Didn’t know what to expect upon taking in my very first live “country music” show over the weekend. Especially once the Hispanic bouncer at the door asked if I was packing any knives as he patted me down.

But even that wasn’t as shocking as the mosh pit that broke out down front. Or that the show was so kick ass that it won’t soon be forgotten. You see, it wasn’t all that much of a “country music” show after all. Crazy drunks were jumping on stage, crowd surfing, getting thrown out after getting their asses kicked by bouncers, all in the name of a little southern-style hell raising.

Sure, Hank Williams III sounds a bit like granddaddy Hank Sr., but he’s nothing at all like father Hank Jr. This guy has a style all to his own. That showed through in the performances he put on for such a rowdy-ass crowd. There were plenty of tattoos, titties and crazy white dudes of all walks of life, which was pointed out by Hank III himself when he said something along the lines of “who else can get country folk, hillbillies, metal heads and your everyday-average-Joe all under the same roof?”

And he played a little something for everyone too this past Saturday night at Club Firestone in Orlando, where the bar ran out of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and Hank III performed with all three of his bands for nearly three hours in all. There was Hank the country band (with banjo, stand-up bass, drums, fiddle, steel guitar and acoustic), then Hank the punk rock band (Hellbilly) and finally Hank’s most recent project, his death-metal band known as Assjack. The night was insane, to say the least.

Didn’t take long to realize there’s no sense in judging this book by its cover. I didn’t need another similar experience to compare it to. Truthfully, this guy hardly fits into a particular musical genre. He’s as Goddamn independent as they come in the music industry, I mean how many other “country music” albums have ever carried a warning label on them?

Got to respect the fact that he uses his life’s experiences to deliver the wild and edgy songs about booze, drugs, whores and more in tracks such as “Six Pack of Beer”, “Punch. Fight. Fuck.”, “Straight to Hell”, “Thrown Out The Bar” and “Smoke & Wine”, without turning a blind eye to the past. Let’s face it, he had to start somewhere.

That he’s a damn near spitting image of his grandfather, in appearance and tone, is an interesting back-story as even Hank Sr. had a bit of a wild streak in him before passing on at age 29. Over the weekend he was paid tribute to along with the likes of Cash, Waylon and Johnny Paycheck (who’s son happened to be in attendance that particular night.) Yet Hank III doesn’t offer much in the way of honoring his old man, thankfully from my point of view (and likely anybody else’s in attendance, for that matter.)

It was all about raising a great big middle finger to the establishment on this particular night, and I happen to be all for those types of gatherings. I have to say though, never been a part of anything like this and I can’t wait to do it again. Grandpa Hank would have been proud.

You die one day and you go on to live forever. At least in the hearts and minds of the people you’ve impacted in some form or another during the course of your existence.

That dawned on me last night as I finished browsing the music selections at Park Ave. CDs in Winter Park. DJ Y-NOT was spinning vintage J Dilla tracks on the turntables, and I was posted up, flipping through a book about Hunter S. Thompson. Oh, the irony.

Some local staples in Orlando’s hip-hop community organized the night as a way to pay homage to the legacy of the late producer. He passed away three years ago. It was a night of good music that doubled as a way to help raise funds for his mother, better known as Ma Dukes, who now suffers from the same disease (lupus) that took her son’s life and is now estranged from the estate Dilla left behind.

Leave it up to local torch-bearers of the genre, Solillaquists of Sound, to lead the charge for such a gathering. Donuts were brought in for the hip-hop heads (which happens to be the name of Dilla’s swan song) at the mere cost of a donation. Same donation idea got you an impressive 80-minute mix of Dilla contributions, put together by Y-NOT.

On a side note, if fans are lucky, the latest Solillaquists’ release on Anti- is due out this June “If the samples get cleared in time,” says producer Divinci with a smile. In the meantime, the track “Death of a Muse” with J-Live, Chali 2na and Dilla’s mother has been another way for fans to help the family take care of the two daughter he left behind.

But back to Dilla, the producer. Chances are you’ve nodded your head time and time again to some of the sounds he’s created during the decade leading to his death. And you likely never even knew it was him pushing out those beats. Not because of such aliases as J-88 and Jay-Dee in the liner notes but because many of those projects, if not instant classics, have been better appreciated with time.

Remember spinning the likes of Slum Village, Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, The Pharcyde, The Roots, Common and De La Soul in the mid-to-late 1990s? Dilla beats are sprinkled throughout many of the albums released by them all.

But dude is gone now. Tributes, shout-outs and his music are all that lives on. And the difference between remembering the contributions of an artists such as Dilla, compared to what hoodlums such as Tupac and Biggie left behind, comes down to where you’re at in your life now and how much that life has changed since those untimely passings took place. We’re talking grown folks stuff.

Can’t help but wonder how obscure or underground Dilla would remain today, without all the R.I.P. remembrance and the love that’s been shown by his peers. That affection has trickled down to the fans as well. Give a listen to the instrumental albums released under his name and you’ll realize just what the genre is missing.

