David ‘Bassie’ Fuentes Tribute Show Review

EL REY Theatre

21 October 2007

Review and photos by Rick Brass

On September 22nd 2007 in Rosarito, Mexico David ‘Bassie’ Fuentes passed away.

You might have known David from his skilled bass playing in such bands as HEPCAT, DUBCAT and most recently his jumping onboard to tour with The AGGROLITES. If you never had the privilege to meet David you missed out, as he was an awesome person. David was a loving husband, father of two sons and a good friend to many who were close to him and a friend to those who were distant as well.

There is a need to look after his family in this time of grief and crisis and to try to raise some money for them. So David's family, band mates and friends put together a tribute show in his memory at the EL REY THEATRE in Hollywood last night and it was an amazing event, which moved all those in attendance.

It was an incredible line-up that contributed their performances to help raise money for David’s family. The performances were all great and overall the night was very touching.

The Debonaires a local Riverside CA, band played an incredible set with its singer Kip hitting some very high notes. The band's horn section got to showcase its stuff with some great tunes and the crowd seemed to really enjoy them as much as I did.

(The Debonaires)

Next was a surprise performance by Fishbone, which got the crowd roaring along with some stage diving and I might have seen some heavy moshing going on as well. At one point lead vocalist, Angelo Moore even tossed himself off the stage and did some crowd surfing and that set the crowd off into a further frenzy. A couple of audience members followed his lead and stage dived head first and I believe almost crashed right to the floor.

(Angelo Moore of Fishbone stage diving)

Next The Aggrolites put on an exciting performance with Jessie killing on the vocals backed by those hard hitting drum beats and fills by Korey.

Some other highlights of the show were when David’s widow, Yohanna, went up on stage and tried to say thank you to everyone. It was also great when Jessie from The Aggrolites tried to get David’s son to sing-along to one of their songs. It was amazing to see all the members from so many bands come together and unite to end the evening with a stellar performance in honor of DAVID ‘BASSIE’ FUENTES!!!!

(David's wife Yohanna)

As David would say, “WHY CAN'T WE JUST PLAY?”

That was pretty much the theme for the night as many stories were shared about all the memories of David and his wonderful personality. The stage was shared by several great musicians, with all of them contributing their talent and love for the sake of THE FUENTES FAMILY.

Other acts to share the stage that night were Chris Murray, Colin Giles, Penny Reel, The Allentons, The Expanders, Ocean 11, Upbeat, See Spot, and The David Fuentes Tribute Band, featuring members or HEPCAT and The Aggrolites. There was also special guest appearances from Pato Banton and Native Wayne along with a slide show put together by Robert aka (OLDHCDUDE).

(Group photo)

A special thank you to Robin and all those that contributed their efforts in the selling of the merchandise during the evening and to the EL REY THEATRE for hosting the event.