My Baby’s Got Sauce

As the sky faded into a deep blue Wednesday evening, the students of UM piled into the UC patio.

They crowded around the standing area in front of the stage and took up every seat.

Following Hurricane Production’s Spring Concert’s opening act, UM’s own Active Ingredients, G. Love and the Special Sauce began the first song of their two-part set.

G. Love and the Special Sauce, a trio of laid-back guys, hail from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The ingredients that make up the band are “G. Love” or Garret Dutton, who sings and plays the guitar and harmonica (though not simultaneously) and the Special Sauce-“Jimi Jazz” (King Kane), the bassist and back-up vocals, and “Houseman” (Jeffery Clemens) on drums.

Their unique eclectic style blends together a touch of rap, jazz, blues, country, and R&B. Their tunes have been compared to those of such legendary acts as Bob Dylan (by whom G. Love claims to be influenced), the Rolling Stones, the Beastie Boys, and Beck.

It must be their little-bit-of-everything attitude towards music that drew flocks of people, since there was something for everyone’s tastes.

Or perhaps it was their stage-audience relations.

The trio charmed the crowd with its soulful groove and G. Love’s witty rappings.

G. Love and the Special Sauce’s first set was a mix of their more rap, jazz, and R&B-esque songs. The host of students moved and swayed to the upbeat music, turning the standing room into a dance floor. The band toned down their style in the second set.

G. Love brought out his acoustic guitar and played “country-style”, although he often free-styled with his rapping capabilities with mass approval. The audience cheered and laughed at G. Love’s comical lyrics.

The crowd screamed and begged for more as G. Love exited the stage.

One student even shouted, “Take off your clothes!”

The band returned, as is their tradition, for an encore and finished their set with the famous Cold Beverage. The house lights came up and the students dispersed, some to the side of the stage for a closer view of the trio, some to the set-up table to buy t-shirts or CDs, and some just back to their rooms.

G. Love began his music career in high school, singing in his South Street neighborhood. He later met up with future bandmates Jimi Jazz and Houseman, and the trio got their big start in 1994 with their self-titled debut album.

Their single Cold Beverage warranted them the hearts of many high school and college students, along with a video on MTV.

They followed up G. Love and the Special Sauce with the more mature Coast to Coast Motel in 1995, and have since put out three more albums: Yeah, It’s That Easy, reminiscent of their first album, in 1997, Philadelphonic in 1999, and their more sultry Electric Mile in 2001.