D'Angelo & The Soultronics
July 8th, 2000
Stockholm, Sweden @ Cirkus "Definitive Edition 2.0"

FM/SBD > ? > CDR > remaster > compilation of remaster live audio and non-remastered interview tracks > CDR > EAC > FLAC > WAV > Vegas Pro (slight eq), retracked & tagged 2025 > FLAC

01. Devil's Pie > Crisco Jam >
02. Send It On
03. Feel Like Makin' Love [Roberta Flack] >
04. Chicken Grease
05. Me & Those Dreamin' Eyes Of Mine >
06. Shit, Damn, Motherfucker
07. Din Daa Daa [George Kranz] > Sardines [The Junkyard Band] (inc. Drop The Bomb [Trouble Funk] chant) >
08. Left & Right > Good To Your Earhole [Funkadelic] >
09. Dreamy [J Dilla] intro > Brown Sugar (inc. Funky Drummer [James Brown] & Check The Rhime [ATCQ] / Love Your Life [Average White Band] bridge/outro) >
10. Lady (inc. Fire [Ohio Players], Getaway [EWF] horn line & Jonz In My Bonz)
11. Maiden Voyage [Herbie Hancock]
12. Untitled (How Does It Feel)
bonus tracks:
13. radio interviews (spliced from a different broadcast)
14. full radio interview part 1
15. full radio interview part 2

D'Angelo – vocals & Fender Rhodes electric keyboard

The Soultronics:
Anthony Hamilton - vocals
Shelby Johnson - vocals
Jack "JK" King III - vocals
Jacques "Brother Jacques" Schwarz-Bart - tenor saxophone
Russell Gunn - trumpet
Frank "Root" Lacy - trombone & trumpet
Chalmers Edward "Spanky" Alford - guitar
Samuel "Norris" Jones - guitar
Junius Bervine - keyboards
Pino Palladino - bass
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson - drums
Frankie "Knuckles" Walker - percussion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4Dto95T-IE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ7_P0NhvHg

http://funkit.virose.net/?p=1606
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jcittcy-nw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgtqD_zyGPw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WOhWhi_UOs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZdFt1E9K04

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!


---------------------


weekend update
from ?uest on Jul 15 - 07:39 PM
MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND-@@@@1/2

well. d being d left me no choice but to jump ship before the tourbus made its 13 hour trek to switzerland. tina, alan (manager), gwen (wife and assistant), dom (manager), and wendy (love and basketball) took a train that went 300mph. and got us there in 4 1/2 hours.

as always any conversation with alan leeds is an education in music 101. q-tip may have told you #4080. but alan told me 1-4079, and 4080-1,000,000. and most of them involved mr. brown or "p" (as al calls em)

we were disscusing the shock of d's stamina lately. even though he has been feeling the winter weather in summer bite lately, he's been a trooper. al says it's cause of a few stories that al related to him.

while working with james brown from 70-74 as road manager (al was first a disc jockey as a young teen in '65 when he first met james.) he told me mr. brown's philosophy was that sickness means weakness. and thus if you got sick you were....-well? fired. alan says that a bout with pneumonia damn near got him fired (no pay for that week). so james was on some postman shit.

well fate would have it that james too would come down with a sickness that was 2 steps from death.

on a show night.

according to assistants mr. browns health was startiling and 3 doctor's were like "motherfucker stay in bed!!!!!!!!!!" he already threw up the bones in his toes, fainted 4 times, had a 102 fever. he didn't even know his own name at one point. so it was safe to say that there would be no show tonight in rhode island. so everyone was prepared. radio, press, promoter, venue......everyone except mr. brown.

james got on his leer....near death....in winter, and flew to do a show. because to cancel a show was to display weakness. and mr. brown is anything but. of course leeds finds out that mr. brown is en route to do a show that everyone is under the impression is cancelled. so he has mere minutes to reinstate everything. hard as it was he did......of course the house was half empty and alan knew this was his final moments in the house of brown. he even predicted to his lady friend that "at around 11:01, you will hear the nastiest conversation of your life".

