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

It was very cold - I got gas on the way.

When I arrived, Packy and the other equipment guys were there, but none of the band members was there. I hung out in the lounge. The guys playing pool were really friendly. After a bit, the manager came and turned the fireplace on. Godfather was the first band member to arrive. I talked with Godfather; he talked about how Jacques would now be playing a number of instruments that he had been producing with his keyboard. He also talked about how he learned to play, he mentioned one of his friends - will have to ask his name again. He also talked about a riot that occurred because a policeman on horseback got too close to someone during "Human Kindness Day".

Jacques ate with his girlfriend, Michon, in the lounge.

Familiar Faces
It has become the norm for me to watch the band perform from the side of the stage, since the large crowds make it harder to see otherwise. The opening line up for the first set was: Mike, Adia, Donnell, DP, Dwayne, Doc, Godfather, Jammin' Jeff and Smoke.
1) Miles Davis' Tutu
2) Instrumental
Jacques was not ready to play; he got some stuff from Jeff to play. BJ arrived during the set.
3) Alicia Keys' Diary
4) Adia-led ?
5) Mike-led Stevie Wonder's Golden Lady
6) Doc then complained that he couldn't hear, so they adjusted Mike's mic. While testing it, Mike did a riff from Gene Chandler's Duke of Earl.
7) Mike-led John Legend's ?
8) Mike-led Ruff Endz' Someone to Love You
9) Mike-led O'Bryan's Lady, I Love You
Mike than joked with a female fan in a low voice, saying "Thank You, Baby!"

During the break, Jacques said he wasn't supposed to play, that he was just there to watch, Friday is Charlie's night. I talked with Godfather about how Charlie plays for free; Godfather said that shows that Charlie is dedicated. I teased Teago about his shirts and asked if he and Kato were interviewing Jacques, he said, "No, just rapping."

In the second set, Charlie came in as the second percussionist. They performed Snoop's Drop It Like It's Hot and Rare Essence's Body Moves. The set cranked.

During the second break, I talked with Danielle (Wellfhed), a female friend of Kato's, about teasing Teago. She talked about why Teago was such a big fan of Jimi Hendrix. I told them about Greg Tate's book, "Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience" - that talks about Hendrix as more than just a musician. I also told them about Tate's band, Burnt Sugar, and how they could watch a DC performance online. Jacques talked with Charlie.

When the break was over, Kato told Dwayne, "To get in there" and Dwayne responded "Thanks, boss!" In just the time I talked with Kato, they already started playing.

In the third set, they performed Rare Essence's Work the Walls and Donnell followed it with a medley, again including Rick James' Mary Jane and Donna Summer's Love to Love You Baby among the songs. There was definitely a time I zoned out to the music. Packy, who played a tambourine, tried to convince Jacques to come up and take if from it him to no avail. Jay Gotti guest rapped as did DJ Flava (aka GoGo Rudy), rapping. "Put your hands in the air and shake your derriere!" I believe I saw Scuba Steve rapping as well, but I'm not sure. DeeDee and Michelle arrived during the set. Los danced, and some of the people laughed at how fast his moves were. Donnell mentioned the upcoming FF family dinner on Sunday. Mike and Kato joned on each other after the set was over.

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


Smoke, Jacques, Doc, Mike, Jeff, and Donnell


Jeff, Donnell, BJ, Dwayne


Jacques, Mike, Doc, Donnell, Jeff, Donnie Ray, Godfather


Ebony, DP, Donnell
All pictures taken by and Copyright Jordan Rich

Wow, it was cold, walking from my car to Takoma Station. The Maryland-Duke game was on a little TV by the bar, I would occasionally turn around to look at it. This was my first time seeing Jacques perform with the band. When I saw Smoke, I asked him about Mambo Sauce, another GoGo band he is a part of that is apparently only a studio band presently. Given William "Malachai" Johns' (CEO of the label Red C Records, which has signed Mambo Sauce) statements about the plans on PA Palace, I wanted to ask Smoke about it.

Whassup Everybody,

My name is Malachai "Redds" Johns and I'm the founder of Red C Records. I want to thank everyone for their positive and even critical comments. It means something to us that you took the time to respond, even if you don't think the plan will work. I want to thank "Gee's" for his confidence in the project and we hope to make you all proud. We are not necessarily relying on this one song to be the ticket to national fame, it is just the beginning. We plan to follow the path that national artists take on their road to success as opposed to the strategies used by local go - go bands. This is not to knock go - go, because we wouldn't even be doing this if we didn't love it, but the reason go - go hasn't made it out of the area is because there are no hit songs and no real diversity of the sound (See "About Us" page on site for further reasons). All the young bands sound like Back and all the older bands want to be Lissen. We like those bands, but want to do something different, and our music and our business will get better as time goes on. We don't have the intention for Mambo Sauce to play weekly shows at this point. When you depend on packing the same club week after week to pay your bills, then you are almost forced to play cover songs to keep your set fresh. We won't never play cover songs, they will just be a small percentage of the set as opposed to the majority. We at Red C Records hope to do for go - go/pocket music, what Def Jam did for hip-hop. They didn't invent it, they just packaged it in a way that the rest of the world could understand. If they had decided that hip - hop was better left to New York, I think the world would be a very different place. Thanks everyone.

QUOTE(JusKeepingItReal @ Jan 20 2005, 6:55 PM) well that single has a gogo beat so u will have to educate people in Arizona about what gogo really is, i mean if you go national you have to include all states, so what's your plans to introduce and educate people in Iowa about gogo music?

You have a valid point and it will definitely not be easy. If it was, then everyone would be doing it. To answer your question, we will educate other markets the same way that other national artists do. Street promotion, web promotion, radio, press, performances, etc. The advantage that other artists have over go - go is that they have songs. Every popular song from country to rock to r&b is formatted in a certain way. Verse-Chorus-Bridge in some combination. The song communicates a message (not always positive) or tells a story that somehow relates to the listener. Go - go is not structured like other forms of popular music and the lyrical content is not designed to relate to the listener in the same way. I'm not saying this is bad, it's just true. It is also the underlying reason that people outside of the area don't understand go - go. So the first step is to create original go - go songs that someone not from here would understand and then market it to them the same way music from every other area is marketed to you. Jill Scott, Beyonce, Usher, Amerie etc. have proven that other markets are receptive to the sound if it is packaged correctly. Why do we go and hit their song (that has a style that they got from us) to make $200 a night while they get fat on the beach and drive Bentleys? Are people in D.C. not talented enough? I don't think so, I just think the city's musicians have become complacent because playing cover songs is an easy way to make quick money. Step back and take a look at who's making the real money though and I think you'll find that it's not the go - go cover bands of D.C. It's not something that will happen overnight and success in the music, or any other business is never guaranteed. But if you don't put your best foot forward and try then you will surely fail.

Smoke said that it is studio only, that if big money is involved they would perform, but they would definitely not be performing on a weekly basis - he is committed to Familiar Faces, and does not want to compete with them. I also asked him he if was still with Nu Styles when Familiar Faces hired him (they were the band he was with when he guest performed with Familiar Faces, see here). He said, no, he had been playing with What? Band for a few weeks before coming to Familiar Faces.

Familiar Faces
I went over and introduced myself to Jacques. His girlfriend, Michon, was there. The first set opened with a line up of: Mike, Adia, Donnell, DP, Dwayne, Doc, BJ, Jammin' Jeff, Smoke and Jacques. They performed the John Legend songs they rehearsed the night before. Donnell gave shout outs to guests in the audience, Sharmba Mitchell, boxer, Ghengis "The Ghetto Prince", JuJu and E of L!ssen. Jammin' Jeff had a particularly good drum solo at one point. I missed a good photo opportunity of the whole front line up together while I ate. At one point Sharmba went up to Jeff to tell him how he wanted him to play. I went over to the bar to watch the final minutes of Maryland's 75-66 victory. Donny Ray came up and guest sang (probably Atlantic Starr's Send for Me). When they finished, Donnell said, "Don't take the shine off me. You know I'm petty, don't take the shine off me." He then said Donny Ray had said, "Man, Mike Muse can sing, but he looks so old." Donnell then said, "Maybe we should record it." He then said, "Mike said they would probably play it in the wrong key." Donnell said to Sharmba thatm "He should be grateful to Donnell for what happened at the Overlook and the little boy even looks like me". Sharmba laughed. Donnell discussed their planned Miami video shoot, he asked where Darrell (spelling?) was and they performed Lap Dance.

As usual, the second set was even more cranking. DeeDee was there. Ebony guest rapped a couple of times. Donnell talked about the ski trip and mentioned that Big Don Pimp, or "Donald" said there are only women sign up right now. Don mentioned as usual, his name is Don, not Donald. Donnell did a three song medley, including Rick James' Mary Jane and Donna Summer's Love to Love You Baby. There was a girl who was not only physically attractive, but seemed nice who danced and clearly was dancing right over by me late in the set - I really think she wanted to dance with me. Maybe I am being too conservative - worrying about going after girls while doing academic work at the GoGo. They closed with DIP. Ray and Tim (LJ) were trying to get me to dip at the proper time. I talked with James for a little bit.

Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private location, Hyattsville, MD

Familiar Faces
I attended practice today. When I first arrived, Donnell and Jammin' Jeff were there. Shortly after, Nephew arrived. He and Donnell had a discussion about cell phone capabilities. Later, Duane Face, Dwayne, Smoke, BJ, DP, Donte, Jacques, Doc, and DeeDee arrived. They spent some time working on some John Legend songs. They discussed which key it was in. They joked: Donnell always insisted he was right, everyone else insisted he was wrong. DP and Nephew discussed how 6'9 kept dancing with a girl while she puked. DP also talked about how Game allegedly beat up Xzulu from WKYS 93.9. They also worked on Destiny's Child's Soldier. Godfather and Mike arrived and they continued working. The space has changed quite a bit; there is now a recording studio space now. Donnell joked with DeeDee about his selling tickets for their upcoming Super Bowl show.

Ras Lidj at Zigs
Zig's, 4531 Duke St, Alexandria, VA 22304

I went to see Ras Lidj's performance of Reggae-GoGo at Zig's. I arrived at about 9:15 PM and the early act, John Stone Band with DC Reggae was still performing. They were a four person Reggae act - African American singer/guitar player, the rest Caucasian: bass player, keyboard player, and drummer. To be honest, they were pretty bland. I ate while waiting for Ras Lidj and his band. They came on a little after 10 PM with a sound check to start.

