|
|
|
|
| . |
|
Glamourlife presents the Hottest Events for the year... Scroll below for the full 411 on parties, concerts, travel packages, news, gossip, & more... Thank You to our Sponsors... Stay tuned for more hot themes in the months to come. If you have any ideas or suggestions contact us at vip@glamourlife.com
Click Here to visit the hottest entertainment site on the net: DERBY WEEKEND DETAILS Below:
"GLAMOUR ROYALE" After Hours @Las Vegas Natural History Museum. Buy Discount Advance Tickets Now...Click Here or call 1800-965-4827 to charge by phone... Only $50 per night or $100 for a 3 night VIP All Access Pass in advance... 2007 NBA All – Star Weekend, "Glamour Royale"@Las Vegas Natural
History Museum Que Gaskins & Glamourlife.com are doing it once again! "Glamour Royale" Venue Details: Past Attendees: Beyonce Knowles, Jay-Z,
Allen Iverson, Nick Cannon, Lebron James, Vivica Fox, Terrell Owens,
Queen Latifah, Tyrese, Gabrielle Union, Lil’ Wayne, Julius "Dr.
J" Erving, Terrell Davis, Busta Rhymes, Warren Sapp, Floyd Mayweather
Jr., the Maloof Brothers, and many more… Music Provided by Features: Our mission… is to make sure that the party candle burns brightly and well into the wee hours of the morning by providing an intimate and exclusive environment that encourages and supports the exchange of good music, good food, good fashion and good fun. An affair crafted for the connoisseur of party goers, trendsetters, fashionistas, influencers, celebrities, thought leaders, and mavens of the young adult contemporary world. From the team that brought you the Budweiser/ Bad Boy Clothing "Fitting Room" we are bringing DJ Biz Markie back for another classic event.... From the folks that brought you the "Glamour
Galleria" @ The Uptown Shopping Center during the 2006 NBA
All Star Weekend in Houston.... 5000 Bardstown Rd Louisville, KY, 40291 This is THE late night after party Plus! First Fridays Louisville's resident DJ
Que Premium OPEN Bar and and a much improved Complimentary Gourmet Buffet featuring Penne Pasta, Prime Rib of Beef, Waffles, Pancakes, Grits and Scrambled Eggs Glamour Spa- Massage
Therapists, Lounge Chairs, incense and Candles
21 and Over!!! Advance Tickets for both Friday and Saturday are available for only $50 or $30 per night. Door Admission starts at $40 per night. Get your tickets now!!! Charge by phone (800) 965-4827 or for more info call (412) GLA-MOUR Sponsored by RBK, SEAGRAMS GIN, MARTELL COGNAC, & COORS LIGHT
"GLAMOUR GALLERIA" NBA AllStar Weekend After Hours Affairs!!! @The House of Reebok, Uptown Park Shopping Center,
Houston, TX
THIS IS A PRIVATE Affair. Must be a member of GLAMOURLIFE.com, or be on the sponsor invite list!!! To obtain a membership, you can click on the link to purchase, email vip@glamourlife.com or Call (412) - GLA-MOUR (452-6687) for membership info. We are offering limited discounted vip memberships for only $100. We only have a few of those left, and then the price will be $150. Purchase right off our site, via phone at 1800-965-4827, or off
the ticketweb.com site. email vip@glamourlife.com or Call (412) - GLA-MOUR (452-6687) for membership info. *In 2001 We brought you the "House of Secrets" after hours in Washington, DC! *In 2002 We brought you the "G*Spot" after hours in Philadelphia, PA! *In 2003 We brought you the "Mystery Mansion" after hours in Atlanta, GA! *In 2004 We brought you the "Art of Glamour" after hours in Los Angeles, CA! *In 2005 We brought you the "House of Glamour" after hours in Denver, CO! Now get ready for the "GLAMOUR GALLERIA"
after hours in Houston, TX!
Hosted by QUE GASKINS, Wylie Kynard, Lorenzo "Ice-Tea" Thomas & Gaskins Productions Music Provided by:
Features: Special Invited Guests include Allen Iverson, Lil' Wayne, Jay-Z, Steve Francis, Mike Jones, Baron Davis, Paul Wall, Melyssa Ford, Lorenzo "Ice-Tea" Thomas, Wyie Kynard, Kenyon Martin, Stevie Williams, Kevin Jones, Chris Bosh, 50 Cent & G-Unit, Carl Thomas, Mark Henry, Terrell Davis, Trina, Chad Johnson, Luther Campbell, Too Short, Vivica Fox, and many more...
