Once again this summer weekend in the Bay Area there are a wealth of wonderful happenings, many of them free. One of the biggest events is, of course, the mega, must-attend East Bay Express' (EBX) big annual Subcultures Best Of The East Bay Party at the Oakland Museum of California featuring the Amoeba Music Main Stage with such acts as Goapele, Souls of Mischief, 7th Street Band, C U Next Weekend, Maldroid, Fracas, and Social Unrest. The above video is of Jody Colley, the tireless publisher of the independently owned and operated weekly, taking a break from setting up for this evening's big event to talk briefly with the Amoeblog about what to expect at the event that starts at 5pm sharp today (Friday August 7th).  That's exactly when, on the Amoeba Music Main Stage, The Thrill of it All -- the first of 13 acts scheduled to play on that stage -- will prompty begin. Social Unrest, the closing act, will hit the stage at 11pm for their half-hour punk rock set.

Same as last year's party, Amoeba Music will again have a booth set up (stop by and say "hi" to Naomi S. and the rest of the Amoeba crew) where you can spin the wheel of fortune and win goodies and get free stuff. But that is just the tip of the iceberg at this event, which, as Jody says in the above interview, is expected to draw 10,000 people. The diverse mix of entertainment includes a Kids Zone, Gearhead Garage, Professional Contact Sports, plus much more in the museum's outdoor garden area. Of course, the Oakland Museum's exhibits -- alone worth the trip -- are also all open to the public. As Jody stresses, since a lot of people are expected to be converging on the big, free party (especially after word about how dope last year's party at the same venue was), try to get there earlier rather than later to ensure admission and leave your cars at home (valet bike parking provided).

In hip-hop circles, you often encounter self-appointed arbiters of hip-hop taste who decry certain supposed negative trends in hip-hop. One frequent target for these musical Taliban is the prevalence of "bling," which is regarded as a new corruption of the scene (conveniently ignoring Gucci-clad, Rolls Royce-flaunting, "paid in full"-singing Eric B and Rakim or the massive gold ropes that adorned every rapper from Big Daddy Kane down the alphabet to Yella.) These paternal advocates of fiscal responsibility feel that rappers should be saving their money, I suppose, and not spending on ostentatious jewelry.

These conservative cultural watchdogs usually then go into an oft-repeated, well-rehearsed diatribe about meaningless, party-centric lyrics, the lack of reliance on DJing, the importance of being real and other things that place them ideologically in the traditionalist camp alongside their trad jazz forebears that griped when jazz moved beyond its Dixieland roots, the guy that yelled "Judas" when Dylan plugged in and prog-rock fans who decried the lack of humorless, showy, technical proficiency when glam began took over the charts and hearts of rock fans in the 70s.

But music evolves, regardless (and sometimes in defiance) of the griping and sniping of those stodgy snobs who stand scowling and motionless with arms folded whilst the masses keep on getting down. In 1968 Nik Cohn virtually created rock criticism with his book Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock.  As the title suggests, Cohn viewed the meaningless, shallow, fun music of rock's dawn in higher regard than the pretentious progressive rock of his day.  Another genre of music that haters love to hate is Bounce music. I felt like my love of this despised genre was validated, in a way, when the same Nik Cohn moved to New Orleans and worked with Choppa, an under-rated rapper from Algiers on the West Bank who had a big regional hit with "Choppa Style." Choppa dubbed Cohn "Nik the Trik" and Cohn wrote another book of criticism about his experiences, Triksta: Life and Death and New Orleans Rap.

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