by SCOTT C

I gotta say that I was a little puzzled, but ultimately relieved, to hear that punk-funk legend Rick James had passed away due to natural causes earlier this week. When his picture appeared in the little box beside the anchorwoman's head on the news, I knew he was dead, even though the TV was on mute. I turned up the volume expecting to hear another unbelievably sorry tale about his drug-addled antics and how they had finally killed him, but I was wrong.

I even felt bad for thinking the worst, but I felt better after I pulled out "Give It to Me Baby" and let it play. It's weird, because one night last week I played "Mary Jane" for the first time in a long time, and somebody came up and didn't know who it was, and I've now heard "Superfreak" more times than anyone should in the course of one day, but I'll live. I wonder if the Mary Jane Girls will be at his funeral?

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to that parking lot beside Foufounes, the peeps from Montreal's only annual international graffiti convention Under Pressure unveil their ninth year of aerosol antics. On Sunday, August 15, anybody venturing between St-Dominique and Hôtel-de-Ville on Ste-Catherine is gonna get Under Pressure upside the head. The outdoor event, taking place between

11 a.m. and 10 p.m., sees all crews from far and wide hitting up the walls immediately surrounding the area, not to mention the minor DJ convention taking place on the Under Pressure sound system. Some deck-wreckers in attendance for that day include DJ Horg, Buddah Blaze, P-Love, Ms. B, Serious, Simahlak and the mighty Devious, but that's not even close to everyone. There's also the Mossman Sound System, the Back to Basics boys, the Wefunk/Rockdeep contingent, and the ever-present Kops Crew DJs.

Usually this kind of serious music means that the b-boys and b-girls are not far away, so keep your eye on the cardboard square. It don't stop there, with evening performances by hip hop acts from Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto moving inside Foufounes. Look for names like Atach Tatuq, Offsides, Embassy, Applied Science, Northern Lights, Groundwerks and Euphrates to take the stage. The whole evening is being hosted by the one and only Egypto, who'll be backed up by the turntable gymnastics of Skratch Bastid. While the outside activities won't cost you a red cent, the indoor show, which runs from 9 p.m. on, will cost you a paltry $5. Look for the new issue of the Under Pressure magazine, a long time coming but here nevertheless, and the new installment of the Up North Trip hip hop compilations. This year, there's both an English and a French CD to keep everybody entertained. Hopefully this year the rain will stay away, unlike last year when, naturally, as soon as I opened my record bag and dropped my first song, the skies opened up and proceeded to piss all over the place for the next two hours. Cross yer fingers. Check out www.underpressure.ca for the complete lowdown on everything and everybody that's happening in terms of the whole event.

Go west! fathead@videotron.ca

>> Music Listings