Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private location

Familiar Faces
When I arrived, the outside door was open, but not the inside door. I walked out again and Donnell was there with Mike Smith, formerly of Rare Essence. Donnell explained that Stomp couldn't make the coming Saturday's boat ride, so Mike would be filling in for him. Because the boat ride is so important, Mike will be playing with FF the whole week. I said I was disappointed Stomp wouldn't be at the rehearsal because I wanted to hear the results from the woofing between him, Charlie and Donnell about how many woman they would sleep with at Myrtle Beach. Donnell said, "Don't worry, other than (the late) Footz, there isn't anyone that could outdo me."

Mike said he hadn't met me before when Donnell introduced us, but I told him that I had talked with him at Takoma Station a few weeks ago. Donnell played the commercial live recording from April 27th for Mike Smith.

Godfather arrived shortly afterwards - he and Donnell talked about how it was the women chasing the men at Bike Week. They said the stories about prior Bike Weeks were true and that the women showed a lot in public. I asked Donnell how the shows went - he said that the promoter wasn't a music promoter - he just needed to guarantee the sponsors a certain number of people would show up. He did this by having a best bike contest. Unfortunately, they had the contest before they performed both nights. The Thursday performance had a very small crowd of people who stayed through the performance, but Saturday's performance had a larger audience. Donnell said that Halima was on fire, it is okay to be weird on the road.

When Duane Face arrived and set up his keyboard - Donnell talked with him about his ability: he can play the notes; he's come a long way since he started practicing with the band, but he needs to develop arrogance in order to forge his own identity. These practices may not be the best place to do that, but it is important. Donnell said he can pick BJ out of a recording because he has a strong identity. Donnell also said to Duane - "I talked to your boss yesterday." Duane said, "My boss?" Donnell: "Jammin' Jeff, he's doing well."

Over time, DP, his sons Derek Jr. and Darrell, Mike, Halima, Dwayne, Doc, Lorenzo, Jauhar and Nephew arrived. Also, Stomp, Charlie and BJ all came in briefly - mainly to pick up paychecks.

Donnell said that Lorenzo was filling in for BJ who is going to play in another artist's band this week. Donnell talked about how both BJ and Godfather play by feel. He said the BJ plays the lead lines, if it were Godfather who was off (playing elsewhere), that Duane could sit in for him, but since it is not, Godfather would force him to play lead.

They first went over a cover for a song that Halima will sing - Minnie Riperton's Memory Lane. Then they quickly went over standard songs in their repertoire for Mike Smith, Rodgers & Hart's "My Funny Valentine" (they said this version was called Everything Must Change - I later discovered what they meant: it is the lyrics to My Funny Valentine and the music to Everything Must Change). Donnell asked where the song came from I pointed out that Rodgers & Hart wrote many show tunes years ago. A simple search of ASCAP shows that Lorenz Hart wrote 308 registered songs and Richard Rodgers 700. The other standards they went over were as follows: Erykah Badu's Didn't Cha Know, Marvin Gaye's I Want You, Bobby Valentino's Slow Down, Stevie Wonder's As, Erykah Badu's Cleva - which leads into Stevie Wonder's Superstition, Amerie's 1 Thing - they worked on this a little, Donnell said Halima should sing on the hook, Stevie Wonder's Superstition, Faith Evans' Again and Mesmerized. Donnell talked about the transition from Amerie's 1 Thing to Trillville's Some Cut. He also talked about Notorious BIG's Warning which follows that. Finally, they rehearsed Lap Dance. At one point during this, Godfather played with his eyes closed. Donnell and Lorenzo teased him about it.

Jauhar teased Dwayne to Donnell - he said of Dwayne, "He was really into it, you could see it on his face, it had to be the music because he didn't get any that weekend" (Dwayne's girlfriend didn't go to Myrtle Beach). All the band members I talked with said they had a good time at Bike Week.

Outside in the parking lot, Doc played Dwayne's current cut of Little Benny's new single in his car. They talked about a rap group called Bowboa that had been down at Bike Week with five expensive luxury cars with the band name painted on. Doc and Dwayne really admired that - they said that no one in DC has that kind of money behind their promotions. Until they can find that kind of backing, GoGo will not be national. They said even their website was professional. I told them about my meeting with Ed Stewart and my email correspondence with Largo District Record.