DP & Yaquim's Birthday at Takoma Station
Takoma Station, 6914 4th St NW, Washington, DC 20012


Tamara, Donnell and Angie


Birthday boy Yaquim in the background, Tasty, Nita, myself, Monica and Tim (LJ) (background on the right) - picture taken by Ebony


Nita, Donnell, Doc, Jammin' Jeff, Birthday Boy DP (soloing Miles Davis' Tutu), Godfather, and Dwayne


Packy, Smoke, Jacques, Adia, Doc, Mike, Jammin' Jeff, Donnell, and Godfather


DP's Birthday Cake


Yaquim's Birthday Cake


Doc, Tanya, and unidentified fan



Ralph "Big G" Glover sitting in on the mic


Felecia and DP at his cake cutting
All pictures Copyright Jordan Rich. All pictures (except one taken by Ebony) taken by Jordan Rich.

I decided to bring my camera tonight, but I was not very successful in taking pictures of members of FF interacting with the audience. Next time, I will take moving pictures to capture those interactions. When I walked in, Yaquim stood by the entrance. I asked him his name. I talked with him about climbing over the ceiling the night before had rehearsal, he said he had to go "old school".

I talked with Angie about how she and Tracy Smoot had been to all 4 of FF's shows last week. She asked how I knew that, I said Nephew told me. She said don't spread that around, I asked why, Tim said, "That means you have no life". I told her about the planned live show at the rehearsal place. She said, "That's not fair". I said select fans like her would be invited. She missed Mike, I said he had said he had food poisoning the week before, she said he had said that two weeks ago. She didn't like his replacement. I met another Tracy; she talked about being my personal assistant.

I met the camera-shy friend of Doc's, Tanya. I asked him if she's his wife - I remember their talking to each other at the New Year's performance and she wore a wedding band. She said, "No, she's "his better half's better half," whatever that means. She's known him since she was eighteen, now she's twenty-seven; she's known him for eight years. Doc asked me to email her pictures to him.

I talked with Roosevelt Littlejohn, Tim's brother, about Trouble Funk; he said they had been in North Carolina recently.

Godfather gave me his camera too - I took a few pictures with it.

Pooh was there.

Familiar Faces
First Set
Donnell did a long involved intro for DP, talking about the bands he's played in over his twenty-five year career. Smoke was a little late, but everyone else in the band was there at the start of the first set.
1) Miles Davis' Tutu
2) Mike-led ?
3) Adia-led Jill Scott's Whatever
4) Mike-led John Legend's Ordinary People
5) Mike-led John Legend's Live it Up
6) Mike-led I Dreamed You
7) Mike-led John Legend's Used to Love U
8) Donnell-led Lap Dance

I talked with Doc about Tanya; he said he knows her and her husband. He also said that she pretends to be with him sometimes so men won't hit on her. I said that was surprising since she has a wedding ring. He said that doesn't stop men. I went up to her later and got her to smile for the camera, after pointing out that she had not smiled at the New Year's performance.

I told Donnell it's not that Gary Williams can't recruit, he doesn't; he leaves it to assistants, he said all coaches do that and Gary does go to games.

A guy (who I later discovered was Donnell's brother Jay, and Nephew's Dad) asked me if I thought they were ready to take it to the next level, I said their album isn't selling well, but they do perform to five hundred people on Fridays. DP's brother Archie was there.

Second Set
1) Donnell-led Sly & the Family Stone's If You Want Me to Stay (tease)
2) Adia-led Jill Scott's Whatever (I must got this or Adia's song in the first set wrong, they don't do repeats)
3) Mike-led Marvin Gaye's I Want You
4) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Body Moves
5) Donnell-led Miss Keta Will You Dance for Me
6) Donnell-led Hold the Note
7) Donnell-led DIP
8) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Role Call
9) Donnell-led Donna Summer's Love to Love You Baby (tease)
10) Donnell-led Rare Essence's We Used to Let the Pocket Ride / Rare Essence's One on One (Footz version)
11) Big G sat in and rapped
12) Doc-led Snoop's Drop It Like it's Hot
13) Donnell-led Prince's Take Me With You
14) Mike-led Rare Essence's Lock It
Donnell said that's it we have to go, but the band kept performing, he repeatedly said, "They're so disrespectful; they're the most disrespectful band I've ever had".
15) Donnell-led Michael Jackson's I Can't Help It
16) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Body Snatchers (tease)
17) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Marinda

There was more they performed that I don't remember. Doc and others packed up as some still performed. The crowd still wanted more and sang the words to Prince's Take Me With You, but Donnell said we already did that, we're done.

DP's cake was cut, DP tried to get out of the picture. Doc said when he turns 40; he'll be okay with it. The same woman, Yvette, who had consoled Donnell when he was sick the one Friday was one of the women at the booth with DP's cake, the other was Felecia (spelling?).

An attractive woman with blonde hlighlights said I could take picture of her and her two friends when Tanya said don't take my picture again (the four of them sat together in a booth).

6'9 was there.

Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private Location

Familiar Faces
I arrived first, and then Donnell arrived in a red car. He said it's his snow car. I said I hope it doesn't snow, he said it's supposed to get warmer, but his Jag is in the shop. Usually they give him a rental, but he didn't have time. He went around trying to unlock rooms, but could not unlock the rooms other the rehearsal room unsuccessfully. DP arrived with his two sons and daughter. Packy came (I've never seen him at rehearsal before). Donnell had called him so he could see what backup equipment there was.

Duane Face talked about how didn't go on vacations - he was off for the week from his job. He said he doesn't go anywhere because he's been everywhere with his Mom. He said something about how he spends time reading. Donnell said to Duane, "I've heard about you on trips, scholar is not the word they used." Donnell also told Duane, "I heard you badmouthed Googie." He's referring to a thread, on TMOTTGoGo.Com on who is the best sound man in GoGo. In that thread Duane said the best sound man was the guy who had the 808 the whole night. I assume he's referring to a Roland TR-808 drum machine being prominently in the mix. Duane said he likes the sound of the 808. DP - said Darrin X played that, but you can't do that all night.

Yaquim (he's a regular, but I didn't get his name until the next night), a fan, came in. They couldn't get into the next room, so Yaquim pushed up a tile and climbed over the roof into the equipment room. Donnell said, "If you fall we can't get you because the door is locked."

Rah had been at the Wednesday and Saturday shows, and had influenced how Jammin' Jeff played. Jeff had a huge pack of drumsticks. Jeff said that he goes through a pack worth $70 of drumsticks a week. I asked him if it was worth it, he said, "I hope so." He and Doc had a long involved conversation about industry history. Doc recommended a manager to promote Northeast Groovers as they would be the next Trouble Funk. Waterdance was playing on the radio in Atlanta, they don't play GoGo there. Doc talked about how people didn't know how to successfully market GoGo, to convert live performances into sellable product. Doc said that P Diddy did the DC video shoot and performance with GoGo artists to keep up his street cred, not because he was interested in GoGo. EU tore up the concert headliner MC Hammer when MC Hammer was big. Doc wondered why Chuck Thompson produced a Chuck Brown record - the young people don't know Chuck Brown.

Everyone but Jacques and Smoke, plus two guys who organized the Myrtle Beach trip were there. Donnell joked that Mike couldn't go; there wasn't a hospital close enough (since he's been sick a lot lately). Mike said, "I'm a survivor." Mike said "I love you" to Adia, who said, "I love you too". I asked Mike why he wasn't there on Friday; he said he had gotten food poisoning on Wednesday that laid him out for four days. I told him about the Jesus thing that Donnell said at Safari. DP spent a while working on the Amerie's 1 Thing (at the same time as Doc & Jeff conversation). He had one of his sons get his Harmon mute. At one point, when working on rehearsing, Dwayne, frustrated, cursed. To which, Donnell said, "Obviously you don't have any children." (Obviously he hadn't noticed that he told Dwayne or Doc earlier in the evening in front of DP's kids, put your sh*t over there.)

