WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT DAVE.

So recently I've been letting YouTube be my main source of entertainment. I pay $9.99 for the "Ad Free" version so that while I listen to music at work I'm not interrupted mid-song by some annoying advertisement bullshit. The trouble with ads now is that it's the exact same ad over and over again. There's no "local business" shit that was at least episodic and at times comical. And it's not even for some shit I'm gonna need. I don't have osteoporosis, ok? I don't need Nulivia or whatever. I just wanted to listen to a song, god damn you.

The point is, I was sitting at home eating more than I should have been and was letting YouTube play some random stuff. Suddenly there was Dave Matthews. I'm at an odd age and even though I'm 42 I was actually still pretty young when Dave Matthews Band came out. Sure, I'd hear their songs on the radio, see the videos on VH1, and might catch them performing on SNL, or something, but I was too young to give a fuck about buying records and too young to go to a show, so DMB always remained as just "something that was there", like Hootie and the Blowfish, or Better Than Ezra. By the time I was old enough to give a fuck, I was buying Slayer Hell Awaits and both those Acid Bath albums and just anything that looked cool at the Media Play. I was more into GWAR than anything DMB was up to. But decades go by, and tastes evolve, and suddenly DMB ain't so bad, really. Tons of great songs. And yeah, I'm a Greatest Hits guy for DMB. They have plenty of them to occupy my time. That's enough. Who has time for deep cuts of a 90's South African jam band?

Fun Fact: Dave is South African. And old enough to be my dad, so...apartheid anyone? I don't think Dave is racist, that sounds like a stretch, but let's just say he doesn't mind heavily borrowing from African heritage and tradition. And also he doesn't mind making black people work for him, with him centered squarely in an undoubtedly unquestioned leadership role. It's his band after all.

I know, I know, Ben, you're crazy. But, consider what I'm calling exhibit A. While watching DMB concert videos I couldn't help but notice that Dave would break into these really racialized, almost minstrel show level impressions of traditional African folk dances. And in front of the entire band, too, almost as if to say, "Which one of you N-words is gonna stop me?" I honestly cannot believe this "black face dancing" hasn't been more commented on. I'll still listen to his hits, but I'll say it right now. The dude is weird. Why was he so good playing a weird guy in Because of Winn-Dixie? Because he is weird. Watch for yourself, I rest my case.