Big & Rich performing at halftime of NBA All-Star Game?!

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... of all places? Hilarious.

― Chris O'Connor (Chris O'Connor), Monday, 21 February 2005 03:03 (twenty years ago)

you know that they're, like, platinum-selling recording artists, right? popular music groups are quite often invited to do these things.

― Al (sitcom), Monday, 21 February 2005 03:05 (twenty years ago)

But one that is actually really, really good and that flamboyant? I mean, Kenny's wearing a Civil War get-up.

― Chris O., Monday, 21 February 2005 03:07 (twenty years ago)

Cowboy Troy pulled an Ashlee tho. Still pretty cool. Very WTF moment for most of the audience, I'm guessing.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Monday, 21 February 2005 03:16 (twenty years ago)

Yup ... I dunno if the NBA ticket-price crowd would appreciate that kind of a sneaky-deaky freak show ... good stuff.

― Chris O., Monday, 21 February 2005 03:18 (twenty years ago)

they sounded and looked great. does the little guy (thirty inches or so tall, on crutches) always perform with them? he was great. i didn't see it as a freak show at all, they certainly didn't play it for cheap laughs at the little guy's expense. it was definitely cool to see him up there. big and rich are fearless like the dalai lama or something. next level shit.

― dan (dan), Monday, 21 February 2005 05:44 (twenty years ago)

Little guy? You mean like Kid Rock had?

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Monday, 21 February 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

He's the MC of B&R and Gretchen's medicine show, the Muzik Mafia. They call him Two-Foot Fred, but Rich says he's actually 3'2"; something about "a way with the ladies."

― don, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 04:44 (twenty years ago)

I've spoken to several people who thought that Kenny's wearing of a confederate jacket (albeit with a non-Confederate hat) was offensive, especially in front of mostly black athletes.

― steve-k, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:18 (twenty years ago)

Between the confederate jacket, the midget, and the country music, my Frank Sinatra and pop loving mom thought it was way too much. I was mostly amused, but living in Virginia where they try to tie in a holiday honoring Stonewall Jackson's birthday with Martin Luther King's, I've had it with rebel flags and uniforms.

The NBA I think was consciously trying to reach out beyond their hiphop-only reputation with the choice of Big & Rich, and that Colorado folk singer who came on before Destiny's Child in the pre-game show.

― steve-k, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:25 (twenty years ago)

Cowboy Troy, always introduced, pointedly, as "the *black*rappin' cowby," is a featured performer in the Muzik Mafia, and also, they point out "the first black performer at the CMA Awards since Charlie Pride," and Charlie's been retired (from music) a lotta years. And even if he weren't that's, uh, *two.* So yeah, they make a big deal of this, but in country it is a big deal. They should drop the confederate bit, but if the rest of it's a bit much, maybe change the channel.

― don, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

yeah, forget about the guy who played at the opry all the time. and, uh, ray charles.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:36 (twenty years ago)

Sir Charles was not down with B&R

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:40 (twenty years ago)

I generally got a kick out of it(except for the Confederate jacket), and you're right about the Charley Pride mention, and the presence of Cowboy Troy. I watched the whole thing and I like Big & Rich, my mom was just telling me over the phone that she didn't like it. I'll have to school her on country music sometime. I just thought some folks might be interested in the reaction of people who don't read ILM and follow music closely.

― steve-k, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:41 (twenty years ago)

oh believe me, I had a lot of fun hanging out at the ESPN basketball board while this was going down.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

Charlie's been retired (from music)

charley's still performing.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:43 (twenty years ago)

Sir Charles was down with COUNTRY MUSIC, duh!

then again Big & Rich aren't country, they're just crap.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:43 (twenty years ago)

DeFord Bailey was notoriously excluded from Opry membership, even though he did indeed play there all the time.Ray Charles wasn't a member either, despite his country albums. (Another pointed line , on B&R's album:"Ray Charles was the Man in Black.") That was a long time ago; point of mentioning CMA, not Opry, is that the CMA is supposedly kkeeping up with the times, etc. (Also, working in Southern CD stores, I've noticed a lot of young people, black and white, who buy both rap and country, and B&R (and he NBA's ad people)have picked up on this too, no doubt.)

― don, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:45 (twenty years ago)

isn't the b&r line "charley pride was the man in black"?

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:46 (twenty years ago)

Sir Charles = Charles Barkley

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:47 (twenty years ago)

sir charles, if i was hearing him right, said he wasn't down with music, period, during basketball games.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:48 (twenty years ago)

anyway, the "omg rap & country are THE SAME DO YOU SEE" thing is so 2004. rock critics need to find something else to totally blow our minds with, maaaaaan.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

Hstencil, are you parodying folks, or is that your own simplistic argument, that B & R are crap?

Maybe young people are buying rap and country, but i don't think most boomers and up are doing so.

― steve-k, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:50 (twenty years ago)

i was thinking Sir Charles = Ray Charles but I guess that is really Sir Ray. Duh me.

I am not parodying anybody, nor could I give a fuck about "real country," but Big & Rich are crap, yeah.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)

Well-named Fact Checking Cuz, you are right, as always. Sorry. I'm not saying "country and rap are the same," just that they can appeal to the same people, especially ones who are the same age as/younger than rap (which is in its late 20s, at least).

