Friday at Safari
Safari Steakhouse, 9430 Annapolis Road Lanham MD 20706

I arrived a little earlier than normal because last week, there were very few parking spaces available and I was early then! A white guy was playing pool with a woman in the lounge. He said, "I glad to see you, that I am not the only one. I won't get dirty looks." Since I've never gotten dirty looks that I know of, I thought his comments were silly, but I didn't say anything.

BJ & Dwayne were performing at another gig at a nearby Best Western with their Gospel GoGo group Heaven Sent, which includes Pooh and a different bassist nicknamed Doc. Jammin' Jeff was also played drums for Kraisy Praise, which went on after Heaven Sent. Heaven Sent's show went over, so Familiar Faces went most of the first set without them and all of the set without Jammin' Jeff and Mike Muse.

Familiar Faces
The opening line up was: Adia, Donnell, Doc, Godfather, Smoke, Jacques, and James. DP arrived a little late - while the rest of FF was performed, he tuned up. Pooh offered to play on the drums, but Donnell decided to just go without drums for the first set. Donnell did a shout out to Go-Go Mickey in the audience.

During the break, I discussed Gospel GoGo with Dwayne. Watching Go-Go Mickey play pool with the cop was funny, he would scream and/or curse when he missed shots (reminds me of me). Packy looked over a t-shirt that Smoke had hung on a hanger by the congas - it was a custom black t-shirt with two congas and the word "Smoke" printed on it. In the second set, everyone was there, including Mike. He sang Marvin Gaye's I Want You. To be honest, I got into the music so much that I zoned out at times. During the set, Donnell made fun of the real names of people known by their nicknames: "Smoke" - Sammy Dews, "Tasty" - Cherone (spelling?), and "Go-Go Mickey" Milton. Tasty was there with Nita. Kato, Blak and DeeDee were there. Los was onstage, not sure if he rapped or not.

During the second break, I talked with Doc and Dwayne about Funk, and GoGo. A girl passed by with tremendously endowed buttocks. Both Doc and Dwayne said "Wow!" The woman who had said last week that "Donnell was her husband," Netty, said of the woman immediately after: "Anything that looks that good can't be good."

During the third set, Donnell did his usual Medley: the first song is Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love with Donnell orally doing the keyboard sound effects that distinguish the song, the second song is Rare Essence's Spotlight, and the third is Vinnie D's $55 Motel. Go-Go Mickey came in and sat in on congas - with all respect to Smoke, Mickey is the top conga player. I'll freely admit that my favorite FF shows are those where Go-Go Mickey sits in. Go-Go Mickey started off playing the congas and timbales with sticks, and then switched to playing by hand. Smoke gave him respect, even leaving the stage for a while, dancing in front of me. RE Angie, Nita and Tasty danced onstage. I think that Catch-22, the guest rapper from last week rapped during this set as well. The well-endowed girl mentioned above talked to a friend of hers over by me; her name is Monica. I also thought I saw Soldierette, but was unsure - I emailed her later and confirmed it. Go-Go Mickey played the rest of the set, except for a break when Smoke took over during Lap Dance. They closed with Sly & the Family Stone's Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).

On Wednesday, I had teased Jeff about how he should wear a darker shirt, since it was so obvious he sweated through his shirt. Tonight it was Mike who did that, but he was smart and changed his shirt after he finished performing. He went up to Monica, talking with her about working with him and his website. Soldierette was with a guy who I later determined was Big Jim, a percussionist and a poster on Soldierette's board. He was friendly to me, but neither of us recognized the other. Blak was at the door - I said good bye and headed home.