Xcalibur Restaurant & Lounge, 2519 Pennsylvania Av NW, Washington, DC 20500
BJ, Pooh, Mike, Doc, Donnell, Dwayne
Earlier in the day before I arrived, I had looked up 911's archived old website: Home, Contact, Calendar, and Pictures and Pictures 2. I noticed Michelle was listed as the contact person.
Tonight I had the hardest time so far finding a parking spot. I had difficulty with a number of potential spots because an SUV was in front of the spot. I ended up getting lucky with the spot I got. I walked up and said, "Hey" to Doc, who was unloading and lucked into a spot directly in front of Xcalibur. I followed him in, then headed out again because I realized I forget my Dad's camera in the car. I also saw Tracy walking in. After getting it out of my car, I came back and sat down upstairs.
Donnell, Pooh, and Mike arrived and set up. I talked with Doc for a while. I asked him where he got his nickname - he said it is short for Little Dr. J. He was quite a good basketball player and had aspirations of playing in the NBA until he had an ankle sprain that made him afraid to jump. He said his uncle played in the NBA and was a teammate on the Philadelphia 76ers with Dr. J. He said different groups call him by different names, "Kenny", "Doc" and Junkyard even calls him "Kenny Doc". I asked him about the practice CDs mentioned at the rehearsal. He said that he has 4 rehearsal CDs. He said that with Physical Wunders, he didn't have rehearsal CDs for his band, they have to learn everything before their first gig or else. He said he is a harsh band leader, but has had no fights with band members. He tells his band members that he won't give them rides or things like that, "Since a regular boss wouldn't do that for you." Doc talked about how when he had that gig opening for 50 Cent, 50 Cent wouldn't play until he was paid in advance, in cash. Doc said that 50 Cent was paid $35,000 to perform five songs, while Physical Wunders was paid $4,500. Doc said that it was rare when Physical Wunders would play elsewhere that they would stay overnight - he even talked about driving a five hour drive home at 3 AM. He talked about missing the old days, where a number of GoGo groups would play on one bill as a real competition between them. He also said he missed the days where GoGo groups would play multiple shows in a single day. I pointed out to him that when I went to Mayo Island, Backyard played there and then at Club Neon later that night. He hadn't heard of Club Neon, I told him it was an underage venue. I also pointed out that Familiar Faces had done two shows in one night earlier in the Summer - Barry Farms and then Cranberries. He said that he was late to Barry Farms and that he ended up not playing at all, since they were already locked in the groove. I asked Doc what his day job was, he said he works at a Lexus dealership. I noticed at the cook out that he drives a Lexus and told him so. He said yes but he doesn't get much of a discount. I told him that Nephew works as a finance manager for a dealership. Doc asked me if I knew why he's called Nephew, I told him that he's Donnell's nephew. Nephew told Doc about his making the best bass players list. FF members made virtually every category: lead singer, backup singer, keyboards, roto-toms / timbales, PA engineer, and most importantly - overall band. Nephew mentioned how much the buzz on Familiar Faces had gone up recently.
Dwayne walked in later, but sat down without setting up. Apparently, the owner, Greg, discussed with Donnell whether or not Familiar Faces would perform. Dwayne was told not to set up yet. BJ walked in, Doc and Dwayne told him that it was uncertain if they would pay, he said he was called and told that. That's why he didn't have his keyboard with him, which was good because he was parked far away. After Greg and Donnell convened, they decided that Familiar Faces would perform. Dwayne went to set up and BJ walked back to his car.
Familiar Faces
Because Familiar Faces started so late, they ended up performing one long set. There was a lot of humor - Donnell aimed a couple of internal jokes at BJ. A friend of Mike's and Donnell's named Oda Ray said hello to them. Mike said, "Here's a friend I haven't seen in a thousand years." Donnell said that Oda Ray had gone to Duke Ellington with him. Oda Ray was celebrating his engagement to Sonja (spelling?) - Donnell said to her, "I've known him a long time, I'm sorry for you." Adia showed up - to buy some tickets for the boat ride from Donnell. FF did get her to sing a couple of songs before she left.
BJ, Pooh, Adia, Doc, Mike, Donnell (Dwayne is completely hidden behind Donnell)
All pictures taken by and Copyright - Jordan Rich (Note: Pictures artificially brightened by flash, it was darker than it appears.)
Later on, Mike sang an acapella duet with Juanita Radden, a woman in the audience. Around midnight, Donnell called out "Can we get a waitress down here?" Annie, the Scottish bartender came down. Donnell pointed her out to BJ, whom Donnell called "Our thinnest band member who's always hungry." Obviously BJ was concerned that the kitchen would close before they finished performing.
