Feel free to email me if you have any comments.
Since I don't take copious notes when I go, I will be editing entries as I go as I recall or learn new things. when I first started this blog, I didn't take notes at all.
Although I have graduated from the University of Maryland with an accounting degree, I have always been interested in history, literature, and music. Actually much of what I have learned comes from University libraries, not classes (the music library at Hornbake was one of my favorite spots at the University of Maryland, it has since moved and is now the performing arts library). I keep my alumni association membership active so that I can check out books from University of Maryland libraries. I am the third child with 2 older brothers who had no musical talents, so my parents did not even bother to have me learn an instrument. Thus I can only appreciate music. Every one in my family has had at least some interest in Classical music. The things I like in Classical music are the same as what I like in Funk music: I like a lot of sound, based in rhythm.
Since most of my friends don't listen to the music I listen to, my interest in the Funk came in a round about way. One of my fraternity brothers, Christopher, won free tickets to an Earth, Wind & Fire concert. He took another fraternity brother that I am closer to, Tung, to the concert. Tung instantly became a big EWF fan and he introduced me to R&B. I started buying more and more R&B and finally, when I bought the Best of Bar-Kays (Mercury) Volumes 1 and 2, I wanted to find more of this particular sound. Chris was also a fan of Blaxploitation movies, he had Shaft (I remember watching it when I was 12: it was where I first heard the term "get laid." I had to ask my dad what it meant). He said that the only one who was a bigger badass was Superfly, so I rented that as well. I really liked the Funk soundtrack music to both of those movies, Superfly is my favorite soundtrack of all time. I have the All-Music Guide to Rock and I looked under the styles in it, one of which was Funk. I had earlier bought the Funk Essentials from PolyGram (and together with the Best of Bar-Kays) I knew that this was the style I was looking for. So I was at the music library at the University of Maryland and I looked in the computer under Funk, and found Rickey Vincent's book, Funk: the Music, the People and the Rhythm of the One. And believe you me I used the list of bands in front as a buying guide. It was the book that really inspired me to start reading more and it was where I first heard of DC GoGo. In it, Rickey mentions Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed as being a novel about the spread of Funk culture across Western civilization. I read that book too and found it to be an excellent metaphor for my own experience. Funk, including GoGo, is my favorite style of music now.
My interest in Blaxploitation movies is intertwined with Funk music, especially since the music in many of those movies is kicking. Just like when I looked up Rickey Vincent's book, I was at the UMBC library one day and I looked up Blaxploitation. There I found Darius James' book, That's Blaxploitation!. After having seen clips of Dolemite, in The Great White Hype, I was at Best Buy one day and saw the Dolemite collection on VHS for $36, which I purchased. After having watched the movies, I saw that in Darius' critique of Rudy's movies mentioned that they follow the Toast tradition. Toasts are Black oral folk (rhymed and typically laced with obscenities) poetry about the Life: mostly pimping, pushing and hustling. Later, while surfing the worldwide web, I found a page devoted to Iceberg Slim, formerly located at http://www.fringeware.com/subcult/Iceberg_Slim.html, now since revised and moved here. (Iceberg Slim's name was also used by a local rapper who appeared on Trouble Funk's Don't Touch That Stereo, I've met him and seen him perform). It mentioned the book The Life: The Lore & Folk Poetry of the Black Hustler (by Dennis Wepman, Ronald Newman and Murray Binderman) as being a book of toasts. I've since also become a fan of novels by Iceberg Slim, Donald Goines, and Chester Himes.
I realized that I wanted to work in music and that just listening to CDs was not enough for me. I had no friends around who had my interests (the few fraternity brothers with similar interested had moved to various places after they graduated). So I decided to go to California for a vacation, that way I could check out LA (so I would know what it was like before I thought about moving there) and visit Rickey Vincent. So when I was at the library at San Francisco State when I was waiting to see RV, I read The Life. The book right next to it on the shelf was Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me by Bruce Jackson, which is another book devoted to Toasts. RV gave me the email address for a Funk discussion group, formerly accessible at funky-music@ai.mit.edu, now here, and talking to that group has gotten me closer to Funk than anything else has. I became so enamored with Funk that I decided I wanted on to work with Funk in the music business. On Rickey's advice, I decided I would specifically try to get a job with Rhino Entertainment, the reissue company. While I worked at Rhino in master use licensing, Kip Lornell contacted me. Kip is a professor at George Washington University. He was co-writing the first book on GoGo (The Beat: Go-Go's Fusion of Funk and Hip-Hop). It was possible that Rhino would release the CD that would accompany the book. After working at Rhino, and transferring to a sister company, Warner Special Products, I left and moved back East because I hated living in Los Angeles.
