Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, 1 Key Plaza, Cleveland, Ohio 44114
We walked in and went to the left where the ripped our tickets and gave us wristbands.
The end of the room had the stage they performed in. The hall is multiple floors, with escalators behind the stage. Some people watched the performance from the floors above.
While waiting for them to set up, they encouraged everyone to go downstairs. I talked with Tom Ellis, the curator of the Funk events going on at the Hall this month. I then went downstairs. Downstairs they had bathrooms, a coat check, and drinks. They had a cashier who took cash and exchanged for different colors of tickets depending on what kind of drink you wanted.
Then we went upstairs for the performance. I talked with Ro'chelle (Toosweet) and told her I was surprised she came.
Familiar Faces
DP, Stomp, Smoke, Jacques, Packy
Tom Ellis introduced them.
Lorenzo, Godfather, Stomp, Tom Ellis
1) Halima-led Pearls - initially it was only Halima (with the same red and black hair as she had for the New Year's shows, I hadn't seen it earlier today because she had her denim Rasta cap on), Lorenzo, Godfather, and Stomp performing
Lorenzo, Godfather, Stomp, Halima
Donnell said, "Cleveland, thank you for having us"
2) Mike-led Marvin Gaye's Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) / Percussion solo
Lorenzo, Godfather, Sean, Mike, Stomp
3) Donnell-led "Hey ay, Ho oh"
4) Sean-led Gerald Levert's Funny
Lorenzo, Godfather, Doc, Sean, Mike, Stomp
5) Donnell-led "___ Is in the House"
6) Donnell-led "When you walk in the door & you're going to GoGo. Say what?" - the crowd responded, "Hello"
7) Halima-led Faith Evans' Mesmerized - the lighting changed onstage, Halima jumped around
Halima said, "It's getting a little hot in here."
8) Halima-led Floetry's Supastar - Donnell held his mic to the crowd, the frontline, Doc, and Packy danced
9) Alternating Mike-led Prince's Take Me With You - Donnell held his mic for women in the crowd to sing first on the right side of the stage then the left, then DP held his mic to the women on the right / Prince's Sexy M.F.
Lorenzo, Donnell, Godfather, Sean, Doc, Mike, Dwayne, Stomp10) Donnell-led Hold the Note - a spotlight briefly came on facing the audience
11) Halima-led Mariah Carey's It's Like That / Percussion solo - it sounded like the music to Floetry's Supastar, Donnell did announcements
12) Mike-led Stevie Wonder's Tell Your Heart I Love You / Percussion solo - Donnell said, "What you say LJ, You want Smoke to wind it up? Wind it up, Smoke!", the crowd shouted, "GoGo Smoke-ay", Donnell chanted, "Eya eya" and the crowd responded, "Woo" repeatedly, Donnell said, "Y'all feel that?", Donnell did a birthday shout out to Keisha
13) Donnell & Halima-led Lil Kim's Lighters Up - blue spotlights came on the audience, Packy played a tambourine, the frontline (other than Halima), and Packy (who came up from behind the percussion) danced behind Halima
14) Alternating Donnell-led Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love (tease) / Rare Essence's Spotlight (tease)
15) Donnell-led Vinnie D's $55 Motel (tease) - different blue spotlights aimed at the fans
16) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Overnight Scenario (tease)
17) Mike & Donnell-led Rare Essence's Lock It - Smoke played the congas with drumsticks
18) Donnell & Halima-led It Is What It Is
19) Donnell-led "Unh, unh unh" - Sean sang
20) Sean-led Trey Songz' Gotta Go - Donnell held his mic to the fans, Donnell introduced Stomp / Stomp played a drum solo
Lorenzo, Godfather, Sean, Doc, Dwayne, Stomp, Mike, Packy, Jacques, Smoke, DP
Tom Ellis did the outtro
Godfather, Tom Ellis, Dwayne, Packy, Vincent
There were a few hundred fans in attendance. The performance cost $5 for the general public. It was a nice performance.
Tom Goldfogle, Chuck's manager and co-founder of Liaison, came onstage. It was the first we saw of Chuck's entourage.
We went downstairs again. Little Benny was down there.
Front: Simone, Nece, Sharika
Back: Darrell, Marvin, Tony
Pinky, Angie, RE Angie, and Kim - picture taken by and Copyright - Darrell Foster
Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers
The line up was different from the last time I saw them: Chuck Brown (lead vocals & guitar), Sweet Cherie (vocals & keyboard), Bryan Mills (saxophone & keyboard), young white trumpet player, young Black trombone (same as last time) & keyboard player, bass player, William "JuJu" House (drums), a young Black conga player. Little Benny later joined in on vocals and trumpet. I was surprised Kay Kay wasn't there.