I mentioned to Doc how everyone who plays with a Harmon mute sounds like Miles Davis. Doc said that's okay, that's the trumpet player he grew up on, would I prefer Herb Alpert. I said no (Miles is my favorite Jazz artist, and I haven't heard any of Alpert's music). I did mention how Herb Alpert co-founded A&M Records. Donnell jokingly referred to Doc as assistant manager. They re-went over a John Legend cover; Donnell played the PA from Wednesday and talked about what he didn't like.

Packy talked about What? Band's show on Monday that the first and second sets were completely different. Rah dominated the second set, the other front line members dominated the first set. They had a fight - even though the audience was small, a guy came right up to the mic, scared Rah, who played the congas and timbales for the next two songs. Originally that's what Rah did in Northeast Groovers, until he begged to get on the mic. Packy also talked about Shorty Corleone's band Heat, which included GoGo Mickey and someone else, a drummer who had been fired from Y2K. Heat is not a GoGo band. They opened for Y2K at Reggie's, it was ironic that the drummer was there (the promoter didn't realize the drummer for Heat had been fired by Y2K), they stole the show from Y2K.

The other band members suggested that Donnell should check every mic. Mike joked about how there was only $5 in his pay (since he had missed shows). Jauhar asked if Donnell had gone to the DC Armory for GoGo Live 2005. He said no, they never had asked him he wanted to perform; they just printed the flyer (which featured a picture of him playing the Sax) without asking him. Jauhar said Benny went and got $250. Donnell said that wasn't enough to condone that foolishness.

Jauhar had a conversation with Donnell and me over Gary Williams, he is a basher. Donnell acknowledged that Gary can't recruit, pointed out we won (the 2002 NCAA Championship) with only Wilcox as an NBA starter quality player.

Nephew sat on Adia's organizer and scarf, she left without the organizer. I talked with Donnell about setlists - identifying tracks.

Nephew said there sort of had been a fight on Friday, a guy bogarting, purposely bumping into people. The cops took him outside. He walked all the way around, threatened to get into more fights, obviously drunk, but nothing happed.

Donnell talked about the possibility of having a live recording at Studio 54. They would invite selected fans, record on 24 track, and be able to re-do mistakes. We talked about the NCAAs and Donnell asked why Charlie Villanueva doesn't even have eyebrows. I told him that he has a disease; Packy said his cousin has the same disease, Alopecia Areata. Nephew does promote Friday's; I knew he did promotions, but not promoting. Nephew forgot Adia's organizer in the room.

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

I again didn't go to Wednesday's show because I went to Maryland's home NIT win over Davidson.

Dwayne practiced on the drums, which he used to play. He said he would like to play drums for FF once and that Donnell had offered to let him play drums for the New Years show. He said he originally played for two years on keyboards, eight on drums - his favorite instrument, fifteen on guitar (this he told me during the second break). He said it takes a lot longer to improve on the guitar than the drums. I saw Donnell and asked him how his vacation was. He said, "Excellent."

Familiar Faces
First Set
1) Instrumental
2) John Legend's Let's Get Lifted - instrumental
3) Adia-led Alicia Keys' Diary
James went up on stage
4) Adia-led Incognito's Can't Get You Out of My Head
5) Grover Washington Jr.'s Mr. Magic
6) Adia-led Jill Scott's Not Like Crazy
Donnell announced, "Adia better work on her vocal cords, because it was going to be just her all night long (no Mike), someone get her another drink."
7) Adia & Donnell-led (Sade's) Cherish the Day
8) Donnell-led rap (I couldn't hear it well enough to identify it)
9) Donnell-led Donna Summer's Love to Love You, Baby
10) Donnell-led Notorious BIG's Warning - Donnell asked if anyone knew it, a male guest with a beard sang along
11) Percussion solo - Donnell said, "If it is too hot, take it off, that's our motto".

Second Set
1) Donnell-led ? (I was talking to Kato, so I couldn't hear it well enough to identify it)
2) Donnell-led "Would you be my girl, if I took you home, would you rock my world"
They had technical problems, and Donnell spent some time calling for Vincent, saying, "Vincent, get your fat ass and nappy hair up here, I'm going to punch you."
Donnell had a disagreement with Doc and Dwayne re: playing and which key was correct. He said "I'll join you when you're in the right key, Once upon a time, everyone thought the world was flat, they were wrong..."
3) ? "We need Tricky Rick"
4) Adia-led Jill Scott's Whatever
5) Adia & James-led Usher & Alicia Key's My Boo
6) Donnell-led "Would you be my girl, if I took you home, would you rock my world" (reprise)
7) Donnell-led "F*ck them 'Bamas"
8) Adia-led Erykah Badu's Danger (tease) - Donnell sang, "Sweet 'Chelle, My Belle"
9) ? Head up
10) Donnell-led "Hey ay, Ho oh"
11) Donnell-led "Do it for the ladies/fellas, Oh my God!"
12) Doc-led Snoop's Drop it Like It's Hot
13) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Lock It
14) Donnell-led DIP
15) Adia-led "Quiver your eyes?"
Angie and Tracy were here, I talked to them during the set. I told them, I had missed Wednesdays because I had gone to MD games. I asked which nights they went out, Angie said Wed, Fri, and Sat. She doesn't like Buds because it is so small. She asked, "Why do we look like the type that party every night?" I said I don't know and told her about Stacy (a young hot Black woman at my job at the Red Cross in Baltimore who had strict rules of dating: you have to take her out at least four nights a week and if she paid a penny, you got nothing...) I also told her about Little Benny subbing for Donnell on Sunday.

Third Set
Donnell talked about going to Myrtle Beach, they would be playing on Thursday and Saturday. They are free for parties on Friday - for ladies only. Going down on a Saturday for Scooby's birthday to Deep Creek Lake, After Hours and Scooby's band whatever they call themselves. Friday nights here are Bama-free - this time it was true, no fights.
1) Donnell-led Trillville's Some Cut
2) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Marinda
3) Donnell-led Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love / Rare Essence's Spotlight / Rare Essence's Get on the Wagon? medley
4) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Work the Walls / Vinnie D's $55 Motel
5) Adia-led Been Lisa Stansfield's All Around the World (tease)
6) Donnell-led Rare Essence's How Can I Know?
7) Alternating Donnell-led Rare Essence's Work the Walls / "F*ck them n*ggas"
8) Donnell-led "He doesn't understand you like I do"
9) Donnell-led "Miss Keta Will You Dance for Me"
10) Long percussion solo - the crowd shouted, "GoGo Smoke-ay"
Donnell said, "We grew up on Northeast Groovers, don't act like you don't know."
11) Donnell-led Rare Essence's What N*gga What?
12) Donnell-led Nelly's Flap Your Wings
13) Donnell-led Trillville's Some Cut
A female, possibly a guest vocalist, was on stage with Stinky Dink
14) Stinky Dink-led Rickety Raw "Stinky Dink get Rickety Raw"
Stinky Dink shook hands with me, then talked with Tracy.
15) Donnell-led "Had fun withya, done withya"
16) Donnell-led Lap Dance
Donnell said, "BJ you can talk about me, they talked about Jesus too. Adia will be there at the Tradewinds, she's all the woman you need, our little red corvette. Hey Jauhar, we have a new nickname for Adia, little red corvette, 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds. Hey Bianca, thanks for the view while you leave. Hey Sabrina, if you're going to cheat on me, get the pampers money from him." She went up to him to respond.

I talked with Kato about being BJ's cousin, he said BJ got him into music and taught him, BJ can play anything, when BJ picked up a 12 string guitar and started playing classical music, Kato wanted to put away his guitar in the box, put it in the closet, and never play again. Kato remembered Dwayne playing drums for Redds and the Boys, and keyboards. BJ is a year older than him, Dwayne two years.

