW!

I have been a fan of The Roots, the amazing hip hop band out of of Philadelphia (best known as the house band on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”), for many, many years, but I had never seen them live until this past Saturday night at Ravinia (with Digable Planets and Arrested Development) and WOW.

Some Background

I became obsessed with hip hop around 1987 and it was my favorite genre of music until the mid-late 90s when I felt it began lose its edge, get repetitive, and kinda sound the same.

For about 8 years, though, hip hop was easily the most creative, important, impactful, and diverse genre of music out there.

During that stretch, the three acts performing Saturday at Ravinia were among the most important. They were three of my favorite at that time, easily.

The Roots brought a unique, jazzy, and eclectic approach to hip hop with their use of much more than turntables and microphones. The full band featured horns, guitar, drums, keyboards, and vocalists all performing live without a recorded beat or drum track. Lead by MC Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter (who formed the group with Amir “Questlove” Thompson), their incredible work was experimental yet traditional.

Digable Planets, also out of Philly, formed in 1987 as a trio who also brought a jazzy feel to their hip hop and an experimental attitude to their music. Butterfly, Ladybug Mecca, and Doodlebug released two seminal hip hop albums in the early 90s (“Reachin’” and the extraordinary “Blowout Comb”) before breaking up in late 1996. Singles like “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” and “Where I’m From” are classics in the genre.

Arrested Development (my absolute favorite of the three acts), from Atlanta, is one of the most important hip hip groups in music history. They formed in 1988 by MC Speech and turntablist Headliner, and became popular in the early 90s for their positive, Afrocentric, and alternative approach to the genre (especially to Gangsta Rap). Their debut album “3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of…” is one of the best debut albums of any genre and one of the most important rap albums of all time. Their song “Revolution” was featured in Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X,” and their positive, unique and new vision continued to flourish until 1996 when they disbanded.

What a Show

The chance to see these three incredible acts on one bill was not to be missed, so my lovely girlfriend Julie and I packed up the cart with food, chairs, a table, and some drinks, and headed to Ravinia.

Packed and ready to go to Ravinia for The Roots!

Our fun spread and lovely spot for the concert.

The weather was perfect. We found a great spot on the lawn surrounded by very cool folks, met up with friends for some great conversation and food, and then the show started.

Before the show. Yeah...I know, she's waaaay put of my league.

The Roots took the stage and I wondered what the hell was going on. Why was the headliner on stage first? Did the other acts cancel?”

Tariq from The Roots giving everything he's got on the stage at Ravinia.

Those thoughts faded as The Roots kicked it off with incredible covers of Kool and the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie" and Instant Funk’s “I Got My Mind Made Up,” while tearing up the stage with energy, showmanship, and musicianship of mind-blowing power.

Then Tariq (aka Black Thought, an incredible rapper/MC) introduced Digable Planets and I realized the evening was going to be a showcase with The Roots as the “house band” for the whole night. Incredible.

Butterfly, Ladybug Mecca, and Doodlebug walked on stage and, with one of the best bands in the world backing them, tore it up with incredible versions of “Where I’m From,” “Nickel Bags,” “9th Wonder,” and more.

Each MC was in fine form (Ladybug Mecca was exceptionally cool), the music was extraordinary, and the whole crowd (including myself) were on their feet dancing their asses off.

Ladybug Mecca from Digable Planets doing what she does best. An amazing performance.

Digable left the stage and The Roots continued with their set. Then, Black Thought introduced Arrested Development and I went nuts.

Speech and the crew did a short set that included “Mr. Wendel” and “Tennessee,” and the vibe was powerful, positive, and downright joyful. I remembered immediately why I love this band so much and just how incredible they are live. Once again, The Roots never left the stage, playing all of the music for Arrested Development.

Speech and the other members of Arrested Development performing for a happy crowd at Ravinia. This was truly on of the best concerts I've ever seen.

After Arrested’s songs, The Roots kicked into high gear with a monster set that included classics like “Web/Dance Girl,” “Here I Come,” and “You Got Me.”

The energy level was at a high that only NASA could accurately measure. Each member of the band got to solo and show off their talent (yeah, there was an awesome tuba solo), which all built up to Digable Planets coming back on stage for knockout versions of “Appointment at the Fat Clinic,” and, of course, “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat).”

The final stretch of the show was the best. I was pretty much losing my mind, dancing like a lunatic, and forming bonds and friendships with everyone around me. Arrested Development returned to join The Roots to make the audience even happier with cuts like “Children Play With Earth,” “Revolution,” and “People Everyday,” which actually made me cry. The Roots then closed out the show in epic fashion, and thus ended one of the best concerts I have ever seen in my life.

Seeing these important, legendary groups on stage, performing music that means so much to me was just spectacular, even more so because of the company I was with (Julie loved the show, even though she was not familiar with most of the songs). The atmosphere was that of complete and utter happiness.

The feelings I experienced back in the day when I listened to these bands in my car or on my turntable came rushing back while I was dancing like an idiot in the middle of Highland Park on a warm Saturday night. It was a show I will never forget and a night I will treasure for years to come.

Oh, and by the way, Oscar-winner Questlove, who kept the beat going for the entire show, never left the stage once in almost three hours. An inspiring, remarkable feat, even for someone who has to put up with jackass Jimmy Fallon four nights a week.