I used to just be the type of Reggae fan who had a copy of Bob Marley's "Legend" and was satisfied with that. That all changed when I attended a Reggae Sunsplash concert at the Universal Amphitheatre in LA in 2000. That's when I saw Toots & the Maytals perform - Toots is essentially a Stax Funk artist set within Reggae. I became an instant fan. I also realized that Reggae and GoGo could mix.

Ras Lidj's band is reflective of that. His band (which is all male) is set up like other GoGo bands: Ras Lidj is the lead talker, there is a lead singer, a guitar/flute player (Caucasian dude), a bass player, a keyboard player, a drummer, and a conga/cowbell player. The percussionist's cowbell was fixed to the conga kit, not hand held. The first two songs were sung and Ras Lidj was not on stage, they he came on and took over lead vocals. The first song was about Washington DC as a place to live. He also performed the title song of his album, Son of a One Night Stand. He had a guest singer come up as well. He said the next set would be even better, but there was no second set as they had to finish (per Zig's) by Midnight. I wasn't surprised (given that the act on at 8 PM only had two hours to perform as well), but was a little disappointed. The place was pretty full, but not everyone was focused on the music. However, they had a camera focus on the stage with the image projected onto at least seven TVs that I saw. It would be a good venue for a band to video record a performance. I did talk a little with Ras Lidj, asked him how he picked up Patois. He said one side of his family is Trinidadian. I also copped a copy of his album. I definitely enjoyed his set and will see them again...

Also: Per Ras Lidj:
the band which i would have introduced in the second set is Joe Strauss of bass-original bass player from midnite band currently plays with DKGB reggae band as well as Ras Lidj
Mataeo Monk on lead guitar and flute (he has a website I'll get it to you funkmasterj)
Sean "Izreal" Wright on keyboards he's the co song writer and normally on guitar. since we are still putting permanent personnel in place he had to play keyboards
Paul was on drums - freelance drummer
Julien - singer sing with DKGB band originally
Marvo- Guest appearance singer sang in my band back in the day
Craig Clipper "clip" on congos not only is he my friend for more than 20 years now we played in PHYSICAL WUNDORS together (along with Doc from Familiar Faces) "Clip" currently plays with EXQUISITE BAND

I got a live Cd and video from the show. I had a lot of fun although I didn't get to get off like I really wanted to. kinda like having sex but not getting to cum. Funkmasterj will attest to the fact that my music is for everyone no matter what nationality or color you are. but just let me put it out there Zig's is a racist ass place expecially the management. I don't care if I never play there again. he got my people in there sitting down eating his food and drinking then he abruptly stops the show. he's lucky that as a Rasta I'm humble now cause if I was anything i us to be when I played GoGo expecially in the Cherries days, he and the sound man would have got beat down and their equiptment would have been mine.

Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private location, Hyattsville, MD

Familiar Faces
I attended rehearsal today, arriving at the same time as BJ and Godfather. The area had changed: the actual rehearsal space had moved from the main room into a smaller room. Doc and others joked about what would happen if there was a fire. Donnell was not there yet, but they started anyway. At the time, Mike, PD, Dwayne, Doc, BJ, Godfather, and Jammin' Jeff were there. I talked with Dwayne about Redds, he said he has two daughters who would be in their 20s now, but he hasn't seen them since they were babies. After Donnell arrived, they traded jabs about attending public vs. private high schools (Donnell went to Duke Ellington School of the Arts). Donnell introduced Jacques Vaughan and said he would be playing percussion with them starting tomorrow (in addition to Smoke). They also teased me about wearing shorts in the cold. I talked with Nephew about how many and whose shows he attended to pass out flyers for FF. I also saw a marker board marked "Studio 54" that showed that FF (actually marked as 911) was not the only group that rehearsed there. What? Band and Mad Collision were also listed on different days.

Martin Luther King's Birthday Celebration: Sunday at Bud's
Bud's 501 Club, 501 Morse St NE, Washington, DC 20002

I was early; I arrived a little before 10 PM. I met Bobbie Westmoreland from the TMOTT board; she's one of the bartenders at Bud's. Packy was the only one from the band there at the time. He said he hated the long weekend because it meant he had to work five nights in a row. He joked that "I think Donnell is trying to kill me." I told him about Friday's show, he had heard about it from Vincent who did the sound (Vincent was the guy I talked with working at the monitors soundboard at Safari the Friday before. I recognized him at the Chuck Brown show, but didn't know his name). I ate dinner and waited as a crowd started to form.

Familiar Faces
BJ was a little late, but aside from him everyone was in the opening line up. There was no happy hour set; they proceeded almost immediately into the throw down crank. The second song performed was Destiny's Child's Soldier. They also did Snoop's Drop It Like It's Hot, and DIP. A number of regulars were in attendance, including Ytee and Kato from TMOTT, Tamara, Ray, Don and Mama Chelle. Donnell had a couple of girls, whom he referred to as "Alicia Keys" and "Tina Turner" dance with regulars who danced by themselves. However, he joked with the one he called "Alicia Keys": "I told you to dance with him, not make babies with him." Little Benny was in attendance and they got him to perform with them on vocals. They performed a couple more songs before going into the break.

I talked with Dwayne during the break. We heard the original Snoop version in the DJ music, which is almost nothing compared to their cover. We discussed the Chuck Brown/PFunk show - Dwayne said the Soul Searchers didn't have much time to rehearse Cosmic Slop to make it fully tight. We heard in the DJ music, Lil Jon & East Side Boyz's Aww Skeet Skeet featuring DJ Flexx - I recognized the lyrics as a chant that George Clinton had performed on Friday and at the September 2004 performance I attended. Dwayne said "That's old." Dwayne then talked with RE Angie.

The second set was even more crankin. Donnell mentioned celebrating Godfather's birthday, someone joked that it was his "69th birthday". The highlights of the second set, again with Little Benny performing with them were Rare Essence's Work the Walls and 911. They had some really crankin' percussion this set. Little Benny went over and danced for a while but re-joined them for the final song: Lap Dance. They stopped after a while, then Donnell said, "Let's do it again while Little Benny is still talking." Little Benny walked off the stage, Donnell said, "He's still talking". Little Benny said, "Hey Donnell, I'm still talking motherf*cker." Then they finished and most of the crowd cleared out, security ushered them out. Donnell joked "The 501 security is furious!" A bunch of girls hung out up front still; he asked them "What are you going to show?" When I walked out, there was a thin level of snow over all of the cars including mine.

Chuck Brown & PFunk at the 930 Club
9:30 Club, 815 V St NW, Washington DC 20001

I approached the 9:30 Club at about 8 PM. I parked nearby in the neighborhood - the parking lots I had parked in years prior were now Howard University parking lots. I picked up my ticket and stood by the front for a while until people started treating a group of people together as "the line". While outside, I saw Steve Boyd walk in, followed by Belita Woods, who wore a camouflage outfit, and I saw the Caucasian keyboard player smoking on the corner (I should have asked him his name). Unfortunately, I was in line behind a couple of yuppies whose asinine conversation was more annoying than the cold. I later saw P-Nut as well. When I got in, I went up to the left balcony, and then briefly went down to cop the 420 Funk Mob's latest release "Live in Spain." (It's good, I've listened to it.)

Chuck Brown
Chuck Brown's Soul Searchers opening line up was: Chuck Brown on vocals and guitar, 1 saxophone player, 1 trumpet player, 1 trombone player, a bass player, a keyboard player, a drummer, a conga player, and a cowbell player. Another saxophone player came in during the set. They performed: Wind Me Up Chuck, It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Don't Have That GoGo Swing), Moody's Mood for Love, Woody Woodpecker, I Need Money, Run Joe and a song starting with "Say what". Then Chuck invited Little Benny to come out. He performed on vocals and on trumpet. I didn't recognize all he performed, but did do: a chant "Do you feel alright", "Hold Up, Wait a Minute" and Cat in the Hat. Chuck Brown's grand daughter, whose name I didn't catch, came out and danced and played the tambourine. She wore a short black dress. Chuck held her as she danced for a little. Little Benny then lead Back It on Up. Chuck then called on Paul Reed Smith, the guitar manufacturer, to perform on guitar with him. They played a tune I didn't recognize with the lyrics "Fiesta, the Capitol, and Uptown People": I now know it is Fiesta. He then brought out Sugar Bear from EU. Sugar Bear lead a chant "Party People", and then they performed Da Butt with Chuck's grand daughter doing the dance next to Sugar Bear with her butt to the audience. Then they performed Cosmic Slop, with Gary Shider coming out to sing after a few verses. Gary was not wearing his trademark diaper yet; he was wearing a regular shirt and slacks with a leather trench coat. There were some solos, then Kay Kay came out and rapped about "Keeping it real". Chuck asked "Y'all ready?" He then said, "That's the man, not me", but I wasn't sure who he referred to. He also told the crowd out to "Give yourself a hand". He called his daughter Kay Kay and grand daughter to him. He then delivered a rhyme about his grand daughter a couple of times: "She's a smidget from a midget, if she was frigid, she might have been named Gigit." Their performance lasted about an hour. It was a good performance, but could have been tighter.