Before I got in my car, I moved a beer bottle so a girl would not have to drive over it.

Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private Location

Familiar Faces
They told me I missed Little Benny had sitting in for Donnell on Sunday. Everyone was there including Duane Face except Donnell, who was still out of town. DP led the rehearsal. They worked on I Dreamed You off of Evolution. At one point, Godfather tried to call Rootie Baltimore about the chords.

I talked about how I had asked Donnell when he was going to do a live recording and he said after Jauhar's birthday, which was two weeks ago. Dwayne said he didn't like preplanned live recordings. I talked about the live part of Evolution. Some of the band members didn't realize Bojack was overdubbed onto it (just a few days later). The actual conga player that night was Demetrius Owens.

Adia appreciated Blue sitting in for her while she was on vacation, but fans were angry. She got calls about it even before she got back in town. Dwayne talked about how the paying customers get used to having the same band members.

They had reached capacity at Tradewinds; they turned people away on Saturday. Dwayne and I talked with Adia about her "double". We saw a girl on Friday who looked very much like Adia.

Important things they work on in practice - chords, changes, what key the music is in, whether to do vocals or instrumental.

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

I didn't go to Wednesday's show because I went to Maryland's Home NIT win over Oral Roberts.

After I arrived tonight, I sat down and started reading for my comprehensive exams. Blue (from Y2K) said hello. I pointed out that the DJ played a PA of Y2K performing Al Green's Let's Stay Together, along with some other GoGo PAs. I told her about my studying. I later talked with Pooh.

Familiar Faces
First Set
On the mic, Donnell asked Supa Dan his real name, I called Donnell over and told him Dan Richardson. Donnell said on the mic, "I have my resources, Daniel Richardson on the wheels of steel." When DP came up, I told him that Nephew had told me the story about him and Missy Elliott, he just smiled. James was there. Donnell announced that Sweet Blue (Donnell uses sweet was a general adjective for most women) was sitting in for Adia. Googie was late, and Telando did not show up. Donnell joked with Vincent, "Get the f*ck over there".
1) Instrumental - Donnell lead solo
2) Miles Davis' Tutu
3) Blue-led Kindred the Family Soul's Rhythm of Life
A bunch of people yelled for Blue. Donnell said, "Did you set us up?"
4) Mike-led O'Bryan's Lady I Love You
5) Mike-led Stevie Wonder's Golden Lady
Godfather and later BJ were late
6) Blue-led Alicia Keys' Diary
Donnell said, "Where's your fan club, Blue?" She replied, "At the bar chillin'".
7) Donnell rapped (Sade's) Cherish the Day
8) Mike-led John Legend's Ordinary People
At one point, Donnell messed up, Doc and Dwayne let him know and they all laughed

Doc was tired. He said he felt like he might sleep on the drive over. Dwayne is still sick, maybe flu or cold. I told about talking on the phone with Bo Crane, who is friends with Maxx Kidd, and getting a 79 Trouble Funk PA. I also told him that Tim (LJ) is close to Trouble Funk. Dwayne talked about a New Year's Trouble Funk show at the Capital Centre where they had fireworks. It was too much and Mack fell off the stage and started fighting everyone because he was pissed. He also said that EU had a show where they walked into the audience, someone slipped, and they all fell like dominoes. Then they had to limp back on stage and finish the show. EU used to really play better in big shows. The Chuck DVD is edited, they couldn't get the rights for all the covers (Kip Lornell told me this was particularly true with 911, which is especially unfortunate since this was clearly the highlight of the concert) - Doc hasn't watched the Chuck part. They agreed that the drummer for Chuck was awful in that show. Backyard Band was good but their performance was edited. Dwayne and Doc agreed that Junkyard Band can steal a show if you're not careful, they have the new sound. Dwayne said that Blue doesn't even know that he's producing Y2K. However, when he arrived, she went up to him as she knew him (but he doesn't know her well). Talked with Jauhar about the article on him and his partner Ron "Hobo Moe" Moten, he said that's what we do during the day; this is what we do during the night. Jauhar said Black guys just read the sports and the metro, people think Moe and I look alike. I don't think he and Moe look at alike.

Second Set
Donnell said, "We got rid of the knuckleheads (joking) - Stomp Dog is one of them."
1) Blue-led Jill Scott's Golden
2) Mike-led Marvin Gaye's I Want You
3) Mike-led John Legend's Used to Love U
4) Mike-led Toto's Georgy Porgy
5) Donnell-led Brown & White / Ride Out - Nephew danced with them their particular styled Ride Out dance, which imitates reving a motorcycle
6) Doc-led Snoop Dogg's Drop It Like It's Hot
7) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Body Moves
8) Donnell-led Prince's Take Me With You
9) Donnell-led Hold the Note
10) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Marinda
11) Donnell-led Keith Murray's Call My Name (tease)
12 Maceo & the Macks' Soul Power '74 (tease) - instrumental (sampled in Jennifer Lopez's Get Right)
13) Mike-led Tom Browne's Funking for Jamaica
Donnell said, "I wish I could sing as well as play that song."
Sixx was onstage for much of the set, but just watched.

Sharmba Mitchell was there, along with Preston Blue, Tasty, Nita, and RE Angie.

I said hello to Stomp Dogg - all three of their most recent drummers were there. Britney was there.

Kili's has closed due to tax problems. I told Dwayne the story about DP, he said, "No, he couldn't have done that." 6'9 was there.

Third Set
1) Donnell-led Sly & the Family Stone's Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
2) Donnell-led Rare Essence's How Can I Know? (tease)
Donnell said, "We got rid of the knuckleheads, play some old school they don't know, they never come back". He did some more announcements and there was a delay to fix the monitor settings for the keyboards.
3) Blue-led Erykah Badu's Danger
4) Donnell-led Rare Essence's How Can I Know? - interrupted by fight, Donnell said, "I spoke too soon".
5) Donnell-led Trillville's Some Cut
6) Donnell-led Miss Keta Will You Dance for Me
7) Donnell-led Donna Summer's Love to Love You, Baby
8) Donnell-led Hold the Note
9) Donnell-led Rare Essence's What N*gga What?
10) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Uh Oh (Heads Up)
11) Donnell-led Vinnie D's $55 Motel
12) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Work the Walls - interrupted by a woman standing next to be singing to get Donnell's attention, Donnell starting singing a song about "Broadway, going down Broadway (I couldn't hear it all)"
13) Donnell-led Lap Dance

During the set, I told Packy that Nephew had told me his middle name is Arthur, he was clearly annoyed.

Preston Blue was there. Chi Ali was there, I said hello, another board member said to him, don't post about me.

I asked Googie what happened to the Reality Band reunion, he said maybe later it will work out.

As I walked out, I told Nephew about what I told Packy. He said, "Good." Ytee said, "Good to see you, Jam Master Jay".

Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private location

Familiar Faces
There was a private meeting among the band members in the large room that started before I arrived and was still going on when I left after at least an hour and a half. I talked to Jacques when he arrived; he asked me about if I could tell the difference in sound between him and Charlie. I said yes. He said that when he went from GoGo to non-GoGo, he kept the same GoGo beat. After a while he adapted new beats, particularly when working with Whop. I said I also definitely noticed the difference between Smoke and Bojack. The one noticeable positive about Smoke over Bojack being that Bojack would almost never arrive until the second set.

I talked with Duane and Donte (Donnell's son) about Roy Ayers. We also discussed Blaxploitation movies. I told Duane how Roy Ayers had done the soundtrack to Coffy. I said that Pam Grier has done a lot of Blaxploitation movies, her best are Coffy and Foxy Brown. Donte said his Dad has a lot of Blaxploitation movies. I said that Pam Grier still looks good for her age. Duane said he is a big Vanity fan, I told him about Karin Taylor (the picture I took of her is on the bottom of this earlier entry).

