Arriving in time to witness the beginnings of the Scribble Jam State finals, it was a bit of a surprise given the belatedness of me turning-up.  It was close to 11pm (according to the West Coast watch on my slim and girlish wristicle) and by my calculations that should have put a gig – whose doors had opened at 8pm – quite close to the time at which its headlining acts should appear from the wings: instruments cocked and ready; willing/able/thoroughly-prepared to rock us; shake our booties; or at the very least make our heads nod upwards and down in time (or a close approximation thereof) to the muzik…  But they didn’t and they weren’t – and my poor little brains didst churn in confusion.

The performing times alone weren’t the only piece of confusery.  Depending on which website or street-press you’d relied upon to inform and educate on this particular gig – there were two concurrent performances on offer here tonight.  The Elements tour versus a Bliss n Eso show – with quite different entry prices and commencement times too.  It would later transpire that the two shows had been squished in to one – but would’ve provided the irrits to any who’d turned up for a twenty buck Bliss n Eso gig – to be struck with a forty dollar price tag for The Elements road-show.  The absolute irrits..  But these be digressions.  Let’s get back to them Scribble Jammers... 

Up first on stage – the Freestyle contests – with the be-dreaded MC Supernatural (himself a three time DMC freestyle champ) handling the judging duties.  Several of the bouts provided moments of pure ad-libbing brilliance – but unfortunately for all involved these were few and far between.  Mostly the MCs resorted to a litany of homophobic name-calling with some “yeah..”/ “check it out..”/ “huh’s..” thrown in for good measure.  The bout was eventually won by MC Marksman with a well-timed jibe about the Beaconsfield miners.  Off he pops to the national finals.  The DJ comp fared a little better – largely due to the cranking performance of eventual (and inevitable) winner Junior on the decks.  Hopelessly outclassed his more conventional DJing rival.  Q-bert gave him the points the bout and off he trots to the nationals.  Good luck WA Hip Hop fellas…

With Scribble Jam out the way  it was time for Sydney City’s finest Bliss n Eso (and don’t forget the Izm) touring on the back of their brand-spanker “Day of the Dog”.  It’s impossible not to enjoy the effort and the enthusiasm put into a Bliss n Eso show.  Of course it helps that they’ve got a bunch of cranking tunes with readily-recognisable-sing-along choruses to shove through your ears.  Launching straight into “Creepy”, they followed it up with their toe-tapping single “Up Jumped the Boogie”.  Some “Seven Nation Army” sampling/scratching.  “Beer o’clock”.  An all ladies-sculling comp.  Then a cavalcade of their more memorable choruses: “Lets get loose up in this bitch…”  “There’s a Party at my place and you’re all invited..”  “This is for you you’re the reason I wrote this...”  Ending with a journey to their more sensitive side “You gotta understand me…  I got to understand you..  so we can stand together..  recognise and vision this.. one love, one mic sets aside all our differences…”  Etc.  And then the condensed-yet-gallant Bliss n Eso show was over.  Paving the way for:

MC Supernatural.  Ambling onto stage at around the 1am mark of the evening (this was gonna be a late night indeed for your Grandpa Wang childrens… ).  Last seen in these parts in support of the beyond-excellent DJ Z-Trip at the Good Vibes festival – it was disappointing to see him unveil his evening’s-choice-of-beat-provider – the little red drum machine that could.  But the dissatisfaction only lasted fleetingly – as he grabbed the mic, addressed the crowd and got his incomparable flow going.  One man.  Some home-made beats.  An enrapt audience.  And the entire English language at his disposal.  “Say do that shit…  do that shit..  do it…” 

Supernat proceeded to treat us all to his favourite freestyle party tricks.  A song made up from three random words suggested by the crowd.  Eclectic.  Culture.  Satisfaction.  A request to the audience to empty their pockets and hold the contents up in the air so he could wander down the line and incorporate all the hefted objects into his rhyming repertoire (“I’m gonna give this spliff back cos it aint no good..”)  He even demonstrated a choice gift for mimicry through perennial-favourite-signature tune – “Three MC’s”.  Spot-on impersonations performed of Slick Rick, Busta Rhymes and Biggie Smalls. Interspersed amongst the freestylery were tracks from his repeatedly-plugged forthcoming long-player.  With subjects ranging from comics (X-men-ophilia) to President Bush bashing (“Fuck the President…  I aint never seen him chilling out at my residence…”) – you just know this album is gonna be a Hip-Hop-fan-boy-cream-dream…

2am and it was time for the Q-man.  With the multiple DMC Turntablist champion in fine-flipping-form – this portion of the evening twas all about the scratching, rubber wrists and technical doo-hickery.  It was a grand demonstration of skill and all, but failed to match the high-entertainment-factor and crowd-pleasing-antics of the acts who preceded him.  Q-bert actually apologised to the crowd at one point for being so experimental with his scratching – apparently twas the end of a long tour and he was trying some things out for himself.  The crowd reacted better when invited to ponder:  “How many times can Q flip this beat?”  The little smiling DJ turning his decks into something approximating a drum machine.  All blurring hands and fingers and thumbs, faster than the human eye could follow.  The answer to the beat question being: “So many many MANY freaking times...”  Amazing.  The crowd reserved its best reaction for the re-emergence of MC Supernatural for an on-stage team-up tween these two behemoths of hip hop.  They brought the house down with a rollicking cover of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Gubernatorial Theme song – Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Going To Take It...”  Genius. 

And with that the night was over – though MC Supernatural seemed determined to occupy the Metro stage for all of eternity.  Me however – I took a leaf out of Dee Snyder’s book and determined for myself I could takes no more…  Twas off home for me..  And a welcome voyage to Sleepy-Sleepy-Droop-Droop-Land.