KOOL KEITH "STRONG ARMS" SAN FRANCISCO CLUB

Last night, Weds. November 20, at Slims nightclub in San Francisco Kool Keith not only never showed up onstage to perform but his crew (inc. Mark Live, Jacky Jasper, and Tim Dog) who had been onstage warming up the Bay Area crowd that were eagerly anticipating Kool Keith's arrival, stopped performing after saying something about "Kool Keith just got arrested… on Mission Street" and (literally) ran off with the club's receipts, hopped into their tour bus parked outside on 11th Street and zoomed off into the night! Afterwards a semi-stunned crowd stood around as the house sound system and lights slowly came up and wondered what the hell was exactly happening. After all they had forked over $20 for tickets. A Slims' doorman told me that they "strong armed the club" from Slims' small box-office up front and "ran off with the money." A few minutes later a Slims spokesperson took the stage in this unprecedented situation explained that yes indeed Kool Keith would not be performing and confirmed what the doorman had said, saying that he had robbed not just the club but the fans too. She then offered everyone in the club a complimentary ticket to any future show at Slims.

Apparently sometime after members of Kool Keith's crew started performing onstage (Zion I had been the earlier act) one or more Kool Keith representatives went to the Slims' box office and demanded that they get paid… in full. Normally it is written into an artist's contract that they can get paid either after the performance finishes or immediately after the concert has just started. In this case the artists were technically onstage performing all right (including a poorly received rendition of "Fuck Compton" by Tim Dog) but the main artist that people had paid $18 or $20 to see (Kool Keith) was not onstage and nowhere to be seen in the building. Meanwhile onstage the show continued as Jacky Jasper teased the audience of Keith's arrival..." The man they call Dr. Dooom, Dr. Octagon, Black Elvis…". At this stage (11:30PM) the packed house were more than ready to see the mainman but still no sign of Kool Keith. That was when they announced that "Kool Keith was arrested"… "on Mission Street." Around this same time a member of the entourage had quietly retrieved all of the Kool Keith merchandise from the Slims booth. The members of Kool Keith's crew then announced on mic that they were going to "go see what was happening". They asked for the house system to come on. Then they all quickly departed stage left heading towards the back alley exit. Meanwhile everyone stood scratching their heads, wondering what kind of stunt was that wacky Kool Keith pulling this time? Or was he really arrested on Mission Street and for what? About sixty seconds later I glanced to the left through the big glass main door of Slims where I witnessed the group's tour bus, which had been parked there outside all evening, zoom off on Eleventh Street towards Folsom into the San Francisco night… with the cash.