Nephew said he prefers to go alone to performances, so that he can move around without being held to any group. I reiterated what Supa Dan talked about last Friday?, being jealous of Nephew talking to all the ladies. I also said that at the New Year's Eve bash, Donnell said on the mic that Nephew had kissed 10 women. Nephew said that he didn't know that, and that his wife was there. I asked why he didn't introduce her to me; he said he didn't introduce her to anyone. Also, one of the regulars hit on her, she told him who she was, then he told everyone - Nephew was not amused. I had earlier asked what Polo's last name was. He wouldn't tell me, he said Reggie could be driving by, everyone on the porch; he would honk and not stop.

Nephew then told a story about how when Missy Elliot was with a group 10 years ago, her producer lived in DC and she lived at his house, she would go see Rare Essence and would follow DP around everywhere, but he said, "I don't want to date that fat chick!" Donnell had fired Puffy as a dancer (I think for a Vinnie D video), so when Rare Essence was going to be signed to Uptown Records, he and White Boy went to see Andre Harrell, but he couldn't make it, so Puffy led the meeting and you know the result...

Nephew also told some more Rare Essence stories that I won't print on the web. He said that Footz was Donnell's best friend. Nephew likes the fact that Footz' daughter Renee refers to Funk as "Uncle James". I told Nephew that Tracy Smoot babysat Stinky Dink - Nephew didn't know that.

Duane talked about Tupac rapping with Backyard Band in 1993. He asked Donte and me what Tupac did in Digital Underground. (one of the few Hip Hop groups I like), we both said, "He was a dancer!" Donte and I also talked about the College Park celebrity, Cluck-U Pac aka Lee Majors. Lee Majors is a Tupac-look alike who is a rapper in his own right. He works at the Cluck-U in College Park to have access to University of Maryland students. He sells his CDs out of the Cluck-U. Donte talked (laughing) about how inside the College Park Cluck-U, there is an article on Lee Majors and Lee was wearing the same outfit as the picture in the article. Possibly, it was this picture:


Nephew said that all you need for a successful song is a hook, that's what Donnell composed for Rare Essence, hooks. Nephew told me that I missed Maniac on Saturday - I would have enjoyed that performance. He also told me that Kato is BJ's cousin.

Duane also talked about how he thought that Courtney Alexander is a great player. Both Nephew and I laughed.

We all left when some of the band members came out and told us there would be no rehearsal.

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

I talked with Jeff (CrankinDrumma) and his friend, who is obviously also a drummer because he had a drum key around his neck. We talked with Nephew about the fact that arriving early doesn't get away from the cover, you now have to pay $5 for earlier party due to FF's ability to draw five hundred people on Fridays. Jeff's friend suggested that RE is able to get government gigs due to having a tax ID#, DP addressed that and Rare Essence's salaries, management gets $6,000 a gig, but don't pay their band members accordingly.

Mike was here - good to see that he's not sick anymore.

There was a cake here for Jauhar's birthday.

Familiar Faces
First Set
Initially - Jacques played congas and Packy was the second percussionist until Smoke arrived.
1) Miles Davis' Tutu
After the intro, Donnell walked off the stage, and Doc did the band intros. Donnell sat down in the lounge, ate a candy bar, and got the energy to walk on stage to perform
2) Adia-led Incognito's Can't Get You Out of My Head
3) Adia-led Kindred the Family Soul's Rhythm of Life - James was on backup vocals
4) Adia & Donnell-led (Sade's) Cherish the Day
Donnell said, "Stomp 'Easy' Dogg. Can I get a drummer, someone in the audience?"
5) Mike-led John Legend's Ordinary People
Mike said, "Let's go back to 1974; Donnell was fourteen at the time, no sixteen".
6) Mike-led The Stylistics' People Make the World (Go Round)
Mike said "There's Marly Marl and Mel B., they're really old school"
7) Mike-led Javier's How Beautiful You Are
8) Percussion solo - everyone but Stomp, Smoke, Jacques, Donnell and DP left the stage
Donnell said, "Can we get some cowbell? Stomp Dogg, he gets these big names - he's really Larry, Larry Atwater. Smoke, Samuel Dews."

Donnell talked to a female fan named Yvette, told her how the cold/cough medicine with Codeine knocked him out, he prefers the coughing, the candy bar gave him energy to perform. I talked with Doc, he said he couldn't get into rhythm with Stomp, he's used to Jeff. Among the regulars there were Michon, DeeDee, Nita, Tasty (Mike said there are new clips of her on his site).

Second Set
1) Adia-led Jill Scott's Whatever
2) Mike-led Marvin Gaye's I Want You
3) Mike-led John Legend's Used to Love U
4) Mike-led Anthony Hamilton's Since I Seen't You
Donnell said, "Stomp Dogg, there's an opening in the Pump Blenders"
Donnell said, "6'9, it's good to see you again. Where've you been, seeing Mass Extinction, the Mighty Peacemakers?"
5) Instrumental - the crowd shouted, "Wind me up, Smoke!"
6) Doc-led Snoop Dogg's Drop It Like It's Hot
7) Donnell-led Trillville's Some Cut
Sixx went on stage, rapped that and
8) Sixx-led "Let the water fall"
9) Sixx-led freestyle rap
A fight occurred in the set, Donnell said, "Adia said there was no one to go to the movies with." Adia said, "That's not true".

I talked with Angie and Tracy, they enjoyed their ski trip, Tracy bowled a 162.

Third Set
1) Adia & James-led Usher & Alicia Keys' My Boo
2) Donnell-led Prince's Take Me With You
3) Donnell-led Hold the Note
4) Donnell-led Miss Keta Will You Dance for Me
5) Donnell-led Terror Squad's Lean Back / Jay Gotti rapped / Donnell rapped "Washington DC, sh*t happening" / an unidentified female and male both guest rapped
A fight occurred, Donnell said, "You youngsters go find somewhere else to go and beat your feet, we'll make it 29 and over if we have to. This foolishness doesn't occur at the Tradewinds." Mike said, "People doing this must live with their mother if they have time to fight".
6) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Work the Walls
Donnell said to Godfather, "Stop playing Mark, they should be punished." Then he said to the audience, "We'll go to just ladies, and Mike will strip, do a strip tease". He repeated that a few times.

Ytee was there.

Apparently there were three fights.

Mike asked for Jauhar to cut the cake, but he just sat in the DJ booth, not moving.

Jauhar's Birthday at Takoma
Takoma Station, 6914 4th St NW, Washington, DC 20012

Godfather, who keeps insisting I needed to take more pictures, lent me a Casio EX-Z30 to take pictures. The comedian that was supposed to open never showed up. Jauhar was at the door, I asked him if it was his actual birthday, he said yes. I asked him how old he was; he told me he was 22. I later saw in a Washington Post article that he is 36.

Pooh was there - I asked him if he was playing. Googie played Doc's bass during the warm ups. The keyboard players and Stomp Dogg were late. Godfather showed up after Stomp. Charlie arrived with Stomp, and Tony Sharpe filled in for Mike. BJ arrived during the set. Donnell had three saxes.

I talked with Angie, she and Tracy had been sick.

I talked with Cookie, who sat at the bar - especially about Gerald Levert and Positive Black Men Coalition (she said she did most of the work, I asked why the website only has men, she said it is the Positive Black MEN Coalition). Nita was right with her.

Tim (LJ), DeeDee & Michelle, Tasty, Ray, Ras Lidj, and Baba were there. Nicole, the Safari cover taker on Fridays was there in the audience as well.

Familiar Faces
During the first set, Sugar Bear just walked up to the mic (Donnell was facing to the right) and said, "Let's get this party started". GoGo Mickey was also in audience. Adia danced, most people really danced to the last song of first set.

During the break, Dwayne played on BJ's keyboard.

