Nike and Notorious

Last night I got to see Notorious, the Biggie Smalls biopic, hosted by Nike (and Flux) at its Montalban theatre and concept store. Honestly, a pretty shallow effort, whose only real insight into the man was a scene in the studio when he laughed at the Mtume album cover when Puff asked him to rhyme over Juicy Fruit! Look how that ended....platinum. But that's exactly what this film was...a commercial serving of Biggie. Not the back story.

Montalban The space was interestingly low-key and slightly industrial. May be Nike saw the economic downturn coming and thought it would be distasteful to flaunt (sports) luxury and opulence, unlike the chi chi sushi spot Katsuya up the street.



Amateur night But the biggest memory was how shite the organization was at Montalban. All that staff and not a manager in sight! Montalban has no idea how to handle a 300-strong crowd! Where do I start? The box office didn't open on time (which doesn't help the hella long lines.) The crowd control was outta control. And don't even mention the phone and camera check station. OMG. Was it amateur night at the Montalban?!

Been there, done it Seriously, this party isn't worth the wait and effort. Once you've done it once, you've done it all! There's no point in repeating this waiting game: 1+ hours for tix, then 30+ mins to get in, then 30 mins+ for doors to open. And all to see a free film three days early and have some free booze?! Nope, not even MC Lyte djing was any real consellation.