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WEEK ONE OF VOODOO TOUR DIARY IN LA WITH ?ST AND TINA
MAR 2000.
hello
from ?uest on Mar 1 - 01:22 PM
well, it's day number 1. i love trouble. it clearly states that i will be docked if i am late for soundcheck or anything. so being the risk taker i am i have 3 minutes to get my tail to soundcheck. i will write a proper entry afterwards.
Opening Night a la Hollywood
from L.A.'s SOOOO my City on Mar 2 - 07:03 AM
Oh yeah, L.A, sun fun & Baywatch .. .with a pinch of D'Angelo in some leather pants . . .shirtless. Sometimes things manage to hurt your eyeballs - sunsets, lunar eclipse, the little pelvic area that Mr. 'Angelo reveals, tauntingly . . . hate 'em. The power of that man. Garbrielle Bouvywhatever, Chaka Khan, Tracey Bingham, Jamie Foxx, Tommy Davidson, Dr. Dre . . .wait a minute . . . .DR.DRE? Oh yeah, w/wifely talking about "you've improved our marriage. "
the man improves marriages y'all.
Music, banging . . .?uestlove got thunderous applause, James Poyser, Kelo on sounds . . . that crew sounds vaguely familiar.
In any event, it takes the L.A. crowd a bit longer than most to stop thinking they're cute and actually get into the music. This group is such a loving, open group, it's almost a shame to call it work. Though, that'll probably last about as long as it takes for someone to ask me to get them a beer! I'm sure there will be more celebrity freaks to come . . . it's only Wednesday . . .
first night @@@@
from ?uest on Mar 2 - 02:17 PM
celeb watch:
-chaka khan
-garcelle bouevas (jamie fox show)
-traci bingham (black babe from babewatch)
-tommy davidson
-jamie fox
-kitten (porn starlet)
not bad at all for the first night. d is so funny. i mean he shows such confidence when onstage. but 3 hours before a nigga had the runs tlakin bout.
d: yo nigga, i don't feel like doin "untitled"
?: man if you think that they gonna let you go without doin that. pshhhh!!!!
d: but, it's like my voice gonna be strained and all...
?: but d if we do the anti-climatic version we'll be straight.
d: but...what do we say?
?: i mean, just pull a jawn from the audience...and freak her...
d: i know but what should i say?!?!?
?: i don't think you have to say much. just i dunno nigga you d'angelo!!!!!!!! i should be askin you!!
d:........sigh
well we did 3 hours that was probably our only fault. d was so nervous that he forgot to end the songs, and some of those babys are on some high adrenaline charlie horse gettin shit. anyway, i was having spasms and shit yellin "nigga end the song already!!!! nigga end it already!!!!!!" man it was intense. when we did "shit damn...." the audience was stunned, i ain't gonna tell you why. you'll have to see...."TAKE IT OFF!!!! TAKE IT OFF" we felt like chippendales and shit. anyways i got a 3 paragraph limit.........so til the next show.
I copped the digits
from tinyteanie on Mar 2 - 08:17 PM
FOrget D'Angelo, forget ?uestlove, forget James Poyser . . . L.A. the city that means anything goes, where even James Poyser, mack that he is, did NOT and I repeat DID NOT get the digits of Baywatch Babe Traci Bingham, however, what mackazoid did? yes me. the fact that she wants to fuck D'Angelo probably had something to do with it, but hey, who doesn't. 10%! Who's the pimp now Common.
By the way East Coasters, no I'm not gay, it's just L.A. More in tuned for tonight. I hear Whitney & Bobby Brown have a table. Perhaps my high will be set for the night. See ya later!
"Hey tina . . .remember Miami? . . . the limo . . . .?"
from tinyteanie on Mar 3 - 11:53 AM
reminds my (?uestlove & D's) ecstatic porn-star friend Kitten . . .this is her second night at the concert. She and her work partner could have only been upstaged by Tyra Banks, her equally beautiful friend/assistant, Q-Tip - who's a rude ass, David Allan Grier & Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against The Machine.
However, the evening started when we all had the pleasant and wonderful treat of meeting D'Angelo's son , Michael. Cutey Patutey is all I have to say. He's quite a shorty. He went into his dad's dressing room . . . "15 minutes 'til show time!"
?uestloves's getting a massage, we're getting cymbal endorsements, tangy scents of "stuff" mixed with Nag Champra (is that how it's spelled?) fill the air . . something from probably some rock show documentary.
"?uest, get up . . .5 minutes" Chiropractor puts his table up, we handshake on the the NEW
?uestlove cymbol endorsement .. .and then . . . it happens . . . .