The power went out during the break, first a partial blackout, and then a total blackout. The cherry picker truck with flashing lights was very noticeably parked right outside Takoma Station during the set. A guy named Chris kept shouting, "I want my $20 back!" His female friends made him shut up. Lots of people lit up their cell phones or lighters. When I later asked Nephew about it, he said they were working on the traffic lights and that they didn't figure any business would be open that late at night. The band offered to make up for it by charging no cover before 11 PM next week.

Second set
Godfather played an Earth, Wind & Fire song, and then Chuck Brown's It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That GoGo Swing)
Snoop's Drop it Like It's Hot - it definitely has a very different beat with Stomp than with Jeff (personally I prefer Jeff's)
GoGo Mickey took over during Rare Essence's Body Moves
Sugar Bear joined in shortly after
Rare Essence's One on One
Sly & the Family Stone's Family Affair
Sugar Bear borrowed Doc's Bass
Stinky Dink came up and performed One Track Mind
Donnell did his usual medley - Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love (tease) / Rare Essence's Spotlight / Rare Essence's Get on the Wagon? / Vinnie D's $55 Motel (tease)
I danced with closely with a woman, later she stood behind me and moved my arms - she didn't like how I didn't move my arms much while dancing
Miss Keta Will You Dance for Me
They closed with DIP

DeeDee told me people thought I was her brother and that we go out to the GoGos together.

I talked with Tim - Donnell did a shout out for LoKee Sports.

I introduced myself to Tony, told him about my project, and how I saw him sing with FF on Donnell's birthday.

Michelle said to Donnell, you can't make fun of me, look who I'm next to (me). I told her that he hasn't made fun of someone else instead of her.

Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private location

I didn't attend any FF performances or rehearsal last week because I had a terrible cough. I was well enough to go out, but no one would want to be around me.

Familiar Faces
Jeff asked about the proper tempo to play. Packy keeps him fast. According to Donnell, he's never too slow. Everyone but Jacques was there (Smoke only for a short time). They practiced Incognito's Can't Get You Out of My Head - they used horns instead of vocal harmony, BJ didn't like it. I told Mike people liked his waterskiing story. Godfather suggested that the Lap Dance video should be strippers, not at the beach. Donnell told everyone that he would not be at the show at a week from Sunday (March 20th).

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

Familiar Faces
First Set
1) Miles Davis' Tutu
2) Adia-led Kindred the Family Soul's Rhythm of Life
3) Adia & Donnell-led (Sade's) Cherish the Day
4) Adia & Donnell-led Tyra's Country Boy
5) Mike-led Ruff Endz' Someone to Love You
6) Mike-led John Legend's Ordinary People
7) Mike-led John Legend's Used to Love U

Donnell had no Saxes. Dwayne said to DP: "What's up with the (lack of) horn?" DP responded: "He locked himself out of the house." Sixx from Raw Image was there. I met Preston Blue in the first break (but didn't talk to him until the second set), D Ball had shout outs to him by Donnell but was here last week, not this week. I sat by a fallen tile in the lounge.

Second Set
1) Mike-led Toto's Georgy Porgy
2-4) Can't remember
5) Donnell-led Trillville's Some Cut (debut) - Packy raved to Jacques in the break about it
6) Doc-led Snoop's Drop It Like It's Hot
7) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Body Moves
8) Ras Lidj rapped
Donnell said to Godfather, who played while Donnell talked, "Hold on Liberace"
9) Donnell "I can sing?"
Donnell made some comments about Toya
10) Donnell-led Temptation's My Girl
Packy said that Nephew hates it when he calls him by his middle name, Leon. I stood in my usual spot at Safari since the summer, to the right of the stage by the speakers. Two drinks moved on the speaker - they almost fell off. The top speaker had to be pushed back in line every few minutes by one of the sound men
11) Mike-led Anthony Hamilton's Since I Seen't You / Rare Essence's I'm Getting ready
12) Donnell-led Medley: Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love / Rare Essence's Spotlight / Rare Essence's Get on the Wagon? / Vinnie D's $55 Motel
13) Donnell-led Rare Essence's Marinda
14) Donnell-led Brown & White

Blue from Y2k was there playing pool when I went into the lounge during the break. Sharmba Mitchell, Nita, RE Angie, and Tasty were there. Britney, the girl who danced by Donnell at L!ssen's album release party was here, celebrating her 21st birthday. March, Mama Chelle's friend, came up and said hello to me.
Third Set
1) Mike-led Happy Birthday
2) ?
3) Donnell-led Prince's Take Me With You
4) Donnell-led Hold the Note
5) Donnell-led 50 Cent's In Da Club (tease)
6) Donnell-led Miss Adia Will You Dance for Me
7) Donnell-led DIP
8) ?
9) Donnell-led "Call side?"
10) Donnell-led Vinnie D's Porno Star?
11) Donnell-led Lap Dance
12) Percussion solo
13) Donnell-led Sly & the Family Stone's Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
Mike to Tasty "I care about you; I'd suck you through a straw." Donnell said, "Jauhar is furious!" As I walked out, I told Nephew what Packy had told me. He told me that Packy's middle name is Arthur.

Interview of X for TCB
I spoke with Darrin X, assistant manager of TCB, over the phone and then emailed him questions. He then mailed me a typed response, which is below. I received it on Thursday.

1. When was TCB formed?
In 1997, Reggie aka Polo, lead rapper.

2. The prominence of the Roto-Toms over Congas - why is that? Is it driven by audience demand or prior choice?
Personally, I believe the roto toms evolved into its prominence over a number of years. "Back in the day" Trouble Funk had roto toms in some of their biggest songs and few national rap acts would use Trouble Funk's roto tom beats in their loops, ex: LL Cool J's "Rock the Bells". In TCB's case it's more to do with what band the guys came up listening to, and that band was the Back Yard Band. See every generation in go-go is influenced by what preceded it. Follow me... Rare Essence, which was the band I performed with for about 10 years, had a song called "Work the Walls" back in 1990. That song or that beat is basically the foundation of what go-go is now in the TCB generation of go-go which Back Yard started to use in the early 1990s. So in a sense I have to say prior choice. Because through each level of bands, it comes out more in the music. Example, BYB came up listening to RE, and TCB came up listening to BYB.

3. How do you address the criticism from some that it is because you can't play Congas well enough?
TCB's percussionist ED aka Black Love is a very good Congo player who only has about 5 years of playing go-go. He came up listening to Hot Sauce, BYB's percussionist, who came up listening to Go Go Mickey of Rare Essence. There is like no apprenticeship for go-go, so a lot of these guys learn by ear and can play Congos very well. You have to listen to TCB play a Congo set and that question is moot.

4. How do you address the criticism from some that that's not GoGo at all?
Go back to my explanation in question 2. Roto toms were introduced by older more establish bands, the younger guys just embrace it more. If it's not go-go, what is "Work the Walls"?

5. What musical influences are present in the choice of that style?
I would say 30% BYB and 10% RE and 60% of TCB's own spin that they call the "Bounce Beat"

6. How long has TCB used that percussion style?
For as long as they have been a band.

7. What musical influences are present in the chanted vocals?
TCB uses a lot of original hooks in their music but they do use a lot of rap and underground material from artists such as Mike Jones, Slim Thug, Lil Jon, Crime Mob, and Lil Scrappy to name a few.

8. How do you define your target market?
12 to 24 year olds.

9. Other than entertainment, what purpose does GoGo have?
It provides an outlet for talented young adults to express themselves musically. It provides for a place for young adults to gather like their older counterparts. It allows for any group of people to put a band together and possibly become neighborhood celebrities.

10. What is it about GoGo that makes it so popular?
I think because it is so accessible in a way that you can gather and party with people you identify with and you can do it week in and week out with the same band. That is the familiarity people are drawn to, having your favorite band and partying with them on a regular basis.

