Wednesday at Takoma Station: Last Entry for the Summer
Takoma Station, 6914 4th St NW, Washington, DC 20012


Doc, Mike, Pooh, Donnell, Godfather, Donny Ray


Bojack, Mike, Doc, Unidentified Fan, Stinky Dink, Pooh, Unidentified Fan, Donnell (behind two Unidentified Fans)


Michelle's Store
All pictures taken by and Copyright - Jordan Rich

This is my last entry for the Summer. I drove down to North Carolina the day after the show. I arrived early as I was going to interview Michelle. We had not set a specific time to meet, and as my ISP was down, I could not contact her to do so. Packy pointed out a couple of guests to me: Calvin from Physical Wunders and Darrell (spelling?) from Ayre Rayde. I talked with Doc; he told me that he had heard Adia on the radio for the DC auditions for American Idol. She had told me about them earlier, but didn't want the band to know about it, so I was surprised. I talked with her about it; she said it was a miserable experience. She did say there was a lot of networking going on. I asked her how she compared herself with other GoGo female vocalists, she said that she didn't she just did her own thing.

Familiar Faces
The line up for the first set was: Mike, Adia, Donnell, DP, Dwayne, Doc, Godfather, BJ, Pooh, and Packy. Dwayne had some of the nicest playing I've heard from him. I missed portions of the set in order to talk with Michelle. We ended up conducting the interview in her soon to be opening clothing store, which is in the back of the barbershop at 6908, a few doors down from Takoma Station. Her clothing line is TWIRK - it is an acronym: True Wisdom Involves Real Knowledge. She was apprehensive about her interview appearing on BET or some other TV channel.

The transcript of the interview is below:

JR: Other than entertainment, what purpose does GoGo have?

MH: I mean people a have love for music, so I means it's soothing to me. It's been around for years, it's kind of like, how can I put it... other than entertainment? (We took a break while she gathered her thoughts.) It's become I don?t want to say a way of life, but it's like, like some people have a shoe fetish, some people you know like Jazz, some people... I just love GoGo. And people that come out to see GoGo, they really have, they just love the music, they love the music. The community in the Washington DC area is just like GoGoed out. They love GoGo music. We don't look at it just like entertainment. That's almost saying going to the movies or going to a play, that's more like entertainment. But with GoGo, it's almost like a way of life for the Black community; you know what I'm saying, not only for Blacks. But it's been around so many years so I don't look at it as entertainment personally.

JR: What is it about GoGo that makes it so popular?

MH: It's the music, the beats, you know, the percussions, things like that that just, I don't know it just do something to you. I'm sure you can relate from just being here. You know, it's like it gets you in the mood you know and you find yourself bobbing and you might get up? and it just it's the percussions, like the Congos, and the drums, I mean with Familiar Faces it's like the band as a whole 'cause you got BJ on the keyboards, and you got the frontline and you know Donnell's like the "king of crunk", he hypes the party. You know so it's a combination, it's just not like one thing, I mean the percussion is this "boop bop bid da" you hear all that, but for me it's like the whole band itself.

JR: How do you feel about the fact that it is primarily a local phenomenon?

MH: I don't, I don?t agree with that I think it should be taken other places, I mean outside of the District of Columbia, I mean all over the world basically. 'Cause I mean a lot of people don't know of it, they hear about GoGo, but they haven't really heard GoGo, so they just go by what they hear. But when we go, like we went to New York, the people went crazy in New York, they loved it. So I think we can get everybody to like GoGo once they hear it, I mean seeing it live anyway. You can hear it on the radio, but it's nothing like being at a live performance seeing the energy you know, so I think it should be all over the world not just limited to the District of Columbia myself. I think we should be on the Grammies and all that. We should be getting Grammies too, not just rappers and all that, they should have GoGo you know.

JR: Mm hmm.

MH: So you know, one day maybe.

JR: Do you think a group of musicians from outside the DC area could create a GoGo band that would be considered authentic in the area?

MH: Authentic. From outside the area, no. And I only say that because the majority of GoGo comes from DC, the DC area, I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's like we have original GoGo like Rare Essence, you know Trouble Funk, EU, bands like that that's been around since I was a child. You know so they're like original GoGo. But coming from like Atlanta, down South, trying to start a GoGo band, we wouldn't consider that original. 'Cause I mean you can hear the difference, you know it's like, not taking nothing away from them, but you can hear the different, what is the word I am trying to think of, the accent. I mean I don?t think they can do it like we can do it. Not taking nothing away from them, but it ain't nothing like the District of Columbia, that's real.