D' comes through the adjoining bathroom door, pants slightly unbuttoned , he looks around the room, does his make-you-wet-yourself lip-licking thingy, you know the one he does, and says "what up Tina?"
Wha-wha . . ."What'cho doin' D' . . .are you sagging?"
"What?" he says in that mischevious smile that we all love "Untitled" for .. . I nod towards his seeping butt crack peering from his leather (yeah, leather) pants . . .he comes to hug me laughing . . . I say, "Boy, you gon' hurt somebody"
Sometimes work is just too hard . . . watch the sexy lips! watch the sexy lips!
Anything else as exciting as that? Only during the show where he rips off his shirt
The women . . .I cannot be a hater, L.A. has beautiful people, tons, in all shades and varieties. California Girls, I tell ya! And then there are the men groupies flocking to pick up the women groupies. Hilarious. These girls dress like they're meeting D' . . .tonight. You think men can be boisterous and cat call? Shhhhhiiiiiit, come to a D'Angelo show. . .Feminists are going to be pissed . . .but the view is FANTASTIC!
****
updated on Mar-3 - 12:53 PM
OH YEAH, I FORGOT . . .
from tinyteanie on Mar 3 - 11:53 AM
All props to Shaka in Brooklyn, designer for Common, and now ?uestlove . . . the crowd goes WILD when ?uest stands up, turns his back, and there's his signature afro cartoon embroidered in his shirt! He's the bomb if ya didn't know. I think tonight I'll start the "Take It Off" for
?uest . . . hehehe
show 2: @@@@1/2
from ?uest on Mar 3 - 02:12 PM
celeb watch:
-q-tip
-leonardo dicaprio
-tyra banks
-eminem
-zack de la rocha
-the dude from party of five
well tonight i have to say we were on fire. we wern't nervous just exited and couldn't wait to kick ass.
i saw my lil nephew, lil mike. can't believe he's speaking complete sentences. he's so charismatic and charming that i bet that d will be a grandfather by the age of 39. no joke. (lil mike, who's your favorite singer? "daddy!!!!".)
i had to get a chiropractor tonight cause i got spasms during "shit damn motherfucker". i'm no stranger to the 3 hour show. but i've never played 3 hours straight, with massive intensity. the night before last we did 2 hours and 52 minutes. thinking that we saved time, i ran to manager stan on some "how was the timing?" he said "we'll we saved time tonight! tonight was only 2 HOURS AND 42 MINUTES!!!!"
a whole 10 minutes.
i know d had to have some sort of drama goin on cause he only scares the shit outta people on "shit..." when he gets psychotic. and last night he broke the mike stand. women were all "@#@$#?!??!?!" it was hillarious. i mean they don't expect it. they probably think they have seen a real show, like them radio "summer jams!" shows. man they ain't seen shit. and tonight we rammed it up their ass HARD!
d pulled out with the quickness tonight. we didn't even rap to each other. anywho i took my sweetie (maria) to breakfast at "jerry's deli where i fell asleep on my food. can't believe that i'm gonna do this for the next 8 months. yikes!!!!!
show 3: @@@@
from ?uest on Mar 4 - 12:07 PM
celeb watch:
-puffy
-busta rhymes
-natlie cole
-mary j blidge
-chad (red hot chili peppers)
-andre harrel (bad boy president)
-common
-redman
-ronnie devoe (bell biv devoe/new edition)
-jermaine dupree
yesterday we went to culver city studios to look at the real set of d's stage. meaning instead of going to new orleans unprepared we will reherse on the new set for lights and whatnot. soon thereafter it was 8 oclock. i'm noticing that i really don't have the time to do things that i wanted to do like go to the mall, or visit my family.
about four years ago at the house of blues during "soul train week" i planted a seed. seeing d's silhouette in the balcony during the fugees, the roots, and goodie mob show, i "auditioned" to redeem the position i shoulda had when bob power asked me to play on the brown sugar album (i said i wasn't available, but i was). now here it is 4 years later and the result of that performance has brought me here. tonight i notice 2 things: more men in the audience (oh oh) and more industry heads (oh no!!!). so that means the cheers will be even lower, because some people are way too cool to even show love......well except natlie cole who according to maria (my girl) said "ALL Y'ALL BITCHES MOVE FROM IN FRONT OF MY TABLE!!!!" (one girl yelled oh shit it's gladys knight!) nat was hating big time. until brown sugar came on then she damn near started dancing on her table. jermaine dupree got kicked out the club for getting in a heated threat match with some other babe. (on some "dude you better check this bitch for i punch her in th---HEY GET Y'ALL HANDS OFF ME!!! WHAT?!? 68?! WHAT THE F-- KICKIN ME OUT THE CLUB?" think of that scene in jigga's "do it again (throw your hands up)" video when the guards hoist someone out).
