Celebration of 1-Year Anniversary at Takoma Station
Takoma Station, 6914 4th St NW, Washington, DC 20012

Michon (she must really be fan since Jacques wasn't here, she must not just be at FF shows to "stand by her man"), Candy, Tamara, Tim (LJ), and Darrell were there. Sharika, a friend of Tamara's whom I first met on May 18th, said hello and we introduced ourselves to each other.

There was a light-skinned woman with freckles who sicked her mom on Donnell; she smiled a big smile as her mom talked with him.

Sharika asked me to give her my seat. Godfather said, "I see you were a gentleman."

Familiar Faces
First Set
Jacques wasn't present tonight.
Donnell said, "There's a legend in the house, Hollywood Breeze. Grandpa, what's up?"
1) Instrumental - YC sat in on the flute
2) Halima-led Erykah Badu's Didn't Cha Know - Halima and YC foiled off each other, and thanked each other at the end
3) Halima-led Rodgers & Hart's My Funny Valentine - Donnell played with her hair during the appropriate part of the song, she also played with her hair, it was a great performance
Mike said, "Halima is stronger than she looks."
Mike gave a speech about being a pioneer twenty-some years. He said men need to take more time, show their love, show that they can't breathe without their woman.
4) Mike-led O'Bryan's Lady I Love You
Mara was there.
Mike made another speech: "I was sixteen, done by my idol. I was skinny back then, a little crazy too. I didn't know that God would still bless me with the ability to do this. I thank him everyday. I'm thirty-nine, not sixty-nine. I thank my co-workers at Verizon too (they yelled), for making my work day better."
5) Mike-led Prince's Purple Rain - Mike had really nice vocal solos, Dwayne as had nice solos, with Doc putting the punctuation on the end
Donnie Ray walked in and Adia shortly afterward.
7) Halima-led Erykah Badu's Cleva
Donnell thanked Tracy, me, and others "who had been here the whole way".
Roosevelt was there.
8) Mike-led Stevie Wonder's Superstition

Angie and Tracy arrived; I told Angie she had missed Mike's nice performance of Purple Rain.

I asked YC his name.

Tom Ellis came in with his girlfriend - I told him I had meant to call him, but he said he was out of town.

Darrin Jackson of Largo District Records, with whom I had exchanged emails, introduced himself to me.

I asked BJ who he had performed with last week, he said Ledisi at the Capital Jazz Fest.

I chased down YC, who walked and talked with Godfather. He said he had arranged a GoGo version of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.

Adia, Doc, Dwayne, Packy, RE Angie and Stomp talked outside. Doc talked with Adia about Exquisite. I said I didn't think he went to other GoGos, he said no, he just doesn't like to go as a group. Adia asked Packy about his girl, she described her in great detail (including saying she looks like RE Angie, which RE Angie denied) but he didn't know who she was talking about for a while. Finally he said, "She's not my girlfriend." We talked about DC - Rory Felton.

Second Set
1) Halima-led Fantasia's Free Yourself
2) Halima-led Faith Evans' Mesmerized
3) Mike-led Marvin Gaye's I Want You
4) Donnell-led "Hey ay, Ho oh"
5) Halima-led Faith Evans' Again
6) 6 Minutes percussion solo
7) Mike-led Bobby Valentino's Slow Down
8) Mike-led John Legend's Used to Love U
9) Donnell-led Ludacris' Number One Spot
10) Alternating Donnell-led Trillville's Some Cut - Donnell said "Yes, Yeah" as a transition / Notorious BIG's Warning / Keith Murray's Call My Name (tease) (baby, baby) / "Wait a minute" chant repeatedly
11) Donnell rapped
12) Percussion solo - Donnell chanted, "Wait a minute"
Donnell joked about the lack of air conditioning - joking as if they preferred it that way
13) Donnell-led DIP with rap
14) Mike-led Prince's Take Me With You
15) Donnell-led Sly & the Family Stone's Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) - Donnell said, "uhh yeah", very laid back
16) Percussion solo
Donnell announced that they would be playing twice on Saturday - first at Venus Hall for the Tyson After-Fight Party with L!ssen, and After Hours Band, then their usual Tradewinds show.
Mike Smith was there, he waved to me
17) The percussion section started playing again
Donnell said, "They are trying to take over, like Blake Arrington. They want to work for Luther's janitorial service"
Halima came over to me and said, "I'm sick", but smiled.
18) Donnell acapella Minnie Riperton's Memory Lane

Donnell said, "It's warm for seat pleasant and Maryland dudes", he also talked about it not being too warm for other neighborhoods.

I told Dwayne and Doc about how Dawn Silva will be performing with the Family Stone Funk Experience, 7/15/05 Ramshead Tavern (2 shows this night) Annapolis, MD