sure enough. sparks flew everywhere. @$#@#$#!!!!this and that. in the end browns ego had him convinced that since alan's son-like love for james had him cancel the show, he would not fire him (of couse no pay for a week).....but he let him stay.

there are so much stories i've been told. stories that let me know that the yoda figures to d and me are just as human and imperfect as d and i are to some of y'all. to hear gwen tell it, prince lost his keys (me and d), ran out of gas (tariq), and had his moments (all of us) as much or more than we do. i dunno...that sorta made me feel better. at the dinner table i was a straight up groupie

"so this nigga fell out the tub then what?!?!?!!"


anyway....around midnight despite the rain and cold weather i crusied to the happening spot....for me that is RECORD SHOPPING!!!! whenever i come to here i give at least a g away. tonight was no different. it was a lil hard cause mos and crew were there too, so there was a minor mob scene. it's just hard shopping and diggin too. but i came up on all types of afro beat stuff. missing fela stuff, tony allen stuff, other afro beat groups. (for those who don't know afro beat is james brown esque african rhythms made popular by fela akute (the james of nigeria)....the funkiest shit ever!

so after that at 3am i went to a jam session. played a few songs. then came back in time to doze off to the only american thing on tv, my favorite movie of 1999: RUSHMORE! awww this is heaven. i dozed off at 6something and woke up around 1pm to the phone.

d.

he mad cause i took the train, on some we don't hang out shit like we use to. (oh god am i going into mos territory again?) anyway. nothing deep. i just explained to money that on days off away from home i'd love to see the towns i visit, and not wait 10 hours in the lobby when he gets ready to go. sorry but when i travel the world. i indeed do so.

well he invited me to the montreux president claude (last name?)'s estate. oh god!

a home overlooking the swiss mountainside
-vintage pinball games
-studio
-movie screen for tv
-1,000,000 records (yes 1 million 78's, 33's, 45's, cd's and 8tracks. 1/2 inch reels, 1/4 reels, dats. 2inch reels EVERYTHING. he has his own librarian to file this stuff.
and his archive collection is killing mine....alan leeds...everyone's the goverment...no one has the archive collection this man has.
his marvin gaye file is 9 hours of unseen concerts.

(i was like, imma hook tiny up with this guy)

unfortunatly we only had 1/2 hour so we watched rare marvin (d was mesmorized), this hillarious aretha from 71 when she decided to fool her orchestra for hire by doing an unlisted song, only for them to scratch thier heads in bafflement like (what song is this?). we also peeped a nina simone concert that almost had us in tears. it was painful to watch. in her regular way (more bitter than miles davis) she cursed the audience out (in mid song screamed on a woman for trying to leave paul mooney style "SIT!!!!.....SIT NOW!!!!!! I SAID SIT!") wowsers.

as for the show, anyone who knows the history of the montruex jazz festival knows a bunch of rich folks (people who deserve to be on some model shit) who come to hear david sanborne for the umpteenth time and george duke. of course we have hip hop there but hip hop shows are never in the special rooms.

taking his cue from nina, d turned that near new orleans (white version) crowd from stuffy "i thought he was the next marvin" jazzites, into FUNK MONSTERS....whew! even the promoter was like "play more! play more!"--and we never got that request. they stood on their seats! furs and all....i'm talking archie and edith bunker look a likes. straight getting down. amazing!




------------


show 1: so glad we made it. aka the show must go on. @@@1/2

from ?uest on Oct 5 - 06:41 AM

well, mama said there would be days like this. since day one there has been obstacle after obstacle thrown at this tour. (mos: we'll do it. mos: we can't do it. common: i'll do it. common: i can't do it. jill scott: can't wait to do it. jill scott's managment:"....sheeeeit!") so just when a groove was settled we received a double whammy day of.

no talib. no dead prez.

i ain't gonna lie to you. i was livid as fuck. somehow i knew that this was gonna fall on us. (hence the okaymutiny on the review boards), but what can you do with 6 hours to showtime?