Steve Boyd, George Clinton, fans and Kendra Foster
Picture is Copyright Washington Post

George Clinton & the P-Funk All-Stars
P-Funk's line up was:
Vocals - Steve Boyd
Vocals - Gene "Poo Poo Man" Anderson
Vocals - George Clinton
Vocals - Shondra "Sativa" Clinton
Vocals - Kendra Foster, looking beautiful as always in a short silver dress
Vocals - Robert "P-Nut" Johnson
Vocals - Kim Manning, wearing an orange and black patterned shirt and matching tutu-like skirt with fur boots
Vocals - Belita Woods
Vocals, Keyboard - Michael "Clip" Payne
Bass, Vocals - Lige Curry
Drums - Frank "Kash" Waddy
Drums - Rico Lewis, African-American guy - young (late 20s, early 30s) wearing a white headband. He would switch off with Kash
Guitar - Michael Hampton
Guitar - John Hickey
Guitar - DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight
Guitar & Vocals - Gary Shider
Guitar & brief Vocals - Jeff Fogerty, sang backup vocals only very briefly in the middle and played guitar at the very end
Guitar or Bass - Cordell "Boogie" Mosson, an old African-American - short (shorter than Poo Poo Man) with a gray beard
Bass - RonKat Spearman, at the very end of the show
Keyboards - Caucasian dude (late 30s) with a full beard and thick dark hair
Keyboards - Bernie Worrell
Keyboards - Jerome Rodgers
Percussionist - Caucasian/Hispanic guy in his 40s, heavy set
Saxophone - Greg Thomas
Saxophone - Caucasian guy in his 30s, curly brown hair
Theremin - Lili Hayden, a light-skinned young girl (20s), wearing a blue tutu, beehive hat and pumps with a dark jacket
Trumpet - Bennie Cowan
Dancer - Carlos "Sir Nose" McMurray

They started off by performing the "We want the funk" chant, and then performed Funkentelechy, Bop Gun, Gamin' on Ya, Undisco Kidd, and a chant "Holla for me". Then John Hickey and shortly after, George Clinton, came out, wearing a multicolored striped shirt, sweat pants and an overcoat. George did his "Aww Skeet Skeet" chant (probably originated by Lil Jon - it is on his album Crunk Juice, which they followed up by performing Get Off Your Ass & Jam, then Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker) choruses, and then they followed with a reprise of Get off Your Ass and Jam. They next performed "Wind me up" choruses from Funkentelechy, and Get Up for the Downstroke. After that, Rico Lewis took over playing drums from Kash. They then performed Sexy Ways. Belita Woods sang Jimmy G & the Tackheads' Slingshot and Poo Poo Man sang James Brown's Payback.

They went to break, with Kash playing drums again, then Kim Manning led singing I'm Never Gonna Tell It - there were some nice guitar solos within. George did his "Ludicrous" chant, which was very long. The people in the audience by me shouted "Play some music", so when Sir Nose held up a sign with the words "F*ck George" written on it, they cheered. George kept on, hilariously chanting "Girl cootie, girls gone wild", which led into a "Funk that Shit" chant. One of the guys from the right side of the stage sprayed Silly String. Kendra Foster led Bounce to This with some more nice guitar solos. I noticed at this point someone in the backstage area on the left balcony filming the performance with a professional camera. Maybe we'll see this in a future release? Clip briefly played on percussion with the other percussionist, and then ran off the stage. Then they chanted, "F*ck that sh*t". Then Michael Hampton came out. He experienced some technical difficulties and played Maggot Brain, then left the stage again. Rico took over playing drums again, and then they performed Dog Star (Fly On). This led into a chant "Plop plop phiz phizz", followed by Clip talking lines from Promentalshitbackwashpsychosisenemasquad (The Doo-Doo Chasers). This led into a couple of chants by Gary: "Can you feel that" and "Can I get a witness". Then they performed One Nation Under a Groove. Chuck's grand daughter came out on stage and danced with them while playing the tambourine. George came back on stage from the left side, spraying Silly String as he did so. He wore a jersey that said 34 East. This led into a "Funk ain't going nowhere" chant. Kash took over playing drums. They performed Flashlight, then Jerome Rogers came on the main part of the stage with a mobile keyboard on a strap like a guitar (prior to this, I could only see his hands as he was sitting behind the speakers). Sativa came out and performed Some Stank and Hard as Steel. They went back into performing Flashlight and the Caucasian saxophone player came out (I had not seen him previously in the performance). I noticed there was a pre-teen African American girl dancing on the right side of the stage. Next they performed "How's your funk" choruses from Funkentelechy with some nice guitar solos and then "We want the funk" chants. Kash was back playing drums. Next they performed "Ain't no party like a Pfunk party, 'cause a Pfunk party don't stop" choruses, followed by Atomic Dog. At this point, they brought female fans on stage; there was no drummer for a bit. Jeff Fogerty and RonKat came out to play. They closed with Jerry Lee Lewis' Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On. At the end, P-Nut came out of the backstage area and was dancing behind me. I was surprised that they were allowed to perform until 2:30 AM, since the lights came on at 1:45 AM.

I have enclosed three other people's descriptions and then at the bottom, so you can compare, I have enclosed the setlist from the September 23, 2004 PFunk performance at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC I attended so you can compare.

Here is a second description, from George Darden.

The show sold out Thursday afternoon so I was on the scramble for a ticket to the hottest show in town (DC). The show was not to start until 9 PM but I was at the 9:30 Club at 6:30 looking for tickets. I was not alone. Several cats were there early looking for tickets. You could hear the funk oozing from the walls as band members were warming up. At one point one of Chuck's musicians was in the alley bringing in his equipment. I went old school and helped with his equipment and got inside the backdoor. I was in! I have done this many times over the years sneaking in to see the Ohio Players, New Birth, Tower of Power and even War and Yes in Atlanta. But it ain't like it used to be, I had no credentials and eventually got kicked out. So I'm back outside in the cold at a sold out show. Next I run into Chuck's grand daughter who I've known over the years as Gidget (cause she's short like a midget). I have nothing against short people, honest. She promised me her ticket if she could find Chuck and get in free. I never hooked back up with her so I ended up buying a ticket from a brother who had an extra one. The music before the show sounded like one of my tapes. Mandrill, JB, Curtis, Jimi and Slave funked up the joint before Chuck came out. Nice! I could tell we were in for a special nite. The sound was crisp and clear and the bass was booming. The crowd started crooning "Wind Me Up Chuck" so I knew it was time to start the jam. My boy Brian spotted me down front. He's my boy (sax for Chuck) but he couldn't get me in. It was tight and packed up in there all night. Chuck did all the standards like Run Joe, GoGo Swing and Money. Little Benny came out and did some Cat in the Hat and next thing I knew Sugarbear was on stage singing Da Butt! Chuck had the crowd in the palm of his hand although I have heard him tighter. Sounded almost like a pick up band to me. But even still he had the crowd and he was crankin'. He's really looking old these days, but got more energy than InnerG! I went to get a drink and I heard Cosmic Slop blazing from afar. I rushed back to my spot and there's Gary Shider and a few other Funkateers jamming with Chuck, Bear, Benny and the boys. There's also Gidget and Kay-Kay, Chuck's rapping daughter. Kay is the truth. She can out rap Kim (formerly) from Rare Essence any day. Badder than George's grand daughter also (didn't see her last night).

The Pfunk set was awesome also. Started off like the show I saw last summer with Funkentelechy and Bop Gun but then it was all Funkadelic for the next 2 hours. Lots of Mike Hampton and Blackbyrd was the best I've ever seen him. He was on fire! Boogie was there but not sure if I saw Billy Bass. My favorites were Dog Star and the James Brown tribute that they have been doing the last few shows. This time though was the best. Dude (Poo Poo Man) was dressed in a JB like suit with a big hat and was doing the James Brown while screaming like JB. He was sliding and the band was crankin'. Blackbyrd sounded like Prince doing Jimmy Nolen. Crisp clear guitar chicken scratching for days. Unbelievable sound all night. Especially during this JB extended jam. BTW, the audience was probably 75% black! Blackest Pfunk show I have seen in many years. It was a black show and it was sold out because Chuck was on the bill. He brings his crowd whereever he plays around DC. He probably left there and jammed at an after party somewhere. He's the 2nd hardest working Brown in show business. He's to DC what the Nevilles are to NO and what Wayne Newton is to Vegas.

During Maggot Brain I went outside to catch some air. Guess who I see in the alley behind the club? F*cking Wizard of Woo! The Insurance Man for the Funk! I hadn't noticed him all night. He was not introduced like the summer show where he was introduced and advertised. I talked to him for a bit and he said he was only playing a few minutes here and there. He didn't seem to be feeling well (and was quite out of it), but he was Bernie and he IS the man! When we both returned to the room, he looked over at me and played a little Insurance Man. He knows that's my jam. I always threaten not to show up at these shows but when I go I'm so pleased and funktified. I only went this summer cause Bernie was advertised and I only went last might cause Brian Mills was on sax. But I just gotta go. Since 1972 I've only missed a handful of DC Pfunk shows. This one was special for several reasons. The sound was awesome and my boy was jamming keyboards and sax for the Godfather of GoGo.

"G"

Here is a third description, from David Fleiss.
I have to agree with Dr. G: it was a great show.

Biggest disappointment: Let me get this out of the way up front. Bernie was in the house, but (a) his keyboards were all the way in the back of the stage, (b) if his keys were amplified at all, they were buried in the mix, (c) Bernie didn't get any solos, (d) Bernie stood at his keys most of the night but didn't seem to playing much, and (e) George never acknowledged Bernie. If G is right, and Bernie wasn't feeling too well, that explains some of these problems.

In no particular order, here are my comments:

- Chuck Brown is incredible. I have heard several of his CD's but I had never seen him live before. Next time I see that he's playing, I'm gonna make a point to get a ticket. Ironically, this evening my wife and I saw Chuck in a commercial for The Washington Post, wearing the same shirt, tie, and vest he wore last night. "It's a Washington institution, just like me." The fact that he closed his set with "Cosmic Slop" -- he was making fun of the high notes, which seemed to have prompted Garry Shider to come out and sing them -- was also very cool.

- Michael Hampton came on-stage about half-way through the show, played Maggot Brain, and left, never to return. At the beginning of Maggot Brain, it sounded like he was having a lot of trouble getting the right sound from his guitar, but he eventually straightened it out.

- Blackbyrd carried most of the guitar duties last night. I think he was on stage for 85-90% of the show.

- I've read that they've been singing "I'm Never Gonna Tell It" lately. Last night was the first time I've heard it. I like the fact that they're dipping into some obscure of the more songs.

- I think it was during "I'm Never Gonna Tell It" -- or maybe the next song there was a woman who came out and played the theremin. I've read about the theremin and seen pictures, but I had never seen one being played before. I'm not sure whether it was good or bad, but it was interesting.

- They omitted my two least favorite parts of the show -- Belita Woods solo numbers (I know a lot of people like it, but her voice just grates on my nerves) and Trey Lewd raps.

- Shondra (a/k/a Sativa) came out and did "Something Stank" and "Hard as Steel." Kendra Foster (I think that's her name) sang "Bounce to This." (She also sang along, or sang parts of, several other songs.) There was a white girl wearing a ridiculous tutu who sang something (note: he's referring to Kim Manning - Jordan), but I didn't care much for her.

- In one of those "you had to be there" moments, the woman in front of me (we were right up by the stage) lifted her shirt and flashed her breasts at George and Garry. Later, during "Atomic Dog," George brought her up on stage. He tried to get her to flash the crowd -- which she didn't -- and then he walked up behind her while she was dancing and held his wireless mike in his crotch and tried to hump her.

