Thursday WKYS 93.9 Free Show
Union Temple Baptist Church parking lot, 1225 W ST SE, Washington, DC 20020

I arrived at about 5:40 PM. The WKYS people were setting up. Most of the crowd was young and a number of the people turned out to be performers. Packy was the first person I knew there; he rode over on his bike. He was impressed that I knew where Union Temple was. I told him they have a website. He said he wasn't surprised, since they are involved in so many community activities. I asked him if he lived nearby, he said he used to. He said he had biked over to the BBQ Battle show. He told me that Mike Smith had been stabbed on Saturday. He said he's okay however and might come to that show. I said first your brother, than him. He said, "It's not a good time for Rare Essence drummers." He said Donnell would be there shortly and there was an opening act. DJ Flava (aka GoGo Rudy) was the second person I knew there. They had Coke Zero for free for people. Some people were shooting hoops.

Antonio "The Cuban Cigar Smoker" called everyone up to the performance area, he was the MC for the evening.

The first act was singer named Angelo Redman (he was introduced only as Angelo, but on the free CDs they passed on it has his full name). They referred to his mix "tape" Checking In... (that's what they passed out).
He addressed the young people in the crowd, telling them to be aware and cautious of AIDS.
1) The song he sang addressed that issue - Live Life Introduced as his single
2) He performed with Whitie of Commission (the same guest rapper as with FF the night before) - Tonight - They referred to the Chocolate City Regulars (not sure who they are) and this night was the Block is Hot

The next group was a male vocal group - five singers called New Era - they were all high school age
1) I didn't recognize the first song
2) The Temptations' Since I Lost My Baby?
3) The Temptations' Ol' Man River
4) The Temptations' My Girl
Their last song they performed together with a 3 man rap group called Brothers Trilogy and four girl dancers called Isis (again all high school age)
5) ?
Antonio joked that he taught them how to sing

Familiar Faces closed the show
The line up was: Donnell, Doc (together they were the front line), Dwayne, Lorenzo, Stomp, Smoke, and Jacques

Tasty, Nita, Keta, RE Angie and Tracy (the regular who was around a lot last Summer) were there.

Antonio jokingly introduced them as being out of Crofton, with the drummer from Annapolis
Donnell referred to Tasty as Frankie Knuckles
Coke Zero tastes as bad as any other diet soda.
1) Donnell acapella Rare Essence's I'm Getting Ready
2) Donnell-led Brandywine Chant / "Where Y'all From"
3) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Geraldine
The crank started with
4) Donnell-led Ludacris' Number One Spot - he called up Whitie to sit in
5) Alternating Donnell-led Trillville's Some Cut - he said, "Brandywine, Simple City" / Notorious BIG's Warning - he self-censored it, changing "who the f*ck, to who the heck" / Keith Murray's Call My Name (tease) / "Wait a minute" echoes
Donnell kept telling Keta not to make him jealous by dancing with guys
6) Donnell-led "25, 25, 25..." he left out the word ass / Rare Essence's Work the Walls - some lines weren't familiar to me including "Fly like an eagle"
7) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Marinda
Donnell did a shout out to Slick Rick
8) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Lock It - he left out Mike's lines
Donnell referred to people coming from Barry Farms
9) Antonio sang Sam Cooke's Chain Gang, but sang it as "train gang" - he didn't perform it seriously and it was pretty awful
Donnell said Slick Rick doesnt' come out anymore
Ras Lidj arrived and came on stage
10) Donnell-led Common's The Corner - no sample - Ras and a male rapper I didn't recognize sat in Ras performed, "I'm from DC"
Val "Tina Turner" was there in her postal uniform. It was so hot that even wearing a hat, my head hurt from the heat.