Bus Trip to Cleveland
A big thank you to Tim (LJ) and Nephew for allowing me to join the bus trip at the last minute.

Most of us met at the parking lot by the former Chesapeake Bay Seafood House. 8321 Annapolis Rd, New Carrollton, MD 20784. Chuck Brown's bus (including Vincent among the passengers) left later on from Liaison in Laurel, MD.

Tracy S. came by, she dropped Angie off. Michon dropped Jacques off.

On my bus were (whose names I know): Tim (LJ) the co-organizer, Simone and Tony (first time I met him) were in the row in front of me, with Simone's sister Nece (celebrating her birthday) across the aisle. Tim's brother Roosevelt and his girlfriend, Darrell F., Angie W., Dana, Tracy (first time I met her), Pinky, L-Boogie, Neita, Marvin (first time I met him), Chris (first time I met him), Los, Kim (first time I met her), and Sharika. Our driver was named Tim.


On the other bus were (whose names I know): Nephew the other co-organizer, Sean, Mike, Halima, Donnell, DP, Doc, Dwayne, Lorenzo, Stomp, Smoke, Tony (security), Omar, Googie, Packy, Jacques, Tyrell, RE Angie, "original" Nikki, Ebony, Shawn, Arielle, another Dana, Nora, Shaun, and Tiffany G.

The band bus left about fifteen minutes before our bus left (a little after 9 AM). We pulled onto Annapolis Road. We weren't even at an intersection when Godfather stopped the bus and came on. Despite the other bus having left fifteen minutes before us, we caught up to it on the highway. LJ asked us if we wanted music or movies first. We chose music, a number of people slept.

The three (Simone, Tony, Nece) in the row ahead of me and Darrell, who kept moving around, were the most active on the trip. They and others drank Hennessey and Remy.

Tim (LJ) (Arm only visible), Nece, Darrell, Tony, and Simone

The bus had a CD player, and Tony gave over some CDs, including Familiar Faces' October 15, 2005 PA, and a compilation of GoGo Soul. Dana kept asked for Jazz and they kept kidding her, "next track." We stopped at a rest stop. There was a McDonald's there and most of us went in. We saw snow flurries. It was there that I saw that all the members of FF were on the two buses.

We watched Juwanna Mann, which was directed by Jesse Vaughan, who had directed Familiar Faces' Lap Dance video. Someone mentioned that Tommy Davidson went to B-CC, which I didn't know before.

Tim talked about co-organizing this trip. He said that he has an annual ski trip with eight buses. We went by a housing project and people talked about it being like home. We turned in there, people were joking about our hotel being there. They said it was like Barry Farms. Tim talked about some of the difficulties of organizing the trip. He tried to do an impression of Donnell Floyd by using Simone's scarf as a bandana.

All pictures taken by and Copyright - Jordan Rich
It was hard for him, since he was obviously drunk. Tim gave out party favors. To Pinky, who had been the first to pay him, he gave a clock. To Chris, who always whines, he gave a pacifier. He gave out a hoop to a guy he called "Baller." L-Boogie worried about whether everything would go as planned, so Tim said there was no itinerary so it wouldn't be a trap. Tim gave L-Boogie a glue trap. Tim gave Dana a thermometer because she had to deal with the heat from him. They joned on people they saw on the street. First there was a woman that limped, then a guy at our hotel: Hampton Inn, who wore a green riding cap, a dark brown fur coat, a jeweled earring, a plaid shirt, and blue jeans. We arrived at around 4 PM. Hampton Inn, 1460 E 9th St, Cleveland, OH 44114

Ro'chelle (Toosweet) apparently drove up.

I went to cancel my reservation at the Holiday Inn Express. We were told to meet in the lobby at 8:10 PM to go to the performance at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It actually wasn't that far from the Hampton Inn, but because it was so cold, it made sense to take the bus.

I took a nap (I only had a couple of hours of sleep since Zanzibar), then ate at the Subway's across the street. Since it was so cold and there was no dress code, I wore a sweatshirt instead of a button down shirt.

When we gathered in the lobby, Nephew passed out tickets.

The buses dropped us off right in front of the Hall.