- At the end of the show, which lasted about 3-1/2 hours (that's just the P-Funk segment), the band continued to play as the singers and roadies were packing up the mikes. Garry came to the front of the stage and started waving everybody away, saying "Go home!" Fortunately the band continued playing for another 5 minutes or so.

- As G mentioned, the crowd was Blacker than most of the P-Funk shows I've been to (even DC shows). Maybe it was because Chuck Brown was on the bill.

- Interestingly, there were at least 3 or 4 white musicians playing at different times with P-Funk. One of them was John Hickey, a member of Bernie's Woo Warriors. I didn't recognize any of the others.

All in all, a great show!

Here's a fourth description from Robert Ward:

SOLD OUT! Posted clearly at the front of the 9:30 and with a landing p-party of four destined to get our funk on.We weathered the chilly January D.C. night with an eager but confident stance. For we never have tickets in advance. We just do the old Richard Pryor"What the fu** you mean you don't have no tickets?I'M DRESSED!"

So we got our tickets. By the time we got in, Chuck already was groovin'. Real clean sound and they were sounding as tight as a record. He did some classics like 'Back It Up','We Need Some Money',and of course 'Bustin' Loose',all extended jams with some jazzy solos, rocked out guitar and funky horns. Some serious rap was spit by Chuck's daughter Kay. Chuck kept saying of Paul Reed Smith, as they played some funky guitar solos "he makes these things", "the number two guitar manufacturer." He was playing like he made 'em too. Then Li'l Benny came on stage and supplied some of that R.E. style rap leading to a go-go united nation as Sugar Bear of E.U. joined them for a performance of 'The Butt'.

The P-Funk horns Bennie Cowen and Greg Thomas also sat in with Chuck's group. Then the drum roll intro for Cosmic Slop sounded off and Chuck dropped a nice guitar solo in there and was soon joined by none other than the original vocalist for 'Cosmic Slop' Garry Shider. The backing vocals by Sugar Bear and Benny were right on time too,as they did the "EW AHH EW EW AHH EW" that hasn't really been sang to Cosmic Slop' since the studio version as well as the use of the congos.

Great opening act for the 'P'.It was historically and biologically correct. It's well known that the original Funkadelic drummer Tiki Fullwood and other band members of Funkadelic made DC there home for a while and it's been reported that Tiki and Chuck actually invented go-go while jamming at some point. (Note: Kip Lornell recently spoke with me about how thinks that P-Funk has a powerful influence on GoGo - Jordan) The P-Funk Horns jam with Chuck's group from time to time these days. But,for the real hardcore mugs you still only want hear but so much pre-p preparation! I mean,Dickhead was solid. I looked to my right and all the way across the floor and saw one STILL CONDOM HAT appeared to be unmoved in a sea of local go-go motion. I told my brother ,"look he must be saying "the funk only!", and I had to laugh as I maintained my step to that funky-ass go-go beat.

The 'P' took the stage after a real brief break in the action with 'FUNKENTELECHY'with Lige droppin' dat nastified bass guitar. Never will that cut be anything but exciting. Steve Boyd did some serious vocals on that and all night,Boogie strapped up and got into the rhythm. Right off the top Billy "Bass" was m.i.a. The 'UP FOR THE DOWNSTROKE' medley 'Slingshot' was a serious jam that mutated into everything from 'The Big Payback' to Kendra's 'Bounce to This'. BLACKBYRD MCKNIGHT was cold in effect and on some sho nuff fiyah! His rhythm guitar was right on point and so funky that you had JUST KIND OF SAY THIS GUY HAS GOT IT. George was in good form and energy all about it all night. He broke out some silly string and it was live Droski graphics as it ooozed from Kendra's hair. At some point in the show I noticed Bernie Worrell behind the keys. Very unanimated but I still heard his wizardry coloring between the lines of that which was already being played. Mike "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton did his DC appearance as he did upon his very first back during Capitol Center days,with 'Maggot Brain' only. Sounding good. Next Byrd took us straight to outerspace with the DOGSTAR featuring another young drummer, who I believe was Benny Cowen with a slight age progression that made him unrecognizable to me. Rico and Frankie were the other drummers. Although I couldn't really see behind the kit from my left side of the stage.

They went on to do 'NEVER GONNA TELL IT' and that was the tune that had it feeling crazy as '71 in there. George and Garry got hyped and made it psychedelic with the vocal doings. Can't forget about Clip who was looking like a mad scientist funk boxing and keepin' the crowd on their toes. After all that excitement the start of 'Flashlight' began and I saw one of the faithful almost stomp and complain enough to go right through the floor like rumpofsteelskin! I mean this mug was like "WHY?" like he just lost the lottery. But,they had spoiled us with the rare stuff, then we got One Nation, Atomic Dog....the us-u-al. The horns and thangs were tight on that standard stuff too though, with some great solos and 'Freedom Jazz Dance.'

They closed it out with a rock and roll medley ,you hear that Dick Clark? It was freaked out enough to be a Funkadelic version of 'A Whole Lotta Shakin', though.

A different crowd crossed paths for Chuck and the 'P' was cool. Everyone got to see and hear something different while getting what they came for. Somehow the stage time wasn't an issue either. The 9:30 let them play for a good minute. Bout time.

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

Familiar Faces
It was a foggy drive over to Takoma Station. When I talked with Godfather, he asked me if I brought my camera. In hindsight, I wish I had. It was a great evening. I knew it would be Godfather's birthday at midnight because he had asked Donnell at rehearsal when they were playing on Thursday at Club U so he could celebrate his birthday. What I didn't know was that they would celebrate his birthday tonight. At the beginning of the first set, the line up was: Mike, Adia, Donnell, DP, Dwayne, Doc, Godfather, Jammin' Jeff and Packy on congas. One of the songs they performed had the lines "speed of light, airtight" - Donnell and Adia sang it - (Sade's) Cherish the Day. Adia also sang a song with the refrain "the rhythm of life" - Kindred the Family Soul's Rhythm of Life. Donnell said that Godfather was responsible for Take Me Out to the Go-Go and they would perform some of these songs in the second set to celebrate his birthday. Donnell gave a shout out to GoGo Mickey in the audience. Later on in the set, Donnell called him to the stage to take over the congas from Smoke for their performance of Lap Dance. E of L!ssen (formerly of OP Tribe) also guest rapped. Like last Friday, Donnell asked the audience why they were dancing in the first set. When Donnell acknowledged the other band members at the end of the set, he left out BJ, possibly because he hadn't seen him arrive during the set.

I talked with Dwayne during the break - I told him how I had seen Chuck Brown in a TV advertisement for the Washington Post on Comcast during the Wizards game.

During the second set, they did (with GoGo Mickey on congas and Smoke on timbales and roto-toms) medley of Rare Essence songs Donnell acknowledged Godfather as being a part of: (I don't remember the order) One on One, Lock It, Take Me Out to the Go-Go, and Do You Know What Time it Is? Also during the set, Ras Lidj (or Reggae Rae as Donnell calls him) arrived. Still later, Sugar Bear arrived, said hello to everyone in the band and a few more and sat down. Donnell called on Mike to sing his favorite song, John Legend's Ordinary People. He went through most of it and said, "I'll have it down next week." Ras Lidj rapped with them a little. My favorite part is when Donnell had GoGo Mickey on congas and Smoke on timbales and roto-toms trading solos. Many regulars were there including Tamara, Ebony, and Muffin. They closed with Prince's Purple Rain. Donnell said that "Sugar Bear was so selfish for not performing at all." Sugar Bear said he was here to celebrate Godfather's birthday and was grooving to their music. Ras Lidj came up and said, "Too few men on the field, fifteen yard penalty!" I went over to talk to Ras Lidj. We've shared emails, but had never talked until tonight (although I did see him perform with FF before we talked). He gave me a flyer for his next performance, which I plan to attend. When I left, it was even foggier than when I had arrived.

Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private location, Hyattsville, MD

Familiar Faces
The actual rehearsing was over when I arrived tonight. The band discussed: the order and cues for songs, how to improve the showmanship and ear training. Donnell, Mike, Adia, DP, Dwayne, Doc, Jammin' Jeff, BJ, Godfather, Baba, a service guy, Adia's dog Diva, and Donnell's son Donte. They had laid new wood floor tiles over the carpet in the middle of the main room, and installed a multi-colored dance light projector while was there. Godfather provided comic relief.

Outside, after the meeting adjourned for everyone but the front line, I talked more with Doc, Dwayne and Godfather.

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

I arrived at about 9:40 PM. I saw FF's manager, Baba, outside in the parking lot talking to Packy. I was a little tired. I hung out in the lounge. It turned about to be really early as Familiar Faces didn't go on until 11 PM. I watched people playing pool, including using the same type of custom pool cues with flashing blue lights. There was a fireplace on in the corner that I had never really noticed before. When it got to be 10:30 PM, I walked over the dance area to wait for them to start up. There were fewer tables in the dance area then there were during the summer.

Familiar Faces
FF didn't actually start performing until 11 PM. During the first set, Mike mentioned giving aid to the Tsunami victims. He also said, "If you won't give to the Tsunami victims, give to your brother. Don't just give to your parson, give to your brother." Crankindrumma from the TMOTT board said hello, and then Marly Marl (also from the TMOTT board) came by. He asked me where my camera was (I didn't bring it) and then posed with his hands on the breasts of Juanita Radden. Donnell had Lysette from Backyard Band come up and sing a song (don't remember which song, but it was a cover). People danced during the first set and Donnell repeatedly said, "Why are you dancing during the happy hour set?"

During the first break, I saw one of the differences because of the larger crowds - band members had to compete with the audience for seats in the lounge. Dwayne and Juanita were discussed Xcalibur - he said their last date there was in September, but I told him it was actually in July (specifically it was July 29th). I said hello to Teago, who actually wore a shirt that didn't have Jimi Hendrix on the front. Crankindrumma hung out with Donnell Jr., RE Angie, and Nita. Godfather introduced me to a guy named Tony, who used to play with Little Benny. He said Tony was trying to go national. Tony said they were in the most recent TMOTTGoGo issue. Other regulars were there, including 6'9. I said hello to Supa Dan. Towards the end of the break, I went over to the bar to get a soda.

