Jen and
Wooby's Review
Breathe Rehearsal Burbank, CA 10/26/01
Breathe Los Angeles, CA 10/27/01
Along with the cards, we made Stephan a couple framed plaques: one with a fake check made out to StepUp with the fundraiser total ($1,406.36) and the other with a list of names of people who donated. Stephan said he�s never hung any of his gold records, but he�s going to hang these up. He was so thrilled he wanted to take a picture. "Let�s take a picture!" These words came out of the mouth of the same Stephan Jenkins who refused pictures last year. We were shocked but gladly agreed to pose.
There is an all-girl AC/DC tribute band called Hell�s Belles that Stephan thinks
people should embrace. The lead singer�s name is even Agnes Young.
Stephan reached over and grabbed Tony as he walked by, pulled off his shirt and
showed us all his fresh tattoos. I think he had about 5 or 6. Oh yeah, one of
them had his son's name. One on his shoulder was of a ram, another on the
nape of his neck said 3eb! Stephan says it�s not done yet, it�s supposed to say
"property of". Arion might need glasses, so he thinks. Jen asked Brad if they�ve
been busy recording lately and he said he and Arion have been recording Police
covers.
Seal was supposed to be here any minute so they could practice with him. Stephan
told us how he met Seal at Tiger Woods, and they became good friends instantly.
They talk almost everyday, Stephan thinks Seal is the nicest man and should be
the king of England.
Arion found the popsicle machine and snacked for a while, Stephan jammed on the
drums for a bit (he can really play), then they got back to work. Seal still
hadn�t arrived so they practiced his song Crazy several times without him.
Stephan learned the lyrics really fast but spent most of his time trying to
harmonize through the song. He was getting really good at the "babybabybaby"
part at the end. Brad was banging away like Animal, he was so into the song.
Jen and I were eagerly awaiting Seal�s arrival too and as soon as he walked
through the door, he was greeted with large stupid grins from the both of us. He
was very late but the man exudes so much generosity and warmth; his tardiness
was instantly forgiven. Seal walked around meeting all the crew and roadies,
people who unfortunately don�t receive much recognition. He�s a true gentleman.
Seal jammed with his musicians while 3eb took a dinner break (for the Gossip
Communist�s records, yes Stephan did eat, but Arion didn�t�). Jen and I stayed
inside the studio to watch Seal perform acoustic. (Jen's note: At one point it
was just me, Ruby, Seal and the pianist with Seal singing. Talk about
heaven on earth!) He is such an amazing performer, it�s like he was born
to sing with the voice of an angel. We couldn�t get enough of him, we were so
engrossed in his songs. Arion and Stephan came back later to watch a couple
songs too. Stephan read how AskWooby feels about his smoking and he promised to
quit tomorrow�October 27, the night of the show. According to his note on
3eb.com, apparently he stuck to it. Good for him!
After Stephan came back from his smoke break, they got started on I Want You. I
guess since I Want You is Stephan�s baby, he wanted the lighting to be perfect.
He shut off the dizzying fluorescent lights and turned on the track lighting.
They went through it a few times with Seal, (changing the lyric to "a bong hit
burns to fight off the gloom") then called it a night. Before finally stepping
away from the rehearsal space, Stephan grabbed a guitar and sang an acoustic
version of Crystal Baller. If 3eb never ending up doing anything with Scattered,
but record Crystal Baller instead, I can die happy. I can�t say enough good
things about this song.
"I close my eyes and I see a freak
I think it�s me and I�m afraid to speak"
Lil Kim was supposed to come and collaborate too but she never showed up.
At about 9:30 they wrapped things up and Stephan was soon to jump into Seal�s
pimp ride (it looked like something straight out of Batman) and join Mick Jagger
for dinner. Then he�d meet up with a girl with "bonny round thighs".
The next day, Nattie came by our hotel to hang for a while. So we chatted, drank
some beers then got ready to go. We got to the venue early enough to find street
parking right in front of the venue. We met up with Mary and her friend at
Denny�s, then we went inside to the pre-party so we could present the donation
checks to Step Up. We filled up on free cosmos and cheese and dip, gawked at Dr.
Drew, finally handed the checks to someone who worked for Step Up, then waited
for the doors to open so we could meet up with Mary and Nattie again.
Hi to the Sugar Ray fans who sat in front of us. We�ll see you guys next year ;)
We saw you getting down and funky offstage during Crazy Town�s set, Jenkins.
Miss DeCadenet & Co. were 2 rows behind us. Tom Hanks was about 6 or 7 rows
behind us, off to the right, and during every break and intermission he�d get
mobbed by fans. Run Forrest Run! No, he graciously chatted, signed and snapped
photos with everyone. What a champ. Later, Naomi Campbell grabbed a seat nearby
(Jen note: 2 seats down from me) to watch Seal.
Run DMC were MIA. They were printed on the tshirts and program and everything, I
have no idea what happened to them. Remy Zero was a VERY pleasant surprise.
Cinjun sung his little heart out. Apparently their new stuff is a little more
mellow than previous material.
Nikka Costa shook her booty and got us all out of our seats. Girlfriend can rock
the house.
Lil Kim lipsycned to about 2 and a half songs with� someone else. No one knows
who that was. Then they left. We were left confused� but the group of people off
to the left stripped down to their skivvies and put on curly turquoise wigs and
really got into her.
Third Eye Blind came out and played a few songs, then were joined by Liz Phair.
For some reason, Stephan didn�t join her on vocals on Supernova, but they did go
through with Jumper and Fuck and Run. Then Seal helped them close their set with
I Want You. I was so looking forward to hearing them do Crazy together, but no
such luck. I don�t know if they were just pressed for time or they weren�t
prepared to do it.
The show went on into the wee hours of the night and the crazy people next to us
got drunker. I must say, it was a good day.
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