Martin Luther King Jr. & Godfather's Birthday Celebrations
Baystreet Nightclub, Best Western Capital Beltway, 5910 Princess Garden Pwy, Lanham, MD 20706

Some of the Tradewinds security staff was working this show, in addition to Tony and Patrick. Nicole was taking covers.

Mike Smith and Vonshawn were there.

I joked with Packy that Halima no longer had the biggest hair because of Sweet Cherie's big hair. He said she had the Ludacris-style hair.

DJ Flava (aka GoGo Rudy), Pinky and Sanisse were there.

EU
Their line up was: Sugar Bear (vocals & bass), Junie (vocals), Donny Ray (vocals), Sweet Cherie (vocals & keyboard), Duane Face (keyboard), a guitar player, JuJu (drummer), two conga players (Derek and another), and a cowbell/timbales player
Sugar Bear said, "Little Mike in the house, always a pleasure"
1) Instrumental - it sounded familiar, but it may just have been grooving
June and L-Boogie were there.
2) Junie-led laid back tune, I couldn't really make out the vocals
Cindy, Kiki, Mama Chelle, TT, and March were there.
Sugar Bear wished Martin Luther King (Jr.) a happy birthday.
3) Donny Ray-led Anthony Hamilton's Charlene? "Sitting waiting to come home again" - Sweet Cherie sang background
Yolanda and Mia were there.
4) Junie-led "I'll take you out tonight"
5) Sugar Bear-led "You're looking sexy, Yes indeed, Hold up, wait a minute" - the crank started
6) Alternating Donny Ray-led Young Jeezy's Soul Survivor - I noticed the other conga player playing / Donny Ray said, "I need to sing my favorite song", he had a Redskins towel / Hail to the Redskins - performed slowly with each word emphasized
7) Sugar Bear-led "When are we going to get to the good part?"
8) Sweet Cherie & Donny Ray-led Lil Kim's Lighters Up
Donny Ray said, "Where's Little Benny at?"
9) Donny Ray rapped - freestyling? / Sugar Bear-led "You know why"
Shonda and Shauny were there.
10) Sugar Bear & Donny Ray-led "It's your heart, you walk on by, you ride with... Let your hair down" - there were red and green spotlights aimed onstage
11) Sugar Bear-led Kanye West's Gold Digger
12) Donny Ray-led "It's funny how the time flies when you're having fun"
13) Sugar Bear-led Freak a Deak All Night Long - Kiki was doing the Happy Feet
14) Sugar Bear-led Cops Theme "Girls are Bad" - the music changed after a bit closer to the actual song with a different Reggae feel / "Pop the Coochie" / Ludacris' Number One Spot
Shawn was there.
Sugar Bear said, "Where are all the real Redskins fans?"
15) Sugar Bear-led OutKast's The Way You Move (tease)
Junie said, "There's a lot of sexy ladies in the house. We have our own rendition, Sugar Bear sings"
16) Sugar Bear-led "Sexy lady"
17) Sugar Bear-led "Get your freak on"

Shameika, Lashonda, and Nikiya were there.