11. How do you feel about the fact that it is primarily a local phenomenon?
It is what it is. It's live fan base driven music. It's more of a local cultural thing that anything else. You come up listening to it so you embrace it as your music. Your crew or your hood may be down with a certain band and that's what you get into. We don't sweat it, some people that live in DC don't understand go-go because it came from the streets and it belongs to the streets.

12. Can a group of musicians from outside the DC metropolitan area create a GoGo band that would be considered authentic in the area?
From a national view they would be considered a go-go band or a group that plays go-go, but true go-go fans know real go-go. Jill Scott put a go-go like record on her first CD (my note: "It's Love" is the song he's referring to) and DC go-go bands were rushing to play this record. It's like people outside know what go-go is, they just put their own spin on it. Example... Nelly's "Hot in Here" single is an interpretation of "Bustin' Loose", a Chuck Brown go-go record. I have plenty of examples. It all depends on whom you ask. I personally like national acts trying to dupe the sound; it draws attention to the source in some cases.

13. What do you think about the way PA Tapes are presently sold?
Really it's all about the music. Go-go is so street driven that people will buy one CD and copy it. Before you know it, it is all in the streets. Now, in this day and time bootlegging is more of a blessing than a curse for go-go, it provides exposure in a small market and basically is free advertisement. You cannot really make a lot of money just dropping PA CDs every other week. You're lucky to make back expenses and a few thousand here and there. The streets dictate what's hot and what's not.

14. How often should a GoGo band release a commercial (especially studio) album?
In TCB's case we try to just put out studio versions for radio stations and DJs. Economically, live CDs suit the purpose.

15. What must be done for the tradition of GoGo to be maintained?
More established bands recognizing these younger guys and their audience. Older go-go musicians sometimes say to me "I can't understand the beat" or "they play too much of the roto-toms for me" so they tend not to acknowledge the younger groups. But these guys are packing 3 to 4 hundred people of their target audience in venues on a nightly basis. So there is definitely a market for their style of go-go. Their target audience will eventually grow up and guess who they will relate to? The band they are more familiar with, TCB.

16. How often do you attend performances of other GoGo Bands?
In our circle we are the premier band so a lot of the younger bands perform under us. Our style is what they emulate and put their own spin on so I see a lot of bands at our shows. As far as the more established bands like RE and FF, I am still friends with a lot of those guys so I just go from time to time to hang out. They are performing a different style of go-go.

17. What other GoGo groups and non-GoGo groups did you belong to before TCB?
I have been a member of Rare Essence (10 years), and 911 (2 years). I worked for RnB artists Ginuwine, Dru Hill, and Raheem DeVaughn.

18. Given the large of size of your band and the other support people you have, do you make much money? I partially ask because I want to know is your primary reason for performing to make money or is it a love for the music or something else?
We make money; in a sense we pay our expenses and still walk away with some. For a young band like TCB, we operate like a veteran band. We recognize our value in our market. TCB just started to make money 2 to 3 years ago so for a long time Reggie aka Polo, the band's founder paid for the band to play at any show they could get.

19. How many people are in your support staff, not the venue's staff, and what do they do?
Well there is myself and Ben, Managers. A PA and a monitor board sound man, and lastly an equipment manager.

20. What kind of sponsorships/endorsements do you have?
We have 2 clothing sponsors, Visionz and All Dayz.

21. What do you think about the prominence of cover songs over original material?
What works for one band might not work for another band. Younger bands tend to play cover tunes with their original raps or hooks and sometimes even use original music with cover lyrics. Older groups may take a cover tune and just put a solid go-go beat up under it when it comes to playing radio songs.

22. I have noticed that you have a lot of guest performers, including people from the audience. Why do you and other GoGo bands do that?
That goes back to what I said about go-go being a fan base driven music culture. You see people enough times they become familiar to you and you tend to know your fans like who can rap and who can sing. Bands let these fans perform as a way of showing fan appreciation.

23. How do you feel about how some people associate GoGo with fighting and violence?
We have no control over what transpires in the crowd. We draw our crowd from all over. Go-go is street oriented from my perspective so you tend to get a lot of that element in any given show. Thugs, gangsters, mail clerks, athletes, school students and all people of the sort like go-go. So if you get these people together it's usually nothing to worry about but on some occasions things do flare up, but that is just an unfortunate instance and not part of the go-go culture.

24. What do you feel is the connection between the band and the audience? And how close is it?
The audience demands dictate a band's popularity. The connection goes hand and hand with band popularity and success. If you pack a venue every performance, you can basically say our band is popular. It runs close in a sense that a packed house equals popularity.

25. What do you think of a GoGo, as in the entire performance date at a venue? (I see it as a social, fun, occasion where the band members tend to be friends with many in the audience.)
You kind of answered that in your observation.

26. What is the purpose of the after-performance joning?
That could mean a lot of things to many people. Some do it to reflect with band members and friends on the performance, some do it to mingle with fans and some do it to pick up groupies.

27. How do you define Pockets & Sockets?
Hum... I would say a pocket is a basic solid generic beat with the Congos and cowbell dominating the set. And a socket would be the so-called pocket of the song you are performing, like if you were playing let's say "Brown and White" and you just drop out of the music and have the beat run. Same rhythm, same beat just without the music.

In closing: I feel that go-go has and always will evolve depending on the culture and generation of the people involved. TCB has their own style and can hold their own. Some older people don't acknowledge these guys and they seem to want to hold on to the "Back in the day" mind set. Younger bands embrace what's in front of them, the TCBs and BYBs of their age. They don't try to be like the REs or Lissens. I think they are drawn to the more "mature" style for the money and that some guys are older and can make the transition. When I was a member of Rare Essence, we set the pace for others. We incorporated new equipment and ideas that younger groups fed off. After a while it just seemed like there was a huge gap between a Rare Essence and TCB. Mature bands just went in one direction and started to ignore the younger target audience so younger people started their own culture and in turn older groups couldn't relate. Same music, same concept, but form some instance it's not considered go-go.

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

When I arrived, Jeff wore a formal blue shirt and striped tie. I asked him if he had an interview, he said he likes to dress up occasionally.

Donnell and BJ had an argument about what Perfect Pitch means.

I saw that Donnell had three saxes, including his soprano sax. I asked him about them, he said he had had the soprano fixed and he would play all three of them at once. I said like "Rahsaan Roland Kirk?" He was surprised I knew about him. He was a jazz artist who was known for doing that:


Before they started, I talked with Tim (LJ) and Angie. Angie asked why I chose to work with FF. I told her that I had been to the Chuck Brown Birthday performance on DVD and that 911's performance there was my favorite performance ever. I said that 911 and Trouble Funk were my two favorite groups and that Trouble Funk isn't performing anymore. Tim said that wasn't true, I said they aren't performing regularly, but I had seen them play last summer. He went on to tell me how he worked with Trouble doing security, and that he knew a lot more about them than Familiar Faces. I told him about Reo and Tee Bone filming the FF performance at Club Levels. Angie said she'd only been following GoGo for a year. I asked her what she'd been listening to previously, she said R&B and Gospel. I asked her if she followed Gospel GoGo. She said not really.

Nephew talked about my blog with me. He also said that the female back up singer Danni from Soundproof is Packy's cousin, and Yannie's cousin (who is also Packy's cousin). There was a young guy taking pictures, he's looking to sell them.

Familiar Faces
Mike was not here tonight, not surprising since he said at rehearsal that he had gotten over the flu, but not his head cold. The first set had a furious drum solo by Jammin' Jeff, where he even loosened his tie for a bit. Donnell did shout outs to guests from the Nation of Islam, FF is going to play before Louis Farrakhan speaks on Savior's Day Monday at the DC Armory. Donnell talked about when with Rare Essence, they would wait in line to hear Farrakhan speak "The Word". He also did a shout out to an activist who fights against violence in DC. Among the songs they performed in the first set were Alicia Keys' Diary, Toto's Georgy Porgy and their instrumental of John Legend's Prelude / Let's Get Lifted. Nephew told Doc and Dwayne about my characterization of Soundproof's lead talker at practice; they laughed and said they disagreed. Sharmba Mitchell was there.

