Breathe concert benefits fight against breast cancer

By Anthony Bromberg
Daily Bruin Contributor

Breckin Meyer gave Tom Morello’s breasts an examination.
An audience member screamed at Rachel Hunter, clad in a small
nurse’s uniform, to show him hers. Lil’ Kim, while
grunting her raps over “Lady Marmalade,” brought hers
to the forefront by shaking them in a white midriff-bearing halter
top at the front of the stage.

“This evening after all is all about the boob,” said
Dr. Drew Pinsky of the popular syndicated radio program
“Loveline.”

On Saturday night, the Wiltern Theatre showcased various talents
and celebrity hosts gathered together to raise money for the fight
against breast cancer as part of the Breathe benefit concert.

The evening marked a step toward a return to a world where more
than one issue still exists. As students have continued going to
classes, as consumerism continues to exist, as men and women are
still fixated on mammary glands, some celebrities still continue to
use their influence to promote something besides themselves.

The first annual charity event encountered numerous obstacles
before it finally found a home and groove on Saturday. First, there
was the tragic passing of Aaliyah, who was to be one of the
event’s featured performers, then the Sept. 11 tragedy, and
as late as last week, a sudden venue change from the Greek Theatre
to the smaller Wiltern.

In tribute to Aaliyah her brother took the stage, saying he knew
she would have been glad to see this. He then held back tears as he
presented a $40,000 check to the event’s co-sponsors Stephan
Jenkins, of Third Eye Blind, and a representative of the Step Up
Women’s Network. Seal then performed a bittersweet song
dedicated to Aaliyah.

The official host for the evening was a perky Rita Wilson. The
diverse bill included acts such as Seal, Crazy Town, Jurassic 5,
Nikka Costa, Sugar Ray, Lil’ Kim and Third Eye Blind.

The last-minute change to the Wiltern slowed the show down
considerably. Between each set was a long pause, where the audience
was allowed to amuse themselves by looking at the large projections
of the sponsors’ ““ Mercedes-Benz and Step Up ““
logos on the drawn curtain. At one point the crowd was delighted by
the presence of Wilson’s husband Tom Hanks, who genially took
pictures with some fans.

Wilson and her co-hosts killed some of the time themselves as
well, with mostly very scripted but amusing jokes and figures about
breast cancer, such as that one in eight women in her lifetime will
be directly affected by the disease.

The lagging pace, and the often dry tone was, however,
counteracted by the ability of the performers to show up and
rock.

The most spontaneous moments came from Sugar Ray’s Mark
McGrath, who ran out into the audience to sit on the ledge of the
balcony and lead the crowd in a short sing-a-long of “All You
Need is Love,” as young girls fondled him.

The scripted parts of the show were balanced as acts took part
in planned duets and played their crowd favorites. Jurassic 5 for
one was able to salvage the obvious low-point of the night, as its
members came out and rapped over the Deftones, who had spit on the
stage and screamed pointlessly through a few songs’ harsh
guitar beats. J5 turned feedback-ridden noise into buoyant rap with
a message.

J5 also took the time to allow a friend, identified as Adam to
ask Jennifer to marry him. She said “yes.” They then
performed their hit “Quality Control.” The four rappers
traded off lead and support roles, and all joined in on the chorus
for a very unified and whole sound.

Earlier in the set the much-hyped Nikka Costa took the stage
with a full band and a huge store of energy.

Her set was electric, as her music grooved from funk to Led
Zeppelin-esque to flat out rock. Her vocals punctuated the
groove-ful tunes with a surprising range and soulfulness.

In tight jeans, and a flowy pastel shirt, Costa shimmied, shook,
sauntered, danced, gyrated and boogied around the stage. She ground
her backside into her bass player. She emphatically humped the
microphone. She was wild, and she and the audience fully enjoyed
it. While the relevance of her set to the issue of breast cancer
may not have been readily apparent, her presence as a strong woman
with attitude was.

“Ladies this is on your behalf. This is a song I wrote for
a guy who fucked me over,” Costa said.

She never seemed angry though, only dynamic as she took the
audience for a ride on her bootylicious groove revolution. A sweet
moment of escapism that was really all too relevant and
welcome.

The exclamation point to the show came when Jenkins, whom
everyone had gone out of their way to compliment and fawn over all
night, finally came out after the night’s longest delay with
his band for a final set that incorporated both Liz Phair and
Seal.

Third Eye Blind knew it was the act to watch, as the bass player
came out in a purple suit, the guitarist in a tan coat lined with
white fur, and Jenkins in a top hat and long coat that quickly came
off to high-pitched screaming.

He gave out flowers as he dueted with Phair on his band’s
hit “Jumper.” He insisted the audience stand up and
participate. And while the concert ended with Seal’s
performance of the ever-timely hit “Crazy” and his
declaration that everyone was beautiful, it was his duet with
Jenkins on Third Eye Blind’s closing song “I Want
You” that marked the emotional climax of the show. The
audience was on their feet and singing along as they saluted the
night’s mastermind Jenkins as he prepared to leave the
stage.

“Thank you all for coming,” Jenkins said.
“We’re gonna do this again next year.”