I watched the second set from over by the bar. Early in the set, Donnell asked Supa Dan or anyone else to turn off the main fireplace - "It's 100 degrees in here!" I noticed Charlie had taken over the cowbell from Packy. During the set, which cranked, they performed Snoop's Drop It Like It's Hot. Mike sang Happy Birthday to Toya. They started to perform Rare Essence's Marinda, but only played a few bars before going into the second break. During the second set, a fight apparently broke out while a police officer played pool.

Before the third set started, I talked with the guy working the side mixing board (Vincent) asking him why there are two mixing boards. He said his board controls the onstage monitors; the other board controls the big speakers. I danced over by the side mixing board for the whole set. DJ Flava (aka GoGo Rudy) came by and said, "Hi." Michelle came by, and danced directly behind the mixing board. Telly stood over to the left of me. James sang backup during the set, and Jay Gotti guest rapped. Charlie played the timbales and roto-toms throughout most of the set. They did perform Rare Essence's Marinda during this set. Another girl came by and grinded with me during the performance of DIP. She actually asked me if I was having fun - of course! The heat of the crowd was palpable - I sweated a bit. Lysette sang another song during the set, then took off her all red sunglasses and Charlie put them on, hamming it up. BJ took pictures during the set. Donnell went over announcements: "It's just ladies at the Tradewinds, all you need is soft shoes, leave your tennis shoes behind one night, never mind: we've got it covered." He also announced their Ski Party in March and their upcoming performance at Bud's 501 Club on Martin Luther King's Birthday Sunday. I talked with Michelle, she asked about getting a copy of her interview. Donnell advised everyone "When they leave, walk directly to their cars and drive home."

There was an incident outside and the police blocked off one of the exits to the parking lot. When I said goodbye to Donnell, I asked how much of the order of the songs they perform is pre-planned. He said, "None of it." He has hand signals for each song.

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

Despite the rain, it was a great evening. I arrived a little before 10 PM. I went over and talked to Doc. We discussed Gospel GoGo. A number of groups have broken up lately, especially since they don't always perform for pay. Doc said he didn't get the point of what Gospel GoGo bands are trying to accomplish - GoGo music with Gospel words. I said that it is possible they are trying to attract people who wouldn't normally go to church. I told him about a picture one of my fellow folklore students showed in class: a church sign saying "Wal-Mart is not the only place you can save." We also discussed Bass players and Guitar Players. Doc said most of them are crazy, including Jimi Hendrix. (Interestingly, Greg Tate talks about how Hendrix set the image for rock guitarists in Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience.)

Familiar Faces
The first set was delayed due to technical problems between the guitar and the mixing board. When they started, the line up was: Donnell, DP, Dwayne, Doc, Godfather, Jammin' Jeff and Smoke. It started off instrumentally as usual, and then Adia and Mike started singing. Later, Donnell called Tamara up to sing a song, like last week. To make up for the late start, they performed a really long set: about 90 minutes. BJ arrived a little late. Mike gave props to Marshall Thompson (lead singer of the Chi-Lites) and said he'd be there to see him front row, center on February 18th. Adia sang Destiny's Child's Soldier. At one point, they went over to congratulate a woman who had just gotten a job for Ward 4. Mike sat down at the seat next to her, and Donnell brought his Saxophone to the table as well and they serenaded her. Again, other than the opening songs, it is hard to distinguish between the sets musically now. The GoGo beat clearly dominated most of the first and all of the second set. A guy sitting behind me had a running commentary on their performance. They did an announcement for Tracy's birthday party at Cada Vez. There was a birthday shout out for a different Tracy as well.

Still, the second set was more crankin' than the first set. Again, they performed DIP in the second set, as well as Lap Dance. Donnell mentioned the Miami trip again. Donnell also requested a volunteer male singer for tomorrow's performance at Club U. They will be performing at 12:30 AM, with EU, Y2K, and L!ssen preceding them. Donnell said, "We need someone who can stay up late." Mike added, "Someone who is unemployed." Donnell called the group members together for a quick meeting after the show.

Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private location, Hyattsville, MD

Familiar Faces
I attended rehearsal today. It was both well organized and well attended. When I got there, Donnell, DP, Mike, Adia, Dwayne, Doc, BJ, Jammin' Jeff, Smoke, Donnell's son Donte (spelling?) and Donnell's daughter Destiny were there. The rehearsal space had changed quite a bit - there was new carpet, and new paint. Actually, the most dramatic change to me was the absence of the noise from the one exit door. Nephew and Jauhar arrived after me. They were engaged in practicing. Destiny was a bit of a distraction. After finishing practicing, Donnell discussed strategies for dealing with performance opportunities. They also passed out the weekly pay. I also talked a little with Dwayne, Doc and Donnell as the rehearsal broke up.

New Year's at Safari Steakhouse
Safari Steakhouse, 9430 Annapolis Road Lanham MD 20706


Godfather (only arms visible), Doc, BJ, James (guest vocalist), Darryl "Blue Eye" Arrington (only right hand visible), Mike, Donnell, Smoke, and DP


Doc, Unidentified Man, Godfather, Little Benny, Mike, Donnell, Smoke


DP, Donnell, Scuba Steve Covington, Godfather, Unidentified Man, Smoke, Pooh
All pictures taken by and Copyright – Jordan Rich

Since the flyer showed that the doors opened at 8 PM, an hour earlier than usual, I decided to come at 9:30 PM. I arrived and there was plenty of parking available at that time. I gave my ticket to Nephew. One of the security guards asked I had been at an event at the DC Tunnel, but I've never been there so far. Plenty of party favors were in boxes on a table outside to the right of the front door. I put my stuff on a table - second row, left side. This night there were nine tables in addition to the booths. The tables all had blue tablecloths with red-pink streamers on them. I went over and talked to Doc and Packy, who were the only ones from the band there at the time. Doc said he was there that early because the previous week he had had difficulty getting a parking space. I talked with him about his new bass. He said it was fretless, I told him about how I had just read Jaco Pastorius' biography and how he had turned a fretted bass into a fretless bass. He said that Jaco was crazy, and I agreed (his biography talks about how he was manic-depressive and was in denial of it.) He told me a story about how he had asked the delivery man to deliver it early so Doc's wife wouldn't see it, but he got stuck in traffic. It ended up okay. I left Doc and Packy to their work and went and got the free dinner. Supa Dan said hello while he went around putting out more balloons. DJ Flava (aka GoGo Rudy) came by and said he'd introduce himself to me. I talked with Mike, and asked him how his back was.

The comedian Skiba came on stage. He picked on a number of people, including Chuck Brown, said he smoked marijuana all the time. He also picked on Donnell, making fun of his belt among other things. Donnell and other members of Familiar Faces were still working on setting up their equipment while Skiba performed. A girl named Honey, wearing a yellow shirt, sat next to me. She seemed to be laughing the most at Skiba's jokes. Skiba had a pointed joke about PA tapes: "Forty-five minutes of fighting, fifteen minutes of pocket, and two minutes of we play here every Thursday." Skiba also poked fun at the GoGo pics guy, who I recognized as having worked security at the cookout. Naturally, he picked on me, as "The White Guy".

Familiar Faces
Familiar Faces' opening line up was: Donnell, DP, Doc, Godfather, BJ, Darryl "Blue Eye" Arrington on drums and Packy on congas. Strangely, they had no guitar player all night. One of the tunes they performed during this "Jazz set" was Mile Davis' Tutu (written by Marcus Miller). After, a few instrumental tunes, Adia and then Mike came up and started singing. They also had a guest singer for a song, James Lawson, who had sung on Wednesday as well. Smoke also arrived during the set. When he took over the congas, Packy switched to the cowbell. When Smoke started playing, it became a GoGo set. In both of the first sets I have attended this week; the first set is no longer as musically distinct as it was in the summer. However, I prefer the way it is now with the GoGo beat as opposed to the lighter feel. The first set was not going to be over before midnight, and Donnell made sure to have a time check for midnight. He asked if anyone with a Bulova watch could call out the countdown. At midnight, they asked family to come one stage under the mistletoe, including his son, Donnell Jr. He said that Donnell Jr. was "Only thirteen, only twelve" (actually he's twenty-one). He said that Nephew was way ahead, having already kissed four women under the mistletoe. They then performed Time to Party, one of the songs off their new album, Evolution. I didn't have a copy of Evolution yet so I didn't know the name of the song, but recognized the song from the studio sessions I had attended. Donnell ended the first set by saying, "Skiba, sorry about the test results. If Magic Johnson can make it, you can too..."

During the break, I hung out in the lounge and talked with members of FF. During the break, I saw a number of people getting GoGo pics, including a group of women who posed around Donnell Jr. One of these women was Lisa of the World, whom I recognized from the cookout. I went and watched the second set from next to and behind the right speaker, facing the front line sideways. There was a second soundboard there. The same bunch of women who had posed with Donnell Jr. danced nearby to me, either onstage behind the front line, or in front of me or behind the soundboard. The line up for the second set was different: Duane "Pooh" Payne played drums and Anthony "Little Benny" Harley was an additional vocalist. A girlfriend of Vic's (I think he was working the monitors) made some suggestions to me that I can't print here. FF performed Lap Dance from Evolution, which I didn't recognize as such at the time. For me, the highlight of the second set was Take Me Out to the Go-Go. Little Benny left toward the end of the set. Donnell sang Miss Keta Will You Dance for Me. He also did shout outs to Mo, Sweet Chelle and Lisa of the World.

During the second break, I talked with Pooh. I asked him about the advertising agency gig. He said he didn't have a permanent gig now, but that he would be playing in Atlanta the next couple of weeks.

At the beginning of the third set, Donnell referred to the group of women I mentioned above as the "Solid Gold Dancers." As usual, the third set was the most crankin'. Scuba Steve Covington from Y2K guest rapped. As the set ended, Donnell went to joning. He said to Angie, "I didn't see you at Club U. You missed, a show, you are no longer family." He then started singing a modified version of Family, but with negatives. Keisha came up at the end and had a song request. He gave her the same treatment as Angie. He called out 6'9 as well, saying "I am going to have to call out your name, David Gregory." He said of Doc (as Doc left the stage), "He's from Glebe Road. The n*ggas from Glebe Road are the craziest." Having seen the GoGo pics with Donnell Jr., he started on those women: "Don't you know my son is only thirteen? I will press charges: statutory rape! Shante, there's a police car outside waiting for you; I hope it was worth it!" Donnell also talked about their Saturday shows at Tradewinds, "it's just us and a whole lot of girls. Guys, all you need is shoes..."
Shawn and Shante were there.

