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Billy Jam
AUDIENCE WAS LISTENING AND WATCHING CUT CHEMIST'S MEMORABLE MINI-AMOEBA
MUSIC TOUR THAT INCLUDED EMCEE HYMNAL, ARTIST FOREST STEARNS, AND R2-D2:

 "This was my exclusive Amoeba Mini Tour 2006," announced Cut Chemist at end of his second Amoeba Music Bay Area in-store performance on August 17th. The Los Angeles turntablist/producer had just done two shows within a few hours of each other at both Bay Area Amoeba Music stores in support of his new Warner album, The Audience's Listening. The DJ, who is known for his membership and collaborations with the likes of Jurassic 5, Ozomatli, and DJ Shadow, performed for 45 minutes at each Bay Area Amoeba location and was joined onstage by emcee Hymnal at both stores and by painter Forest Stearns at the San Francisco performance. Also making a well-received performance with the DJ at each in-store was R2-D2.

  Between one and two hundred music fans arrived before 5PM at the Berkeley Amoeba location for the first of the two Cut Chemist in-stores. When the clock struck five exactly at the Telegraph Ave. store the artist born Lucas Chris MacFadden launched into his first of two funk-laced, head bobbing, eye-boggling, 45-minute displays of turntable wizardry and CDJ manipulations. His set-up included two turntables, two CDJs, two mixers, and a Serato system.  Drawing primarily from his much anticipated Warner Brother's debut solo album "The Audience's Listening" (a reported three years in the making) Cut Chemist's stellar set included the album's "Theme Song," "A Peak In Time," "Spat," and "What's The Altitude." The latter and another song featured the ever-engaging emcee Hymnal whose energy level never faltered even when he wasn't on the mic ("He was dancing like crazy the whole time," gleefully reported one attendee).

   Equally as well received by the audience was the (to-scale size) RJ-D2 that joined Cut Chemist at both shows. "He had a whole routine going back and forth with him scratching and then R2-D2 making his robotic beep sounds," reported Amoeba Music hip-hop buyer Luke (aka DJ Platurn) who helped set-up and work the production for the East Bay performance. "It was hilarious.... ..Everyone loved it!," he said noting that the Star Wars toy was operated via remote-control by a Cut Chemist collaborator somewhere in the back of the store. Cut Chemist, a confessed Star Wars fanatic since age 4, said that, "R2-D2 would make a great DJ because he can probably program beats on his chest and communicate with scratch DJs with beeping dialect!" In a recent interview with the official Star Wars website the DJ added that he believed that his "fetish for collecting records" probably began as a continutation of when he started "collecting Star Wars cards in the '70's."

 The set was followed by a well-organized, swiftly-paced forty minutes of meeting and greeting fans and signing about fifty CD and LP copies of "The Audience's Listening." These 50 made up the lucky recepients of both the limited edition posters created and printed exclusively for the event by artist Forest Stearns, and the "frequent flier" cards which would enable these fans to be in the drawing for the two Vestex HandyTrax portable turntables to be raffled off at end of the second leg of the mini-tour. These fanatics weren't the only ones rushing across the Bay for the second show. Amoeba Music marketing department's Naoimi along with Ricky, the sound engineer, also hurried over the Bay Bridge to the San Francisco store. "We hit some traffic but got to Amoeba on Haight with plenty of time. Cut & crew showed up not too long after and got ready to rock SF," reported Naomi.

  Over 600 people showed up at the San Francisco store to enjoy a similar set to the Berkeley performance. This time the painter Forest Stearns joined the musician on stage for the live art piece, which was inspired by the new Cut Chemist album track "Spat."  "On the audio track two turntables are having a phone conversation with scratch voices so (in the painting) the turntable characters are posted in the b-boy pose on cell phones," said Stearns, adding that the art piece was scheduled to be displayed on the San Francisco Amoeba stage for a week for a silent auction. After the San Francisco show Cut Chemist diligently signed posters and albums for 90 minutes and assisted in the drawing for the two winners (including Levi Pipkin) of the two Vestex portable turntables which he signed with a Sharpie (can you say "collector's item"?).  Afterwards show Cut Chemist along with R2-D2 (who had trouble keeping quiet) did an interview with the Bay Area hip-hop TV show "Distortion 2 Static."  A little later, tired but satisfied, Cut Chemist packed up his things, officially having ended his "Amoeba Mini-Tour  2006."