Jurassic Five/Jonny Lang LIVE ~ Venice

Local homies Jurassic Five kicked it out for Heal the Bay's Reboot & Rock the Beach yesterday under a blazing Venice sun. The skin cancer was well worth it for an inspired set full of backpack classics, positive rhymes, cuts from the new album Feedback, yes yes y'allin' nostalgia, and some family matters, all in dedication for Heal the Bay's big beach clean-up of that morning. Mark 7 even held a baby girl in one hand and a mike in the other and later brought out his son for a crowd sing-a-long of happy birthday with cake. The highlight wasn't the great big "mutherfuck George Bush," but the emergence of a pint-size child dancer with serious loose limbed moves, his contrast to Charlie Tuna's Shaq-like dimensions hilarious.

J5 put on a great show full of skilled sing-a-long courses and fierce individual verses, which included a group freestyle cifer at encore. They also seem like cool, humble guys, full of thanks and smiles who generally love their job and the city we call home.

We got there a little too late to catch most of Jonny Lang's set. The song we caught was pretty with lots of emotion, but not really our cup of tea. His final romp tore through Stevie Wonder's Living for the City showcased his precision guitar solos and a smooth as silk, bluesy voice with more in common to a young Steve Winwood than a bad boy bluesman like Mick. A little coffeehouse-friendly for my tastes but the boy is talented on guitar with expressive vocals for sure...