P.O.S. is Ruining My Life

We had quite the day on Saturday. We were invited over to my friend Toby’s house in the afternoon as his roommate was having a Sangria party. We rolled in about 5 PM to find the party well underway. Sangria was flowing copiously and Josie was a big hit with the punk kids and the college kids alike. I spent much of my time preventing her from mauling Toby’s soccer ball, which she took an instant attraction to.

On the way back from the party, we saw a small corner store that was selling soccer balls, so we grabbed one for her. She wanted to play with it the whole way home. Once unleashed in the house, she took to running around with her new favorite toy. For five minutes. Josie punctured it, and then was sufficiently freaked out when the air began hissing out of it. Oh well, it was only five bucks. I need a bullet proof soccer ball or something, I guess.

We stopped at a local Mediterranean joint for dinner before heading out to Bottom of the Hill to see P.O.S. We happened to run into my buddy J.R. and his friend Eric at the restaurant, so we dined with them and then Eric was nice enough to give us a ride to the venue.

BOTH is a decent venue, it holds probably about 300 people, I would estimate. The stage is facing you as soon as you walk in the door, and they have a back pool/pinball room that doubles as a merch area for shows. They also have a back patio where they will have BBQs on Sunday afternoons before shows, which would be kind of fun.

The first guy up went by the name Silent Army, I believe. He’s a local Bay Area guy, and P.O.S. wanted him to do 10-15 minutes before the rest of the acts. Not too bad, I’d be interested in seeing him again with more time, but the most notable thing about him was his killer hoodie. It had all of the chest bones on front and back, and the hood was a skull, I want one.

The second act was Dessa from Doomtree. She’s the female rapper in that group, Saturday night she was doing some solo material. She’s definitely improved over the few years I’ve seen her, and she can hold her own on stage. There’s just something missing with her that I can’t quite put my finger on. It may be a confidence issue, but that’s merely conjecture.

Next up was Mac Lethal. I’ve seen his name around tons of times, but never had a chance to check him out previously in the Midwest. He was pretty entertaining, and very funny, but nothing that I’d purchase, I don’t think. He ripped on everything from the “Lean with it, rock with it” motorcycle dance, Chinese character tattoos and being asked to be on the White Rapper show on VH1 (he didn’t accept, obviously).

Finally the main event was P.O.S. He’s become something of an inside joke amongst my show-attending friends, as it seems like he’s opened up for just about everybody under the sun in MPLS. I’ve seen him open doing solo stuff or with Doomtree for acts as varied as Atmosphere, Dillinger Four and The Hold Steady. He definitely held his own being the headliner, however. He performed a bunch of material off of his most recent album, and even broke out a couple of new songs that he’s working on. Paul, our friend from Georgia who had never even heard of him, really liked him which is a good sign. Spilled cider and screaming out lyrics were in abundance throughout his set.

After this we nabbed a cab and headed to a bar in the Mission to hook up with Paul’s friend Jonah and Pete, and then proceeded to an afterparty in some loft a couple of blocks away. I poured myself a sick Jack Daniels and Ginger Ale and tried my best to mingle, but the electronica blaring throughout the party was too much. Plus there was a baby there. A baby, at an afterparty at three in the morning. It was weird, to say the least.

If anyone wants to hear P.O.S. go to www.rhymesayers.com and check it out, hopefully you’ll dig it.

jeremy