Sponsored by:
THIS IS A PRIVATE Affair. Must be a member of GLAMOURLIFE.com, or be on the sponsor invite list!!! email vip@glamourlife.com or Call (412) - GLA-MOUR (452-6687) for membership info. EVERYONE IS VIP includes Complimentary Champagne, FREE Cocktails & FREE Gourmet Buffet all night Long!!! Date: GLAM, New Years Eve,
Get ready for the most lavish New Years Eve event on the EAST COAST! GLAMOUR UTOPIA Join us for our third annual New Years Eve lavish affair. This year we are taking the celebration to the best new spot in the city, HALO, located in the heart of the Southside on Carson Street. FEATURES: - Experience the finest with 2 areas of unique entertainment: Our Mission… is to return to the glamour of yesterday by creating a sophisticated night of celebration. We want to reward our guests and the Pittsburgh region with an event that will surprise and delight. A New Years Eve celebration of the rebirth of elegance = GLAM. Sponsored by PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER HOTEL PACKAGES: Details Coming Soon for all our out of town peeps...To all our DC, Cincinnati, Louisville, Chicago, ATL, Philly, etc. heads that plan to travel into town, We are making first class accomodations right next door to HALO for all our guests.
Get ready for the "Art
of Glamour" Kentucky Derby Weekend 2005 After Hours.
If you remember the Actors Theater & Starks building events, get
ready as we raise the bar to a whole new level! Join us in the most
lavish venue in Louisville. Saturday, May 7th, 12am - 6am Sunrise each night/morning
KENTUCKY DERBY WEEKEND 2005:
The
4th Annual Jamaica Jump Off Lorenzo Ice-Tea
Thomas, Take Dat Productions, IDC,
"HOUSE OF GLAMOUR" NBA AllStar Weekend After Hours Affairs!!! @The BLAKE Building, 2363 Blake Street Denver, CO
80205
Come witness the ultimate in after hours as glamourlife.com unveils the next chapter in their exclusive intimate celebrity affairs.
NBA All Star Weekend 2005 the "HOUSE of GLAMOUR" Denver, CO.
*In 2001 We brought you the "House of Secrets" after hours in Washington, DC! *In 2002 We brought you the "G*Spot" after hours in Philadelphia, PA! *In 2003 We brought you the "Mystery Mansion" after hours in Atlanta, GA! *In 2004 We brought you the "Art of Glamour" after hours in Los Angeles, CA! Now get ready for the "HOUSE OF GLAMOUR"
after hours in Denver, CO!
Hosted by QUE GASKINS & Gaskins Productions
Music Provided by:
Features: Special Invited Guests include Allen Iverson, Jay-Z, Steve Francis, Baron Davis, Lisa Raye, Chris Bosh, 50 Cent & G-Unit, Carl Thomas, Mark Henry, Terrell Davis, Carmelo Anthony, and many more... Sponsored by:
For More Info or Ticket requests: Limited advance discount tickets available. General Admission
only $30 & VIP only $100. Click
Here for Tickets or charge by phone at 1(800) 965-4827. The Hotel
packages and Limited Advance $50 Discount tickets are completely SOLD
OUT!!! Get ready for the most lavish New Years Eve event on the EAST COAST! GLAMOUR RENAISSANCE Come with us as we return to the elegance of a bygone era. Enjoy 2 Levels and 4 areas of unparalleled entertainment. We will send out 2004 and say hello to 2005 in glamorous style. FEATURES: -2 Levels and 4 areas of exclusive New Years Eve Celebration -Heated & Tented Patio Terrace(Remember how Marc Barnes used
to do the Republic Gardens???) Sponsored by Pittsburgh City Paper, PNC Bank, COORS, Killians, Zima, Courvoisier, Stoli's, Verdi Champagne, Kahlua, Malibu Rum, Sauza Tequila, E&J VSOP, Exotic Cars Pittsburgh, and Urban League Young Professionals of Pittsburgh. HOTEL PACKAGES: SOLD OUT, SOLD OUT, SOLD OUT!!!To all our DC, Cincinnati, Louisville, Chicago, ATL, Philly, etc. heads that plan to travel into town, We are also proud to partner with the Courtyard by Marriott and have phenomenal all inclusive rates on rooms, tickets to event, and complimentary continental breakfast New Years Day. General Admission Package is only $99 and VIP Hotel Package is only $119. Hotel Packages can only be purchased through Dowe's on 9th, call 412.281.9225. SOLD OUT, SOLD OUT, SOLD OUT!!!