JR: What do you think about the way PA Tapes are presently sold?

MH: Well, I'm not really familiar with how they're sold to be honest because I don't buy 'em. I mean usually I get a copy of a tape from a band member or something, but I don't buy 'em.

JR: Well the way they are right now is either the band or the venue typically will sell a copy to say PA Palace.

MH: Okay.

JR: All the money they get is just that money from the sales price; there are no royalties or anything like that. And actually there are a number of vendors out there where the probability is that say they bought a copy from PA Palace then they copy it, and they've never paid for it?

MH: Right.

JR: and then they sell it themselves.

MH: I don't think that's fair, you know what I'm saying, to me that's considered illegal, you know you're stealing someone else's music and selling it for your own profit. You know so, and it's definitely not benefiting the band, so I don't agree with that at all. I mean that's not good.

JR: How often should a GoGo band release a commercial album?

MH: A commercial album? I would say at least every six months maybe, because one album? Prime example, EU with Da Butt, that is old, but people love it, I mean we still love it; they play it all over the world. I guess it all depends 'cause with Familiar Faces before they were Familiar Faces they were 911. They have a CD they did like at the Tradewinds with the Rapper's birthday that's off the hook and it's like I'll never get tired of hearing it. So I mean it all depends on what you like, but I think every six months maybe you know give 'em something you know keep 'em coming, keep 'em coming...

JR: How do you define GoGo?

MH: I define GoGo as just like the sound of the city. You know like I said with the percussions, and it's more like a... for me it's relaxing. You know it gets my energy going and at the end of the night I'm just like, man that was cranking, you know I'm just a little excited about it you know I'm looking forward to the next performance. It's more like an inner city groove type thing.

JR: Do you think that all music that's performed by GoGo bands is GoGo?

MH: Well, yes and no. I can say yes 'cause we can play a song like Anita Baker for example where we'll have the percussion background, something that's not in her original song. So it adds a little GoGo twist to it. So to me it?s considered GoGo, but it's just like let's say Jazz with a GoGo twist to it. Because I don't want to take away from the artist, but when it comes from a GoGo band, to me it's GoGo. Regardless of what they're playing, it's considered GoGo to me. With Jazz it's still GoGo Jazz to me if that makes sense.

JR: Mm hmm. Do you think GoGo only be dance music?

MH: No. No, because some of the music that's played in the GoGo, like with Familiar Faces again you can sit down and like bob your head you don?t even have to get up and dance, you can just sit there and bob your head a little bit and relax to it. So no I don't feel like everything they play has to be danced to.

JR: What instrumentation do you think a GoGo band should have at a minimum?

MH: Definitely the percussions, the drums, you know I would say the Congos.

JR: What do you think of some groups not having Congas?

MH: Not having Congos?

JR: Or barely, yeah?

MH: I haven't really heard any without Congos or the percussions...

JR: TCB tends to play their opening song with congas and then not at all the rest of the night.

MH: Really? Well I?ve never seen them perform. They performed for like maybe five minutes down at the Mad Chef at that?s like the first time I?ve ever seen them perform.

JR: They perform for the kiddie cabaret (actually all ages GoGos, but some people call those kiddie cabarets, while other people only use the term kiddie cabaret only to refer to places where adults can take their children with them) crowd.

MH: Did you consider that a performance for the kiddie cabaret crowd?

JR: No, no, no. I'm saying they play for teenagers? is their primary audience. They don?t play for... at twenty-one and over clubs.

MH: I'm surprised that you say they don?t have Congos. Do they have roto-toms?

JR: Yeah, they play on roto-toms and timbales.

MH: Okay, well roto-toms for the younger generation is like the thing. That?s what gets 'em going I don't know if you've heard of beat your feet and all that, but that gets 'em going. Whereas an older band like Familiar Faces, or EU, or can't say... well Rare Essence too? We're older now and that beat box thing is not a big deal anymore like it used to be when we younger. I mean not to me anyway.

JR: What do you see as the future of GoGo?

MH: The future of GoGo? I see us on the Grammies... (Laughing) on the Grammy slots hopefully. I mean I think GoGo should definitely be put on the map other than just the District of Columbia it should be all over the world. When they have Grammies it shouldn't be limited to rap, and pop, and Jazz and things like that, GoGo should definitely be on that ballot.

JR: What do you think has to be done for the tradition of GoGo to be maintained?

