I am writing to join the Half Pint fan club. Half Pint is an incredible musician with a sweet singing voice and a very positive vibe. I recently saw him perform with the Long Beach Dub All-Stars at the Maritime Hall in San Francisco. I was struck by the power and beauty of his music and voice.

I wish to be a member of the Half Pint fan club. Sign me up today!

Sincerely,

Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter

After picking up my ticket at the will-call window. I trotted over to the entrace, all psyched up for the show. Just as I stepped to the doorway, I noticed a sign above the door, it read:

Tippa Irie and Barrington Levy will not be performing tonight.

NOOOOO! My heart sunk. There were two reasons I went to the show to begin with: Half Pint and Barrington Levy. I was thinking that if Pint and Levy did "Broader than Broadway" together then my night would be complete. That alone would have been enough to put the show into my permanent memory banks as one of the best. A bit emotionally down trodden, I forged on through the doorway.

Pre-Game

I think the size of the crowd at the Maritime Hall is a monotonicly increasing function of time. Each time I go, the crowd is larger. I was pleasently surprised so many people were in attendance. By the time I arrived, a good vibe had already been brewing. A pre-recorded tape of ragga dancehall was pumping, putting us in the mood.

One thing that did strike me though was that it felt a bit like the old roller skating rink when they flashed the "couples" sign (after the "reverse" thing and "Mr. Roboto"). It seemed like there were a lot of couples there, strolling around hand-in-hand. Mostly in the 18-22 year old range. How cute.

After about 15 minutes or so, the pre-recorded music was cut and the LBDAS's DJ came out and started spinning wax. It was weird because he spin hip-hop right away. It totally killed the ragga vibe that was built up. Many of us kinda looked at each other with quizzical looks on our faces. "What the hell?".

He spun for a while, then another DJ came out and spun some raggae, sang, and chatted. He was aiiight, but I gotta say that the voice sure didn't match his physical form. He had a gruff voice like Buju Banton or Bounty Killer, but the dude was a slight, short white dude. No disrespect, it was just wierd seeing that voice come out of that body. Kinda like an inverted version of the scene in "Terminator 2" where the Terminator uses John's voice to trick the T-1000 on the telephone.

The Precursor

The Long Beach Dub All-Stars did two sets, bookends on Half Pint's brief set. For the most part, I enjoyed their first set. I liked the raggae, dub, and ska flavors. Their punk stuff was ok, but I'm not much into that scene anymore (I probably would have busted a nut over it about 13 years ago though).

Their first set was pretty long. I figure about a half and hour or so. The crowd really enjoyed it. I felt like the only person who wasn't a huge LBDAS fan. It seemed that everyone but me knew all the words to their songs. The crowd was into it, so I had a good time.

The Main Event

Half Pint hit the stage and set the crowd off the deep end. I was kinda surprised that such a young crowd would be supportive and knowledgable of such a industry veteran. Half Pint got much love from the crowd, who eagerly sang along with songs such as "One In A Million" Since I'm a Half Pint Johnny-come-lately, I don't know the names of the other songs he performed, but they were all very good.

Half Pint, why you tease me so? First you sing great, then you soon go. That's my only complaint of the night, Half Pint's set was tooooo short. I know you're always supposed to leave 'em wanting more, but our appetite what just whetted. The six songs (maybe eight, I don't remember for certain) he performed were wonderful. His voice was beautiful as ever, and the sound guys got the mix right for a change. The LBDAS backed him well, their performance together was very tight. I just wish that his set was longer.

My first Half Pint experience was a thoroughly enjoyable and positive one. He picked up my deflated spirits over Barrington Levy's absence and made me vary satisfied that I came to the show. I've already reserved a good chunk of next month's music budget to buy many of his albums.

Second Set

The LBDAS second set had more punk that the first one. Of course the punk songs incited much slamming and moshing among the crowd. I was on the "wall" for most of the slamming during the second set. I enjoyed seeing other people into it, but since I was doing that about 15 years ago, it was time for the next generation to have their hand. The LBDAS closed the night with a Dead Kennedys joint, which I though was a nice touch. I wasn't all that into the DKs back in the day, so I didn't know which song it was, but it did sound kinda familiar. I bet Franko would have recognized it.

Ahh, Ohh!

I think that I caught a major contact buzz off all the second-hand budda smoke. I didn't really notice at the time, but the next morning I felt like I was totally hung-over. It wasn't an alcohol hang-over, that's for sure. Maybe it was just aftershock from the loud music, but it didn't happen at the other shows, which were just as loud. Anyways, I just popped some Advils and got on my way to work.