When they finished, a girl in the audience named Stephanie requested to sing. She sang acapella. She warmed up before singing a song, which she directed at the happy couple. After that, Oda Ray wanted to serenade his fiance. He talked with the band about which song, Donnell said, "Everybody knows that song", but BJ said, "Not everybody..." He ended up singing Bobby Caldwell's What You Won't Do for Love. Donnell said, "Are you serious man... wasn't that perfect. This my man, look here, me and him went to high school together, he was the bully in the high school. (Laughter from the audience). Duke Ellington, you know what was going on over at Duke Ellington." Mike interrupted, "There was no bullies at Duke Ellington." Donnell continued, "There wasn't a whole lot of straight dudes over there, me and Oda was two of them. I don't know how she (Sonja) wasn't crying, I was almost crying over here..." (in response to his singing). Donnell then sang the chorus to What You Won't Do for Love. Then he continued, "That was perfect man that was perfect." Someone (I think BJ) said they were trying to get Mike to sing it. Donnell said, "This is the funniest thing: Mike's been begging us to play that song and we act like we don't know it (look here for an example). Laughter from the audience. That's the funniest thing right there. We don't like Mike a whole lot, that's my man Oda Ray. Hey Ayre Rayde, yeah original Ayre Rayde..." He started singing Ayre Rayde's Welcome to the GoGo "Welcome to the GoGo, where it's all been happening, you can have a party or drink Bacardi and meet some brand new friends..." In response to the audience, he said, "Before that, yeah, Chance Band (I guess Oda was with Donnell in Chance Band). You all thought this was a fluke, right? Me and him go back since the playgrounds... What else did Ayre Rayde do? That's the only one I really like... (laughter from the audience) I'm a Rare Essence man, myself... That's the only one I really like. That's it everyone, August 28th, right? At least give me an invitation in the mail, do something... Congratulations! You cleaned him up, he was a mess. What was that, '82, did you even graduate?" Michelle next went up to the mic and started singing. Donnell said, "Something's wrong with you Michelle." She asked BJ, who was the only band member with his equipment still set up, to play something and he started to play Parliament's Flashlight. Donnell's response was "Please someone get Michelle out of here," which he said repeatedly. Oda left and Donnell said, "Congratulations". BJ started playing something, with Juanita singing along on the mic. She later sang acapella with Mike yelling out "Sexual Chocolate!". I told him that Huck-A-Bucks had done that on their Live PA disc of the album "You Betta' Move Somethin'!. This was the end to a unique performance filled with humor and guest appearances, I filmed some of them. Mike mentioned something about a disagreement with his sister where he said he would sing (Whodini's or Rare Essence's?) Freaks Come Out at Night at her wedding. Michelle talked with Mike about sometime singing track #10 My First Love from Anthony Hamilton (his album is entitled Comin From Where I'm From). Mike asked her, "Will you wear that dress? I will be distracted if you wear that dress." She replied, "Oh, then I won't wear it." He said, "No, I want you to wear that dress." He then went over to hug her, but she gave him in his words, "a grandma hug." He said, "Let me give you a man's hug." Then he started to dance with her - his dance was so wack I was going to film it, be she said, "He's got his camera out" and he stopped. We all sat down while the band waited to be paid.
I asked Michelle how long she's known the band. She said, "Since '1983 at the Coliseum." She said she had some great photos of Rare Essence at the time with BJ and Donnell having hilarious posed looks (there are some similar photos here). I told her I am interested in submitted photos, she can email it to me. I said that "I've seen some of the old pictures, even some of Donnell with hair." Donnell gave me a dirty look for that one. Here are some of those pictures (in fairness, he did still have hair in the bottom picture, from 2000 during the taping of Rare Essence's "Doin' It Old School Style".
Michelle then told a story about BJ at Eastside. BJ (according to her) had been squirted in the face by a girl in the audience, so he played the keyboard with his eyes seemingly all the way shut. He insisted that she was exaggerating. (There are more details of this story that I can't print here).
Somehow the subject of being bored came up and Michelle said, "Nothing is worse than two old hags (her and her friend Nita, sitting right by her) sitting in the Safeway parking lot, conversating". Dwayne talked with Juanita about my blog and my thesis project and told her that "I remember and write everything that is said." I said, "Not everything", but he insisted "Everything." I told her about my project and she asked where I go to school, I said UNC, but that I'm from this area, born at GWU hospital, right by here (Xcalibur).
Donnell talked about going to see Sean Mays box in a match in Ohio at a resort (some of my friends went to a resort there that is supposed to have the largest rollercoaster, maybe it is the same resort). He said the flight would be real cheep $145. This led to a discussion of airlines. Pooh mentioned a new airline call Song. Michelle said she wouldn't trust a new airline. I pointed out that a number of airlines change their names when they have a reputation for crashing. Pooh talked about an incredibly cramped flight he was on with Air Tran. I told him that it was the new name for ValuJet, which had a very well know crash in Florida. Donnell asked whether there was really a difference in the likelihood of crashing from one airline to the next. I said that there are differences in terms of the age of the planes and better maintenance.
I asked Michelle if the birthday party two weeks ago here was for her mother. She said yes. I talked about her singing, lip-syncing followed by her riffing to 50 Cent's In Da Club - I pointed out her voice was scratchy. She motioned to get up and come after me then said, "You were bobbing your head to it."
Donnell talked about how Familiar Faces would be playing at St. Augustine in (Raleigh), NC in October. I said I should be able to go to that show. Michelle said that Familiar Faces should do something special for her birthday on September 23rd. Michelle asked Donnell if they would be going to King's Dominion again this October. She said last year's was good, it wasn't too cold. She said I should go to that. She also said that she wouldn't fall for "Foolio" (referring to Donnell) taking her on all of the roller coasters again.
The subject of dating came up. Donnell said that he would only date someone 30 and up that he's had problems dating girls in their 20s. I pointed out the conversation he had had with Jauhar on Sunday, where Jauhar said both of them were dating girls in their 20s. Michelle asked me if I was married, I said, "No, and I don't have a girlfriend either." I said that I was mostly pursuing undergrad girls at UNC, aged 19-21. Michelle said, "what about (dating) me?" I declined, as I am more interested in dating someone who is going to be around UNC. I pointed out how Donnell said that dating Michelle "Is like Finding Nemo. You ended up being with her for four years." Donnell responded, "At least four years." He said that Michelle needed to change her thinking and do one-night stands. He said she needed to "Do the Overnight Scenario".
This ended up being their last performance at Xcalibur.
Posted by funkmasterj
at 12:01 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, 26 December 2005 8:00 PM EST
