The crowd outside of the Aragon Ballroom, a historic Chicago venue, toked and were stoked right from the get go for the other night's Kottonmouth Kings and 311 show.

Most of the fans were in their teens or were 20 somethings who weren't funked, punked, rocked or hippied out. I did, though, get a glimpse of a few Grateful Dead threads and one of a Phish t-shirt drifting about.

Also, most of the fans I spoke to were residents of Chicagoland, and, some of them made passionate screams and demands to "Free Weed!" while waiting outside the Aragon to see the bands.

But, what other kind of behavior is one to expect or suspect from a band named, the Kottonmouth Kings or from a 311 show. They're 2 bands who convey it's okay to smoke pot and make it grow.

That is, one of the Kottonmouth King's songs is, "Where's the Weed,?" and one of 311's is, "Whose got the Herb?"

This article is to focus on the band 311 though, and there may be folks who after finding out the meaning of 311's name, may be a wee bit disturbed.

Here's the story, it does not mean KKK, rather it stands for the police code (311) for indecent exposure a friend of the bassist for the band was charged with, after getting caught skinny dipping back in the day. The teen wasn't allowed to put on his clothing, so his weenie was dangling freely for all to see while the cops whisked him away in handcuffs anyway.

Now, that that's out of the way, 311 describes their music as a magical potion of Rock, Hip-Hop and Reggae.

311, whose members have been together for a whopping 19 years, is comprised of Nick Hexum (Vocals, Guitar and Songwriter), SA Martinez (Vocals and DJ Scratches), P-Nut (Bass), Tim Mahoney (Guitar) and Chad Sexton (Drums, Percussion), show no signs of their musical careers together being done.

Their new and 9th album, Uplifter, is hoped by the band members to make people uplifted by listening to it, and I was really curious to see if it's the sh*t!

During the opening act, played by the Kottonmouth Kings, you didn't have to spend a dime on weed--there was a sufficient amount of smoke to be able to score a "contact high" if in need.

I'm pretty sure I got one, but I'm by no means complaining!

The anticipation to see 311 play was building and smokin' hot, and, the show emerged at about 9 p.m. on the dot.

The stage turned pitch black, except for the glow in the dark bass keys. Then, shazam--me and the rest of the audience sees white, shock-like lights to the eyes that reveal the entire band, and the "house party" quickly began!

The stage looked similar to a gigantic Easter Egg Basket with its' handle made up of blue and pink pastel flashing lights.

The crowd was singing along to 311's catchy songs from the start. The first song they played was "Sick Tight" and the last was "Feels So Good." You could tell 311 still loves to play and they do so from the heart. Tim kept bopping his head, and P-Nut smiled from time to time while they both performed their mastered art.

Nick, and especially SA, were the band's main "energizer bunnies" on stage, though, for every single song because of their amazingly tireless hopping and jumping. Although, Chad's drum solo was even more incredible and really got my heart thumping.

Chad did a spectacular, predominately primitive sounding solo, something like, da, da, da, da, BOOM! Da, da, da, da, BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! I would have been so pissed if I would have missed it because I had to go downstairs to use the bathroom!

Yet, the highlight of the show was shown when all of the band came back out on stage toward the end of Chad's solo with big drums of their own.

Imagine, intense pounding of the drums that seemingly couldn't be beat--each pound of the drum all members of the band played simultaneously, was galaxies away from being anything close to humdrum, and I didn't catch any fans in their seat.

Pound! Pound! Pound! It was a profound, entire body consuming power of immensely strong sound, that'll make a lot of people see them when they come back around.

However, I spoke to about 10 fans after the show, and they said 311's performance was good but too short--they wished it lasted much longer. They did only play for approximately an hour, but it's because the venue threatened the band that at 10 p.m.. they would shut off the power.

Since the show, 2 days after, my mind continues to play 311's new song "Jackpot" and their old one "Beautiful Disaster!"