cancel? i think not. there were still abled body people with talent coming out there ass to put on a show (a 3hour one at that....name anyone in hip hop doing that)

so not being on the defensive. this night could have been a total disaster. talib and dead will be with us on saturday's show (wait isn't today thursday?.......okay i mean thursday's show). as expected there were rough spots simply because this is the first time we played on a full system. and lights sound cues were off. dice and thought previewed generous material from their forthcoming solo turns (reclaiming the dead/ masterpiece theater) bahamadia was a crowd fav with her drum and bassisms. and slum was just crazy. and jag proved to all that she is a star shining bright. believe me, considering what this night could've been this was some fat shit (i saw the philly lounge show and.....well.....anyway--)

afterwards i was just plain exhausted. i'd been up 6 days with about 12 hours sleep between em. facing everything from "we can't afford a tech ahmir" to "we can't make this show" to "i don't like this arrangment". trust. give me 2 days to get this baby in stellar order.

the most pleasent surprise of the night was some friends from harvard came down to support and brought down natlie portman. she wouldn't reveal any star wars secret plots to me. rats. but she said that she'd love to bring us to the school again (i spoke there in 1999) to perform.

i can't believe the only way for me to deal with exhaustion is to stay up. it's 7:30am am i'm on this damn computer. gotta go.

p.s. steve call mom dukes.




god......please get me through this week!!!!!!!!!!!

from ?uest on Oct 9 - 02:52 PM

ok. now i'm seeing why i did the d'angelo tour. man.....no worries, bring studio gear, log on all day, work for 3 hours, come back and rest.

i should be a vet right?

sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit.

not on your life. i got 19 more times responsibility here than my own joint. for those that rememeber the d tour. i believed that i explained the difference between the crew. and the artist. we'll even though i'm an artist. i decided to travel with the crew (they're cooler, more on that later) because i can't relax unless i know that all the fine details are cool. for starters i don't have a drum tech this time around, so i have to change my head, tune em, etc (well i don't have to set them up thank god cause i hate that type of thing). plus you never know what monkey wrench can be thrown at you ("hey ahmir, yeah dead prez called, they will not be at blah blah blah), so it's just cool to be there in case any sudden changes occur. case in point. at the MT HOLYOKE show (@@@@) talib kweli showed up literally 3 minutes before he was supposed to do his first song. in a way, it does make it fun to have a challenge thrown my way instead of the usual predictable machinery of our shows of late. but i just need these less experienced cats to realize that one foulup could mean disaster. so basically if dead prez or slum or whoever isn't found a song before they go on stage. then we are in big trouble.

i'm now realizing that the crew is understaffed. underpaid. and now undernourished. and sure enough by time the bates college show in lewiston maine (@@@1/2) the ugly head of mutiny was showing itself. the bus driver hadn't slept in days. and now he was faced with a 5am drive for 9 hours......trouble. the crew is mad cause no one saved em food (i made em po' white trash samiches to make up for the faux pas [strawberry jam on white bread]). they were grumpy. so now i'm getting it on both sides. this act wants to do this song. we still don't know if we can afford an extra roadie. boston will fry us if we don't make up a show. and on top of that by the time i got to new york (@@@@) i was sicker than d'angelo in canada. i just knew that mtv thought i was on drugs during the interview. because there was no need for the crew to get hotels (by the time we break down it's time to go to the next city), it was good to get the venue before everyone to take a hot ass shower. i was running on empty coughin and wheezing. someone turned the air on in the bus. so now i'm pissed. soon as i get off the bus "ahmir will you do these 7 interviews?" augh.

knowing that new york is tough to please. i knew i had to pull a rabbit out the hat so since i foolishly told erykah i'd come by the studio at 1am to finish work on "mama's gun". (didn't know that i'd be on my sick bed) so i figured, ok. scratch my back? i'll scratch yours. i told her.

"pleeeeaze....save me from a board lynching and do something."

ahmir i ain't even dressed....

"sigh"

(3minutes)

ok! ok!

