Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private location

Familiar Faces
When I arrived, I didn't see Donnell's car, but I did see Godfather's. I went inside, but the inner door was locked. After I tried to open it, someone I didn't recognize let me in. He was part of the studio crowd.

Doc and Godfather were already in the rehearsal area. They were working on a couple of songs I didn't recognize. In hindsight, I believe one was Alicia Keys' Unbreakable.

I told them that I had never seen Familiar Faces work a crowd like they did on Sunday night.

Jacques walked in and he also talked about Sunday's show. He said that Sixx had said that until that night, he never thought anyone could outcrank Rare Essence.

Donnell and Dwayne were the next to arrive.

Dwayne said something about how good MVP was. I asked, "Then how come they aren't playing anymore?" He said sa band doesn't have to be playing to be...

Over time Jauhar, Duane Face, Stomp & Omar, Mike Muse, DP, and Lorenzo arrived.

Donnell pulled out his new portable horn mic set up. Dwayne said, "Don't leave the stage!"

Doc talked with Dwayne about buying a portable mic set up for his bass.

They had a heated discussion about what music is appropriate for the audience they are going for.

They discussed Halima's range, dropping songs that are too low that she had first sung when she replaced Adia: Erykah Badu's Danger, Alicia keys' Diary (Donnell called it Secrets). They said Jill Scott's A Long Walk was barely in her range.

They also talked about her drinking tea during performances, that if she's going to do it, they should incorporate it into her act like Erykah Badu: put some style into it.

Donnell talked about how he was inspired by the Anthony Hamilton live DVD (Comin' From Where I'm From, Live & More). He said that he lead off Since I Seen't You with an intro - "holding a note". He wanted them to have the same kind of thing. Godfather said, you mean "interludes and preludes". Donnell asked if Mike had watched it. He said, "My kids peed on it." Donnell said, "Wipe the piss off and give it back to me." They came up with one initially also to use with Anthony Hamilton's Since I Seen't You. Lorenzo led the composing, but Donnell said that intentionally he didn't want to be something completely scripted. Doc said to Lorenzo, you stole that, I know exactly where you got it from. I later called him on it; he talked about it being similar to something on Gratitude (I assume he means the Earth, Wind & Fire album). Stomp and Donnell said that it was like church. Godfather kept referring to Lorenzo as "the tall man." Donnell asked something about it to Lorenzo. He talked about the tonal center. Donnell said he wasn't afraid to ask questions. Stomp hit the cymbal suddenly and Mike laughed because Duane Face was startled. Donnell talked about how the trumpet is a dominant voice, so it is important to keep that in mind in composing DP's part. He had them change a note that he would play on the sax because it was too close to DP's note. Stomp said, "If you can't play the trumpet and read the music (of course they had no sheet music), learn to play the trombone." Everyone laughed. I talked about the trombone group Bonerama. They talked about how they could use this prelude for songs that started with a downbeat including I Want You. Mark played something as part of it that made Mike say, "That sounds like Count Dracula." I talked about how Blacula had played the organ in the movie Blacula.

Mike Muse talked with me about Whitney Houston and Vanessa Williams, how they both said, "Kiss my ass!" I said that the In Living Color skit changing Vanessa Williams' Save the Best for Last into "You Can All Kiss My Ass" was one of my favorite Living Color skits.

They talked about what went right at the Fur show. They talked about what Halima had done; Dwayne said she had changed the game and made the other female vocalists cry. They said that they were all on the same page from the very start. Dwayne talked about "Using all their weapons" and "bringing everything they've got." They discussed listening to the recording of the Fur to see if it can provide any more insights on what to do in the future.