A few months ago I was in San Francisco outside a Bloc Party show and I started talking to a man I came to know as Bing Ji Ling. He proceeded to tell me about his All Star Ice Cream Band and I was certain he was pulling my leg. Come on, are there really other people out there that obsessed with ice cream? After checking out his website I got my answer.
Wednesday night in Los Angeles Bing continued his monthly residency at the Knitting Factory. Showed up last month but was a bit too late. Not this time. I showed up with a cooler loaded with creamsicles, big sticks, fruit bars, and a few Julie’s Organic treats. Made my way through the maze to find myself chilling with Adrian from No Doubt in a dressing room with all fixin’s. Started munching on a strawberry bar then doubled it up with a HARP. (need a term for that one). Shot the sh_t for a bit then headed out to meet up with Charles and catch the set.
They took the stage in all white ice cream man uniforms except for Bing Ji Ling who had a custom airbrushed ice cream suit. The cooler joined them and Bing did his best Harlem Globetrotters impression as he made his way through the crowd blessing everyone with frozen treats. It was soul time. Ok, there are a couple prereqs if your gonna be rocking white boy soul. Balls and a great backing band. Well if you’ve got on an airbrushed ice cream suit you’ve got the first covered. As for the second, the band was pretty goodHA! We’re talking ALL STAR ice cream band. Adrian was tight as could be on the kit, MIRV (M.I.R.V) on Guitar, House on Bass (from Bucketheads band), and Merkley??? (noise maker and Bing side-kick), they all held their own….and then some.
It’s so rare to see a band pull this off that there ain’t much to compare it to. Definite Stevie influence with a bit more rock n’ roll. Booty shakin for sure. I’ve been sick for almost a week and I still couldn’t stop shakin’. There’s not really a niche for music like this today and it’s a shame. They were saying how they usually get between 300-500 people to shows in SF and I can just imagine the place hopping and everybody gettin’ down. It’s soul people. It’s alright if you wanna hold hands… fell something.anything. Where is your love?
A smoove version of “You Shook Me All Night Long” fit in perfect and was a good example of what more people need to do when covering songs, mix it up a bit. I think there were quite a few tracks off the yet to be released Fire and Ice Cream long player. We’ll keep you posted when we get more news on that. Hopefully get it in our merch section (if we ever get around to building it). “Money in the Meter” winded things down and as the crowd sang along I did my best in my raspy voice to join in.
Bing Ji Ling will be playing again at the Knitting Factory on Monday, September 26th with local funk/hip hop band extraordinaire, The Wylde Bunch.
[…] kept in touch with him and when he brought his band down to LA I brought up some ice cream to the Knitting Factory to rock out and do some […]