The Toledo Show
November 25, 2001

A friend of mine invited me to join her to go see something called the Toledo Show. "It's acid jazz. They're playing in Santa Monica. I've seen them at the Key Club," she said. I told her I'm not a big jazz fan. "They have scantily clad dancers...", she continued. "Okay, I'm there."

Apparently, I must have been the only person in Los Angeles never to have seen this show. All the hip DJs and cool music people have at least heard of Toledo. Well, I guess I'm not hip. They are currently playing at Harvelle's Blues Club in Santa Monica. It's a very small venue, almost a New York type, bar like club with a very small stage at the end of the building. I've heard that Toledo usually plays at large venues but as soon as I walked into the club, I got a good vibe. According to the Harvelle's website, the cover is different depending on the show but Toledo was charging $5 on Sunday night.

Our group sat down at the table closest to the stage and that turned out to be a good decision because it got really crowded later and we were lucky to be able to see the show at all. Toledo is the main man for this jazzy group, along with a sax player, guitar player, base-like player and drummer. I can't forget to mention that the sax player plays two saxes simultaneously.

If you're wondering what the hell acid jazz is, I really don't know. All I know is Toledo sings in a really hypnotic rhythm and rhymes almost like a rapper but smoother like a poet. He smokes on stage like a chimney and the back lighting made the image look almost surreal, like he was on fire. To get a better feel for what I'm talking about, see the video on the Toledo website.

But let's face it. I didn't go for the music. After a song or two, I was getting a little anxious for what I came for. Just as I was getting ready to ask my friend what was going on, out comes two slinky sexy dancers, moving to the music. They danced like it was a scene from "West Side Story" or something. I'm not into musicals but it looks great live. Both dancers where wearing lingerie and stocking and doing floor work, dancing with each other, and even doing quick lap dances for customers. Well, okay, maybe not lap dances, but they got really close. One of the dancers got up on the bar and started to do some sexy dancing there too.

During one sexy song, the dancer was clinging to Toledo's leg, then the lyric said, "Get down on your knees..", and she did and started crawling around on the floor next to him. She came back and crawled up his leg again. Forget lap dances, I want to get a leg crawl dance. Later, the dancer used a chair for her dancing number, then got down on the floor with the chair. I thought it was going to turn into a magic act for a second.

All in all, it was one hell of a sexy venue and show. Thumbs up to these great dancers. They made me remember that you don't have to take everything off to be sexy. One thing I noticed was that there were a lot of couples sitting in the dark corners making out. Some would also come to the front and dance near the stage. So, come to this show with your wife or girlfriend and make out while watching the dancers. I think that's what you're supposed to do.