Thursday at Bud's
Bud's 501 Club, 501 Morse St NE, Washington, DC 20002

Shortly after I arrived, I talked with Sweet Angel about what the members of FF told me about Bike Week - about the women chasing the men (she said, "I never do the chasing") and about Bowboa. She said, "There's my husband" - it was 02. He and Diva sat by me. He asked Diva if she knew me, she said, "Yeah". I asked if Ras Lidj had really worn a fishnet shirt to a TMOTT event, Diva said yes, she was there. 02 asked Ras, a vegetarian, if there was anything for him to eat at Fuddruckers. Ras said they have a veggie burger, but he had already eaten anyway. 02 and I talked about the similar lyrics in Ms. Jade's Dream and Notorious BIG's Warning. He said he wasn't going to see FF tonight; he was going to see UCB. I said he should talk to Duane Face, he said they are good friends that Duane Face knows a lot about GoGo. He asked me if I knew about the Huck A Bucks, I said I knew they put out their studio album before performing. I also said Duane told me only their first album is good, the others are crap. 02 said their other albums aren't bad. 02 was also at the Chuck Brown concert on DVD - I told him it was edited, he said he knows, a few BYB songs were removed, leaving one song as just a groove I said I was told 911 was edited too, he said he didn't notice anything cut, except an alteration of the effects in Uh Oh (Heads Up), the effects are from an Onyx song. I went upstairs so I wouldn't miss the start of Deep Band's performance as I had last week.

Ras Lidj & Deep Band
Julian wasn't there again. There were about ten people there for Deep Band's performance. It was a nice performance - I noticed Ras Lidj didn't do as many "contortions" as usual. It went from about 8:40 to 9:30 PM. He did a shout out to me and others who were there.

EU came on about 10:45. More people had arrived by that time. Michon and her friend (whom I later found out is named Candy) sat down with me. Junie wasn't there for their performance.
First Set
1) Stephanie-led Alicia key's Diary
2) Stephanie-led Rufus' Sweet Thing
3) Donnie Ray-led John Legend's Lets Get Lifted? "Let's get easy"
4) Sugar Bear-led Sly and the Family Stone's Family Affair
5) Sugar Bear-led "Funk it Up"
6) Donny Ray-led song
7) Stephanie rapped
8) Stephanie-led song
9) Donny Ray rapped
They had to stop because there was a problem with the congas
10) Donny Ray-led John Legend's Ordinary People
Sugar Bear whispered on the mic - the audience laughed
11) Sugar Bear-led Freak a Deak All Night Long / Undisco Kidd (tease) / "Bad girls" (Cops tease)
12) Sugar Bear-led "Deeso Hot" / Ludacris' Number One Spot (tease)
13) Sugar Bear-led OutKast's The Way You Move (tease)
14) Sugar Bear-led "Get your freak on"
They went to break.

RE Angie was there. Angie came by - I was surprised, she doesn't like how small Bud's is, but she said Tamara wanted to go out. Tamara said it was her first time at Bud's.

Members of FF started coming in. Angel asked me why I wasn't in the VIP room with FF. I said I didn't know I was allowed. She said, "You're allowed" and led me in - she sat down and I initially stood. Inside were: Mike Muse, Donnell, Dwayne Lee, Doc, Mike Smith, Jacques, Ras Lidj, Jauhar, Nephew, Telando, and Googie. Someone left and I sat down in their seat. Halima walked in and Angel started girl talk with her. Angel left the room (to go back to work?). I talked with Halima. I asked her how when she smiles all the time, what in her life is negative. She said I won't tell you, you're a writer, you'll print it in your blog, like the globe, you're a tabloid. She said she is learning from Donnell how to focus on the task at hand and tune out the negatives. I told her I censored my blog. I then said, aren't we friends? She said no, we haven't had lunch together or chicken wings at Takoma Station. DP walked in and put down his horn cases. Lorenzo walked in and basically had to stand do to the lack of space. Godfather walked in. I missed EU's entire second set sitting in the VIP room - you couldn't hear the music too loud when the door was shut, but when it was open, the music was really loud, it sounded louder than when I sat in the audience. EU finished at about 12:25 AM. The DJ said EU will be right back and then FF, DP deadpanned, "Oh no they won't or I'm going to go home and go to bed!"

Familiar Faces started at 12:57 AM.
First Set
1) Instrumental - Halima danced
2) Halima-led Faith Evans' Mesmerized
JuJu came by and asked what I was taking notes on - I told him the setlist. He said that no GoGo band ever plays the same set twice - I agreed with him. He said I should have come out to see Chuck Brown play with Parliament (actually Original P). I told him that I went to the show with EU, Ayre Rayde and Trouble Funk. He said he played drums for Chuck that night.
3) Mike-led Bobby Valentino's Slow Down
4) Mike-led Prince's Take Me With You
I saw Charlie, asked him if he filmed Myrtle Beach, he said yes, he would show me tomorrow night
5) Donnell-led Hold the Note
6) Donnell-led Miss Keta Will You Dance for Me - "Od ba ba ba"
7) Alternating Donnell-led 50 Cent's In Da Club (tease) - "Go Keisha, it's your birthday" / Public Enemy's Welcome to the Terrordome (tease)
9) Donnell-led "Why is ___ smiling, cause ___ ain't got no drawers!"
10) Alternating Donnell-led Trillville's Some Cut / Notorious BIG's Warning / Keith Murray's Call My Name (tease)
11) Donnell-led Rare Essence's What N*gga What?
12) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Uh Oh (Heads Up)
13) Donnell-led "If you have to believe in something, why not believe in me"
14) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Marinda
15) Percussion solo
16) Halima-led Minnie Riperton's Memory Lane
17) Donnell acapella Minnie Riperton's Memory Lane
They finished around 2:15, Donnell said, "Security is furious, they are late for their nap, they want their cookies and milk"

It was raining when we left.