the show was way looser than the other two shows. i made a mistake on "one mo gin" because d counted off the song "2,2,3,and" i was like "wha!??!?" he did the same foul up on "brown sugar"(started before i could say "4"). tonight was cool for me cause there was no anxiety. perhaps we need it. cause on sunday prince is comin. d refuses to let us tell him who's in the crowd. especially if it's "him". so i can't wait.
afterwards we went to the nigganet (jerry's deli) to catch a grub. soon i realized all the elements in my world were right there 14 deep: tina (assistant), kitten (porn star who somehow i became extreamly cool with) mary harper (chris rock's former assistant, and exec of the new shaft flick) derek dudley (manager of com), common, tim reid jr. (mca exec and the son of wkrp's own venus flytrap. ) jabril, and keroline (some of the coolest okayplayers ever) vannessa (friend of kitten and porn starlet) james poyser (co creater of some of your favorite soulquarian jams) and frank walker aka "frankie knucklez" aka son of quest aka frank love (one of 2 youngins i decided to pass the formula to. i took frank out on the road to get concert experience, the other one eric is my replacement in the roots for the time being. both are 19 and the closest thing to my drumming style). oh oh i think i went over the limit. sorry y'all. common is doing a commercial and i'm editing it. gotta run. see y'all!!
"A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Dressing Room #1 . . ."
from tenpercent! on Mar 4 - 12:19 PM
I tripped and fell helplessly into D'Angelo's lap. I pull away while he hugs me . . ."Woe is me . . . fine man hugging me, damn those sexy lips!"
"Hey hey hey, that's my Scarlet "
?uest yells at D'. hehehehe . . . stop fightin' boys . . .
So if 2 nights ago was high society night, and the night before was model-esque night, then last night was definitely THUG LIFE NIGHT.
Starring:
Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, fully equipped with security guard wired directly to the Pentagon no less
Jermaine Dupri (yes he's really that short) and entourage who were acting more like they produce for Da Brat.
Natalie "Get the fuck outta my way do you know who I am" Cole - her escort was kicking down chairs and shit "MOVE!"
Common "Can I Borrow A Dollar to repair this Rat-Fur coat" Sense: verdict? No Sense, but the hat was bangin'.
Regina "Boyz n the Hood" King: She looked lovely and stayed away from the limelight
Ronnie "when will i se you again. . .no really" DeVoe
Who else? A bunch of record label gangsters. You know, all of the assistants and assistant's assistants. Busters. Like me, 'cept I'm cooler.
D' was awarded his platinum plaques. Large. Very Large. Very nice and perfect and damn, record companies put a lot of shit into an artist!
Earlier in the day we had rehearsal. Jaleel "Steve Urkel" White popped in, but got kicked out. CLOSED REHEARSAL Urk, sorry.
Last night also happened to be Busted Female Night. I had to give them credit the 2 nights before, but last night? Hmmm. Ghetto. Crowded as all hell. There were more men than women too, but they were busted as well.
James Poyser and Common had the best "dozens" game:
JP: Thats why your pseudo-rapper ass always be in a Roots photo op.
CS: That's why when the Roots need a keyboardist they go to a white boy. (no he's not racist, don't start . . .
Oh well. We're off tonight for rehearsal. Perhaps I'll get my L.A. party on tonight . . .
SATURDAY NIGHT IN BED?????
from Tina on Mar 5 - 12:37 PM
I suck. Can't hang. Too much pahtying young buttafly make Tinyteanie velly velly sweepy.
So we had rehearsal, however Pino Palladino, bassist extraordinaire & Jaques the saxophonist and I had breakfast at a very L.A. breakfast spot .. . then went to the roof of the hotel for a classic view. Even overcast, L.A. is bangin' (not to be confused with "gang" bangin')
Anything exciting? ?uest's aunt made A FABULOUS meal for the band and crew after rehearsal. Wonderful, absolutely! What else?
D' is still sexy as hell, but what else is new?
Yesterday was a light day. ?uest went to the BlackStar concert with Maria and Common at UCLA. I sent most of the guys over to Kitten's porn party . . .had I gone there, this update would be more exciting. Check ?uest's journal entry for today. There may be more insight there.