GLAMOUR RENAISSANCE
Featured Business/Artist: Samuel Richardson: His paintings have been displayed in the world renowned Carnegie Museum of Art, in Pennsylvania, featured on (TLC) The Learning Channel, and he has been featured in articles written in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Patriot-News(Harrisburg). Samuel has kreativity that is unmatched. Make sure you check out his wide array of paintings and designs. to commission a signature piece or for more information, email him at Samuel@rccreative.com. African American, Fraternity & Sorority Art Prints are listed
on EBAY. To preview his designs or order a print make sure you
check out the EBAY link below:
Glamourlife Kentucky Derby Weekend 2004, Louisville, KY @Starks
Building - 3 levels and multiple areas We have a full weekend of upscale events in store. We are kicking things off Thursday night @Oscar Browns with the Official Derby Weekend Kick-Off Jam. Come lounge in the incredible Oscar Brown's as we present our kick off jam for only $10! Then things go into full throttle as we move the festivities to the Starks Building in the heart of the 4th Street Live Entertainment District for our Glamourlife Kentucky Derby Weekend "After Hours". Join us Friday and Saturday from Midnight to 6am as we present another signature weekend of events. If you remember last year @Actors Theater, then you definitely don't want to miss this year's events!
@Starks
Building - 3 levels and multiple areas Sponsored by COORS, ZIMA, SEAGRAMS, MARTELL, KILLIANS, HYPNOTIQ & Oscar Browns South Beach Station. Lamont at Bob Montgomery Honda Chevrolet - (502) 719 - 2800
NBA All Star Weekend 2004 "The ART of GLAMOUR" Los Angeles, CA.
*In 2001 We brought you the "House of Secrets" after hours in Washington, DC! *In 2002 We brought you the "G*Spot" after hours in Philadelphia, PA! *In 2003 We brought you the "Mystery Mansion" after hours in Atlanta, GA! Now get ready for "The ART OF GLAMOUR"
after hours in Los Angeles, CA!
Hosted by QUE GASKINS & Gaskins Productions
@CAAM
- California African-American Museum
Features: Another Gaskins Production For More Information email vip@glamourlife.com, or Call (800) 408-6239. Limited Discount Advance Ticket Packages Available Now!!!......
Limited advance VIP tickets are available directly through our alliance with Ticketweb.com. They have a secure server and payment can be made by credit card (Visa, Amex, Discover, and Mastercard), Debit Card, or Charge by phone at 1(800) 965-4827. Make sure you get your's before they're gone...Advance tickets are all inclusive for VIP Admission and Line bypass, and are only $50 each night or $100 for all three nights! Advance ticket purchasers will be able to pick up their tickets directly @CAAM each night beginning at 10pm. Call 412.889.0045 if you have any additional questions...
Sponsored By:
All brought to you by: glamourlife.com……Where Glamour Lives... Kaialexander
CHICAGO @Spago Chicago
Contact kai@glamourlife.com for more info or to reserve your space!
2003 Kentucky Derby Weekend Downtown Louisville Glamourlife.com 2003 Anniversary
Weekend
Saturday Night we present THE G*SPOT After Hours experience Good Food, Good People, Good Fashion, and Good Fun until the Wee hours of the morning. If you remember the House of Secrets in DC, the G*Spot in Philly, or the Mystery Mansion in A-T-L, then you know how we plan to "carry it" Kentucky Derby Weekend. Experience 3 levels and 8 areas of unique late night Entertainment. Whether you’re a voyeur or a partyhead we’ve got you covered! Features: Premium Open Bar & Complimentary
Gourmet Buffet All Night/Morning Long!!! Special Invited Guests
Include: Limited Discount Advance Ticket Packages Available Now!!!......
Limited advance VIP tickets are available directly through our alliance with Ticketweb.com. They have a secure server and payment can be made by credit card (Visa, Amex, Discover, and Mastercard), Debit Card, or Charge by phone at 1(800) 965-4827. Make sure you get your's before they're gone...Advance tickets are all inclusive for VIP Admission and Line bypass, and are only $25 each night or $40 for both nights!
