Retro-Review: Headfake @ CBGB's- 1999

The place is CBGB's.
Circa 1999
This room was the scene of many a magic musical moment in my life.
The place where I saw The Talking Heads, The Clash, and Blondie not to mention hundreds of other seminal acts of the last two decades.
Tonight there will be an addition to that long list of great performances, for on this chilly, November evening the New York grapevine has informed me of a very special event.
The first performance of a new musical entity called Headfake!
You may ask... What's so special about this unknown musical unit besides a great name?
Well I'm glad you asked.
Headfake is made up of 3/4 of the band Living Colour!
That's right kids, Corey Glover (vocals), Will Calhoun (drums & percussion) and last but not least the amazing Douglas Winbush (augmented bass guitar).
That line up would have been enough for any night but on this night there was more... on guitar... Vernon Reid.
A piece of information that should be mentioned is that before Headfake took the stage an unknown band warmed us up and after another unknown took us out.
So really it was just another showcase night at CB's, which is probably what the boys from Headfake wanted.
The few people that had turned out for the gig (and there could only be a few people @ CBGB's cause the place is so small) had been chatting away about what to expect.
No one was sure what the set would be.
Would it be material from Corey's fantastic C.D. Hymns...?
Some thought that it could include stuff from the African Head Charge days or maybe Living Colour stuff, or since we all know from years of following these guys around NYC how prone they are to intense improvisations perhaps we would be treated to some next out shit!
What would it be?
Looking around the room I began to notice that there were no record company types to be seen, no big time hype, just musicians setting up gear (in Winbush's case lots and lots of gear) no guitar tech, or drum tech... Just the band.
The set starts and we all sense a little more about what this is going to be.
First we start with a four-minute bass solo that segues into Torn, a song from the Junglefunk album.
By the second tune, September we are all sure that this is a night we will not soon forget!
In this old room with it's chipping paint, wobbly tables, and tiny stage we were all about to receive the full soul treatment.
For my money Corey Glover has always been what a soul singer was meant to be.
It has never been much of an effort for me to trace the sound from Big Bill Broonzy to Sam Cooke to Rev. Al Green to Corey and tonight this band makes it that much clearer.
90 Minutes into the set and we have cleared all of the Jungle Funk material, and these guys show no sign of letting up so as a treat they drop two Living Colour tunes into the mix the fantastic but little known Sail Away (Bad Brains) and Leave it alone from Stain.
120 minutes from the start of the set to the finish and the crowds collective mind is blown!
We spill out onto the streets of lower Manhattan into the cold winter wind amazed at what 5 bucks can buy in this town.