By JSmith (212.39.231.20) on Monday, June 30, 2003 - 02:01 am:

Went to see Kool & the Gang at Hammersmith Apollo (London) last Thursday. The place was full and the group were really great.
Joint lead singer with them on this tour is my old friend (& ex Dazzer) Skip Martin, so I got to go backstage after the show.
On stage the outfit numbered 11 in all with the 5 'original' group members all being placed (on stage) on raised plinths. On numerous occasions during the show, reference was made to the fact that these 5 were members of the original group, the others being later conscripts. However the whole ensemble seemed to be operating as one unit and havin a good time.
When I went backstage though, I was faced with a different situation. The group were divided betrween 2 seperate dressing rooms. One (containing the 5 original members) was a decent room and had a sign on the door stating 'KOOL GUYS', the other was not as good (& held 6 of the outfit + a young rapper they use on such tunes as "Jungle Boogie") and had a sign stating 'NON-KOOL GUYS' on the door.
I was shocked by this THEM & US attitude.
Does this go on with other large groups or is it usually just the backing musicians that have to make do with a 2nd (& inferior standard) dressing room ??

By JoB (204.42.12.2) on Monday, June 30, 2003 - 06:15 am:

...I hope it doesn't...and with the re-re-re-reconfiguration of most of the older groups still performing today, that would make for some VERY crowded (and empty) dressing rooms!! Can you imagine the Tempts operating like that?
On the other hand, I guess the older and "original" members feel that they have paid their dues long enough, and deserve SOME sort of, I guess, seniority or something. I don't know. But in my opinion, if you are to go around billing yourself as KOOL AND THE GANG, and not KOOL AND THE GANG AND BAND or something (I'm not too great with words, but you get the picture), then I guess you should treat everybody fairly, even if you don't pay everyone the same.

But then again who knows, maybe the dressing room signs were some sort of inside joke within the band...

By LostInSoul (152.163.252.68) on Monday, June 30, 2003 - 07:41 am:

JSmith: if you go to the Smoking Gun site and click Backstage you'll see many examples of what you're talking about with Kool & the Gang, 134 to be exact. The Kool and UnKool Guys is merely an inside joke with the guys. What dressing room was Skip in?

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/

By JSmith (212.39.231.20) on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 01:42 am:

Skip was in the Un-Kool guys room as he only 'joined' daGang after JT Taylor went solo (for the 1st time when he had the recording deal with MCA). Mind you he (Skip) still goes out on tour with the Dazz Band at times, so maybe Kool doesn't appreciate this fact & so relegates him to the 'reserves' dressing room.
BTW one of JT's solo MCA cuts has been going down well on the UK MS scene in recent times, I have the 45 and from memory (now fuzzy due to old age) seem to think it's titled "Feel The Need" (it sounds very early 70's Marvin in style).

By RD (63.188.33.136) on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 08:03 am:

Skip Martin keeps busy. Not only does he do gigs with Kool & the Gang and the Dazz Band he also tours, often overseas, with a jazz group in which he plays the trumpet.