Kid Koala gets warm and fuzzy. Chinese-American DJ extraordinaire, Kid Koala, came out just after seven to lay down some beats and loosen up a then- muted crowd. His set was mix of old-school favorites and 80's oddities. Who would have thought I'd hear L.L.Cool J's "Goin' back to Cali" in the same set with the Cure's "Close to You"? There were some great re-mixes of the Beasties as well as the Pharcyde thrown in, all glued together with some comic relief from TV sound bits and old comic book records. This is not a test of the emergency broadcast system. In his finale, Kid Koala took his craft in a direction not often taken. By laying down beats on one of his wheels of steel, he then began to "play" the second turntable by gingerly raising and lowering the needle from alternating grooves in the wax to produce various notes, that when strung together created a somewhat spooky melody. This, combined with an alternating RPM and some sensual lounge-act vocals (was that Jessica Rabbit, from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?") the overall effect was like a creepy come-on.

This isn't a test, either.

Money Mark approached the spotlight with even less fanfare than did Kid Koala. Without a hint of acknowledgement to the crowd, MM balanced a beatbox machine on a bongo in center stage. As the clunky, casio rhythm began, he used two mics to create feedback, raising and lowering the tones with their proximity to each other. As this went on (and on and on), the two drummers took to the stage. Then the bass, trumpet, and saxophone. Thank god he brought some horns. His third and most recent album, "Change" is Coming, is full of them. Whereas the first two album could feasibly be played by three guys in a basement (and probably were), "Change" needed a fuller sound to do the live show justice.

Mark played a good mix of all three albums. Surprisingly, he played more from "Mark's Keyboard Repair", his first LP, than any other. After opening the set with one of "Repair's" little ditties, he went on to play five numbers from his debut work -more than either "Push the Button" or "Change is Coming". In fact, one of the highlights of the show was the back-to-back "Repair" numbers of Booker-T-influenced "Crickets are Everywhere" (with Kid Koala scratching and chirping) and "Pretty Pain", with Money Mark playing the jangly guitar that opened his debut.

Like learning to drive a stick.

The crowd was trying their best to get into it, but the erratic pace MM set prevented any full-on revelry. For example, right after the "Crickets/Pain" double punch, he switched gears down to play "All the People" from "Push". This let the air out several sails (especially those sails already three sheets to the wind). He did the same after playing the latin rhythm "Pepe Y Irene", to then stop completely and squeeze a rubber ducky, blow a whistle and play a trumpet with an inflated balloon.

The funky version of "Push the Button" made up for any consistency problems, and the version of "Cry" that followed was a crunchy, bass-driven heart-breaker. The bass and horns added all the right touches, but it was the drummer-duo that held it all together(one looked like Akebono's younger brother). They gave MM's smoothness the bite it needed for a live outlet. If only the horns would have let loose.

The encore was wrenching version of "Sometimes", from "Repair". MM then took to the drum set for a memorable finale performance. Solo on one drum kit, he placed a microphone in his mouth, nearly swallowing it. Cranking the distortion, he sang through it while banging the skins for

the last head-bobber of the night. Despite continuity glitches, Money Mark's set was a blast. As he left the stage, the crowd continued to scream for more for over ten minutes. With fans like that, he should know that a return trip to Tokyo will be money well spent.

report by jason and photo by nishioka