Familiar Faces
First Set
The line up was: Halima (first two songs only), James, Little Benny (vocals & trumpet), Donnell, DP, DC (vocals & cowbell), Doc, Dwayne, Godfather, Lorenzo, Stomp, Smoke, and Jacques
1) Halima-led Sade's Pearls
Dave was there.
2) Donnell & Halima-led (Sade's) Cherish the Day
3) Alternating Donnell-led Tom Tom Club (tease) / Rare Essence's Spotlight (tease) - Little Benny joined in / Little Benny-led Get on the Wagon (tease)
Rah was there.
4) Little Benny-led Rare Essence's Roll Call - Rootie Baltimore sat in on Lorenzo's keyboards
5) Little Benny-led Rare Essence's One on One (Footz version) - end of Rootie sitting in
5) Little Benny chanted "Y'all feel alright now?"
6) Little Benny-led "Hey ay, Ho oh" - the crowd responded
7) Little Benny-led Rare Essence's Doing the Do - the crowd called out lines / Stevie Wonder's Do I Do (tease) - Donny Ray went onstage
8) Little Benny chanted, "Where you going to go?" - the crowd responded, "Take Me out to the Go-Go" / Rare Essence's Take Me Out to the Go-Go - Donnell said, "I don't care what (Rare Essence) song it is, Godfather made it up, it's his birthday, sing it to him."
Candal was there.
9) Little Benny chanted, "Feel aright? Hey yeah, Make noise DC, Party people, let me hear you scream, Want some more? If you're twenty-five and older, put your hands up"
10) Little Benny-led Rare Essence's Body Moves
11) Little Benny-led Rare Essence's Lock It - Donnell said, "He made up all this sh*t, don't let anybody lie to you", Donnell said, "Godfather, what you say? You ready?"
Sugar Bear went onstage. Donnell said, "Don't give him a microphone Benny; it's a Rare Essence reunion."
Tiffany S. was there.
12) Sugar Bear-led medley - "Turn it up" / "Do it for the fellas/D-Floyd/Sugar Bear, Oh my God!" / Nelly's Flap Your Wings (tease) "Drop down, get your Eagle on" / "Are the Redskins the real deal? Better than the Dallas Cowboys? Better than the New York Giants?"
Donnell talked about when he joined Rare Essence, "Little Benny wouldn't let me onstage until I knew all the steps. Godfather was there at the audition."
Donnell said Sugar Bear is the best (most successful) in GoGo.
Donnell said, "DC is the Fred Astaire of GoGo"
13) Rare Essence's Roll Call (reprise) - instrumental, Halima went on the dance floor to watch the steps
The lights made a visual effect during the set as if the back wall were moving.
Donnell said, "That's when the sh*t was real; you couldn't steal some song off the radio. You had to do an original. Club LeBaron, Palmer Park."
Donnell said, "The bar closes at 2 (AM) for all the alcoholics."
Donnell said, "If you see Godfather, say happy birthday!"
Junior was there.

I joked to Godfather, "Happy 50th birthday!" He said, "Damn Jordan, you put it out there."

Second Set
The line up was: Sean (Kal'el), Halima, James, Donnell, DP, Doc, Dwayne, Godfather, Lorenzo, Stomp, Smoke, and Jacques
Donnell said, "Youngsters, I hope I didn't offend you (by playing old school music)." Donnell talked about Godfather being in the business for thirty-five years, "Some of you aren't thirty-five" (I'm not).
1) Sean-led Jamie Foxx's Unpredictable
2) Donnell-led "Hey ay, Ho oh" - the crowd responded
3) They started to perform the music to Faith Evans' Mesmerized - Donnell said, "We're going to get the new school going." / Percussion solo / Donnell-led "___ Is in the House" / Halima-led Faith Evans' Mesmerized
6'9, "original" Nikki, and Ebony were there.
4) Donnell & Halima-led Prince's Take Me With You
5) Alternating Donnell-led Hold the Note - The crowd shouted, "Wind me up, Smoke" and Donnell responded, "Do what? Say what?", Donnell chanted, "Eya, eya" and the crowd responded, "Ho" / Sade's No Ordinary Love (tease) - altered lyrics
6) Alternating Donnell-led Trillville's Some Cut / Notorious BIG's Warning / Keith Murray's Call My Name (tease)
7) Halima-led Mariah Carey's It's Like That
8) Donnell-led NORE's I'm a G - Duane Face sat in on Godfather's keyboard
End of Duane Face sitting in
9) Donnell & Halima-led Lil Kim's Lighters Up
10) Donnell-led Trina Was Great- really cranked
I danced most of the set with Cindy.
Nita and Mara were there.
11) Donnell & Halima-led It Is What It Is - the house lights came on
12) Halima-led Mary J. Blige's Be Without You
13) Stomp played some samples

I didn't circulate as much as I normally do at shows, so there probably were a lot more people there that I know than I have mentioned.