The second set, they performed Destiny's Child's Soldier, Rare Essence's Body Moves, Jennifer Lopez's Get Right, Tom Browne's Funkin' for Jamaica, Terror Squad's Lean Back with Ebony guest rapping and Lap Dance. They closed with what has been their closing song: Sly and the Family Stone's Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). I said hello to Michon before I left.

Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private location, Hyattsville, MD

I talked with Doc outside before going in with him and Donnell. Everyone but Smoke and Jacques was present. Jauhar came with his son and Donnell was trying to convince Jauhar's son that Kobe was better than Allen Iverson.

They discussed Sunday's show. I had noticed Donnell's soprano Sax fall, he said it broke into four pieces.

They also discussed about the unexpectedly late (they were expected to be late, but not as late as they were) arrivals of the guys from Heaven Sent on Friday. They rehearsed a new Jennifer Lopez song Get Right that samples Maceo & the Mack's Soul Power '74 (the song's listed co-writers are James Brown, Rich Harrison and Usher Raymond). Donnell particularly rehearsed the solo sax play, wiggling his body as he played. They laughed and said he should do that when he performs it in public, he said he planned to. Dwayne said Donnell was "Born to do that 'Bama sh*t."

Donnell told everyone the ski trip was cancelled. He then brought up a funny story that he wanted me to take down (mentally): Rare Essence went on a trip and Mike volunteered to go waterskiing first. The guy driving the boat told Mike to signal when he was ready. Mike raised his hand to ask a question and the guy started, dragging Mike for half a mile because the guys were laughing too hard to tell him to stop. DP then told a story about skiing where he thought the ski lift would have give like a rope, he didn't realize he was supposed to just let go, and it took him up the entire mountain with a number of people laughing. He was so embarrassed; he took off his skis and walked down the mountain.

L!ssen Album Release Party at Kili's Kafe & Lounge
Kili's Kafe & Lounge, 2009 8th St NW, Washington, DC 20001

I decided to go to this event so that I could check out FF when performing in the same show as Soundproof Band and L!ssen Band. Unfortunately, I decided to take to buy a ticket, so I had to pay the whopping $45 at the door. It started raining while I waited in line. When I got in, I walked upstairs and there were already a number of people there. DJ Flava (aka GoGo Rudy) was the DJ, using a laptop to do so. They were selling copies of L!ssen's album: "L!SSEN L!VE VOLUME 1" at a table by the entrance to the dance floor. It is very odd, the album is almost completely covers, I read the tracklist online: (I am not positive all of the covers are correct.)
Disc I
1) Intro
2) John Legend's Ordinary People
3) Maze's Can't Get Over You
4) Teddy Pendergrass' Close The Door
5) Prince's Purple Rain
6) Lil Jon's Lovers and Friends
7) Erykah Badu's Cleva
8) Cheryl Lynn's Encore
9) Destiny's Child's Soldier
10) Erykah Badu's Danger
11) The GAP Band's Outstanding
12) Kwick Drum Clinic
13) Peany's Percussion Lesson
14) Earth Wind & Fire's Let Me Love You
Disc II
1) Fabolous' Breathe
2) The Whole City's Behind Us
3) Whole City....Reprise
4) B2K's Bump Bump Bump
5) Its LISSEN man
6) Deville's Twerk It
7) Toto's Georgy Porgy
8) Jay-Z's Dirt Off Your Shoulder

Jacques and the guest singer James were the first two guys from FF to arrive. I went and talked to Godfather and Doc when they arrived.

I looked on the stage, and I guessed correctly that Soundproof would be performing first, since clearly none of the equipment was FF's. I was glad to hear that when Soundproof Band came on, they didn't have the sound problems they had the first time I saw them. The female singer has a very nice voice. The band's sound was good, but didn't really crank. Their first song they performed was Destiny's Child's Soldier - I immediately thought about how bad it is to hear multiple GoGo groups cover the same songs in the same show. They also performed Snoop's Drop It Like It's Hot - but that clearly was nowhere near as good as FF's version. They sounded nice, but didn't really move me or the crowd. Also, their lead talker had a visually distracting and annoying habit of moving his right hand up and down as if he were playing air guitar or... This venue is huge, probably the largest venue I've seen GoGo other than Mayo Island.

Familiar Faces
FF used the same drums and congas as Soundproof. Unfortunately, as they were setting up, Donnell accidentally knocked over his soprano Saxophone - he immediately put it away in his case and did not play it that night. FF really cranked in their set - and definitely got the audience response. Among the songs they performed were: Toto's Georgy Porgy, Marvin Gaye's I Want You, Donnell's three song Medley - Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love / Rare Essence's Spotlight / Rare Essence's Get on the Wagon? / Vinnie D's $55 Motel. They immediately afterward performed Rare Essence's Marinda. They also performed Rare Essence's What N*gga What? They closed with, like Friday, Sly & the Family Stone's Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). I was actually a little surprised that they didn't perform one of their own originals from Evolution as competition for L!ssen's new album. There was a young girl (whom I later discovered was named Britney) with dyed red hair and a pink jumper who danced hyperactively by Donnell; he moved away from her. Donnell supported L!ssen with his statements on the mic, saying that he knew how difficult it was to put an album together and put it in stores. He also told the crowd to make sure they bought store copies, not bootlegs.

While they didn't perform any of their originals live, GoGo Rudy did during the break, starting off with Lap Dance and also a slow song from Evolution as well. (I don't remember the title, but I recognized it as a song that I sat in on Mike's studio session for).

L!ssen Band
L!ssen led off with Ray Charles' Night Time Is the Right Time, then Prince's Purple Rain, a third song led by Yannie I didn't recognize, and Destiny's Child's Soldier. All four of these songs, while the conga player played, were Soul not GoGo, and quite frankly I found them really boring, but the crowd liked them. Fortunately, from the next song on they performed GoGo and did crank a bit, but not as much as FF. That next song was their original on their album Whole City's Behind Us. They followed up with Rufus' Ain't Nobody, then Party With L!ssen?, then I either a song or a jam, then Erykah Badu's Danger, then another song/jam, then Toto's Georgy Porgy, and Lil Jon/DJ Flexx's Aw Skeet Skeet (which is also a chant of George Clinton's I don't know which of them originated it). Kelvin Robinson, Y2K's assistant manager, came by and said hello to me and Dwayne. Dwayne left before the set was over. They finished several minutes after 3 AM. I did think it was kind of silly that the front line players passed around a WWE championship belt. Michael Thompson was wearing an eye patch, I wonder if that was because his car crash this summer?

Definitely both FF and L!ssen really got a crowd response. People danced hard to FF, but that is a reflection of their harder style. I honestly don't know who the crowd liked more.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Familiar Faces
This became quite an evening. The line up at the start of the first set was: Mike, Adia, Donnell, DP, Dwayne, Doc, BJ, Jammin' Jeff, Smoke, and Jacques. Godfather came in later in the set. During the first song, which was much extended, Jacques played roto-toms and timbales - pretty rare for a first set. He traded solos with Smoke, but the true highlight of the song and even the night was Jammin' Jeff's solo. Not only did he crank on the drums, but stood up and used his drum sticks on the signs behind him, Godfather's stool, the speakers, the mic stands, the congas, timbales, then put the sticks down and beat on the neck of Doc's bass with his bare hands as a percussion instrument. He then hit on the signs and the heating duct above before going back to his drum kit. Mike's highlight was O'Bryan's Lady I Love You. The first set was longer than usual, and definitely crankin. Many members of the usual crowd were there, plus Sharmba Mitchell and Big Don Pimp.