Other than that, tonight should be hot and filled to the rim with surprise guests. I'll get at ya later. fasheezy. Aww shit, the old L.A. is returning!
DAY OFF??????
from qoolquest on Mar 5 - 02:29 PM
man if this is a day off, then damnit i'm tired as hell.
got up at 9 to do the music for common's "like water commercial....."
then i rushed to band rehersal at a studio lot. not much happened. it's not like we don't know the show already. we actualy had to cut an hour from the 3 hour show already. lots of sacrifices. lots of "that's my favorite part! don't cut that!!" but we did what we have to do.
my cousin joanne (bless her soul) cooked us some soul food that made me wanna smack my grandma. whew, you know the food is good when there is dead silence in the room. NO TALKIN just muchin: fish, beef ribs, cabbage, mac and cheese, yams, cobbler, cheese cake, barbque chicken. and that was the first course!!!
i later met the okayplayers (com included) and zack de la rocha (rage against....) and we rolled into the black star/krs one at ucla. i remember the 2 times we played here. colleges are so anal retentive every step is watched, every pocket frisked....and that's the artist!!.....alot of opening acts started the show (including blaze 3rd placer mc medusa, amhad (from "back in the day" fame) who has a "midnight voices" type band. black star finally got onstage at midnight. i played flavor flav to common's chuck d. as we did "6th sense". i lost zack somewhere in the crowd, however kobe bryant's loveleeee sis was nice enough to provide us with LAKERS floor seats. so we'll chill tommorow. this is the last night i'll have with maria so it's getting sad round here.
ok, what happened at kitten's porn party? maria and i rolled in with derek (com's manager) and big lez. we were on the list already so they didn't sweat us for the $50 admission. got there and it was nothin but niggas! like 40 to 1. i mean i was cool cuz i was with maria, but all that meant was it was going to be a nonstop night of "y'all niggas is the shit! i love the roots!!!"
sure enough it was.
i got there and it felt like a speakeasy/caberet type thing. plastic chairs. one speaker. stretch marks. other cats from d's band told me i missed the show of life with 2 females 4 dildos and a corona bottle....(YIKES!) however on the way out we caught the last show. it was lame!!! (percussionist) frankie knucklz and i had more fun throwing dollars in odd spots ("okay if it lands on her back and stays there for 5 seconds i win"......."the first to hit the dildo wins"....) it was super lame. i coulda had a better time watchin a movie holding maria.
damnit. what a waste.....
What they WON'T do for "D" : Groupie Check #1
from tinyteanie on Mar 6 - 05:09 AM
My goodness, my goodness. The show just gets better and better in different sections for different reasons. Roy Hargrove's solo was off the meat rack.
Teena Marie, Common (again . .. DAMN), Whashisface Hall - Aaron's brother, Cuba Gooding , Jr -rubbing on someone who WASN'T his wife . . .well
I dunno. The "V.I.P" area is wicked! that shit gets on the nerves.
But the GROUPIES? My, my, my. Now I don't want anyone to be offended so if you know in your heart that you fall into this category . . . you should stop reading NOW.
In any event, there were sooo many people in this little ass dressing room trying to get to "the man" - Yes D', fool. it was sickening . . . and they had the nerve to have on wack ass clothes, bad make up and weaves and horrible attitudes to boot!
Just sittin' on folks couches, up in dressing rooms looking mean and ugly.
Then there was this other broad in all pink: hair included. She kept going from room to room, eatin' folks fruit trays. Damn, beeyotch! I think i saw her ass in a fridge too!
The dude singing during "How Does It Feel". Okay nigga, we know you can sing. How disrespectful of you to sing during someone elses show, nigga DAMN?! Uh, my people, my PEOPLE.
Who else? . . . Oh goodness, some chick was inviting nigas to her house to swim. Why is it raining here and fucking 50 degrees? then she crosses her legs with just the right amount of coyness, and longingly looks through her BIG ASS MILITARY CUT GLASSES!!
Yo, if glasses are apart of your life, invest in some dope ones. Money is no object when it comes to protecting your vanity.
then big booty girl with run-over shoes . ..
I mean can't you see the list goes on and on?
I can't wait for the bus tour to start.
?uestlove's solo was ill and D's performance in "Shit Damn Muthafucka" was the ILL shit! Damn his energy was beaming throughout the building!
shows down , 1 to go.
show 4: @@@@1/2
from ?uest on Mar 6 - 10:56 PM
celeb watch:
-nia long
-cuba gooding jr.