After the show, I waited outside as Donnell gave me a copy of Evolution. While I waited, I saw them back up a truck to the front door, and they put all of the speakers into the truck. While I knew the speakers were rented (I had met a guy named Ed at an earlier performance at Safari Steakhouse and he had told me, pointing the large speakers, "those are my speakers."). I didn't know they removed them after every performance. I also talked with GoGo Rudy; he talked about his name change to Flava as being similar to Prince's change to the symbol. I also met and got the phone number from ex-911 member Paul "Rootie" Baltimore.

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.

Evolution Release Party at Safari Steakhouse
Safari Steakhouse, 9430 Annapolis Road Lanham MD 20706

They say the third time is the charm. In this case it was definitely true. My third attempt to see Familiar Faces perform during my Thanksgiving vacatio,n and after Evolution was released was successful. I knew from Amazon.com that the release date for Evolution was November 23rd. When I saw that Familiar Faces was to perform on November 24th, along with Anthony Hamilton, I assumed it was their album release party. I arranged to attend, but in my haste I forgot to bring formal shoes with me from North Carolina. The actual event was not the Evolution release party, but the Positive Black Men Coalition's Night of Elegance with DJ Rico & Soul Patrol and broadcast live with Michel Wright & WPGC 95.5. Well, I arrived on time, but due to my lack of proper shoes, they turned me away. (This event was at Hyatt Regency Crystal City, 2799 Jefferson Davis Hwy, Arlington, VA 22202). To be honest, I was much more disappointed in missing out on Familiar Faces then Anthony Hamilton, whose music I am not familiar with

The following night, there was an All-Star Thanksgiving Jam scheduled, with EU opening for FF with Little Benny, 32, Bog G, Go-Go Mickey and Rah. This event was at Kilis Kafe & Lounge, 2009 8th St NW, Washington, DC 20001. I arrived at around 10 PM, as the flyer indicated everyone who arrived before 10:30 was free. It was very cold out, but they wouldn't let us in yet. Despite the holiday, the garbage men picked up the trash just as I arrived. While I waited in line, I recognized Crankindrumma from the TMOTTGoGo board. I recognized him because of his avatar:

I went over and talked with him. He told me that he's good friends with Donnell Floyd Jr. Eventually, they let us in. Kili's has metal detectors and separate entrances for separate performance areas. It was humorous: while waiting one of the security guys would walk back and forth through the metal detector, setting it off every time. They took Crankindrumma's drum key away as a "potential weapon." When we got up to the performance area on the second floor, everyone sat on seats by the right of the stage (the performer's right, not someone facing the stage). We watched as Sugar Bear arrived. A little while later, Godfather and then later Dwayne Lee arrived. I talked with them both. Also, Googie arrived not too much later. After setting down his stuff, Godfather went over to talk with Googie. He talked to someone else too and came back and said it was cancelled. The promoter then went on stage and formally announced it. It was due to poor attendance.



I am on the left



Smoke on the congas
All pictures taken by and Copyright Eric "Nephew" Floyd Sr.

Familiar Faces
The next night, I went to Safari Steakhouse for the actual Evolution release party. I bought a ticket from Nephew. A number of familiar faces were there, including Kato, Teago, Ray, Crankindrumma, Donnell Jr., and Mama Chelle. It was really packed, much more so than any prior Safari show I had attended. This was my first time seeing Jammin' Jeff Warren on drums and Sam "Smoke" Dews on congas for Familiar Faces. Their first set was different from their regular happy hour sets in that Smoke played congas throughout, giving it a hard edge.

In the break, I saw Teago, he wore a t-shirt with the words "Fallen Warriors" printed on it as well as pictures of Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix. I asked him if he had any shirts that don't have Hendrix on them.

In the second set, crankin' as usual, there was an attractive woman whom I recognized. She was a bartender at the square shaped bar next to the dance area the first few weeks I went to Safari. Since then, she has been there as a customer. During the set, a guy came over, hugging her. He asked me if "She was sexy?" I answered, "Yes." He brought her over so her butt faced me. He said, "Grab a taste", and so I grinded with her.

In the third set there were guest rappers - I couldn't see them due to the crowd, so I don't know who they were. During the third set, a girl came up behind me and started grinding with me. We danced together for a few minutes, and then she walked away. I didn't even see her until after she left. It was a great evening, I am glad I could go, even though I had to drive back to North Carolina the following afternoon.

New Dimension Band at Nanci Raygun, Richmond, VA
Nanci Raygun, 929 West Grace St, Richmond, VA 23220

I originally planned to go see the New Dimension Band on Saturday night in Norfolk.

However, when the latest email mentioned they would be performing in Richmond on Friday, I leaped at the opportunity. My school workload was heavy for the weekend and the ability to drive to Richmond and back the same night was very helpful. I spoke with Rob Sabbakhan to see if I could interview them that night. He said that would be good, but that it would be better for me to see Saturday's show. The Norfolk show was sold out and would feature two other GoGo bands (UCB and Mumbo Sauce Band) as well. Richmond apparently hasn't given NDB the love they deserve.

Sometime after 5 PM, my roommate Julien (from France), and I headed up to Richmond. I missed a turn in the city, but got directions then looked for a parking space. I ended up parking 10 blocks away - it was very cold.

The cover charge was an extremely reasonable $5. Nanci Raygun is a venue that seems to be more oriented to Punk and Metal than GoGo. The piped in music sounded like Death Metal. The decor had some art paintings, but a lot of painted graffiti, even in the bathrooms, both of which had their doors open. The raised stage was to the left of the front door and there were steps for the audience to sit on. In addition, a 15 foot or so bar was on the left side, parallel to the wall - the venue is narrow. Opposite the bar were a number of benches. Beyond the bar were pool tables and then the bathroom. I also noticed that there was an electrical outlet by the pool table - good for me to record the interview. Most of the people in the bar when I arrived a little before 9 PM were Caucasian. DJ Von set up - they set up a wooden board on two sawhorses and put the DJ equipment on there. There was actually more than one person working the turntables. As the band members arrived around 10 PM, I introduced myself to a number of the members. Rob was already there (and wearing a Maryland sweatshirt) but I didn't recognize him since his picture on the NDB website made him look older than he looked in person. In addition to the band members, a number of fans arrived and sat on the steps. When the band members came in, they greeted the fans and also danced to the music. At one point, Rob came over and asked Julien if he was Jordan. I told him I was. He said that they were only going to do a short set and then we could do the interview.

The line up was: four vocalists (Stephone, Danny, Cool, and Brandi), two keyboard players (a Korg X3 and a Korg N364), a drummer on a raised platform, a guitarist, a bass player and two percussionists. Stephone wore a white t-shirt and blue jeans. He drank beer directly out of a pitcher with a straw - he poured some out into other band member's cups. Before they started performing, he said "W. George W. Bush, that's right I voted for Bush. I don't give a f*ck!" The first song was good, but not locked into the groove yet (i.e. congas). Brandi did a vocal solo. The second song did bring in the congas, but occasionally Lee would just dance directly behind the front line. I enjoyed their set, but wished it were longer. I thought it was interesting that Jamal? switched from guitar to keyboards and later bass. Rob also got on stage and directed and talked a little, he did a shout out to me for coming, which was nice.

I then did a joint interview - I thought the joint interview I did of most of Familiar Faces together was highly successful. I audio recorded the interview with a Marantz analog cassette recorder. My roommate and I drove home right after the interview. I worried later in the weekend when the tape wouldn't play in either of my cassette players and I had to manually rewind it. I ended up getting help from John Loy, the audio engineer at the SFC where I work. He transferred it to CD for me and even raised the levels. The interview transcript is below.

Unfortunately, I am not 100% certain of who is speaking from New Dimension Band in every part of the interview. This interview is not 100% verbatim, but is very close.

Me: Okay, all these questions are for everyone to answer really. First I wanted to start off with: where did you learn to play music?

NDB: Most of us would say church.

Danny: Church.

Lee: Picking up an instrument and starting to play it, know what I'm saying homes?

NDB: Playing in the background. It's a gift, it's a given gift. Church background.

Me: And what made you decide to form a GoGo band?

NDB: Go to Rob with that.

Stephone: I am always talking. This is a band, this is New Dimension, now let everybody, everybody knows what's going on, where it's at man.

Derrick: I wasn't, I wasn't here when it first started, know what I'm saying? I'm like one of those members in here but Stephone, Lee, Cool, (unknown name) and Aaron those are the old heads, they are the old heads in the band. They was mostly here before when the band first started. They formed the GoGo band.

NDB: The Question is when New Dimension Band get started, when did you all get started?

Stephone: I can answer that. We got started about 1997. In '97. It really started before that. He's really one of the last of the original (can't hear) members, him and Jr., but Jr. left early. They started off with a band between VCU and Union, got together with some people from Northern Virginia and Richmond that wanted to had a love for GoGo that wanted it start something. It wasn't for money and it wasn't for... it was basically for enjoyment of the music. They had love for the music and they wanted to start it. And I got together, I got with the group `cause I was working at a record store and the drummer played with one of my managers, they used to gig together and I wanted to start my own band and I met Rob in the record store. He said, "He was `too young'", I'm not going to say "He's too old," he said "hH was too young to be in a band", but he was thinking about doing the managerial part. So from there on, we got together, we got together like a puzzle. This is one of my best friends (Lee), we got a barbershop together, (someone else yells "and me!") he's a congo player. And I met him in church; I met the drummer in church. Me and Cool been doing music together for a minute, we brought him in then we brought, he brought Vinnie in. Then Vinnie brought Derrick in. Then we met Eric, he goes to Union, we brought him in. We needed a bass player that sound `cause he's been doing marching band stuff, brought him in, he plays the keys now, he brought Brian (not sure of name). So it's like like a big family, it's all a family. And where Brandi?

Lee: Brandi!

Stephone: Right here, she's our singer, Cool brought, he brought her in. So it's like all a big family connection. It shouldn't even be called New Dimension Band; it should be called New Dimension Family. So you know that's how we're doing today.

Me: Yeah, what was that group hug you were doing before you?

Stephone: Every, before every show we like to have a prayer and just like it's like a game plan game plan huddle, we get together get all our stuff together, motivate everybody and Dirtie (Derrick) says a prayer and we go ahead and roll.

