Forty-wide across the mixing board, bright orange equalizer lights rose and fell in sync with a blaring melody. It blasted through the studio speakers and out into the salmon-colored halls of Digital Recording Services, where legendary blues conductor and trumpeter Calvin Owens slowly paced -- as much as a 74-year-old can -- pausing occasionally to lift his pink fishing hat from his head and rub a hand through the faint traces of his gray hair. He sighed heavily.
No sign of Carlos.
Turning to the Yamaha keyboard behind him, Owens began tapping out what probably would have been a wonderful riff had the instrument been plugged in. The blaring melody inside the studio silenced, the muted thumps of deadened black and white keys resonated throughout this entire wing of the quiet warehouse.
Still, no Carlos.
Owens's idle tinkering was an eerie metaphor for the situation, so much potential in the room, but no music. Owens was standing at the epicenter of what was becoming a maelstrom of frustration. To his left stood his booking agent, Kenneth Dunn, to his right, blues guitarist and supporter Brad McCool. All three, but especially Owens, the man funding this project, had put themselves at the mercy of Carlos Coy, a.k.a. South Park Mexican. Owens had recruited the name-brand artist to rap on a track Owens wrote and arranged expressly for an album of rap and jump blues. Coy had been promising his voice for the past month. It was now 5 p.m., and Coy was an hour late.
Though Owens and his crew would later find out that miscommunication was the reason Coy wasn't showing and would once again reschedule (this time for May 1), the blues crew learned a little more than they probably cared to about the rap industry: It, like a 300-pound lion, moves at its own pace.
As the creative forces behind music's fastest-growing genre, rappers and rap acts can afford to call the shots. They are in high demand. Heavy metal bands want to learn how to program that Roland 808 drum machine. White teen suburbanites want to know how to sling that slang. And clothing designers want to learn how to cop that baggy-pants look.
Closer to home, acts from nearly every shelf in the local record store are begging for an assist from Houston's renowned and nationally recognized rap industry. From the zydeco section, Li'l Brian Terry and the Zydeco Travelers are looking to toughen up their traditional sound with the help of some hip-hop pizzazz (see "Accordion Corleone," Amplified, April 6). And from the blues bins, McCool and Owens are searching for that crossover gem. McCool has already recorded an EP with local rappers Rasheed, Grimm, Element and Big Chris; Owens plans to follow suit by releasing Stop Lyin' in My Face in June.
That is, if he gets all 13 or so tracks mastered -- and gets Coy in the studio to record the title cut -- by then.
"It has to be Carlos," said Owens matter-of-factly, crossing his arms over his gray sweatshirt. Both he and agent Dunn agreed that no other rapper in Houston has both the cachet and the fan base. Both also admitted it's not quality that matters here; they understand there are numerous area rappers with flow as potent as Coy's. It's quantity, as in the number of units, to use the industry parlance, that Coy can help Owens push.
Said Dunn: "It's a good project for a young guy, too. It's completely different. It can benefit those guys as much as it can Calvin. To be able to have a 15-piece orchestra, to arrange the music and get them in here, it'd cost a fortune."
Coy is being paid "a good incentive," said Dunn, plus 5 percent of album sales. "He's our head guy 'cause of his name recognition. People say he has to do it.But [every contributing rapper] thinks it's a good concept."
The mix, rap with highly produced blues orchestration, is not as innovative musically as it appears to be on the surface. There isn't much that distinguishes, say, R. Kelly's crooning, "I believe I can fly," from Big Chris and Element's rapping, "My love for you is bigger than my state, yee-ahh!" over strings, as the duo does on "Don't Walk Away," the song coursing through the studio at the time of Owens's discontent.
Socio-musically, this blending signifies rap's nearly complete permeation of all pop culture. It was only a matter of time before rap-rock singles, rap jingles and rap-over-blues-orchestration songs made it to mainstream ears. Owens, by virtue of his eclectic tastes, seems to have been forever working toward this moment, almost as if he were directed by the hand of God to usher the muse of urban America into bluesland.
Always adventuresome with his compositions, Owens said he dates his interest in cross-pollination with rap to about two years ago, when he worked with Latin rapper Valdemar on Es Tu Booty, Owens's collaboration with local salsa diva Norma Zenteno. Unlike Owens's current work, the song on which Valdemar rapped, "La Rana," is made up of hip-hop beats and attitudes. It sounds like a rap song. Such superficialities have been stripped off for Stop Lyin' in My Face. Only rap's vocal technique remains.
The song on which Coy will contribute three 16-bar verses is a muscular, up-tempo big-band number. "When they first told me what the deal was," said Coy in a recent phone conversation, "I didn't expect it to sound as awesome as it did.It just sounds like something that can't be stopped. And believe me when I say I'm a bad man. I'm gonna put a track to this, it's gonna rock the world. You know, when I sprinkle it with my magic dust."
"It's very exciting to see what's happening," he continued, referring to the fusion of rap with blues horns. "It's something I can definitely work with."
Calvin Owens and his orchestra will appear Friday, April 28, at the University of St. Thomas. Owens will lecture at 6 p.m. at Cullen Hall, 4001 Mt. Vernon, and will perform with his band from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Jerabeck Gymnasium, 4000 Mt. Vernon. The lecture is free. Admission to the concert is $15. Proceeds will benefit the Father Managhan Scholarship Fund.
Round Town
Though last week's rave at, of all places, Sam Houston Race Park went well, the pony people don't think they'll be hosting any more. It's not that the New World crowd was rowdy or anything, says park spokesperson Martha Claussen; it's just that it was indefatigable. Since raves traditionally last well into the morning, the extra burden on personnel isn't worth a repeat performance.
It's a good thing, then, that The Hangar is kinda reopening. The Space Formerly Known As The Hangar will celebrate its reconstitution (this time as a 100 percent legitimate venue) on Saturday, April 29, when Space City Records and others present Mystic Rhythms. Alongside locals DJ Bizz, Chris Anderson, BMC and others, live PA outfit Lunatex will deliver its organic brand of techno-trance. Space City Records and Lunatex front man Levon Louis will be joined by JayTee and Lunatex regular Muscovite DJ Mir. Tickets are $20 at the door. The Hangar is located at the corner of Polk and Roberts, behind the George R. Brown Convention Center.
Speaking of Russians and Americans living together, Ralph Nader, who as consumer advocate extraordinaire wears his populist disdain for big business on his naturally organic suit sleeve, is getting a little help from Houstonian folker Joel Stein. Stein will perform at No tsu oH, 314 Main, on Friday, April 28, in an effort to get Nader's name on this year's presidential ballot in Texas. Nader is the Green Party candidate. Writes Stein vie e-mail: "We all know he can't get elected, but I believe in the things he stands for, and I think it's important for people to realize that some of us are so fed up with big business politics that we're willing to try a third party."
And finally, R&B performer Zoë will debut her single "When You Don't Come Home" on Thursday, April 27, at Spy, 112 Travis. Doors open at 8 p.m., and entry will be free until 10 p.m. -- Anthony Mariani
E-mail Anthony Mariani at [email protected].