"uh that's "okay" to you......can you ride me back to the studio afterwards?"

pushing it ahmir!

i felt cool about the new york show. it's just the sound company forgot key equipment that held us up for hours. forcing us to only have an hour to soundcheck 40 mics.

not possible.

so thus, we had mad problems. no moniters. now we got this crew mixing lines with that line and it was just a nightmare. but please....the energy was great. and that's what counts. even shocked me that jigga stayed til the very end.

dc (@@@1/2) fared a bit better, but now my whole staff has the flu. tariq, jag, at least 12 others now have some sort of sickness. this feels like the goodie mob/fugees/roots tour of '96. the first week everyone was through......oh well. i'll try as hard as i can to do daily updates. bare with me.


peace.






?hocolate city @@@@ (dc)

from ?uest on Oct 10 - 02:43 AM

ok so when the love of your life travels with you listen up. simple as that when she tawks. you better listen.

against my wishes. my ace/bestbud/jawn/girl/part time wife maria insisted that i see a doctor today. weird thing is the hotel i'm in has no room service, but has a doctor on call 24-7. wha?

so my doctor comes in. he's an elderly asian man. the conversation itself almost made me get another doctor!

dr.- uhh...yeah...assmere? assmere
maria- (chuckles)
dr.- assemere olw are you feel?
ahmir- gettin over it, hey i just need a prescription of some antib--
dr.- yeah yeah assmere wt ruoy simm coukd sdkj the sdksj [exacatly!]

(10 minutes later]]

dr.- skd jksds sds???

lord can't this cat see me dying over here? he fianally leaves after telling me in a clear voice "is that cash or credit?"

the plan was to come at the venue around 6pm so that slum can reherse "climax" "2u4u" and "players". no dice. we only get as far as bringing a few tricks to "untitled"--yes esvee has a verion as well--.

i felt like this show was gonna be a little weird simply because i thought there was no audience (as of last night there were 90 tix sold, tonight there were 1000 walk ups).

show wise it was tight. i can't wait to be rid of this cold so i can really feel it. right now the name of the game is survival. and how i can play for 3 hours is a mystery to me. even after "what you want" i saw jag pass out backstage from sickness.

was this all from me? now the sick toll is up to 13. i solved our crew shortage problem by taking an assistant off the road to keep a roadie on. cause if we were to let earl go it would've been disaster.

well. i'd be lying if i didn't say that i am so tired so i will close for now. thank you.




norfolk (@@@@) emory -atl (@@@@) from ?uest on Oct 13 - 12:05 AM well.
i'm kinda recovered. but now i got a bunch of disgruntled flu victims on my bus....matter of fact...everyone is "AHMIR, YOU GAVE ME THE FRIGGIN COLD!!!!!!"

we had our first meeting as a production unit before the va show (keith [stage manager], tina [tour manager], kelo [sound designer], shawn [business manager], rich [motive manager], and me [creative manager?]).....

for starters we had to fire one of our stage hands, because he spent more time in the audience talking to girls than doing his gig.

i'm not gonna lie to you people, cause i don't get down like that. but straight up. something has got to give between the 40 of us. once again (6th item in a week) someone has stolen property from the artist (talib's cell). this does not make me happy.

the roots have never been a security oriented group. i never delt with security until i toured with d'angelo. i never felt like we were that type of band......i mean cats just wanna shake your hand, take a flick, yada yada yada....

sheeeeeeeeeit.

for starters this psycho ass jawn from dc. (hendrix headband on afro, weird clothes) stalks talib after the show.....he runs away....only for dice to intercept her...wanting to spend time with his girl he walks out on her, for jag to get her.


jag don't play.

