In my former life, I was a live music venue promoter in Colorado. I had the super-saucy privilege of booking G. Love and Special Sauce and witnessing their show for the 1st time. Fast forward to December 2009, I ran into G. Love in Miami during Art Basel at his Fountain Miami solo performance. G. Love is now on tour with Special Sauce for their Winter 2010 Tour. A lover of all things funkasonic, I decided to find out what G. Love has been up to since back in the day.

Scene B Seen: G. I first met you... eh-hem, about 12 years ago. In the past decade, you've released 12 albums including a few solo LPs, what's the difference between G. Love solo and G. Love with Special Sauce?

G. Love: Honestly, there's not much of a personnel difference. I changed the name when we signed with Brushfire Records to G.Love because getting a new record was really a solo project. I was making demos with different producers and hustling to get a deal. I said to my manager after a shitty meeting in NYC, "Man, if we get a deal its because we hustled that shit. Let's call the record The Hustle", and that was that. But in fact, the band never changed, although some players were added.

SBS: Your latest release, Long Way Down, was under your new label, Philadelphonic Records, but was only released in Australia and New Zealand. What's up with that?

GL: We wanted to release something unique for Australia as its a very unique market for us. We also wanted to work with some new partners on the business side, so when we were presented with the opportunity to release an independent record- we were all about it.

SBS: You're currently on your Winter 2010 Tour with Special Sauce, what's the vibe and sound of this tour like?

GL: On our winter tour we find ourselves in a creative and expressive place. We aren't really promoting a record, so we can play whatever we like. We tend to dig back in the catalogue and dust off some old shit and we work on a bunch of new tunes as well. We improvise and freestyle and keep the vibe thick like soup.

SBS: Yeah, yeah. What will fans experience on this tour?

GL: We have a huge light show with a lot of burlesque dancing girls onstage, fireworks and the whole nine.

SBS: Sweet... or should I say, "dirty, ice cold lemonade"?! Have a crazy funny fan story?

GL: I have a twitter stalker right now. I believe she was stalking Jack as well- but in real life. Its kind of weird.

SBS: Being a child of the American Home-cooked Southern Blues, have anything to say about the New Orleans Saints stompin' it last night?

GL: Who Dat!!?? Oh Yeah!

SBS: The Winter 2010 Tour rounds out in April, what's on the horizon?

GL: On the horizon, I have my best record ever brewing right now. It's just got to ferment a little bit and when it does- watch-out!!! That's some gooooooood shit! Oh Yeah!

*all photos courtesy of G. Love & Special Sauce

What's one way to showcase an independent exhibition of trailblazing art galleries amidst the popular Armory, Bridge, Scope, and Pulse shows? Hold it on a barge on Pier 66, offer beverages and hot dogs, and have a film premier/screening on the adjacent ship.

I arrived about 20 minutes before beauty hour and could not imagine a more serene happenstance; the sun was about to set behind the cityscape and I was boarding a boat to look at a vast collection of cutting-edge art from several different galleries.  I was completely giddy, almost to the point of relief that I was super late for the preview. I have just been so desperate for a platform for emerging artist and I just knew this had to be one.

I may have had high hopes, but what is a girl to do knowing what would be featured at Fountain Art Fair; Ad Hoc Art, Ch'i, Definition, Glowlab, Leo Kesting, McCaig-Welles, and Stuart Shepherd... to name a few of my faves.

The first artist I encountered was Kevin Bourgeois, who works primarily with graphite on paper.  At first glance, one might think he integrates ink, paint, or even silkscreen, however, Bourgeois is one of the finest graphite manipulators I have seen in the 21st century. His sociopolitical pieces challenge one's curiosities regarding life/death and love/hate.

Bourgeois, a very eloquent, grounded, and thought provoking man, expressed to me that he himself, has a great curiosity about these identity issues and acknowledges that we all seek answers as we come into our own as human beings. His quest is to portray how we struggle and strive to solve these uncertainties.

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