Tuesday with Whop-N-Em
Takoma Station, 6914 4th St NW, Washington, DC 20012

I decided to check out Whop-N-Em before I left for North Carolina. I had heard good things about them, and like their single Sunglasses. I was in for a disappointment, even though I knew ahead of time that it was not GoGo. Before they started performing, Whop played around on the steel drum. There was a new drummer filling in for Ricky Wellman - in hindsight I think he was Jammin' Jeff Warren. There were two keyboard players (one with two keyboards), the drummer, a guitar player (or bass, can't tell the difference visually), two percussionists (the front one had chimes and a cymbal which was different - in hindsight I think he was Jacques Vaughn), and Whop (on vocals and Sax), Tony Blunt, P.O.P. and Tony Sharpe. Tony Blunt went out of his way to say, "This is not GoGo." The vocals were not bad, especially the harmony between Tony Sharpe and Whop. Whop, Tony Blunt, and P.O.P walked around, both in the area that is the dance floor when FF performs and side to side. The problem was that the band would play the same few grooves over and over. There wasn't really any noticeable synchronicity between the vocals and the music. The best playing was by Whop on Sax, because he soloed. It was interesting that Whop & Tony Blunt visually made flapping motions when singing about flying. I made a commitment to stay for the whole first set. The closing song, the highlight to me, was the Temptations' Papa was a Rolling Stone. I was simply too bored to be willing to stay any longer.