spank rock iFIGHT

spank rock performing on the "stage"

spank rock performing while a fan crowd surfs

immediately following the scuffle with the apple guy

a distraught spank rock heading for the exit

last night i was at the fifth avenue apple store for the "midnight mix" featuring spank rock and his dj, xxxchange. the apple store has been having semi-weekly dj sessions in it's store on fridays from 12-2am. yeah, hundreds of kids pack into a store with about a billion dollars worth of merchandise.

xxxchange dj'ed for about an hour to an extremely packed room of anxious teenagers. spank rock and entourage then arrived, saying hello to friends and fans. spank rock (naeem juwan) then grabbed the mic and began the show alongside his dj (xxxchange) and others. the atmosphere of playing in a store seemed to be bothersome from the beginning. spank rock jokingly announced "steal everything" to the crowd in a humorous rant. the ongoing theme from spank rock and fellow performer amanda blank was "who's bad idea was this," referring to who booked the show at this store. it was evident the show wasn't going to go as apple had planned.

spank rock played a few songs, while standing on the tables (apple did not remove the merchandise) and generally hyping up the enormous crowd. he [naeem] kept shouting, "can i get some water." in all fairness, the apple store isn't a regular host of performance-based concerts and probably knows very little on how to put them on. dj'ing is one thing, but having people moving around on a makeshift stage [tables] with heavy interaction with the crowd is another. this proved to be too much.

i was standing at the side of the "stage" where there were a few apple staff standing. a female fan came up on the "stage" and spank rock began dancing with her. nothing extraordinary, just some good 'ol fan participation. this must have been the straw that broke the camel's back for one of the older apple staff. he barged his way through the 10 or so people behind the "stage" to get to spank rock (who was lying on the ground, as he often does during performances). the man grabbed spank rock's leg. when this didn't get the results he was hoping for, the man went after spank rock. the entourage (who were sitting on a shelf behind the "stage") quickly rushed to break it up. water was flying everywhere and a angry spank rock emerged from the pile without his trademark glasses, shirt torn and soaking wet. although obviously furious, spank rock's calm mannered appearance prevailed as he dove off the "stage" into the crowd as if to say 'thank you and goodnight.' after returning to the "stage" he hopped down off the table and walked toward the exit marking the abrupt ending.

i cannot speculate as to what the gentleman from apple was thinking, but i can only assume he was expecting something totally different than a spank rock show. hopefully it wasn't his "bad idea" to book the show. i'm sure there will be further details as apple and spank rock's management sort things out.

performance of "bump" before altercation