Another Gaskins Production For More Information email vip@glamourlife.com, or Call (800) 408-6239. Sponsored By:
NBA All Star Weekend 2003 "MYSTERY MANSION" Atlanta, GA *In 2001 We brought you the "House of Secrets" after hours in Washington, DC! *In 2002 We brought you the "G*Spot" after hours in Philadelphia, PA! Now get ready for "The Mystery Mansion"
after hours in Atlanta, GA!
@The Anthony Mansion
Features: Premium Open Bar
& Complimentary Gourmet Buffet All Night/Morning Long!!! Special Invited Guests
Include: **No Groupies Allowed** Trust us This is One Set You Don’t Want To Miss… Sponsored By:
Limited advance VIP tickets are available directly through our alliance with Ticketweb.com. They have a secure server and payment can be made by credit card (Visa, Amex, Discover, and Mastercard), Debit Card, or Charge by phone at 1(800) 965-4827. Make sure you get your's before they're gone...Advance tickets are all inclusive for VIP Admission and Line bypass, and are only $50 each night or $100 for all three nights!
For Hotel & Air travel packages contact: visit http://holleratus.com/nbaallstar.html or contact Tiffan Stephens The "Mystery Mansion" The intimate and exclusive environment that generates good music, good food, good fun, and good fashion. 2 Levels and 12 Rooms of Surprise, Intrigue, Delight,
and Pleasure All brought to you by: glamourlife.com……the Intimate Side of Glamour
The city of Brotherly Love showed us MAD LOVE! Thank you Philly for making the G*Spot the most anticipated & exciting events of the 2002 All Star Weekend. Next Year ATLANTA will be the hot spot for the 2003 NBA All Star Weekend Glamourlife.com After Hours Events! Details Above on the 2003 "Mystery Mansion" in Atlanta, GA Below is an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer that chronicled Thursday night events in Philly, and highlighted our opening night G*Spot Thursday February 7th, 2002. Friday & Saturday were even hotter as we continued to climax at midnight and "Party with the Stars" until the wee hours of the morning! Saturday, February 9th Philadelphia Inquirer Page A7: Allen Iverson scored 36 points Thursday night as the
76ers beat the Charlotte Hornets in Charlotte, N.C. Then he showered
and caught the team charter home to Philadelphia. He had parties to
make. From Thursday through tomorrow, with the NBA gathered here for
tomorrow's All-Star Game, at least two parties a night will carry
his name. And Iverson swears he'll make all of them. At 2 a.m. yesterday, about two hours after getting off the plane, the Answer walked into a high-energy Brave New World (718 Arch St.), greeting hip-hoppers in fur and leather who had waited patiently for his arrival amid thumping house and hip-hop music. Iverson, dressed in an oversize blue parka with a fur-trimmed hood, headed straight to the balcony VIP area, taking time to touch a few of his fans along the way. Karen Ohen, 23, who had traveled two hours from her home in Irvington, N.J., snapped a photo and pronounced herself pleased. "I'm not that big of a fan," she admitted. "But he's the kind of man I like. He has a lot of drive, and when he wants something in life, he really goes after it." With DJ Cosmic Kev spinning Jay-Z and Philly's Beanie Sigel, business was brisk, even with the $60 cover charge. Kenneth Everett was charging $7 to snap Polaroids in front of a painted backdrop that showed a Mercedes, a bottle of Moet and a giant Rolex, billed as "Everybody's ideal of the American dream." "People are feeling excellent," Everett said. "They're getting their look on, they're having a few drinks, and then they want to get their picture taken." Sixers Raja Bell, Speedy Claxton and Derrick Coleman turned up about 1, followed by Temple ballers Lynn Greer and Kevin Lyde. The scene at Saffron House, a restaurant at 19th and Sansom Streets in Center City, was more upscale and serene. The brownstone, which Gaskins Productions/glamourlife.com, Iverson, and friend Henry "Que" Gaskins booked for Thursday, last night and tonight, was sumptuously decorated in Persian carpeting. Bass thumped from the speakers, but the volume still allowed civil conversation. Candles glowed along window sills and ledges on all four floors. A tarot-card reader worked on the second floor as a '70s films played on the wall. On the third level, where a bar was set up, a trendy crowd danced on the open dance floor. On the 4th floor people lounged in supreme comfort in the Arabian themed decor. Two people curled up around a jade chess set on the floor, off in a corner a massage therapist set up and relieved the early morning stress of partygoers, and