(later on that night)
"that bitch was all like "jag i'm sayin jag i'm sayin i need tickets for tommorow cause i support you and i deserve it.."

sheeeeeeeeeeit.

anyway---you know how that conversation ended.

so then riq was like "yo why did i step out the shower to let the maid in and this girl appears out of nowhere knocks maid down and runs in my room in hesterics?"

he called security.
she came back 3 hours later.
he called security again.
she came back again....
tracey kicked her out of hotel lobby.
girl runs home to change outfit
she returns.
police arrest her.

damn talk about max cady and sam boden.....

anyway where was i?

oh yeah in virginia.....show was cool until some knucklehead fucks shit up. you never have to look in our direction cause i rarely have hangerons. talib rolls with one other guy. none of the girls have crew. so that leaves only few groups left. i just feel weird seeing someone not related to the crew standing in my zone when i'm trying to communicate with my moniter man, or a stage hand. sheeeeeit just in new york during "bigger than hip hop" this girl waltzes on stage and straight up pockets hub's direct box. just puts it in her pocket.

maria was on that shit like white on rice.

"put that back!!!!"
what?
"i saw you, whaddayou think i'm stooopid?"
don't you got something better to do?
(runs to get security to open bag, and sure enough.......BASS DIRECT BOX)
"please escort this woman out"
but i'm with dead prez!!!!
"pshhhhhh...again leave..."

shit like this goes on all the time*

we are also having major moniter problems. it's hard for me to hear certain cues because their are over 40 lines on stage. limited time to soundcheck. and a novice operator (artless will get his thing together soon enough).

in atlanta we fared somwhat better. really strange seeing a white girl rush the stage on "i'm an african". i know some cats wonder how dead prez' steeze will go over at mostly white attended shows.....i say excellent. they know words more than the black kids. and i think that their steeze is more anti establishment than anti white. our driver tracey always speaks about "redneck crackers" from his township, and he's white. once again they burned old glory.

we will have a talk about that tommorow.

in case you are wondering about tina's quote list, i'm the cat that complained about the rooms. tonight kinda came to a head. for a second i thought we lost our tour manager. it's hell babysitting everyone. i do feel for her. but we all have to be strong to make this work.

kelo feels under appreciated cause without him our sound wouldn't sound crunk.

keith busts his ass understaffed, underpaid, long hours away from his wife at home.

tina...read her post to see what she deals with.

princess is just....unhappy.

maria has to deal with "we want this dressing room" to "i don't want cheese touching the vegetables" to "i want blah blah plus 9 on the guest list" to running every errand under the sun, all the while getting from under the girlfriend on the road dark cloud, to be girlfriend on the road at the same time.

to the jazzies who aren't as energetic or wild as slum or dead, or hip hop like flo and bahamadia, or brash like jag, feel just as underappreciated.

to rich and shawn in their countinuence of working without pay to run organization....

no one feels appreciated. i'm not sure what the common denominator is. is it me? is it my job to validate everyone around here? we've spent eons without ever saying

"hey riq, those vocals were off the hook"

or

"thanks"....

are we nice? god, am i even writing this sharing this with y'all and we didn't even talk about it mongst us yet?

sigh....i dunno.

wish me luck. i've typed long enough.

bombs over atliens @@@@@



from ?uest on Oct 14 - 01:46 AM

i knew it. i knew this was the show we had in us all along. whoooo weeeee!!!!!

the word for tonight was ENERGY!

crowds like atlanta make it worthwhile coming to. off the bat. energy was up to an all time high. riq was on his jawn (philly speak for "doin his thang), dead prez was on some extra special hype sauce, hi-tek came to support his partner talib who was on some singing jawn. the jazzies busted out some greatest hits for the crowd. and for the first time i saw cats mouthing the lyrics. so i will definately add more cuts from the album. the crowd went wild for slum village who tonight debuted "the look of love" from volume one. bahamadia's drum and bass jawn had em crazy down here.and jag was in rare form tonight. and to top it off to really put cats over the edge com and erykah came to bless us with some joints.

only setback was on "you got me", was erykah decided to get on some daryll hannah shit (splash....remember when the mermaid tried to speak?) but yelling at top screching volume it left a ring in my ear that has me sseeiinngg eevveerryytthhiinngg lliikkee tthhiiss.

lots of fam rolled through tonight. dungeon crew, spike, phife, short, left eye, everyone showed mad love.

tuesday, support dice raw. go cop. peace!






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