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Musical Manifest

Melting-Pot Pop: L.B. Free's band issues a manifesto for today. From Oman to the Silicon Valley, Manifest Yesterday experiments with sound By Nicky Baxter IT WAS just another show for the Bay Area sextet Manifest Yesterday. The band was getting San Francisco's Leopard Lounge crowd hot and bothered last year with its alternasoul sound when in walked a genuine Arabian prince. He liked what he heard and offered Manifest Yesterday an extended engagement in the Sultanate of Oman in November 1997. Lance Freeman, a.k.a. L.B. Free, the ensemble's founder, lead vocalist and lyricist, is hopeful that the unusual gig--coupled with a newly released, self-titled CD--will provide the leg up his band has been working toward. "We were definitely due for a good break," he allows. The new album is not so much an evolutionary leap forward from the three-song cassette issued in 1996 as it is an affirmation of a deeper understanding of the band's special brand of melting-pot pop. This newest edition of Manifest Yesterday Destiny--keyboardist Tommy Chavez, bassist/backing vocalist Uriah Duffy, drummer and percussionist David Flores, guitarist Fred Tibitts and trumpeter/backing vocalist Rich Armstrong--is more eclectic and packs more musical punch than the original band. Although the album misfires now and then, Free is an artist of unwavering faith and commitment to his vision. (Read an interview with L.B. Free.) Manifest Yesterday performs Friday (Feb. 6) at 9pm at the Agenda Lounge, 399 S. First St., San Jose. Tickets are $3. (408/287-4087). [ San Jose | Metroactive Central | Archives ]