― don, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:59 (twenty years ago)

that's not really any different from Rufus Thomas listening to the Opry broadcasts as a kid, though. OMG PEOPLE ARE ALIKE AND LIKE A LOT OF THE SAME STUFF SHOCKER.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 20:00 (twenty years ago)

What points are you trying to make H? You never explained why you think B &R are crap and whom you like, and what any of that has to do with the halftime show. Yea there have always been people who like alot of the same stuff, and red state/blue state, country vs. rock or rap--lots of people who don't.

― steve-k, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 20:12 (twenty years ago)

It's a shocker to broadcasters, or something they're usually not too willing to acknowledge, for whatever reason.(Probably afraid of some audience-backlash too, duh--the ones who are a little too happy about the Johnny Reb signifiers, and also others, the ones a little too happy about Saturday Night Live's lame-ass pokes at country music, for that matter)

― don, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 20:15 (twenty years ago)

points i'm trying to make:

1. country has had more than two black dudes playing it.
2. country is not really all that different from other southern music.
3. black people who made it by playing other southern music also listened to and liked a lot of country, despite segregation (of the south in the 20th century, of the mind on this message bored, etc.)
4. big and rich suck and should never play another halftime show ever again.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 20:15 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, but official recogntion of this is what's lagging. Now Cowboy Troy has his own album deal, which shouldn't be a big deal in '05, but in country, it is. (for a black rapper, not a white "cowboy"singer who does the occasional turn, like Toby Keith's verse in "How Do You Like Me Now.")

― don, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 20:25 (twenty years ago)

just over an hour ago I was watching ahmet ertegun talk about the sunday afternoon jam sessions they'd have at the turkish embassy in the 1930s. Nashville needs to catch the fuck up.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 20:26 (twenty years ago)

Xpost my "yeah" was to the first three points, not to "Big & Rich are crap" etc; yeah, they do need to catch up.Some are trying.

― don, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 20:29 (twenty years ago)

some are trying but i feel like b&r is an example of certain critics giving way too much credit for "trying to catch up" about a zillion billion years too late.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 20:31 (twenty years ago)

actually, i feel like b&r is an example of certain musicians giving themselves way too much credit for "trying to catch up" about a zillion billion years too late.

tho yeah, i guess it's a start.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 20:35 (twenty years ago)

Speaking of demographics, I went to a "70s Soul Jam" with the Stylistics, Chi-Lites, Delfonics, Harold Melvin's Blue Notes, Cuba Gooding Sr., and the singer from Blue Magic at a 3,000 seat hall in DC the other night. The place was packed and my gf and I were 2 of only about 8 white people in the place.

― steve-k, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 20:38 (twenty years ago)

(x-post)
i like b&r for their harmonies. it never occurred to me they're trying to catch up with anything. i think they're just playing music they like.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 20:39 (twenty years ago)

i'm not saying they don't like it!

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 20:41 (twenty years ago)

Yeah they like it, *and* they make a big deal of being bold and progessive. like, *"We're* caught up and we're gonna hep the Nashville Establishment get caught up." Some of this in the music, def. in statements made in "Muzik Mafia," their road series on CMT. Of course, they're playing it both ways, with Cowboy Troy and the Confed bit too (but Big Kenny manages to look pretty surreal no matter whut, so I doubtthat the truest Cofed sympathisizers are truly thrilled with him, esp. next to Cowboy Troy and Two-Foot Fred)

― don, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 21:22 (twenty years ago)

Hey Stormy: What were some of the comments from posters on that ESPN board? That must've been really entertaining itself.

― Chris O., Tuesday, 22 February 2005 22:02 (twenty years ago)

Oh man, just about every poster HATED Big & Rich. Or, at least, that's what they were posting. I bet secretly a lot of people liked it, but those boards are such a cesspool of herd mentality. But yeah, people were basically like "WTF is this redneck crap doing at the all-star game?" "Nelly is in the stands, why isn't he performing?" "I HATE country and NASCAR!!!" "Get this trailer crap off my TV" etc.

I started a troll-ish, sub-trifean thread along the lines of accusing everyone saying that stuff of being a pasty white-as-hell dork. Cf. "hip-hop blogs"

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 22:07 (twenty years ago)

yeah, I bet that was good! (Cuz: Charley does perform live on occasion, but doesn't bother with the hit-chasing biz anymore; he owns some banks and stuff)

― don, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 22:08 (twenty years ago)

omg rock stars dressing in flamboyant clothing!! look out middle america!!

― nattydroid, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 22:11 (twenty years ago)

doesn't bother with the hit-chasing biz anymore; he owns some banks and stuff

that's one solution to the traditional problem of getting screwed by your record company. buy a bank!

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 22:12 (twenty years ago)

Here are some threads, be very afraid:

http://forums.espn.go.com/espn/thread?forumID=736&threadID=1321093

http://forums.espn.go.com/espn/thread?forumID=736&threadID=1320978

http://forums.espn.go.com/espn/thread?forumID=736&threadID=1320983

http://forums.espn.go.com/espn/thread?forumID=736&threadID=1321056

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 22:17 (twenty years ago)

Heee!

― don, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 22:24 (twenty years ago)

There are lots of rock fans and rap fans who hate country. I'm not saying it's right.

How many country threads do you ever see here on ILM, compared to rock or rap...

― Steve-k (Steve K), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 04:47 (twenty years ago)

This year's Rolling Country Thread will roll on like '04's, and there will be others along the way, so don't feel sorry for us'uns, Steve-k. Quality, not quantity. Yeeeeeeha!

― don, Wednesday, 23 February 2005 04:58 (twenty years ago)

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