I'll admit I have a sense of pride about GoGo, given that I am from the Vanilla Suburbs of Chocolate City. I have built up a collection of about 150 commercial and PA CDs (PA = Public Address system, i.e. PA tapes & CDs are copies of soundboard recordings of performances) - honestly, there is only one of them that I haven't liked. I really enjoy the music, it is my favorite genre of music - the polyrhythmic beat really cranks and it is about the only music I dance to. I view it as carrying on the torch for Funk - it is the most vibrant musical tradition going on within Funk, with a number of bands performing weekly in the DC area. I decided to create a web page of links on GoGo to further educate myself on GoGo.
However, not too many of my friends are GoGo fans, and I was unable to convince them to go with me to GoGo clubs. Also, prior to this Summer, I did not want to go alone - I don't like going to concerts by myself. The first GoGo concert I've been to was on August 31st, 2001 at the 9:30 Club, which is normally a rock venue and had a mixed crowd.
I went with my friend Joe, and managed to meet Kip Lornell in person (I recognized him from his picture on the back cover). This performance, which featured EU, Backyard Band, 911 and Chuck Brown with guests, was released as a commercial DVD - Put Your Hands Up! The Tribute Concert to Chuck Brown. 911's performance in particular was the greatest performance I've ever been to. The GoGo performances I've been to and heard recordings of are better than the old school Funk bands still on tour in that have a tendency to do a fair number acapella sing-a-longs of their hit songs. The concert DVD was the first DVD I ever bought.
It took me a while to find myself before I realized I wanted to seek out a career related to folklore. Kip Lornell (together with Simon Bronner) has given me a lot of career guidance. I decided to attend the Masters program in Folklore at the University of North Carolina because of its fieldwork focus and my family in the area. In the Spring 2004 semester, I took a class on Ethnography (a form of observation and collaboration used in order to gain understanding) where I followed the hardcore fans of Cool John Ferguson, an extremely talented multi-genre guitar player. I was not able to understand the spiritual meaning of the music for the fans from my observation and personal experience alone. This lack of understanding lead me to the conclusion that I had to do my thesis on a subject I was really into. I immediately knew that was GoGo. In order not to spread myself thin, I wanted to work with one or both of my two favorite GoGo bands: Trouble Funk and 911 (formed in 2001, consisting largely of veterans of Rare Essence, including still-present members (of 911/Familiar Faces) Donnell Floyd, DP, Bojack, Godfather, BJ, and no-longer members (of 911/Familiar Faces) Darrell "Blue Eye" Arrington and Darrin "X" Frazier, (further Mike Muse went from Rare Essence to another RE-spin-off band called Touch of Essence (which pre-dated 911) to 911/Familiar Faces) as well as most prominently, 2 vocalists from Northeast Groovers: Chris "Rah" Black and Dave "32" Ellis). I contacted a number of people to ask for information and picked up more PA CDs to listen to the distinctions in the sound of the current and older GoGo bands (and of course, because I enjoy the music). Even before coming back up to the DC area, I discovered that Trouble Funk was not currently performing, so my goal was to work with 911. Shortly after the semester ended, I read this post on the PA Palace Bulletin Board that 911 was now called Familiar Faces. On the Take Me Out to the GoGo bulletin board, I found out that a member of the band, Adia Doores, was a poster on the board. I contacted her and discussed my plans with her. She was positive about it and sent me a link to the band's website, which has their entire performance schedule on it.
Familiar Faces
Line up from May 17, 2004 on:
- Lead vocals (male)
- Mike "Dickie" Muse (-March 12, 2006)
- Sean "Kal-el" Gross (guitar & percussion as well) (January 25, 2006 - January 1, 2008)
- Frank "Scooby" Marshall (guitar as well) (Special Guest (January 2, 2008-December 28, 2008)
- Marquis "Quise" Melvin (January 2, 2008-)
- Lead vocals (female)
- Adia Doores (-April 9, 2005)
- Halima Peru (April 13, 2005-January 1, 2008)
- Damila Adams (January 2, 2008-)
- Backup vocals (male)
- James Lawson (Godfather's nephew) (December 2004-January 2006)
- Backup vocals (female)
- TJ (November-December 2006)
- Rapper
- John "Stinky Dink" Bowman (December 31, 2008-)
- Lead talker, rapper, & Saxophone
- Donnell "D-Floyd" Floyd
- Vocals & Trumpet
- Derek "DP" Paige
- Vocals & Trombone
- Mike "Hardstep" Taylor (April 2007-)
- Each of the members of the frontline tends to play a snare-less tambourine when not singing or playing another instrument.
- Lead guitar
- Clarence "Boolah" Roper (-June 23rd, 2004)
- Dwayne Lee (June 26, 2004-January 1, 2008)
- Wendell Bacon (January 2, 2008-)
- Bass
- Kenny "Doc" Hughes (-January 1, 2008)
- Sean Geason (January 2, 2008-)
- First Keyboard
- Byron "BJ" Jackson (-June 14, 2005)
- Lorenzo Johnson (June 15, 2005-)
- Second keyboard
- Mark "Godfather" Lawson
- Drum Kit
- Duane "Pooh" Payne (-Fall 2004)
- Jammin' Jeff Warren (Fall 2004-April 12, 2005, January 14, 2007-)
- Larry "Stomp Dog" Atwater (also Roland SPD-S Sampling Pad) (April 13, 2005-January 13, 2007, filled in (some days per week) June 17, 2007-January 1, 2008)
- Dwayne Thomas (filled in (some days per week) January or February 2007-June 2007)
- Lead percussion (congas, bongos, timbales, roto-toms, cowbell)
- Eric "Bojack" Butcher
- Sam "Smoke" Dews (Fall 2004-)
- Second percussion
- Vonzae "Packy" Jenkins (He is actually their equipment set-up man)
- Charlie Allen (-2007)
- Jacques Vaughn (January 19, 2005-August 9, 2007)
- The cowbell is played by being struck by a drumstick, not rung.