MH: That's a good question. I can't... it's like I can't really answer that because I mean a lot of people blame... like violence for example... they tend to blame violence on GoGo. You know blame GoGo... am I saying that right? They're blaming the violence on GoGo, yeah. Where somebody might be killed at a venue where GoGo band's performing at so they blame the band, when actuality it's not the band it could have been a beef that started months ago in somebody's turf over Southeast and they brought it to that venue. You know so I mean it's really hard to say right now. God willing, we will be around forever, but you know we all got to go one time or another.

JR: Mm hmm. I've heard about the chauvinistic attitude towards female GoGo musicians in the past, how do you think it is that they now have a trend of most bands have a female singer?

MH: Really, I've never heard that before. A majority of the bands that I've seen always has had a female singer, so...

JR: Yeah, there's... I've read some interviews of like members of Pleasure who talked about how that they trouble finding people who were willing to train them to play their instruments because they were like well GoGo's a guy thing.

MH: I don't agree that GoGo's a guy thing because Pleasure's a prime example, they was doing it back then you know. Unfortunately, they're not around anymore to my knowledge and I know a couple... well I know one member, she was a good friend of mine, she got killed some years ago. So I haven't heard anything about Pleasure.

JR: I've heard there's a group SOS Band, not the...

MH: I know.

JR: Not the pop band.

MH: Right.

JR: There's an R&B band that just changed (it's name) to Lady Rhythm and that's with Sweet Cherie.

MH: Sweet Cherie, yeah. I haven't heard her band, I have spoken with somebody who's familiar with the band, they were interested in wearing TWIRK so I was excited about that, but I haven't heard them. I've heard she's been on tour, so I haven't a chance to...

JR: Her schedule's on her website.

MH: Okay.

JR: What do you think about the prominence of cover songs over original material?

MH: Me personally, I mean it sounds good when the GoGo bands perform other artists' songs, but it's nothing like original GoGo. You know where you created it and it's yours. You know so I think a lot of GoGo bands should just do their own thing: use their own music, come up with their own lyrics and go from there. That's my personal opinion. I just think they should kind of like do their own GoGo make it original, so it is GoGo and it's their GoGo you know something that they created.

JR: What defines a good performance?

MH: A good performance to me is... well, you can go in there, the music gets you going, you have a nice time, the atmosphere is nice, and you can leave and feel safe that it's going to be okay when you walk out the door. You can go to your car and go home. To me that's a good performance where the band was good, the sound was good, the people partied, and you can walk away saying, I'm looking forward to the next week 'cause they was cranking. That's me.

JR: What do you of all guest performers, including people from the audience such as yourself?

MH: Guest performers, you mean that gets up there... Well of course my performance is always basically when it's over so my performance doesn't count.

JR: Why not?

MH: Well 'cause it doesn't. It's not like it's being recorded... So it's just like a thing after the party with the family...

JR: I?ve recorded some of your performances... (Laughing)

MH: Really? Oh, I didn't know that. To me it's just fun that's my family. Familiar Faces is like my family. So I get up there and I clown with them. But as far as other people, I don't really care for it to be honest, when they have people come up there and rap, it kind of takes away from the band some times you can barely hear they are saying and it's just like "oh gosh, I can't wait until they're done." But I mean I guess that's Donnell's way of giving people a chance to be heard you know and that's a good thing, that?s a good thing.

JR: What do you feel is the connection between the band and the audience?

MH: The band and the audience, I think there's a good connection because with Donnell he makes you feel like part of the family. He'll say your name a ton of times, you know he'll give you a spotlight, let you know I see you here and I appreciate your coming out. So I think the connection is positive because he makes everyone feel like part of the family one way or another. You know so I think that's a good thing, it's positive.

JR: How do you define Pockets & Sockets?

MH: Pockets and sockets is a good question. I hear it but I really can't define what a pocket or a socket is, I just know it sounds good. I don't really know, all of it sounds good to me so I don't know which one is the pocket or the socket.

JR: Did you know there was a previous GoGo group called Familiar Faces?

MH: No.

JR: Yeah, it was Ivan Goff?s group.

MH: Really and it was GoGo?

JR: Yeah, in the 90s, I have a PA from '96.

MH: I knew there a group called Familiar Faces, but I didn't know it was GoGo. I read about it when I was in Atlanta. Actually this group wasn't GoGo.

JR: Yeah, there's been... there was Ivan Goff's group and then there was this other group that has no other connection other than the name.

MH: Right, I think that's the group that I read about when I looked up Familiar Faces. But no, I never knew that.

