by Sarah Crisman

The House of Blues was fogged out by larger-than-life hip hop stars, a killer drummer, and a mild disdain for law enforcement.

DALLAS — I may be one of the least qualified music journalists set to cover a Snoop Dogg program -- or so I told myself as Method Man and Redman took to the House of Blues stage, frequently showering the eager crowd with half empty bottles of water and the steady threat of How High 2. While a dozen men milled about the stage with towels, I realized that free style rap is, unfortunately, lost on me. This isn't usually a problem, as I am technically a white woman who lives in the suburbs and drives a minivan. Still, I like to think I have a bit of street cred (at least where music is concerned). So I bobbed along patiently at my post, knowing a full band would soon be in control of the room. Snoop took the stage over an hour late, but truth be told, nobody seemed to mind once the show finally got going.

In all actuality, I wanted to see Snoop for the band (and the sheer fact that I genuinely like Snoop Dogg, and I always have). It was Snoop's former musical director, drummer, and Dallas resident, Robert "Sput" Searight who attracted me to the show in the first place. Sput is hands down my favorite drummer on the planet. He's the sort of musician you trust implicitly. If he's involved with a project, I'm all in. Sput is what smart drummers aspire to become.

Unfortunately, Sput wasn't playing tonight. My first blush of disappointment was quickly cooled by Snoop's current drummer, Carlos McSwain. Man alive! As far as I was concerned, there was nothing else going on onstage. Sure Snoop's great; the hype men did their job without seeming obtrusive and tailcoat-y, and the rest of the band was decent. But Carlos was playing on another dimension, and I had a hard time paying attention to the rest of the show (which is really saying something, because a Snoop show, as you can imagine, is quite the spectacle). In comparison to Carlos' playing, everyone else on stage was just playing catch up.

Dallas' own RC Williams (The Gritz, Cannabinoids) has spent his fair share of time on the road with Snoop -- he and Sput were in the band at the same time. He was on hand for the last two songs of the night, and it's always enjoyable to see his familiar face step up behind the keys. It made me wish Erykah Badu was at the mike. What can I say, I guess I prefer soul over hip-hop. No matter, though, the music was good, the evening entertaining, and the percussion flawless. One can hardly complain.

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