Me: And what do you see as your future, for the band I mean?

Stephone: Somebody else, I'm answering all the questions.

Derrick: You can't look into the future, you've got to go day by day, you know what I'm saying; take one day at a time.

NDB: Hopefully, we become one of the greatest of all time.

Rob: Region, in the region.

Stephone: We're trying GoGo to, we're want to be the band that like... GoGo is a very, it's like a 3-state city type of music.

Rob: Region.

Stephone: Region-wide. He went to UVA, region.

NDB: Laughter.

Stephone: So it's like Maryland, DC and Virginia, Northern Virginia. But a lot of bands want to take it, a couple of bands that took it national. Well we want to, I think every band now in DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia has the same goal, they want to take it nationwide but no one feels it's all about us, like a tradition. That they would be going against the grain to take it national. But in Richmond, we feel we have an edge. A lot of us have a background in music, so we want to be one of, one of the groups to take it national. We don't just, we don't just play GoGo, we can play R&B, like we have singers in the band. We have, we can do a Jazz show with just musicians. You want a Hip Hop show; we can do a Hip Hop show. We also do weddings, Bar Mitzvahs...

NDB: Laughter.

Stephone: Family reunions, gatherings, everything, we can do it all. Everybody in here is a musician, not just in the band, but outside...

Me: So how often do you play?

Stephone: We're playing now at least like two, three times a month, but we're trying to get to... It's hard to play every week, have a regular spot down in Richmond because Richmond is not know for GoGo, but we're trying to bring the closet GoGo lovers out. I think Nanci Raygun can possibly be one of our big spots; we've been play here for a couple of weeks. As far as the playing part, you should talk to our manager.

Rob: We pick our shows kind of carefully, `cause we like to spread them out. We talk about our base here in Richmond, but our reach goes out to all corners of Virginia you know. Try to get up to DC when that's possible. But we pick the shows sparingly. We might only play like three shows a month, but when we do those shows, we want to make them big, so that people can remember those shows. Not just a lot bands back home in DC they're playing three or four times a week, it gets redundant after a while. But that's the advantage of us doing our shows so infrequent that the shows are more meaningful. You know, you get to promote them more.

Me: Yeah, I went to a show at Mayo Island.

Rob: Yeah, that. Was it Mayo Island or Brown's Island?

Me: It was Mayo Island.

Rob: How old was it?

Me: It was Junkyard (Band), Beenie Man, Backyard (Band), and Trouble Funk.

Rob: Yeah, you got a lot of other promoters doing shows, not just in Richmond, central Virginia, but around the area. We land on a few of those shows, but for the most part, New Dimension our forte is not just a band, we enjoying doing our own shows, we put out our own shows. That's one of the reasons why I'm talking about we only play three times a month because we're doing our own shows. We can't do three or four times a week doing our own shows, we'd have to rely on other promoters. There are other promoters doing GoGo, not as much as maybe five years ago, but like the show you mentioned, you know they're still doing them. And we try to get on as many as possible.

Me: So are you and Mumbo Sauce Band the only GoGo bands in Virginia?

Rob: Negative. Right now, I would estimate, you have to include Northern Virginia in it, there are probably a minimum of ten or fifteen. But we're obviously the most known band in Virginia because of our reach like I mentioned. We play all over Virginia, we have more exposure. But there's a band down in Lynchburg, believe it or not, by the name of DIB, Down in the Basement. There's a band out of Woodbridge, First Impression, Stafford-Woodbridge. There's a couple of other bands sprouting up, they've seen the success we've had, the moderate success we've had you know, so they're trying to do their thing. Believe it or not there are a few bands trying to make a name in Virginia.

Me: And so what do DC fans think of you?

Rob: That's a good question. You know the attitude; you're only as good as your last show. A lot of the DC crowd because we don't play that often in DC, they see us down here with the college students, so it's kind of a mixed thing.

NDB: They love us!

Rob: They love us...

Stephone: I got to intervene. Actually a lot of the DC bands, the ones that really count like the top top bands have respect for us because we don't... because in DC a lot of bands mimic other bands, older bands. We don't really mimic a lot of bands in DC and they respect us for that. For not trying to be like other bands, we kind of have our own style. That's why we came up with the name New Dimension; we're actually like a new dimension of GoGo. It's different, we're kind of different. What' they're doing, we try to look at what they're doing over there, we try to do something different instead of the same GoGo sets, you know what I mean.

Rob: I think the key thing is they respect us, but what we're doing, we're doing something that probably some people thought never was possible: we're doing GoGo in this region and having good success at it. But at the same token we have a lot of mixed, negative feelings: people that don't necessarily like GoGo going outside the Beltway. And they're automatically prejudiced: a lot of them haven't even seen us. "Ah, nah, New Dimension, Richmond, no, no, no." But the ones that have actually seen us, like the Richmond college students, once they actually see us, you see their whole perception change. That's the thing I've found interesting over the years with the band down here.

Me: And how often do you all attend performances of other GoGo bands?

NDB: All the time.

NBD: All the time, you got to be a fan of the music. You've got to be a fan of GoGo first, #1. Then we're entertainers with a GoGo band, #2. You always got be a GoGo fan. That's like doing homework and research. That's paying homage to the bands who came before us. Got to be a student of the music, a big fan. You're always a fan.

Me: And a general GoGo question. Do you feel that GoGo serves a purpose other than entertainment?

Lee: Yeah. Definitely, GoGo's like a culture. Like you have Hip Hop, you have Rap. You know Hip Hop's a culture; Rap's a music that comes out of Hip Hop culture. GoGo's a culture. You can see a t-shirt, you can be in Florida and if you see a Madness t-shirt or a HOBO t-shirt, you know where that person got that t-shirt: in DC. You know they go to the GoGo. So you know GoGo it's like a culture, it's got its own slang, its own dance, its own fashion. GoGo' big, it definitely serves a purpose. If it's from DC you can definitely tell, GoGo is a culture. He can co-sign for me, he's from DC. It's more than just entertainment, definitely.

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

Lee: The beat man. `Cause first of all, it's the rhythms it's the beat, it's the closest thing we have to like African music. Plus when you're a young buck, you're growing up, sometimes you can't get into the clubs, you're not old enough, but GoGo's at rec. centers, community centers, all the communities that your parents, people that you go. And you feel safe because it's within the community. So sometimes that's the first time you meet a girl at the GoGo you know and sometimes that sticks with you. And that's how I feel.

Derrick: Especially as a child, I found that a lot of my peers and fans from the DC metropolitan area they like instruments. And when you can get some live instruments together and people just sit there and have fun with it; that's where it starts. And I mean they gave us a chance, they gave me a chance to actually learn and incorporate me having fun with the music.

NDB: Instruments.

Derrick: GoGo music is live music. It's actually live, it's not off of a track, it's not off a record, you know so you not going to sit there and have a scratching. You got a live band, you got feelings and people put all of their emotions into it.

NDB: Synthesizers.

Derrick: GoGo can make you feel happy, GoGo can make you feel sad, and GoGo can make you feel that you want to fight. It just happens and it's all emotions.

Me: And how do you define GoGo?

Derrick: How do I define GoGo: living life.

Lee: Good answer.

Me: What instrumentation do you think a GoGo band should have to be considered a GoGo band?

NDB: Answer that.

Eric: Excuse me a second. (Laughter from the rest of the group.) Deals with drums basically, percussions, so the bass drum, and the Congos, timbales, cowbells (said together with another band member), tambourine bells, xylophones, anything. The whole nine basically... but it starts with the percussion section and that's basically it the percussion, but then you can just add anything you want to, to be creative.

Stephone: He's a music major at Union.

Derrick: I'm a music major at Virginia State University.

Me: Do you think that all music played by GoGo bands is GoGo?

NDB: No.

NDB: No.

Me: Do you think of GoGo as Southern Music?

NDB: No, area. It's metropolitan.

Stephone: It's metropolitan music. If someone would hear you they'd probably want to get you right now. (Laughter) No, but no, It's really like metropolitan music. It's metropolitan: it's Maryland, DC, and Northern Virginia, and that's it.

NDB: Mid-Atlantic.

Stephone: Outside of that...

NDB: There is no outside of that.

Stephone: Out of the beltway. Outside of that, they don't really like us. Beyond that, those 3 places that live, eat, sleep...

NDB: East coast, mid-Atlantic.

NDB: And he (Rob) has on a Maryland sweatshirt and he's a UVA graduate, what a sellout!

Me: Plus Maryland's playing UVA in football tomorrow!

NDB: Laughter.

Me: I'm a Maryland grad, so...

NDB: Laughter.

Rob: They've got a game tomorrow, but we've got a show, that's more important.

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

NDB: Keep going stepping the game up.

NDB: Personality.

Stephone: Everybody got to step it up; we got to take it to another level. A lot of the bands are mimicking the older bands; got to take it to a new emotion, that's GoGo.

Lee: It's like bands got to come in and try to change the game. It's like they have to have that attitude that they're going to be #1, they're going to be different, and they're going to go kill it every time. And that's the only way to keep it going is to not re-invent the wheel, but take the wheel this next step further. `Cause the wheel's already there, it's been going on for twenty, thirty years. So it's not going to, you know to be too much new, but it's just that coming in that little new form, that new dimension, ha ha, no pun intended.

Stephone: You got it, New Dimension.

Rob: Yeah, a lot of the bands, from (word?) earlier ten or fifteen years, bands kind of get caught up in the you know the problems of just let me have two, three, four shows a week you know in the area. They get so wrapped up in the show aspect they're not really looking at the bigger picture. I think so much more could have been done in the last decade that hasn't been done. You know but it's in part because of that, you know people are just concentrating on the day-to day, how do I get this money for the show, you know, locally. Instead of thinking how well how can I spread this music you know down South or wherever else.

Danny: And I think man, Rob, I think that another aspect of New Dimension from different bands in the DC area: all of us are professionals outside of this. Like we said before, we don't do this for money we are professionals: we got people who are entrepreneurs, people who work for the city, we have teachers, we have college students, people who are well-rounded individuals. So that kind of makes us different, you know. We don't gig every week, we've got jobs, we have mouths to feed. We have followers here, you know kids who I am saying, `cause we do a lot not just for our families, but our communities. (Unknown word) company, a barbershop company, people depend on these people, people depend on me. You know so that's another part of GoGo that you may not see, but we are professional outside of this, for real. So you bring that to the table on the stage, you know that makes us so much different from everybody, because we playing...

