Blackboard Jungle and Vains of Jenna
The Viper Room
West Hollywood, California
June 3, 2006
By Victoria Joyce
(SugarBuzz Hollywood)
Photos By Victoria
SugarBuzz Magazine
It started with a bang. Literally.
An extra snare was brought to center stage for the opening song in the forth annual Blackboard Jungle reunion show. Lead singer, Kenny Price killed it with a stick. Making the move this year from the Whiskey, across the street to the Viper to a smaller stage and better sound. Muuuuuuuccccchhhh better.
Taking its name from a stark B&W 50’s film noir about juvenile delinquents, Blackboard Jungle was a late 80’s, kinda 90’s band that enjoyed a certain success; several releases and tours. Not exactly the ‘always a bridesmaid, never a bride” kind. More along the lines of “the bridesmaid that always got drunk.” These guys like to have a good time.
Kenny Price, Joel, Britt, and Dave Zink have moved on to other bands and lives but have opted to do this reunion show for a few years running. And it’s worked very well. Their fans still love them very much and fly in from the four corners of the country for the occasion.
There an exotic, Middle Eastern-like swirling to the style to Blackboard Jungle that works well with Kenny Price’s reptilian delivery. Songs are written with an old fashioned structure, like true ballads, they take journeys to exotic lands like Chicago and California. (Hey, originally these guys hail from Jersey.)
Tonight’s visual appearance was less cohesive than the sound. First off, their hair is shorter. (Price still sports the blonde bangs, some things are sacred.) Tonight he is in a black and white shirt and tie with leather laced pants (dollar bills strategically placed, ah hem), Brit is wearing jeans and tee with signature aviators, Dave was wearing what looked like a bowling shirt and drummer Joel, jeans and tee. The mood was easy and fun. The energy was fierce. Definitely mixed emotions here. We were delighted by the show and annoyed that his band is no longer together.
The hottest night of the year and a packed club. Yeah, steamy. Smooth moves and skinnie eyes, Price sang all the favorites/hits. We didn’t see a set list taped to the stage. The songs were glued to each other. No one even breathed until six songs in….“Chicago,” “Everybody Talk About,” “Generation Bored to Death,” “River of Love,” “Villa Carenna,” among others, and the ‘lesser known’ Paint You A Picture’ filled out an hour plus set.
They never sounded better. Improved musicianship and a deeper, throatier growl from Kenny. Brit plays his bluesy bass with a carnivorous ferocity and is all over the place. Neat psychedelic solos from Dave with a lot of wah-wah - backed up with precision sharpness from Joel on drums. Cute hat on that one too.
For the last song, Brit lost his pants, put on a bright yellow tee that said “Rock out With Your something something” (just in case you are reading this at work) and a rainbow headband. Did he lose a bet? Followed by a blistering rendition of “Caroline” (our fave) and the announcement “Three hundred and sixty-five days!” Kenny started the official countdown 07.
Got to the Viper that night just in time to hear the last two songs of opening band, Vains of Jenna. We first caught these Scandinavian swingers at last year’s Crue Fest held at the Whiskey. They were good then and now they are even better.
Still bone thin and shirtless and now very melodic and polished on those guitars. Screaming, raspy vocals could get dialed down just a touch for our tastes. But over all, we gotta say most bands sound muuuuuccccchhhhhh better when they move across the street