clusters of beautiful people huddled on pillows and beanbags. An Iranian wedding urn - a curved bronze sculpture - drew stares. At 2, when the bars continued serving Remy and Coors beer, a breakfast buffet was put out. Revelers - who paid $100 if they weren't on the guest list - ate hash-brown potatoes, turkey bacon, scrambled eggs, waffles, sausages and chicken wings, an Iverson favorite. Shortly after 2:30, the party got a second wind when a black-capped Julius Erving unfolded himself from a white limo and Julius 3d, son of the Sixers legend, pulled up in an SUV. Eagles cornerback Bobby Taylor arrived in a black Bentley. And limos discharged Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Keenan McCardell and 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell. Staley out of uniform The first of what the Dawn Staley Foundation hopes will become an annual all-star gala attracted a ballroom of well-wishers to the Coliseum in Voorhees Thursday night. Staley - who plays for the Charlotte Sting and coaches Temple women's basketball in addition to working with the foundation to help North Philly kids - negotiated a clingy floor-length sheath with aplomb at the black-tie affair honoring WNBA standouts including Cynthia Cooper, coach of the Phoenix Mercury, and Chamique Holdsclaw of the Washington Mystics. Staley was to participate in the NBA Read to Achieve telecast this morning and the Hoop-It-Up game at the First Union Center tonight before joining her first-place Owls on the road against Xavier in Ohio. Will Smith in the house Thursday night's Will Smith and Friends concert at the Electric Factory, slated to start at 9, was underattended and slow to get going. DJ clown prince Biz Markie kept the crowd entertained, and finally, at 11, Smith, in a beige sweater and leather pants, appeared along with his old partner DJ Jazzy Jeff Townes - a reunion hailed as "a classic moment in Philadelphia music history" by DJ Colby Colb of WUSL-FM (98.9). Smith then brought out Muhammad Ali and led the half-full room in a chant of the former heavyweight champ's last name. Ali, who has Parkinson's disease, limited his comments to brief barbs directed at the actor who portrayed him in Michael Mann's biopic: "You crazy!" he said, and "I'm not as dumb as you look." Ali, who is to receive an award tonight from the NBA wives group Behind the Bench, took on all comers - with waves - earlier Thursday in the lobby of the Marriott. Random sightings Oohs and ahhs are being heard all over Center City as NBA and entertainment figures simply go about their business. Players from the New Jersey Nets and Atlanta Hawks - who played Thursday in New York - took a chartered Acela train from Manhattan to 30th Street Station yesterday. They were joined by New York children, who were led on a tour of Philadelphia. . . . Bill Walton, the retired Portland Trail Blazer turned TV commentator, made heads swivel yesterday afternoon as he strolled Walnut Street near 16th. . . . The Miami Heat's Alonzo Mourning lifted weights and played one-on-none basketball at the Sporting Club in the Bellevue on Thursday. Meanwhile, actress Julia Roberts showed up, in street clothes, with a club member. They toured and left. Contributing to this article were Philadelphia Inquirer
staff writers Dan DeLuca, Glamourlife presents exclusive "After Hours" Events during the 2002 NBA All-Star Weekend, Philadelphia, PA the G*Spot Thursday, Friday, and Saturday February 7-10th, 2002, 12am - 6am each night The Party is just Climaxing once you
hit The G*Spot, The Exclusive Adults
Only "After Hours Sets" Experience mystery, intimacy, pleasure,
and privacy in the historic 4 story Saffron House Mansion! Saffron
House Mansion Hosted by Que Gaskins & Allen Iverson
Contact us at vip@glamourlife.com with specific questions or for more info...This will sell out!!! Many of you have expressed interest in purchasing tickets for the All-Star Game, Rookie Game, Dunk Contest, 3 Point Contest, and other NBA activities. Click here to visit the NBA official site and purchase your tickets on line. And for the full 411 on all the weekend happenings and hottest events, make sure you visit NBAallstarEvents.com Another Gaskins Production For More
Information Call 1(800) 408-6239 |
| Sponsored by: | ||
| Remy, V.S.O.P., Remy Red Cognacs | ||
|
|
||
| REEBOK Shoes and Apparel | ||
 |
||
| Coors | Killians Red | Molson Ice Beers |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
