Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private location

Familiar Faces
There was a private meeting among the band members in the large room that started before I arrived and was still going on when I left after at least an hour and a half. I talked to Jacques when he arrived; he asked me about if I could tell the difference in sound between him and Charlie. I said yes. He said that when he went from GoGo to non-GoGo, he kept the same GoGo beat. After a while he adapted new beats, particularly when working with Whop. I said I also definitely noticed the difference between Smoke and Bojack. The one noticeable positive about Smoke over Bojack being that Bojack would almost never arrive until the second set.

I talked with Duane and Donte (Donnell's son) about Roy Ayers. We also discussed Blaxploitation movies. I told Duane how Roy Ayers had done the soundtrack to Coffy. I said that Pam Grier has done a lot of Blaxploitation movies, her best are Coffy and Foxy Brown. Donte said his Dad has a lot of Blaxploitation movies. I said that Pam Grier still looks good for her age. Duane said he is a big Vanity fan, I told him about Karin Taylor (the picture I took of her is on the bottom of this earlier entry).

Nephew said he prefers to go alone to performances, so that he can move around without being held to any group. I reiterated what Supa Dan talked about last Friday?, being jealous of Nephew talking to all the ladies. I also said that at the New Year's Eve bash, Donnell said on the mic that Nephew had kissed 10 women. Nephew said that he didn't know that, and that his wife was there. I asked why he didn't introduce her to me; he said he didn't introduce her to anyone. Also, one of the regulars hit on her, she told him who she was, then he told everyone - Nephew was not amused. I had earlier asked what Polo's last name was. He wouldn't tell me, he said Reggie could be driving by, everyone on the porch; he would honk and not stop.

Nephew then told a story about how when Missy Elliot was with a group 10 years ago, her producer lived in DC and she lived at his house, she would go see Rare Essence and would follow DP around everywhere, but he said, "I don't want to date that fat chick!" Donnell had fired Puffy as a dancer (I think for a Vinnie D video), so when Rare Essence was going to be signed to Uptown Records, he and White Boy went to see Andre Harrell, but he couldn't make it, so Puffy led the meeting and you know the result...

Nephew also told some more Rare Essence stories that I won't print on the web. He said that Footz was Donnell's best friend. Nephew likes the fact that Footz' daughter Renee refers to Funk as "Uncle James". I told Nephew that Tracy Smoot babysat Stinky Dink - Nephew didn't know that.

Duane talked about Tupac rapping with Backyard Band in 1993. He asked Donte and me what Tupac did in Digital Underground. (one of the few Hip Hop groups I like), we both said, "He was a dancer!" Donte and I also talked about the College Park celebrity, Cluck-U Pac aka Lee Majors. Lee Majors is a Tupac-look alike who is a rapper in his own right. He works at the Cluck-U in College Park to have access to University of Maryland students. He sells his CDs out of the Cluck-U. Donte talked (laughing) about how inside the College Park Cluck-U, there is an article on Lee Majors and Lee was wearing the same outfit as the picture in the article. Possibly, it was this picture:


Nephew said that all you need for a successful song is a hook, that's what Donnell composed for Rare Essence, hooks. Nephew told me that I missed Maniac on Saturday - I would have enjoyed that performance. He also told me that Kato is BJ's cousin.

Duane also talked about how he thought that Courtney Alexander is a great player. Both Nephew and I laughed.

We all left when some of the band members came out and told us there would be no rehearsal.