JR: What do you think about the fact that Donnell teases you so much after performances?

MH: I know it's nothing personal, he's just being Donnell. We're like family so it doesn't bother me at all. I enjoy it for the most part because it's like all eyes are on me... You know, and he doesn't say anything that offends me, he just makes everybody laugh and if it's the joke on me that fine... You know it's cool, that's my family, that's my brother.

JR: They were continuing to tease you even after you had walked out at Club Levels. (Laughing)

MH: Really?

JR: Yeah.

MH: I just think I'm like a celebrity in the GoGo scene, that's how I look at it... You know I support them; I will always support them as long as I can. And for him to tease me or whatever, give me shout outs, whatever, that's just showing me love. I take none of it personally. And if it gets to the point where it's personal, I'll grab my purse again and just go up there and bust him upside his head. Nah, but it's cool, it's nothing personal.

A girl in the audience asked if I was going to film the performance, I told her that was a one-time thing. Donny Ray sat in on vocals, he sang with Mike & Donnell the same song they sang together last time he sat in - probably Atlantic Starr's Send for Me. At the end of the set, Donnell pointed out that Hollywood Breeze, who owned the Metro club was in the audience and "We owe him a great deal because he brought GoGo uptown. I'm not talking about Rare Essence, he is one the one who first had Chuck Brown perform there, I don't remember when that started..." Mike joked, "1958." Donnell continued, "Chuck was mostly playing in Blues joints downtown. We also have the owner of Tradewinds and the owner of Safari Steakhouse in the audience, so that's three Black entrepreneurs here." His friend Ray said, "I own Cherry's." Donnell replied, "Oh lord."

Then they went into the break, I talked with a number of the band members during the break outside.

In the second set, more known GoGo musicians were in the audience, including Darryl "Blue Eye" Arrington and Go-Go Mickey. The second set cranked as usual. Donnell asked Stinky Dink, who was in the audience to sit in on vocals. He declined and walked away, but another (very large) guy in the audience grabbed him and pushed him onto the stage. He then rapped for a couple of songs, including One Track Mind. Donnell mentioned that Stinky Dink performed on a FF's upcoming album, Evolution. Later, Donnell sang Miss Keta Will You Dance for Me (the second time, dance for me is drawn out). DP had an awesome solo with the loudest playing I've heard from him. At around 12:30 AM, Donnell said that to the audience that they had to stop playing, but they did end up performing Take Me Out to the Go-Go, sparked by Godfather as their closing song after that. Donnell acknowledged my collaboration with Familiar Faces during the Summer and that this was my last show I would be at. Donnell said that Fat Kat was bringing Reality Band back together, but that "Their music was nothing but garbage." He said that, "Go-Go Mickey was not allowed off the porch except on Saturdays, and that they only played at the Bus Stop. Everything beyond The Black Hole is Silver Spring. Go-Go Mickey couldn't even drink then, it wasn't until Jungle Boogie got him permission when he was with Ayre Rayde that he could play elsewhere. The only one in that band who could really play was Little Darrell, but look at him now, wearing that disco shirt (Darrell and the woman with him laughed real hard at this)." Fat Kat gathered together the ex-members of Reality Band who were in the audience together in a circle - this included Googie, whom Donnell said, "Played a bad bass (I don't know if Donnell meant this in a positive or negative way)." I didn't know that Googie was a musician as well as a sound man. Donnell continued, "Little Darrell made Go-Go Mickey". Little Darrell insisted the opposite was the case. Finally, the manager of Takoma shouted "Donnell", which was obviously to tell him to stop talking, which he did. Donnell sat down at a booth with Go-Go Mickey. I said good-bye to him, and he told me to call him before I left. I said good bye to a number of the other members of Familiar Faces, and took a picture of the outside of Michelle's store.

Honestly - I got a lot of valuable information for my thesis and really made friends with all of the members of Familiar Faces. I had a really good time as well. I didn't really want to leave, but I had to return to school (University of North Carolina). I will transcribe the interviews and will probably have follow-up questions. This is not the end, just part of the overall process. My collaboration with Familiar Faces far exceeded my expectations. I want to thank: Donnell, Adia, Mike, DP, Boolah, Dwayne, Doc, Godfather, BJ, Pooh, Bojack, Packy, Charlie, Demetrius Owens, Thomas, Alvin, Baba, Michelle, Supa Dan, Tee Bone, Lil Benny, DC, China Boogie and others I have worked with that I may have missed.