per1115-riots3

11:15 PM

Live Riots Scramble for Multimedia Effects

Yeeeeeeeeo-za! Sing it baby!

words by Carla King
photo by Dan Germano

The Live Riots/Scramble show at the 9th Be-In attempts to redefine live entertainment for those discerning multimedia mavens visiting MacWorld this week, leader Stephen G tells me - he's also one of the associate producers of the event, so he oughtta know what redefining multimedia is all about.

In this case, it's a live band, peformance art, remixed heavy dance beats and deep ambient dub grooves, giant screen immersive projections, dancers, guest rappers, singers, and various contributors popping up onstage and in the mixing booth. Yep. Sounds like multimedia to me.

When the Riots appeared mid-evening the crowd was ready for some hip-hopping rap reggae jungle deejay dub jazz world music beat . . . and despite the glitch that kept the immersive projections scheduled for the show from happening, The Riots sent the ravers out of control, the rockers were headed for whiplash, and even the suits and the geeks were seen moving somewhat in rhythm to the undeniable (for most of us) beat.

During the show I climbed up to the Bridge - a second story balcony in the venue holding a fortune's worth of netcast equipment: hardware, software, and electronic gearheads - to take a better look. Yep, a suit and a wool skirt straight from MacWorld were swing dancing in the middle of the friendliest mosh pit I've ever witnessed.

How'd it go? I asked Stefen G a little later. "The crowd was great - it's always good to see the floor moving" he said, but added "the visuals were a great disappointment. We had our own carefully edited tape queued up, but it just didn't happen."

Maybe it's a case of you don't know what you're missing if its not there . . . I'll catch the next show to find out. They play regularly around town - here in SF, and maybe again on the internet soon.