Though I’ve used Dilla as the backbone to this entry, what I really wanted to touch on was that in death, particularly one at a young age, the legacy you are remembered by is largely left in the hands of the people who are still here.

You got Buddy Holly, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain and on and on and on and on down the list of individuals who’s short lives have turned into tall tales regurgitated into books and film. I recall an ex-girlfriend and I using the birthday of Jim Morrison as an excuse to “re-light our fire” for a night, pardon the pun, after one particular cold December high school day wound down. I’m sure the Lizard King would have been proud, so I thought.

In truth, I’m often privately taken aback by the number of people I’ve seen carried out in caskets in my relatively young life. I think about it more often than I care to admit, figuring it’s just another avenue in my memory bank I can’t help but explore every now and again. Family and friends die and we move on with our lives, not yet aware if our own particular ending will come in the form of Big Pun’s “It’s So Hard”, should it come far too soon, or that of Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”, where beating the odds long enough finally leads to wearing out your welcome for good.

Rest In Peace to them all…

Tear down boundaries. That’s what the Tow Away Zone does every Wednesday morning from 10 am-12 noon in the basement of 91.5 FM (www.WPRKDJ.org) at the Rollins College campus in Winter Park, FL. As 2009 approaches and the one-year anniversary of the show nears, host J. Charles sheds light on the past 11 months…

Why Call It Tow Away Zone? – On Jan. 28, 2008, without a name for my new radio show, I drove in circles around Rollins College in search of a place to park. Running behind schedule (as usual), I made a questionable decision to park alongside a curb that appeared to be out of harms way. Security tried to send me a warning via cell phone. I figured it was about 43 minutes into the show when it happened. I made my way out to the parking lot afterwards to find my car was gone. A $20 cab ride and $100 to get my bucket from the tow yard and I was back in the driver seat once again. So became the name of the show.

Backbone Each Week - Instrumentals and Interludes have been a staple since the show began. For the sake of keeping that element of surprise somewhat intact I offer only the minds behind those sounds (in no particular order)… Wax Tailor, Blockhead, The Budos Band, Omega One, J Dilla, Booker T. and the M.G.’s, Jel, RJD2, DJ Shadow.

Most Called Upon, Most Requested – (In no particular order) – Johnny Cash “The Time of the Preacher”; Kid Beyond “I Shall Be Free”; Azeem “Bush Is A Gangsta”; DJ Revelution (w/ Iriscience) “The Revolution”; Spoon “The Underdog”; Murs “Everything”; Bob Marley “Mr. Brown (DJ Spooky remix)”; Mr. Dibbs “Blind Loyalty”; Menomena “Weird”; Flowers Forever “American Dream”; Why? “These Few Presidents”; Q-tip “Shaka”; Black Sabbath “Who Are You”; El-P (w/ Suzanne Venzina) “Constellation (remix)”; South “Wasted”; The Foreign Exchange “Daykeeper”; Tim Fite “All I Need”; Psycho Realm And Street Platoon “The Beginning”; Brother Ali “Here”; Skillz “Pastor Skillz”; Skillz (w/ Common, Talib Kweili) ”So Far So Good (remix)”; Coldplay “Lost”; Radiohead “All I need”; Elbow “Grounds For Divorce”; Vast Aire “Shu (The God of Aire)”; Blur “Brothers and Sisters”; Saul Williams (w/ Zach De La Rocha) “Act III, Scene 2 (Shakespeare)”; Baba “Xperience”; Devotchka “Along The Way”; The Helio Sequence “Halleluhah”.

The Usual Suspects – Along with those bands mentioned above were the likes of (once again, in no particular order)… Beck, The Flaming Lips, Atmosphere, Clinic, John Lennon, The Roots, Mos Def, Ghostface Killah, Digital Underground, Rakim, Nas, Cee-Lo, Jay-Z, Public Enemy, Iggy Pop, Buck 65, Jean Grae, The Beastie Boys, J-live, Jane’s Addiction, Erykah Badu, Modest Mouse, The Beatles, Big Daddy Kane, The Toadies, James Brown, KRS-ONE, MF Doom, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Parliament, Gil Scott-Heron, Presto, Gorillaz, RZA, Shape Of Broad Minds, The Black Keys, Shortstack, Nine Inch Nails, Glue, Gang Starr, Slick Rick, Sage Francis, Lupe Fiasco, Morphine, P.O.S., Primus, David Bowie.

Local Orlando/Florida Connection – On average there have been two songs with local flavor played each week by the likes of Solillaquists Of Sound, X:144 And SPS, DJ Kittybat, Sincere Vega, The Black Hammock Band, All Good Funk Alliance, Kap, Alias The @ikt.

Can’t Forget Back Home – In an effort to never forget where I came from there have been a smaller number of additions to the playlist… AMC “Dun Dun Dunno”; Ryan Weaver “We Dream Tomorrow” and “Long Long Long”; Flux “River Dog”; Vic Freeze “Senora”.

By no means does this cover the whole gamut but it does provide some insight into what the show has evolved into. Tune in to find out where it goes from here.