Color Me Badd returns to Jakarta -- again
By Achmad Nurhoeri
JAKARTA (JP): Celebrating the turn of the year is imperfect without the presence of relatives and friends. Crossing oceans and leaping time zones never seems too much of a hardship just to enjoy New Year's Eve with people who know your name. Especially if there's also a pot of gold waiting at the other end of the rainbow.
For Americans Bryan Abrams, Mark Calderon, Kevin Thornton and Sam Watters, better known as the hip-hop group Color Me Badd, Indonesia is no longer a land of aliens. It has become a place where the quests of seeking friends and fortune collide. And a perfect spot to party on down on New Year's Eve.
Unbelievably they have been here more than five times since 1992. They have done everything an artist is likely to do and more: concerts, fan gatherings, promotours and national TV appearances. They even posed as fashion models in a teenage magazine in 1994. And it came as no surprise when they popped up at Jakarta's Hard Rock Cafe at the 1996 New Year's Eve party.
The Hard Rock is where they first encountered their Indonesian fans. When it opened in 1992, Color Me Badd was the star of the opening. So, it seemed nostalgic for them to accept the cafe's offer to put the popular joint in celebratory mood as 1996 drew to a close. And the venue itself was totally ready for them.
Lines of fans were crowding the Sarinah Building where the Hard Rock is located and overflowing onto the surrounding sidewalks. Tickets had sold out the day before. Silver trumpets were the weapon of the night. Comical silver party hats were the armor.
When the clock struck 11, the four rain-coated guys arrived on stage. Bryan wore a gray one, Mark was in yellow, Kevin in red and Sam in dark blue. And the packed house was ready to explode.
One by one they gave the audience all the familiar hits from their three albums. Blockbusters like All 4 Love, I Adore (Mi Amor), Close to Heaven instantly rocked the audience who could not move that much because of the sardine-tinesque lack of space.
What made the show really enjoyable was their way of communicating with the audience. They used sweet words everybody understood, they twice pulled up and sleazily dazzled a girl from the audience, they gave the countdowns to New Year every time a song ended, they threw shining rubber sticks into the audience and they also donned silly hats to be at one with the crowd. In short, they showed that they were no strangers to the Hard Rock audience.
"The audience is great," Calderon commented. "Believe me I saw the same 20 girls I saw every time we came here. That was why we did all the songs people knew here."
After the eighth song, they began to lead the countdown to 1997. Five.. four..three...two...one! And the trumpets were blown as if they were about to crack the walls of Jericho once again. All the Hard Rock staff, from cooks to security guards, suddenly jumped onto the stage and turned the party into a manic extravaganza. It became even wilder when from out of nowhere a trumpet was thrown onto the stage, provoking a messy and rowdy trumpet-throwing fight.
After the stage was cleared, Color Me Badd tried to finish up their show. Songs from their recent but not as successful album Now and For ever like Sexual Capacity and The Earth, The Sun and The Rain made the audience return to its passionate mood again. But the show pitifully did not make a smooth landing.
The last song I Want to Sex You Up, the group's stairway to stardom, appeared too early. It was really meant for the encore but because there was a miscommunication with the sound controller the group was forced to sing their hit before the usual "we want more" yells came out from drooling groupies.
But what are a few bloopers between friends? The group, although rather pissed off with the messy ending, did not show their resentment too much.
"A lot of the audience actually did not recognize the foul up although there was no climax in the end. But you can see the fans were entertained anyhow," said Denny, the drummer of Singiku, the Indonesian band that was the show's opening act.
"That's what distinguishes foreign artists from local ones. They're more professional. Technically we can level with them. But they can handle the audience better," added Pongky, another member of Singiku which followed Color Me Badd all through the latter's 1996 Indonesian tour.
"But what hits me most is that they treated us like friends, real friends who taught us a lot," praised Denny, who were stunned into silent disbelief when Color Me Badd asked them to visit their homes back in the States.
For Color Me Badd, which consists of four guys from different races (Bryan has Indian blood, Sam is Jewish, Mark is Hispanic and Kevin is an African-American), the word "friends" seems rather meaningful here.
They have been friends since high school in 1984 and the possibility of breaking up seems rather remote, according to Mark Calderon. But what is more important to their legions of Indonesian fans is that will continue to seek further friends and fortune here even though their latest album did not do too well in their home country.