NDB: That's what ties it in as GoGo being a culture.

Stephone: Yeah.

NDB: Definitely, because it's an extra sense people don't see, but it's all there though.

Stephone: Yeah, `cause like he's a student, he's a teacher, he's a student, we're entrepreneurs: we have a barbershop together, he works for the city, and he's a student. It's all a bunch of students that people try to do things that.... One thing that our manger often often strives on is a lot of community stuff. Like we do a lot of stuff, we try to do a lot stuff with the community. And like everybody you basically saw here tonight was family. And it gets to the point where really family doesn't even really pay to come see us no more, it's family, they come because they got love for us. You got several people, like there that's HOBO Bo; he's one of our biggest fans...

Rob: He comes all the way from Fredericksburg.

Stephone: Like they come all the way from Fredericksburg to see us, you can't really call them fans. We've don't believe in the fan thing, it's a family. Everybody here is family.

Me: So what do you think about the cover phenomenon? In DC, some of the top groups they just try play...

Rob: L!ssen.

Me: ...what's on the radio.

Stephone: That's what kind of stuff separates us a lot of bands from DC, because we got a lot of people in the band that just don't do GoGo. Like he's a producer, he does a lot of production for Rap, I'm a rapper, he does production, and a couple of other members of the band are rappers and production, like a singer, he also sings, he produces and directs. We strive on... Yeah he's like he does plays, he's an actor. We strive on originality. Like we might, like the Nelly song on the radio for instance the Nelly song if we decided to play that song, we might take the music part, but we would change it in a sense, there would be a center to it, but we would do our own original words or raps and would probably end up with our own original keys and stuff. And just a lot of bands in DC take the covers and repeat the raps... And we're music's universal... is an art, to us it's like we're Hip Hoppers, we started as a Hip Hop band, so that's kind of like biting, you know what I mean?

Me: Yeah.

Stephone: So we, we got to do... you'll never hear us repeat no one else's lyrics, we do our own lyrics. All of them, everything.

NDB: Top to bottom.

Stephone: Yeah, do our own stuff.

Me: And what do you think about the way PA tapes are sold?

Stephone: That's GoGo. That's GoGo. Like a lot of people have as far as in the Rap industry they sell at a lot of mom and pop stores, in the GoGo industry you have you make your CDs and your tapes and sell them in the like places like PA Palace, or ah Take Me Out to the GoGo, a lot of places that (can't tell phrase) he's like a GoGo phenomenon. Big Butch comes to a lot shows and sells tapes. So that's a lot of, that's like our mom and pop stores. You know and people sell I mean its some tapes that are probably selling 100,000 copies, but you would never get... I mean we do barcode sometimes if we do have actual industry CDs like that one out in the studio, but GoGo's really like real underground. So it's like kind of like a secret society in a way.

Me: So often should you put out a commercial...

Stephone: Well, I mean our goal, we try to put one out every once a year or once a two or three years, but a lot of GoGo's really geared to live performance. Because you can get a CD, you can hear it, but you can't a lot of people who don't really know about GoGo have better respect for it when they see it live.

Lee: GoGo's something that you have to experience because it's all about that live aspect. There's a couple of dimensions to GoGo, you can hear it on a tape, you can even see it on a video, but it's nothing like going to a GoGo experiencing yourself with that crowd, being with that crowd in a venue.

NDB: Yeah, you know what I'm saying.

Me: What defines a good performance?

Lee: What defines a good performance? A good performance is all like it's a group effort, everyone puts their group, you know what I'm saying, inputs in. And it's like everyone's their own producer, you know what I'm saying, so when you put your inputs in, and I mean you do your little thing, you play your role, it comes out as one musical form. You know what I'm saying, so it's all a pattern. You put the pattern together and make it fit right and it's going to be a musical sound. You know what I mean, so you get the sound together and you get the rhythm going and it's going to be a party. That's how the music gets formed.

Me: And how do you define Pockets & Sockets?

Lee: Ha, ha. I'm going to tell you man, a pocket, yeah, you know what I mean, a pocket's like a laid back, a two-step thing, you know what I mean. If you want to warm up before you get to the party, you come to the party, you know what I mean, you come in to the hood, and you just want to go to the bar, grab a drink and then warm up, look at the girls, and see the girls in the place, you know what I mean, you lean back, get the two-step going. Then when the socket come on, that when the party come on, that's when the music gets hyped!

Stephone: I'm going to cut you off because he one of our biggest... I told you we don't call them fans, we call them family; he comes all the way from Fredericksburg. We can play in West Bumchuck Louisiana him and his friend will be there. He's a fan of GoGo as a whole. He's a good person to talk to.

HOBO Bo: GoGo is NDB. If it's NDB it's GoGo. GoGo is something where you work hard all day long...

Stephone: Yup.

HOBO Bo: come home and party. Stressed out with your people, go to the GoGo, relieve some stress. You get NDB, you got a party. You got GoGo real, you got NDB.

Stephone: Sure.

HOBO Bo: If it's like that, everything everything. Life is life; live it to the fullest. I'm young, and with NDB you only get it once.

Me: Alright, well that's all of my questions, is there something more you want to say or ask me?

Stephone: Naw, I appreciate you're coming down, I want to shake your hand, I appreciate your coming down...

Me: Yeah, he's he's (Julien) from even farther, he's from France...

Stephone: Oh what's going on man?

Julien: Laughs.

Stephone: Yeah, we appreciate your coming down, and I appreciate your coming down and interviewing us and on behalf of me and the rest of the band we appreciate it and look forward to doing more stuff with you. You come down here and we'll party with you, we'll be there. Alright.

Me: Alright, thanks! I appreciate it.

Stephone: Alright man. (To Julien): What's your name?

Julien: Julien.

Non-GoGo: Pfunk at the Cat's Cradle
Cat's Cradle, 300 East Main St, Carrboro, NC 27510

I went with my roommate Julien to see PFunk. Their tour bus was outside, they had played in Philadelphia the night before. Some of the band members were outside as we waited in line.

George Clinton & the P-Funk All-Stars
Known personnel there (there probably were more, but I couldn't tell):
Gene "Poo Poo Man" Anderson - Vocals
Danny Bedrosian - Keyboards
Steve Boyd - Vocals
George Clinton - Vocals
Shondra "Sativa" Clinton - Vocals
Bennie Cowan - Trumpet
Lige Curry - Bass, Vocals
Kendra Foster - Vocals
Michael Hampton - Guitar
Robert "P-Nut" Johnson - Vocals
DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight - Guitar
Carlos "Sir Nose" McMurray - Dancer
Billy "Bass" Nelson - Bass
Jerome Rodgers - Keyboards
Gary Shider - Vocals & Rhythm Guitar
Greg Thomas - Saxophone
Frank "Kash" Waddy - Drums
Belita Woods - Vocals

Setlist
1) Frank Kash Waddy intro
2) crowd "We want the Funk"
3) Funkentelechy
4) Bop Gun (Endangered Species)
5) Gamin' On Ya
6) Undisco Kidd
7) Get Off Your Ass and Jam
8) Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)
9) Night Of The Thumpasorous Peoples
10) Get Off Your Ass and Jam
11) Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)
12) Strong guitar jamming
13) Take Your Dead Ass Home! (Say Som'n Nasty) & Get Off Your Ass and Jam choruses
14) Let's Take It To The Stage
15) "P" & "Funk" crowd choruses
16) Ludicrous chant
17) Flashlight
18) Sativa-led Something Stank
19) Sativa-led Hard as Steel
20) Flashlight
21) Bop Gun (Endangered Species)
22) (not just) Knee Deep
23) Scatting
24) Belita Woods-led Sentimental Journey
25) Jamming
26) Up For The Down Stroke
27) Belita Woods-led Jimmy G & the Tackhead's Slingshot
28) Poo Poo Man-led James Brown's Payback
29) Kendra Foster-led Bounce to This
30) America Eats Its Young
31) Maggot Brain
32) Dog Star (Fly On) & Jimi Hendrix's The Wind Cries Mary
33) One Nation Under a Groove
34) I'm Never Gonna Tell It
35) Get Off Your Ass and Jam
36) P-Funk chorus, guitar jamming
37) Atomic Dog
38) Get Off Your Ass and Jam
39) Guitar jamming
40) Jerry Lee Lewis' Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On
41) Red Hot Momma (instrumental)
This was the best P-Funk show I've ever been to. They performed for 4 hours - including lots of the the throwdown Funk I prefer. Also, Kendra Foster is a babe!

After the show, outside, I got Michael Hampton to autograph my PFunk t-shirt.

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.

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.

Y2K at La Fontaine Bleu
La Fontaine Bleu, 7963 Annapolis Rd, Lanham, MD 20706

I finally got a chance to check out Y2K this Summer. I arrived a little after 8 PM. The buffet chicken was hotter (spicier) than I expected. There were more women than men in the audience. There was a camera set up - I guess they filmed it, but there wasn't anyone actively working the camera. Telando was there, this was part of five different performances in a row we both attended. I don't know the members on sight other than Scuba Steve, so you can read this article for that. There were fifteen band members: three male singers, a female singer - Blue, Steve (Rapper), three keyboard players, a trombone player, a trumpet player, a guitarist, a bass player, a drummer, and two percussionists. The article mentions a Sax player, but I didn't notice one. The horns were on the left, behind the left speakers, then came the keyboards (one of them a double keyboard), drums, and percussion.

They started performing around 9 PM. They started off with Alicia Keys' Diary. After a few slow songs, they really got into it: a dense, horn dominated sound - very different from GoGo I'm used to but I like it. My only criticism is that the sung vocals are a bit too polished for my taste. During the break, Scuba Steve came out and talked with me and introduced me to China Boogie, their manager. Boogie gave me his contact info so that I can discuss interviewing Y2K. The second set was very different in character from the first one. The horns only played in the first song, then not at all.

The second set was more of a percussion-oriented crank. One of the songs they performed was KC & the Sunshine Band's That's The Way (I Like It). Scooby from L!ssen guest rapped for a song. Towards the end of the set, Bojack walked in and waved to me. The lead singer, Dollar Bill, wished everyone "A safe trip home".

When we walked out, Nephew was one of the people handing out flyers (for Familiar Faces of course). I talked with him a little before I drove home.