{"id":811,"date":"2010-09-26T19:46:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-26T19:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=811"},"modified":"2026-06-26T19:49:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T19:49:21","slug":"public-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=811","title":{"rendered":"Public Enemy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

September 2010, Center Stage, Atlanta, Ga.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first time I came in contact with Public Enemy was 1988 in a house in College Park, Md. where my girlfriend at the time was living with five other women. A boyfriend of one of her roommates \u2014 his name was Mike \u2014 had more of an eclectic taste in music than any I ever met. He was in a band that made lots of noise and listened to bands I never heard of. I walked in one day and Mike is blasting \u201cMiuzi Weighs a Ton\u201d.<\/p>\n

What is that I asked, immediately drawn to it. Public Enemy he said.<\/p>\n

Mike\u2019s full name is Mike Schulman, and he would go on to found and create slumberland Records, a legendary independent record label that boasts Velocity Girl, Black Tambourine, The Aislers Set and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart to its repertoire. Mike has always known good music, and I always remember him when I listen to Public Enemy.<\/p>\n

Public Enemy\u2019s show was two hours of rollicking goodness, as Chuck D and the boys roamed with wild abandon while showcasing songs from Fear of a Black Planet<\/em>, the stunning 1990 album the band was celebrating in its 20th year in existence. Chuck, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff and the S1W\u2019s were all in attendance, with only DJ Terminator X not on stage (but who was well-represented by DJ Lloyd).<\/p>\n

As long as I\u2019ve been a fan of PE, I\u2019ve never had the chance to see them live. But while Chuck D turned 50 that year, there was nothing about his performance or gusto to suggest he lost a step. Along with several selections for Fear of a Black Planet<\/em> \u2014 \u201cBrothers Gonna Work It Out,\u201d \u201cWelcome to the Terrordome,\u201d \u201cPower to the People,\u201d \u201cCan\u2019t Do Nuttin\u2019 for Ya Man\u201d \u2014 PE also cranked out excellent versions of \u201cDon\u2019t Believe the Hype,\u201d \u201cBring the Noise,\u201d \u201cPublic Enemy No. 1\u201d and \u201cTerminator X Speaks With His Hands\u201d \u2014 which Chuck said the band hadn\u2019t played in 23 years.<\/p>\n

A good part of the show belonged to Flavor Flav. \u201cI can\u2019t believe the people at VH1 were surprised about how crazy Flavor is,\u201d Chuck said. \u201cThe guy\u2019s always been crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flavor came on stage following the opening song, sans clock and crazy hat. But after thanking the fans and remarking how he\u2019s the biggest TV star in VH1 history (\u201c7.5 million views,\u201d Flavor boasted \u201cthey\u2019ll never see an audience like that again\u201d), he pulled out the clock from under his shirt and cranked into \u201c9-1-1 is a Joke\u201d with the wonderful verve only Flavor has. \u201cCold Lampin\u201d was added later in the set, much to the crowd\u2019s delight, as Flavor danced on stage with his usual bravado.<\/p>\n

The show ended with the band\u2019s ultimate anthem \u201cFight The Power,\u201d as the crowd stood in unison with fists proudly in the air.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s most impressive about PE is how the themes in its music stand the test of time, a best example seen from 1991\u2019s \u201cBy the Time I Get to Arizona\u201d. The song, about Arizona\u2019s decision not to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, resonates today as Arizona implements tough anti-immigration laws. \u201cJan Brewer is fucking Hitler,\u201d Chuck D said, leaving no question about his views of the law.<\/p>\n

Suffice to say the show was everything I thought it would be \u2014 powerful, thought-provoking, humorous, historic. For a band that\u2019s been around almost 30 years, it\u2019s never been more vital.<\/p>\n

Public Enemy No. 1, indeed. Thanks Mike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September 2010, Center Stage, Atlanta, Ga. The first time I came in contact with Public Enemy was 1988 in a house in College Park, Md. where my girlfriend at the time was living with five other women. A boyfriend of one of her roommates \u2014 his name was Mike \u2014 had more of an eclectic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[94,96,93],"class_list":["post-811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-concerts","tag-chuck-d","tag-flavor-flav","tag-public-enenmy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":812,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions\/812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}