It happened again. I know because i was there and am happy to recount another Pretty Precious Cargo experience.
Where to Begin When Begin is Just Beginning
Different than last outing, sookee and crew arrived at the airport and picked up a rental vehicle from a nearby agency. I waited eagerly to embrace sookee and meet her new Pretty Precious Crew. This time, she and I were both rolling with new personnel. Travelling with sookee from Berlin were:
DJ Boogie Dan (pictured above): Disc Jockey extraordinaire, gifted with the coveted “Midas Touch.” And… 
Just (pronounced Youst): Immortalizer Internationale, works in plain sight yet resides patiently behind the gaze.
Because of the Berliners’ late-night arrival in NC and an early-afternoon Hopscotch day party hosting gig for me, we were not able to connect until pre-sound check at The Pinhook on Thursday night where sookee was scheduled to perform with Hank and Cupcakes.
So, on Thursday afternoon, after having the fortune of hosting Bopscotch, the official Hopscotch Day Party sponsored by The Art of Cool Project I planned to meet up with the Berlin faction of Pretty Precious Cargo. As the anticipation of reconnecting with sookee built and my hosting duties prolonged, I found myself getting mildly day drunk (thanks Jeanne Jolly 
). That, coupled with the comradery of old friends and the Hot at Night’s killer set, made for a perfect preoccupation:
I left Bopscotch and headed straight to the Pinhook to meet sook and crew for soundcheck. The anticipation of Pretty Precious Cargo Fall 13 and reflections of PPC Spring (only 6 months earlier) raced and rambled through my mind as I cruised up 40 West, observing the prescribed speed limit, blasting Shalamar’s “Second Time Around.”
I walked into Pinhook and sook was like the 3rd person I saw, an otherwise anti-climatic placement in the roster of soap operatic reunions, but seeing Manager Meredith and meeting Just and DJ Boogie Dan before sookee emerged felt like a divine and well-orchestrated reveal. Twas so wonderful to lay eyes upon her and reconnect with this woman whose work and politic I’ve embraced in kinship since Manager Meredith emailed about this Queer Feminist rapper from Berlin whose work challenged homophobia and misogyny and whose goal is to ‘purplelize hip hop‘ whilst spitting rhymes that ignite fires of contagion.
The Pinhook crowd wasn’t as thick as we would’ve liked (chalk it up to a school night and the beginning of Hopscotch Music Festival), but without question, a definitively good time was had by all. This was also my first time peepin Hank and Cupcakes and they were like, whoa. High energy and fearless, a perfect match for sookee’s initial PPC Part 2 performance.
Hank and Cupcakes at Pinhook 9.5.13
After Hank and Cupcakes’ über dope set (which included some kick-drum-climbing and a run to the car to replace a broken bass string), sookee took the stage:
As with her March Pinhook performance, the crowd was eager and receptive, tossing all types of good energy toward sookee and the stage. If love and respect were flower petals, sookee’s purple Asics would’ve been covered to the hi-top. A wonderful night with an audience populated with folks from Germany who knew sookee was in the building and came to dance, celebrate, and support her return to the Pinhook. Pretty precious, huh?
sookee at Pinhook, 9.5.13
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Tomorrow’s recap will detail Pretty Precious Cargo’s unpayable Hopscotch Music Festival experience complete with photos, videos, and FKABL FMNST sightings:)
sa