(Quick note on those sandwiches: Though licensing money is tight, of course, and the Roots are encouraged to use originals whenever possible—the show's theme song is their own "Here I Come," off 2006's Game Theory—they do get to use "walk-on licenses," so when a guest is announced and heads out to Jimmy's couch, they can play someone else's music. ?uestlove has a specific memory of Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra playing Smokey Robinson's "Cruisin' " as Tom Cruise walked onstage for a Letterman interview, and he's looking forward to doing that sort of thing himself. "So when Tina Fey comes out, I can do 'Wild Thing,' or 'Sexy Motherfucker,' 'Hot for Teacher,' whatever," he enthuses. "Did I just reveal too much? HAHAHAHA.")
One irony of this elaborate plot to keep the Roots off the tour bus is their new commute: As many of them still live in Philadelphia, right now, they get on a tour bus every morning for NYC, rehearse all day, and then turn around and bus back home, deep into the night. Four or five times a week. Black Thought's even got an hour's drive to and from the Philly bus stop; though he's got reservations about uprooting his school-age daughter, he'd consider moving here, depending. (As would ?uestlove, though he notes that "a New York lease commitment is a major, major commitment.") And though the Roots clearly play some role in Late Night With Jimmy Fallon's fate (they'll apparently flex their comedy/acting chops, too; perhaps Black Thought is the next Max Weinberg), it's the guy on the marquee's baby, in the end, win, lose or—well, those are the two options.
Chad Griffith
Now let's just hope their new boss is funny. More photos of the Roots and the set
here.
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Meanwhile, the Roots are guaranteed 10 weeks off a year, and that's before reruns, etc. New Zealand hasn't seen the last of them. ?uestlove says that the fairly brutal months of prep have also yielded a rare phenomenon: all eight guys in the band in one room, writing songs together. Furthermore, on March 5, the band will begin a long, allegedly guest-star-studded, jam-session residency at the Highline Ballroom, with multiple dates already set through June—a freewheeling, mostly weekly gig akin to their reign at Tribeca's Wetlands Preserve club from 1997 to 2001. Their commute notwithstanding, for at least the next several months—and, if Jimmy's got a few masturbating bears up his sleeve, possibly years—the Roots are a New York City band.
So drop by 30 Rock sometime and say hello. There they are on a recent Tuesday night, all eight dapperly dressed gentlemen sauntering out, sousaphone-first, onto the Late Night With Jimmy Fallon stage for an early test show: real set, real guests, real live audience they are tasked with firing up. They're getting used to this, the firing up. "It has the feel of a Roots show—it goes in and out, and it's like comin' in and out of a dream or somethin'," says Black Thought. "You come out, you feel like, 'This is the Roots, we're ready to rock it, we're marching out, everyone's excited—they're hype, you know what I mean—we start performing, and you're like, 'I got 'em. These are our fans. They're here to see us—wait, wait, no, they're not. You start looking, and some people are honestly engaged, and they're fans, and they're super-excited, but other people are super-excited, they're like, 'Wow! A rap group!' When you start to process what's really going on in the room, it changes a little bit.'"
From the perspective of someone in the room, what's really going on is warmly familiar to Roots-show vets: a manic 20-minute medley that bombastically jams their own stuff ("The Seed," "Thought @ Work") together with "Movin' on Up," "Apache," "La Di Da Di." The audience is made to stand, to pump their fists, to soul-clap, to say owwwwwww. The "applause" signs are superfluous. They sound fantastic. The Roots have got 'em. And then, just like Black Thought says, suddenly the cue-card lackeys sneak into place, the media dudes are hustled out of the room so as not to spoil any surprises, the guy everyone actually came to see takes the stage, and the guys revert to their new role: backing band. I imagine they will be extremely good at it. Possibly too good.
The Roots start their Highline Ballroom residency March 5, see highlineballroom.com for dates. Late Night With Jimmy Fallon premieres March 2