Sweet Cherie let me know:
bass...Doug Crowley from suttle thoughts
bone..Mark.. howard univ grad student (my alma mater woohoo!!)
tpt.....Brad (Clements)...been with chuck for at least 5 yrs and is on the 930 dvd
perc...Foxxy Rob..been w/ chuck and eu for more than 10 years
Chuck Brown - picture taken by and Copyright - Darrell Foster
Sweet Cherie, Bryan, JuJu, Brad, Mark, Foxxy Rob, Chuck
Sweet Cherie, Bryan, Doug, Brad, JuJu, Mark, Chuck
Bryan, Doug, Brad, Mark, Foxxy Rob, Chuck, Little Benny's & Chuck's significant others
Bryan, Doug, Brad, Sweet Cherie, Chuck, Foxxy Rob, Little Benny
Mark, Bryan, Brad, Doug, JuJu, Sweet Cherie, Foxxy Rob
1) Chuck-led "Tell me what you feeling like doing y'all" - the crowd responded, "Feel like moving that body" / Hoochie Coochie Man
2) Chuck said, "What's up, Cleveland? What's up, DC?" - Chuck played grinding guitar riffs
Chuck thanked the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for inviting them. He said he traveled around back in the "Salt of the Earth" days
3) Chuck-led Wind Me Up, Chuck - Chuck said, "Give yourself a hand", Chuck said, "The first time I came to Cleveland I was driving a tractor trailer."
4) Chuck-led T-Bone Walker's Stormy Monday - nice horn solo
5) Chuck-led Duke Ellington's It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That GoGo Swing) - Chuck held his mic to the fans who said, "Doo wop doo wop doo wop doo", Sweet Cherie played a nice (and different) solo
6) Chuck-led Lionel Hampton's Midnight Sun
7) Chuck-led Moody's Mood for Love - the horns would move to the right, then left to the mic to play: it was synchronized
8) Chuck-led Louis Jordan's Woody Woodpecker - a woman approached me and asked me to take a picture of her and her friend, they later danced with me Chocoltchp said they are Nora and Shaun and that one of them (Shaun) is her older sister.
the crowd shouted, "Wind me up, Chuck!", Bryan Mills temporarily left the stage
9) Chuck-led Louis Jordan's Run Joe - the crowd sang along, Chuck held his mic to the fans, Chuck chanted something I couldn't make out
10) Chuck-led Slick Rick's La Di Da Di (tease)
11) Rare Essence instrumental (familiar, but don't remember the name of it) - keyboard driven
12) Chuck-led Rare Essence's Do You Know What Time It Is? - Chuck said, "Tick tock don't stop"
Sweet Cherie left her keyboard and took over on vocals (there was a towel on her mic which she took off to perform)
13) Sweet Cherie-led "1, 2, 3 Cleveland, what you want me to do?" - it was reminiscent of one of Kay Kay's raps
14) Sweet Cherie-led Jill Scott's It's Love? - Sweet Cherie held her mic to fans
15) Little Benny-led "Do you feel that?" - Chuck chanted "Eya eya" and the crowd responded "Woo"
16) Sweet Cherie-led Beyonce's Check on It
17) Little Benny-led "Work that sucker... Sweat..." - Sweet Cherie went back to her keyboard
18) Little Benny-led "Hey ay, Ho oh" - Little Benny held his mic to the crowd
19) Little Benny-led Rare Essence's Body Moves - Little Benny started it off by saying, "Hey ladies!", Little Benny said, "Work it overtime", Little Benny said, "Everybody in the club, hands up" and fans put their hands up, Little Benny said, "Hold up, wait a minute"
20) Little Benny-led Cat in the Hat
21) Little Benny-led Kanye West's Gold Digger - Chuck was on backup vocals
Chuck said, "Thank you Cleveland. Three more generations of you wonderful, beautiful people."
22) Chuck-led Bustin' Loose - Little Benny played trumpet (only song he did) and held his mic to the fans
Kimberly came up and said hello. She had driven up, which she told me she would do a few weeks ago at Zanzibar.
Chuck said, "Please drive carefully 'cause we love you so much. We need to learn to love each other." They seemed to be done, but Tom Ellis got them started again by chanting, "Chuck don't give a f*ck!" repeatedly
23) Chuck-led Chuck Don't Give a F*ck
24) Chuck-led 2001 Theme (actually the intro to Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra)
25) Little Benny acapella Wind Me up, Chuck - the crowd responded
Chuck said, "Thank you very much. God bless you."
Chuck said, "The first time I came to Cleveland I drove a tractor trailer. I never dreamed of playing here."
This was much tighter performance than the last time I saw them.
After the performance, Chuck and the members of Familiar Faces sat at tables facing the front door and signed autographs. CDs of Chuck and Familiar Faces were being sold. Some people had LP covers being autographed as well. Donnell sat to Mike's left and Tiffany G. to Mike's right. Donnell said to me, "Jordan, you've got to hear Tiffany's new nickname for Mike, this is priceless!" Tiffany G. finally repeated it, "Mike is the motherf*cking Hurricane!"
Closest to furthest: Stomp, Smoke, Lorenzo, Doc, DP, Halima
Toosweet, Donnell, Mike, Tiffany G.
Mike and Tiffany G. - the stage is in the background
All pictures taken by and Copyright - Jordan Rich (except as noted)
Posted by funkmasterj
at 12:01 AM EST
Updated: Saturday, 8 April 2006 4:14 AM EDT
