Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private location

Familiar Faces
Donnell's Jaguar was out of the shop. He said my brother (Jay) said you said we had bigger crowds last year. I said, "No, that I had said the record isn't selling well, but that they have big crowds on Fridays at Safari..." Donnell said part of the reason that its not selling well is that Baba and he haven't really promoted it, they are waiting until they hire a head of the record company.

DP was right behind us. DP works for Verizon too. Duane entered the room talking; he asked if a band formed out of Ellington. Donnell said, "You learn more than rehearsing; wait and then ask." Donnell said "No, there were three guys from Rare Essence, but mostly Rare Essence was formed out of Ballou HS." More from Ellington went into Classical. Kato and Dave Chapelle went there as well. Chapelle was in theatre, not comedy.

Dwayne arrived and told how when Doc from Ayre Rayde was at Friday's performance, he said "Hey, you were in Redds & the Boys". Dwayne said the guys from Ayre Rayde followed Redds & the Boys around like puppies. Donnell asked if Dwayne had done anything with Ayre Rayde, since he's a Maryland dude, Dwayne said no.

Stomp was there, had to leave early. Someone discussed the fact that he and Charlie are always on the phone with each other. He was working on Lap Dance. They also rehearsed Ludacris' Number One Spot. Doc asked if that (the rehearsing) was a tape, he thought it sounded so good as he walked in.

Nephew, BJ and Godfather arrived. Stomp discussed adding the Ludacris sample to BJ's keyboard, but the blank disk that Donnell found was faulty.

They then worked on a remix of Lap Dance over Godfather's protests; Donnell said he thought it is too busy. Godfather had a whole detailed plan for the video. Donnell joked that Mike won't be going to the video shoot since he won't be singing. Mike said, "That's okay; I'll stay home and bone all the chicks you claim are yours."

Godfather talked about folks, then my people, he said that was usually a derogatory remark, he didn't have a problem with me or Mike, the Puerto Rican. Godfather was upset and said they'll learn, that the important thing is to give the crowd what they want. They (BJ, Doc, and Dwayne) composed music to go along with lyrics composed by Donnell (I didn't write them down).

I talked with Nephew about his Dad, of whom he said when I asked his name, I don't know the guy, repeatedly. He confirmed (from Wed) that his Dad is a big fan of Rah. I said his Dad looks older than forty-eight. Adia was there (only Jacques and Smoke were not there and they aren't required to attend every rehearsal). Nephew left to go to After Hours' Happy Hour at Club Level.

Donnell asked me not to talk about Rock with guys when they are late. Duane, Dwayne, Donnell and DP stayed to work on Amerie's 1 Thing. Donnell told me his brother's name is Jay.

I asked Donnell if FF was going to be the only act on the record label, he said initially, then later other young GoGo bands.