Sunday UCA Cookout
Back parking lot behind Mad Chef Cafe, 7929 Central Ave, Capitol Heights, MD 20743

I arrived early so that I could take pictures - this was the first outdoor daytime performance of Familiar Faces I've been to. I arrived early and took pictures of the front of the Mad Chef Cafe. That brought their attention, as someone came out to talk to me, asked why I was taking pictures and if I had a business card - I told him it was just for my website. Then Ron "Moe" Moten, from the UCA, came out to talk to me and I explained my thesis research in detail, he told me to go around back.


Bojack, Charlie, Adia, Mike Muse, Pooh, BJ, Donnell, Dwayne Lee, Doc


Kiddie Cabaret!


Three members of Familiar Faces' support staff: Jazz, Nephew, Googie
Not visible in the photo, but Nephew is supporting the UCA sponsorship of the event by wearing a Hipnosis shirt (the label is on the back)
All three pictures taken by and Copyright - Jordan Rich

The UCA (United Clothing Association), a united organization of DC-area black clothing companies, organized the cook out. The cookout was a family affair, with a moon bounce for kids and free t-shirts given away to kids and adults both. The food started being dispensed at 5:30 PM. Despite the event being outdoors, I could hear during the set up that you could hear the sound bouncing off the building behind the adjacent parking lot, more than 100 feet from the speakers!

Familiar Faces
Familiar Faces came on at around 6:30. The line up was: Mike Muse, Adia, Donnell, Doc, BJ, Pooh, Bojack, and the same guitarist (Dwayne Lee) and second percussionist (Charlie) as the night before. I noticed that Doc wore a brace on his playing hand. Many regular FF attendees were there, but really there were hundreds of attendees of all ages. Lisa of the World, Michelle, and my friend Tywon Harzeez of Continuous Music were there. I didn't see Tywon, but he emailed me later, saying that he saw me. When FF opened up, it gave new definition to the term Kiddie Cabaret! A circle of kids formed in front of Adia as she sang the first song. Their first set was their usual jazz set.

After the first set was over, Donnell called up Moe, the organizer of the event. He talked about how despite being competitors, the black owned clothiers have banded together. He also warned the audience to stay away from Visionz, which he said is marketed towards blacks but is Asian owned, that it is important for Blacks to hold on to the businesses they still control, including GoGo. He also said that it was important to get involved in neighborhood beefs, that unity and love will cool beefs. There was a long break before the second set. During the break, a number of kids played on the drums (including the congas, timbales and roto-toms). Their second set was their dance set - it cranked as usual - people of all ages danced.

TCB
Donnell called on Polo of TCB to introduce himself. TCB came on and performed two songs - there were more people gathered in front of the stage than during FF's performance. This is the first time I have seen TCB perform and admittedly with only two songs performed it was only a small sample, but to my ears, not using congas noticeably took away from the sound. I have to check them out later to make a more informed judgment on their sound. The event ended around 8:30 - it was still daylight.

Other fans' description.