Vocals & Saxophone - Donnell "D-Floyd" Floyd
Vocals & Trumpet - Derek "DP" Paige
Vocals - Dave "32" Ellis
Vocals - Fatima Washington
Groove Talker - Bryan "B-Man" Baucum
Guitar - Joel Freeman
Bass - Bobby "B-Smoot" Smoot
Keyboards (Roland XP-60) - Mark "Godfather" Lawson
Sample Boards - Darrin "X" Frazier
Keyboards - Paul "Rootie" Baltimore
Drums - Darryl "Blue Eye" Arrington
Percussion (Congas, Bongos, Timbales, Roto-Toms, Cowbell) - Eric "Bojack" Butcher
For comparison, here is the personnel for the 911 album Blueprint released on June 26, 2001:
Current members - Donnell, DP, Bojack, and Godfather, plus
Vocals - Dave "32" Ellis
Vocals - Chris "Rah" Black (both Rah and 32 left for the Northeast Groovers reunion)
Drums - Darryl "Blue Eye" Arrington
Sample Boards - Darrin "X" Frazier
Keyboards - Paul "Rootie" Baltimore
Bass - Bobby "B-Smoot" Smoot
Guitar - Joel Freeman
Vocals - Tony Richardson
Vocals - Fatima Washington
Percussion - Charlie Allen
The Chuck Brown tribute concert on August 31st, 2001 had virtually the same personnel, except:
BJ on Bass instead of Bobby Smoot
Tony Richardson and Fatima Washington subtracted
Tony Sharpe on Vocals (he is now with Whop-N-Em) You can read about his leaving 911 here.
Boolah on Guitar instead of Joel Freeman
According to the old 911 site, archived on December 27, 2001, the line up was:
Vocals - Tony Sharpe
Vocals - Dave "32" Ellis Sr.
Groove Talker - Bryan "B-Man" Baucum
Saxophone & Vocals - Donnell Floyd
Trumpet - Derek Paige
Guitar - Clarence "Boolah" Roper
Bass - Bobby "B-Smoot" Smoot
Keyboards - Mark "Godfather" Lawson
Keyboards - Darrin "Mr. X" Frazier
Keyboards - Paul "Rootie" Baltimore
Percussion - Eric "Bojack" Butcher
Percussion - Charles "Charlie" Allen
Their discography:
As 911
Blueprint
Put Your Hands Up! The Tribute Concert to Chuck Brown (available on CD or DVD)
A compilation (I found it listed as May 7th 2003 Cada Vez on PA Palace).
November 4th 2001 Tradewinds
May 5th 2002 Metro
August 3rd 2002 Metro
April 27th 2003 Tradewinds
October 30th 2003 Club U
As Familiar Faces
March 31st 2004 Takoma Station (2 CDs)
July 14th 2004 Takoma Station
Evolution (out November 23, 2004)
April 27, 2005 Takoma Station
October 15, 2005 Tradewinds (2 CDs)
March 10, 2006 Icon (2 CDs)
October 9, 2005 Fur (DVD)
July 8, 2006 Tradewinds (2 CDs)
November 22, 2006 Capital Hill Hyatt Regency (DVD)
March 17, 2007 Cranberries (2 CDs)
July 13, 2007 Mirrors (2 CDs)
June 11, 2008 Club Elite (2 CDs)
June 28, 2008 Capital Hill Hyatt Regency (DVD)
November 12, 2008 Club Elite (2 CDs)
I re-read The Beat in its entirety. One of the insights that I understood more in reading it this time was the description of the United House of Prayer for All People's trombone shout bands, since I had worked on an abortive group project with a Durham, NC church of the denomination in the Fall 2003 semester. I also plan to look at an existing thesis on GoGo written in 1990 at Howard University (Sia Robinson's "A Qualitative Analysis of the Nature and Meaning of Go-Go Music"). I do not have a specific thesis hypothesis at this time, but I am fascinated with the current trend in GoGo - having separate neo-soul and GoGo sets with current popular songs being covered (which is not a new trend in GoGo, but the amount of covers being done has increased) and most bands having female singers as well as male.
I decided to create this blog to document my GoGo attendances. Although the fact that I am a Caucasian often being the sole non-African American at these performances does not mean much to me, I still thought it is significant enough to document when I am treated differently because of that.