-leala rachon
-rick rubin
-daryl hannah
-common
-kitten (night #4)
-prince (for all of 3 seconds i heard)
-some of the lakers
-jaleel white
-damion hall (guy)
well zack de la rocha had great seats at the lakers miami game (thanks to kobe's fine ass sister shaya). la is too cool for me the game was quieter than a courtroom. (cept this one miami fan who would'nt shut the f#$k up).
well, looka here! cuttin down on the show actualy helped. we dropped "player,player" connected "smooth" with "chicken grease" cut "feel like makin love" by half (roy's trumpet solo was boss). and the whole female shilcik at the end of "untitled" was dropped. sure we cut corners, but we also kept the audiences attention.
someone threw some drawers onstage. (norris the guitarist says 2 drawers) i told d to watch homself when he takes the shirt off. first of all, the nigga ain't wearin no drawers. and sure enough "mr. happy" made a two second cameo. (i didn't see it, but somethin had to have made 700 women scream out of the blue...
okay so after the show the makeup artist from "the next movement" video wants me to say hi to her friend.
"ahmir this is nia"
"gulp".
for some strange reason god picked this night of all nights to have the hallways and dressing rooms full of wall to wall women. somehow making my case a lil harder to prove that tours are all about "shows and sleep". hey that was it has been for the roots, this however is some other shit. this is a real life hype williams video. for some strange reason i got d to come from out the dressing room and to the after party.
big mistake.
well not really, i just hear the oddest shit....
"i'm smokey robinson's manager i would like to..."
"i have orgasims every time i hear you....i'm having one right now...."
"dude lemme tell you about "the root".....
so much for peace and quiet.
THAT SHIT WAS HOT!
from L.A.'s SOOOO my City on Mar 7 - 05:14 AM
YO! Tonight's show was THE illest. My goodness! Fools were feeling it too hard, myself included!
WOW! First of all . ..D' was doing his thang. Fly and hot, but then the sound man, Kenyatta "Grand Wizard" Saunders got hot and brought that bass UP! The artists got hotter!
?uestlove? No question. Way too hot! My God, I know I'm his assistant and you think I'm just saying this, but NO, that nigga's like WHOA! Yeah I said it.
"One Mo' Gin" -- I felt that shit from the 3rd floor of the house Of Blues! The bass kicked like that! I nearly broke my neck tryin' to run down the steps to hear it on the floor. Sick, absolutely.
And of course my favorite remix "Brown Sugar", the 8 0 8 kicked so ridiculously loud everyone said "Whoooo" simultaneously. The shit was beautiful!
D' had women holding their breath, hoping he would jump high and hard enough so that his pants would reveal ass or pubes. Beautiful thing. Lighting was bangin' tonight too. That shit came together.
I don't even want to talk about ?uest's solo cuz it would seem like I was jockin' or being biased . . . .
Speaking of "cuz",
Warren G was there! WEEESSSSSIIIIIIIIDE! yeah baby. Til I die fool!
And to make it all complete, they took it to church, and the audience followed! Can I get a witness?
The only celeb I saw was Vanessa L. "Rock-a-bye, baby" Williams.
But who cares? The show was on the floor and that shit was hot! Don't be a fool and sleep on this concert. It's hot as shit!
Nothing else really. We leave tomorrow for New Orleans . . . Mardi Gras. Oh my, the trouble we'll tend to!!!! Please e-mail me another adjective other than "hot". thank you.
show 5: @@@@
from ?uest on Mar 7 - 07:16 AM
celeb watch
-matt stone and trey parker (creator's of south park)
-billy corgan
-sheri headly (the girl from coming to america)
-vanessa williams (new jack city)
-the black jawn from felicity
this was murphy's law night. all types of madness:
-snare broke
-d miscued us on "devil's pie" 3 times!
-broke 5 sticks on "shit damn...."
man it was so flawed......but that's what we needed. the ice breaker to remind us that we we're human. i'll tell y'all the truth, i've been up since 6 (maria left this moring, plus we had jay leno shooting) and i'm not much for details. i cn kill myself for forgeting to ask matt to do cartman's voice on my answering machine. i get the feeling that d is gonna get the cover of roling stone. toure' (writer) came on the set to observe. i do remember telling d to do something controversial for the tonight show.....(whew) thank god he passed on that one. that audience was middle america to the bone. gat damn! okay i gotta pack see you in new orleans. ciao!
check the resume
organix-93
(from the ground up)-94
do you want more?!!???!-95
illadelph halflife-96
things fall apart-99
(the legendary)-99
the roots come alive-99
phrenology-2002
the tipping point-2004
(the roots present...) 2004
homegrown: the beginne
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