Wednesday at Takoma Station
Takoma Station, 6914 4th St NW, Washington, DC 20012

When I arrived at Takoma Station, the layout inside was different. The tables had white tablecloths (previously there were no tablecloths). There was a prior band that was taking their stuff off the stage. I talked with Doc, and then went over to see Donnell. I gave him and Dwayne copies of the DVD-Rs of their performance I filmed. BJ told me he wasn't sure who was singing because Mike's back went out. I teased him by suggesting he sing, but he said he didn't know the words to their repertoire. The attractive waitress recognized me and took my order. Having seen how large their Safari crowd was in November, I asked him if Takoma had similar large crowds. He said no, that their crowds there were not consistently large. Ebony came by and said hello. Doc had a new bass, a yellow fretless one. BJ played it a little before the performance started.

Familiar Faces
The opening line up was: Donnell, DP, Dwayne, Doc, Godfather, BJ, Jammin' Jeff, and Packy on congas. Adia started singing later in the set. Also later in the set, James Lawson was a guest vocalist. Donnell did a shout out to Tamara who was celebrating her birthday. He even had her sing what he called "That man hating song." I believe it was Vivian Green's Emotional Roller Coaster. Ebony guest rapped for a song. Smoke came and took over congas. Donnell told him to take a solo, and he performed a timbales solo. Then, again at Donnell's request, Jeff performed a long involved drum solo. They followed by performing a song that they clearly played to a GoGo beat: a Donnell original, DIP. It has a chorus of "D-i-p" and another of "Let me hear the whoa."

Dwayne played Doc's new bass during the break and even BJ's keyboard.

The second set cranked. Donnell did a shout out to another birthday girl, Muffin. Donnell discussed a trip to Miami to shoot a video with Mr. Cheeks. He said, "Adia, you know South Beach is topless?" He also told Nephew he needed a gut-be-gone. He said he was going to bring a couple of Speedos. FF followed that up by performing a Latin tune which I subsequently recognized as Lap Dance from Evolution.