Girl Talk at Cains

There was a distinct excitement in the air in Tulsa on Saturday June 28th. Tulsa was buzzing about the act playing at Cains Ballroom that night. Some people had heard of Girl Talk, many others had not. At around 6pm I got a text from Hunter at Cains, “The scenesters are in full effect!” They were already lining up in front of Cains to get the choice spot in the front row with full access to Girl Talk and his handy laptop.

Girl Talk is a one man band consisting of a “laptop producer” named Gregg Gillis, who hails from Pittsburg PA. His music consists of an amalgamation of pop samples, woven together such that the end result is a new form of music, standing on its own, independent of any one of its parts. More specifically he uses software to “mash up” songs from widely variant musicians to create a new sound, ie: Notorious B.I.G with Elton John or Cranberries with M.I.A. It is unlike anything you have ever heard before and it works people into a FRENZY.

When people attend a Girl Talk show, they don’t just stand in the audience and listen to his music. They get dressed up in full hip/funky/retro/80’s/club costume regal and actively participate in the concert. Last year when Girl Talk came to Tulsa, as is the custom, the audience stormed the stage, crowding in on Gregg and his laptop pulsing with every intonation of his on the fly mix.

This year people were ready, and were lining up out the door before 6:00pm. At about 9:00pm we started to catch word that it was looking like it was going to be close to a sellout, the anticipation mounted.

As we arrived at Cains, people were already whipped into a frenzy by the music of Techtonic. The place was practically at capacity and the area just in front of the stage was PACKED with people waiting to rush. As we sat in the back and observed the scene, a small Asian girl walked in front of us and mid stride busted out a few windmills with perfect form, popped right back up and continued walking through the crowd. Spandex, cut-off jean jackets, headbands, face paint, gold chains and bandannas abounded. Wafts of Bubba K greeted the olfactory. People were ready for Girl Talk, a muted undercurrent of excitement was ready to burst.
At about 11:00pm, I got word that he had arrived from the airport. This was a relief, because for the past 8 hours he had been stuck in Dallas due to weather. As I headed back stage thanks to a Video Pass from Hunter I entered the antique dungeon-esque backstage artist hangout were I found Gregg wrapping his laptop in Seran Wrap. His shows get so wild he must protect his technology from the impending chaos and beer splashes of his eager fans.

As he was giving instructions to the sound crew about the audio setup I cleared out to go and video the fans packed into Cains waiting to see their beloved Laptop artist. People were going nuts, packed in, sweating, screaming, hands in the air, ready for a show.

After Gregg got everything setup, he went back to his backstage area for a little pre-show routine. After he finished stuffing his sweatpant pockets with confetti, he emptied a beer can of its contents and filled it up with Jack Daniels, “I usually don’t take my shows this seriously, but I was stuck in Dallas for 8 hours and I have not had a drink all night.” In the background we could hear his warm-up music BLASTING: “GIRL TALK . . . GIRL TALK . . . GIRL TALK”

Readied, he bolts out of the room and onto the stage where balloons are flying, bubbles are floating and people are already climbing onto the stage to great their musical hero. Chaos, pushing and shoving ensue. The crowd is SO fired up about the performance the cords get pulled out multiple times from his setup. Each time Gregg Celebrates by saying “THIS IS A REAL SHOW - I USED TO PERFORM IN BASEMENTS TO ZERO PEOPLE”

By the end of the show, Gregg ends up pant-less and shirt-less, wearing nothing but boxer briefs and dripping sweat from his Jesus beard and long ass hair. In a triumphant moment he climbs onto the table and leads the 1400 people in Cains to a side-to-side arm sway as Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” swoons, laced with the thumping of some ghetto hip hop.

I have seen Girl Talk three times. This latest performance at Cains was indeed an EPIC and historical performance that will grow more legendary with time and the ascending star of Gregg Gillis. However, every time Girl Talk performs, there is an indescribable sense of well being and light bliss in the air. After much contemplation I have tried to understand why unlike any other musical performance Girl Talk produces such epic “Good Vibes.”

When people experience in mass so many auditory triggers of pleasant memories via the abundance of sampled pop music something happens in the collective consciousness of the group. In the case of Girl Talk, for that short hour that he performs his pop orchestra, people are riding a waive of positive emotion, which in turn feeds the collective to higher levels of positive vibrations. Keep your heart three stacks, keep your heart . . .