Ice Cube @ Avenue DC

August 12, 2008 by Dakota  Send to a Friend

all werds and photos: Dakota Fine

Betcha didn’t know Ice Cube played Washington DC Saturday night… yeah, well, you weren’t the only one. Don’t be fooled by the pictures, despite what it may appear, the club was EMPTY. Have you ever heard of Avenue DC?!?! Me, neither. Avenue DC is a three-story club on New York ave, I think the top floor might have been a quarter full.

But before I get into all thaaaat… Welcome back to DC I guess. Saturday presented me with an absolutely epic lineup of parties and general revelry in the District. My night, thankfully began at the Gold Leaf Studios, where I enjoyed good company, great music and (I have to mention) even a cute little food spread. Ryan Wakeman & Co presented PWRFL Power, unfortunately I couldn’t stay long enough to witness, so I’ll leave it to the peanut gallery to fill you all in, comment section is, as always here at BYT, open season.

After Gold Leaf, I headed over to the BYT/Rattler/2nd Anniversary party at RNR. Those shots can be found here.

But okay, back to Ice Cube. Initially, the promoter, he wrote me this email stating that I should get to the club before 10pm because, presumably, this show was gonna be craaaazy. Yeah, right, the only crazy thing going on outside the club at 10:30 (when I initially showed up) was the ludicrously understated bouncer named Ed working the door who was like, insulted that someone from the so-called press showed up with a camera and his name on the list. It is so much more fun being a dickhead when you can make people wait unnecessarily in (non-existent) lines.

But nevermind the guy at the door. I left the club and didn’t come back until about 1am, right as Ice Cube was stepping onstage. As the crowd erupted, Cube broke into the classics, by the time he played “Today Was A Good Day” I was definitely feeling it. I have to say, Cube’s performance was solid. I was a super fan back in the day, and I guess I still am. He came out clad in Washington gear, with an all-black DC cap and also curly W button up. Despite my California heritage (ahem, northern Cali) or perhaps because of it, I was relieved to see Cube donning the DC cap as opposed to that customary LA trash.

What was really amazing though, reeeeally amazing, was the fact that I landed, like a cat, on my feet after the surliest of surly thugged out bouncers decided to blast me off stage. I use “blast” here liberally, seeing as thankfully he didn’t pull out his TEC-9, but seriously, this dude blind-sided me off the stage and just about threw me into the bar. What was also amazing was that this dude then proceeded to get up in my face trying to provoke me to fight him. Like yeah, here I am the diminutive photographer (who has clearly just made a near fatal error) what I really want to do now is fight your fat, stinky ass. I’ve never gotten into a physical altercation in my life, I think starting when I’ve got my camera equipment strapped to my body, nevermind the fact I’m staring into the eyes of a dude who looks about ready to bend spoons with his mind, would be a dumb decision. For the life of me, I really don’t understand why people ever try to fight bouncers, EVAR. But that’s just me. Please, regale me now with epic tales of you and your friends fighting bouncers, I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love watching people fight bouncers, I just don’t want any part of it myself.

So yeah, the staff at Avenue DC collectively suck my balls. Total fuckwits, but of course, I didn’t meet anyone but the security, so what do I know? Ice Cube, however, consumate performer. Still has got it after all this years, no joke, for sure, awesome. Go see him, next chance you get. Loved it. Hostile bouncers notwithstanding. Peace.

Good to be back.

See more at dakotafine.com.

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