08/03/2024
We are back with another issue of blackhat Buzz, and to be honest I actually forgot what the blog was called until right this moment since I haven’t referred to it by name in a while. Lolz… I know my posting schedule has been spotty, but I am one moving part of many and sometimes I have to wait a few days to get the scoop from folks. Many sorries.
Thanks for coming back friends, we have a wild event to discuss this week. As the title may suggest to you, the show we worked this past weekend was none other than Juggalo Night at Frogee’s bar in Apple Valley, California. If you aren’t familiar with ICP (Insane Clown Posse) they have a large and voraciously dedicated fan base that absolutely thrive on gatherings with their fellow Juggalos/Juggalettes.
I haven’t personally dived into the ICP mythology or discography with intention, but having lived the last four decades I certainly know who they are. They’ve been hosting a massive rap festival since 2000 called The Gathering of the Juggalos that draws upward of 10-20k fans each year. As you can imagine, not all Juggalos can trek to Ohio each year to take part in this event, so smaller hometown gatherings are equally enticing. This event, organized by Lyonz Den Productions, proved to be no less rowdy. The bill was packed with killer local acts including Mike Storm, who I spoke with briefly about the show, Freakshow, The Bermuda, and Lyonz himself.
Also on the bill was a special guest, who has himself performed live at a Gathering of the Juggalos in 2016 and is known by some as a performer in the rap collective Kottonmouth Kings, also performed a killer set that night. That’s right, Chucky Chuck came back to the high dez once more. (I looked up headlines on this guy while doing my research for this article and all that really came up was a story about the 2022 Adelanto Kushstock where he used weed blowers to smoke out the entire audience during his set. Hella generous guy if you ask me. *wink*) I’ve caught him at a show or two, but not at Frogee’s which is actually a rather intimate venue.
From the pics Matt sent me, and how excitedly he was texting during some of the sets, it sounded like a really fun show. I hit up Mike Storm this week to ask him how the show went, just to get an artist’s perspective, and he had this to say:
“The Juggalo Night was an amazing show and a big success for the hip hop community here in the High Desert. Every single artist that got on stage brought their A game to the show. From the 1st artist all the way to the last, the energy in the room was amazing. Lyonz put together a great event and made sure everyone in the building had a great time. Definitely looking forward to Juggalo Night 2!”
It honestly looked like everyone there was having the best possible night, and that’s really what I love to hear about the shows we get booked for. It’s awesome to contribute to events like this that bring so many people together.
There is a bit of juggling happening among us blackhats at the moment. We are reviewing the material we recorded for the first two podcast episodes and deciding if we need a second go at any of it. We have all been incredibly busy with life outside of the studio for the last six weeks and that has unfortunately put the brakes on our studio projects temporarily. We aren’t quite out of the woods yet, but I am getting back on the horse after a solid mourning period and will be continuing the writing process for the next batch of episodes. I know, I’ve been hyping the heck outta this and then completely lost my steam. Let me tell you, I lost a lot more than that and was on my way to losing myself to the sads again, but that isn’t what I want and it isn’t what those I’ve lost would have wanted either. So here I am, picking myself up before you all and carrying on. I will say that I am not the only one who has things going on and scheduling will likely continue to be challenging, for the rest of this calendar year at least. We are considering our options to make scheduling less of an issue and there is potential for us to be shifting to an actual podcasting platform for some of our sessions so that we can at least record me remotely when necessary, but that requires a bit of extra gear and me learning something new. Trust me when I say, it isn’t dead, it’s just resting honey. I had a meeting last weekend with Doug about it and everything. We are most definitely carrying on.
That’s all for this week. Don’t forget that we love you, and that you should tell your friends you love them too. Life is hard and we all need a little extra love in our lives these days. Until next time… check out my fellow creator Rossimus Art. I love his work and so should you. He made a coloring book and has a ton of other great stuff in his Etsy Store. Go say hi. He does contests and other fun stuff all the time. There’s a coloring book battle royale active on his facebook page right now. I think I heard there will be a coloring contest at the end with the winning page. Come color some stuff with me. It’s meditative, I swear!
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