Takoma Station, 6914 4th St NW, Washington, DC 20012
Bryan Mills had asked me to come out when I saw him on Labor Day, and when I heard Adia was moving out of the area soon, I decided to come see Soulsponge tonight.
Soulsponge
The line up was: Derek Holmes (singer), Adia Doores (singer), Anthony "Little Benny" Harley (talker, second set only), Blazin' Bryan Mills (Sax, and keyboards), Karlston "Ice" Ross (bass), Taylor Pace (keyboard player), Brad Clements (trumpet, first set only, he plays with Chuck together with Bryan), Kenny "Kwik" (drums), and Mark Hollingsworth (percussionist).
First Set
Taylor, Ice, Bryan
Kwik, Bryan, Brad, Mark
Taylor, Derek, Ice, Adia, Brad
Bryan said they're called Soulsponge because they "soak you up like a sponge"
1) Instrumental (a cover, familiar jazz song)
2) Instrumental (a cover, also familiar) - Bryan introduced it by saying, "I love this song. If I could sing, I would sing it to my sweetie.", Bryan did shout outs to Big Mo and me
3) Ne-Yo's Sexy Love (instrumental) - Adia came over and said hello, Bryan talked about being late on Ne-Yo, a friend of his introduced him to Ne-Yo's music and he's grateful
4) Instrumental (a cover of Wham!) - Bryan offered a free drink to the first girl who could identify it, he said it takes you back to high school dances. He ended up identifying it as by Wham!
5) Derek-led Sugababes' Round Round
6) Adia-led "All night long, shake up, been so long"
7) Derek-led "Forget about the past, those things don't matter, I ain't find a job" / Earth, Wind & Fire's You Can't Hide Love (tease)
Bryan said, "This is our version of Mary J. Blige's My Life"
8) Roy Ayers' Everybody Loves the Sunshine (instrumental)
9) Derek-led Ne-Yo's When You're Mad - Derek walked around the dance floor
10) Adia-led Erykah Badu's Cleva
11) Derek-led "Give it up, whenever, tell me, I feel like, oh baby, she calls" - Derek said, "Guitar solo on the keyboard, I had to turn around because I didn't see a guitar when I came in"
12) Adia-led "Woke up this morning" - very stylized singing
13) Instrumental
It was nice to hear the horns being used as lyrical instruments rather than primarily for hits.
Brad left during the break.
Bryan told people in the audience to get a copy of the free CDs before they left from Smoke, the promoter. They were 2 CD PAs from the prior week's performance at Takoma Station - the setlist was similar, they were good.
I talked with Bryan about my friend George Darden who talks about him a lot. He said George has known him since he was a baby, George went to high school with Bryan's brother Rico. George told me Rico is still his best friend.
I talked with Adia, Kwik, Adia's friend Ayisha (spelling?), and the security guard about Heaven Sent, Rare Essence, What? Band, and Adia's move.
Second Set
Derek, Bryan, Mark, Smoke
Adia, Ice, Derek, Kwik, Bryan, Little Benny
Bryan, Little Benny, Daneze, Mark, Smoke Ayisha is sitting at the table on the right
All pictures taken by and Copyright - Jordan A Rich
1) Adia-led ? - conga crank -->
2) Derek-led "you really... bad (or mad) love... make me" - Smoke played the cowbell, it cranked, Little Benny walked in: he was amused to see me for a second night in a row
3) Derek-led Prince's Pop Life - Little Benny joined in, he macked on Ayisha the entire set, Derek walked around the dance floor
4) Derek-led Ne-Yo's So Sick - Daneze (spelling?) took over in the middle -->
5) Adia-led Mary J. Blige's Enough Cryin' - smoke played the cowbell, it cranked
6) Little Benny-led "Big or tall... work that beat"
7) Derek-led "got to see... fantasy... drink" - Derek sang on the dance floor, GoGo Mickey was there, Little Benny said, "Mickey's in the house y'all"
8) Derek-led NORE's I'm a G - the house lights came on
Sean of Familiar Faces & ASAP was there.
9) Little Benny-led Young Joc's It's Going Down - I filmed it, Little Benny got GoGo Mickey to sit in on congas / Conga solo - it cranked
10) Derek-led Rare Essence's Lock It - I filmed it
11) Instrumental (cover) - I filmed it
It's a shame the audience was small, the music was good.
Someone was playing the congas still when I walked out and drove by.