Thank you, The Roots, Digable Planets and Arrested Development. What a night.

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TV Talk Shows and Their Editing...Grrrrrr!

Carl Reiner on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The Glory Days of Late Night. I took this picture of my TV, on my couch, of course.

I have been watching television talk shows for as far back as I can remember, particularly the late night shows.

When I was a kid, I watched "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" pretty much every night (my parents were NOT strict with me, at all...my dad took me to the theater to see "The Exorcist" when I was 8...so, yeah) and continued to watch late night talk shows religiously after that.

My childhood was filled with late-night visits from old school legends like Don Rickles, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis and more. TV stars like Adrienne Barbeau (who I just interviewed on The Nick D Podcast), Telly Savalas, Robert Blake, Redd Foxx, and more.

The fabulous Adrienne Barbeau, at the height of the popularity of "Maude," being interviewed by Johnny. This interview would never happen today.

Even visits from zoo representatives Joan Emery and Jim Fowler were memorable, because they brought animals to the show, and they would climb all over Johnny's desk, and sometimes they peed on him. It was awesome!

After Johnny's show was over, you'd stay up and watch the "Tomorrow" show with Tom Snyder, which was completely awesome and completely different. Eventually, the great (and my all-time favorite) David Letterman took over for Snyder, and late night got even better, hipper, edgier and cooler. I loved late night TV.

I would watch them all. Here are some of the hosts that I have watched (some are good, some are great, some are TERRIBLE): Dick Cavett, Rick Dees, Bill Maher, Merv Griffin, Pat Sajak, Craig Kilborn, Craig Ferguson (second only to Letterman in my world), Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Bob Costas, Carson Daly, Joan Rivers, Chevy Chase, Charlie Rose, David Brenner, Byron Allen, Howard Stern, Dennis Miller, Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Stewart, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Alan Thicke, Jerry Lewis, Regis Philbin, George Lopez, and I'm sure I'm missing a few.

On the surface, these hosts are pretty disparate, but they do have one thing in common: Almost NONE of theses pre-taped shows were edited heavily, and/or chopped up.

My point being, that on the old shows, particularly during interviews with guests, the segments were almost always unedited, and allowed to take a natural progression and course. It felt live, it felt legitimate, it felt real...like anything could happen, and often it did.

On the old "Tonight Shows" of the 70s, everyone smoke, drank, and screwed around constantly, and none of it was edited out...NONE of it. It felt like a free-flowing private party that you were invited to. It was fresh, it was naughty, and it was joyously entertaining.

From Dean Martin flicking the ashes of his cigarette in Frank Sinatra's drink, to Burt Reynolds shooting whipped cream down Johnny's pants, to Shelley Winters dumping a drink over a very drunk Oliver Reed's head...it all stayed in the show, and it was glorious!

Interviews were long and rambling. Pauses, both comfortable and uncomfortable, occurred regularly (you know, like real conversations), celebrities said goofy, sometimes offensive stuff, and it stayed in! Technical errors, cue card mess-ups, sets falling apart, second bananas showing up drunk (looking at you Ed McMahon), guests walking off the show, audience members interrupting the proceedings...they were all nightly occurrences.

Can you imagine anything like that happening in today's environment?? No way. EVERYTHING is edited, and edited HEAVILY.

The late night talk show line-up these days: Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon, Meyers, Corden (before he left)...ALL of them edit their shows like crazy, with seemingly no rhythm, or rhyme or reason, at all. (NOTE: This doesn't apply to the brilliant "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" which is an entirely different type of show).

The monologues have cuts immediately after jokes are told (with no beat for a laugh or groan). Visual gags are chopped up so they barely register. It completely ruins the comedic timing.

But, the worst is the editing of the interviews themselves. The cutting of the interviews is often maddening, with no regard of continuity, train of thought, or even acknowledgment of the words that the guests or hosts are saying.

I had to take a picture of Natalie Portman on Seth Meyer's show because the editing of the interview was driving me completely nuts. Cutting, chopping, bumping...ruining an otherwise good interview.

I just was watching an interview that Seth Meyers (whose show is easily the best in late night right now) was conducting with Natalie Portman, and the editing was so disruptive and random that I almost threw a show at the TV....and Seth has the best show in late night!

The most egregious use of this ridiculous practice is (not surprisingly) on Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight Show," which is, by faaaaar, the worst show in late night, and chops the shit out of their interviews with no apparent attention paid to content at all. It's a joke.

Why is this the practice now? Why is it so commonplace? Who thought this was a good idea, or a way to broadcast a decent conversation. The feeling of any spontaneity is completely gone, and the result is bush-league production and careless presentation. It's gotten to the point where I sometimes have to turn it off, or change the channel because it's so, so frustrating.

I started to really notice this practice a few years ago, and thought maybe it was because of the production changes, and editing requirements that were implemented during COVID, but nope, it's stuck around.

In my opinion, this sloppy, ugly editing is ruining late night talk shows. So, my message to the producers of the late night talk shows: KNOCK IT OFF WITH THE EDITING! I HATE IT!

This is the look on my face as I try to watch a butchered interview on any Late Night Talk Show. It isn't pretty.

What do you think?

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