During the second set, the performance of Terror Squad's Lean Back featured at least three of the same four guest rappers as last week - Ebony and the other two girls. I didn't see the male guest rapper last week well enough to know if it was the same guy this week. The other Ebony was there as well. The set cranked in the way that happens to me - it is so great that it seems like more time has passed than is really the case. They closed with Lap Dance. Donnell did shout outs to people for coming, including Michon (Jacques' girlfriend) and me.

Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private location, Hyattsville, MD

Familiar Faces
There is now a plaque for "Studio 54" above the outside door and a red 54 (painted with stencils) in front of the door at the top of the stairs. Donnell was there, but was negotiating with a promoter, so I let him be and went to the rehearsal area and talked with his son Donte. Nephew arrived after a while and eventually Dwayne, Doc, BJ, DP, Godfather, Adia, Duane Face, Mike, and Jacques arrived.

They discussed a lot, particularly about the incidents of violence on Saturday at Club U that cost them their liquor license on Monday. Donnell discussed how in DC Councilmen Jim Graham's press conference, Graham aimed to close all the GoGo venues in his ward. Most of the rehearsal was spent discussing this as well as performance strategies and what their audience aim was.

Nephew, Duane and I had a discussion. Nephew told me that Polo is his brother-in-law and their soundman, Al Winkler, was FF's soundman before they hired Googie.

At the end, Donnell, Nephew, and I had a basketball discussion where Nephew said that the Wizards don't play enough defense. He also said that the Wizards gave up more points than they scored, and they asked me to look it up. It is not true: after 51 games, they have averaged 101.7, their opponents 101.1.

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

Since Monday, they finally repainted the very faded traffic lines on Annapolis road. When I walked in, DJ Flava (aka GoGo Rudy) stood by the entrance and greeted me. In the lounge, a couple of guys played with women beginners, patiently teaching them how to play pool. After Doc arrived, I talked with him a little. A woman next to me said that "That's my baby daddy". I asked which one, she said, "Doc and Packy. Packy's my husband." The woman next to her, (I later learned her name is Netty), said, "Donnell's my husband." I asked, "Do they know that?" I then went to the bar and ate.

Familiar Faces
I missed the very opening - as I went to where I normally stand, I noticed Pooh sat in the lounge next to Packy. I told Packy what the girl said, he said he isn't even married, which Pooh said wasn't true. I sat down and talked with Pooh for a while. He told me he was looking for a new gig and he had been working in Atlanta all last month. He also said that his cousin had picked up PA's of Familiar Faces that they had not released. He didn't know where his cousin got them. I asked him about the nickname D-Train in Evolution, he said that Donnell called him that a couple of times. Mike came in; I asked him why he didn't sing on Wednesday. He said he was sick. When Pooh and I finished talking, I went to the side where I normally watch them perform (they had a full line up, with Jacques arriving during the first set, and Charlie not coming tonight). Donnell Jr. was there, along with Footz's daughter, who said hello. I asked her what her first name since I didn't hear it on Sunday - Renee (spelling?). For many parts of this show, I got so into the music that I zoned out.

I talked with Dwayne during the break for a bit. We talked about his producing/engineering work coming up, including Y2K. Actually, Dollar Bill and manager Kelvin Robinson of Y2K were there and said hello to both of us. They told Dwayne that on Fridays, China Boogie's wife won't even let him answer the phone, much less go out. I also talked with him about a PFunk video from their performance at the Capital Centre on February 1, 1979 and PFunk's influence on GoGo. I talked about the use of congas and roto-toms by PFunk in the concert. He talked about how congas were prevalent in major Funk bands at the time and influenced GoGo, but that GoGo has its own beat to it. He said that Chuck Brown's early albums don't sound like GoGo, more like regular Funk. He would have the percussion section play during the breaks and he would talk to the audience. He discovered they liked that more than the songs themselves. Dwayne also talked about how at the time of GoGo's formation, that the bands would be like L!ssen, trying to perform the hits they way they sound on the radio. We also discussed the joking in rehearsals of him versus Donnell. He said that when he first joined the band, the band played a little tense. He lets Donnell know he has more GoGo experience, he starting playing in 1981, Donnell in 1983. The other band members thought their arguments were serious at first, but they are just kidding.

I talked with BJ about how until I actually got Evolution, I didn't recognize the picture of him from the photo session as being him.

During the second set, they did many of their regular set, including Snoop's Drop It Like It's Hot. James guest sang. There were also three guest rappers during Terror Squad's Lean Back: Catch-22 (I caught her name when Donnell said goodbye to her at the end of the performance), Kay Kay (Chuck Brown's daughter) who wore a bright red wig, and Jay Gotti. Mike also sang John Legend's Ordinary People.

The third set as usual was the best. There was a birthday party, and Kato and other people wore party hats. Kay Kay guest rapped in this set as well. Donnell did his three song medley. A group of guys cheered on Smoke, yelling "Go-Go Smoke-Ay". Godfather asked if he provided me with a camera that I would take pictures.

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

Familiar Faces
Mike was not at this show, Donny Ray filled in for him a little. Everyone else was there in the opening line up. They did perform John Legend's Prelude / Let's Get Lifted, and after performing it a bit instrumentally, Donny Ray sang it (they normally only perform it instrumentally). Donnell introduced him as from EU, Donny Ray Valentine. I saw that E from L!ssen was there again. The line between the Jazz and second set was very blurred tonight, with heavy playing in the first set. A woman danced with her husband and daughter (who appeared to be in her 20s). Nece, the promoter, showed up (smoking a stinky fat cigar), with 2 other women. Donny Ray also sang John Legend's Ordinary People. At the end of the first set, the woman I mentioned went up to Donnell and he made some announcements: "It's Laura's birthday, she doesn't want anyone to know 50 Cent's her N...", she went back up to him, "She's forty years old, she doesn't look forty, security we have announcements, she doesn't want anyone to know 50 Cent's her nephew, she is upset because she lost her wig." Actually she didn't lose her wig, but it was quite amusing. She danced with a guy who is a regular and it fell off when she dipped. Plenty of regulars were there, including Ebony, Tracy, Angie, RE Angie, and Tim (LJ).

During the break, RE Angie played on the congas until Packy chased her off. She wasn't bad.

During the second set, they performed Snoop's Drop It Like It's Hot and Terror Squad's Lean Back immediately after - both quite extended and percussion heavy. During Lean Back they had 4 guest rappers from the audience: 2 unidentified girls, Ebony, and a guy. They also performed Miss Keta Will You Dance for Me with Donnell changing the name of the woman in the song to women in the audience, including Tasty. They closed with Lap Dance which was much extended with percussion solos as the highlight.

It was raining when it ended.

Tuesday at Rehearsal
Private location, Hyattsville, MD

Familiar Faces
I was the first to arrive tonight. I waited inside for a while (P-Funk was being played inside) and I was about to go to the gas station to call Donnell when Doc pulled in. At rehearsal, were Doc, Donnell, Donte, DP, Godfather, Duane Face, Dwayne, Jammin' Jeff, Adia, and Jacques. I told Doc and Donnell how I had seen Jacques on TV last week.

Donnell wanted to work on his solo for John Legend's Prelude / Let's Get Lifted. They continued to have their jokes about who is more of a musical authority - Donnell called Dwayne "Hoffa" and the people in the band who follow him are "the union", the others are "management" or "white shirts". They discussed Donnell's resume with Rare Essence. Donnell said that Body Moves was their only hit prior to him, and they discussed what defines a hit. They did agree that the simple locked groove of Lock It was the best despite the fact that Go-Go Mickey is the best conga player in GoGo.

Nece, a promoter, came to go over the flyer for a show that Familiar Faces will be doing for L!ssen's album release party, along with Soundproof and L!ssen.

They also rehearsed Tyra's Country Boy.

Adia's hair was curly, RE Angie did her hair. Duane and I discussed what GoGo he and I like and PA Palace, and GoGo DVDs.