Join us on our First Fridays Fall Cruise of the Western Caribbean October 20 - 25th, 2002. Glamour Life Getaway "First Fridays Fall Cruise" Grand Cayman Bahamas & Cozumel, Mexico October 20th - 25th, 2002 Contact Brenda at Four Seasons Travel to Book your space Now!!! (513)761-8022, 1(800)548-2198, tvltoday@4seasonstvl.com All Inclusive packages from only $350.00. Deposits are due ASAP to ensure you don't miss out. We have a limited number of upscale travel packages left! For more information and/or to register online click here. We are back from our Memorial Weekend luxury excursion to Cancun. Look for new photos in the coming weeks in a special section of our photo gallery. For more info on this year's and next year's activities visit the All Star Fiesta Web Site. It has all the info on Hot Concerts, VIP Parties, and other Celebrity Activities that took place throughout the Fiesta week. Four Seasons had the best travel packages. Look for details for next year's packages coming soon. Make sure you contact Brenda for more information or to reserve your space(s). This is the Hottest Festival of the Summer! Click here to see Photos from the past two years courtesy of Holleratus.com
Our Sincere Condolences and prayers go out to Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez, her family, friends, and associates. On April 25th, 2002 the world tragically lost another beautiful spirit. She will be missed greatly. Click Here to visit our News & Views section and read the complete article by our Editor in Chief in Atlanta, TL Sanders.
The chant starts with one or two folks, just as it always has. "Wind me up, Funk!" Almost immediately, more people join in -- "Wind me up, Funk!" -- and in less than a minute, it sounds like every person crammed into the Reeves Center's Club U is urging James Funk to turn up the party. Hundreds of arms are outstretched; their waving hands seem to be swatting the go-go beats."Wind me up, Funk!" As the Rare Essence band turns out a fusillade of percussion, James Funk bobs in front of the mike and surveys the crowd. "A lot of old-school [expletives] here tonight," he says. Then he launches into another singsong chant: "If you feelin' old-school, get your hands up! Get your hands up!" Tonight, Rare Essence is led by two of its former frontmen -- James "Funk" Thomas and Little Benny Harley. They work their way through the band's vintage hits, and each familiar chant is greeted by cheers. Waggling bodies ride layers of percussion: drums, of course, but also rototoms, congas and even a cowbell.These are songs from the early to mid-'80s, which was the golden era of go-go, the District's homegrown funk music style. Before rap really took hold, D.C. was go-go city. It was a time before the crack epidemic and drug-related turf wars provoked so much street violence that going to a go-go concert meant risking your life. Before younger bands came up and replaced the classic large-band go-go sound with a stripped-down, rap-influenced style. Now, many veterans of the go-go scene are reviving that golden era, and their fans are, too. Rare Essence, one of the most important bands on the local go-go circuit, has been performing for 25 years. The band plays three regular weekly shows, but Saturday nights are different. On "Old School" Saturdays, alumni like James Funk and Little Benny front the band and the horn section is expanded. Saturday nights at Club U, at 14th and U streets NW, the audience is old enough to remember when classics like "Go-Go Mickey" and "RE Herman" first came out. These shows have been so popular that the band's new album is a oldies collection titled "Doin It Old School Style: Live at Club U." Rare Essence is not the only go-go band revisiting history these days. Chuck Brown, the man who invented the genre, will soon release a live album that features several go-go classics performed by old-school artists. Gregory "Sugar Bear" Elliott, former leader of Experience Unlimited (EU), is also back on the scene. And more than a dozen veteran bandleaders and instrumentalists turn out each Monday for Little Benny's regular "Go-Go Allstars" night at Classics in Camp Springs. Last year Little Benny released an album titled "Live at the Cafe (Back in the Day)," and since then he's been the hardest-working man in go-go. He's performing seven nights a week, and on this particular Saturday, he's on a tight schedule. At 1:15 a.m., Benny slips off the stage and out the door, on his way to a downtown hotel, where he's performing at a party for boxer William Joppy. Then he's off to the Tunnel in Northeast, where he'll play a set with Chuck Brown. By 3 a.m., Benny returns to Club U and is back onstage, stripped down to a sweaty undershirt."Are you tired yet?" he asks the audience. "Hell, no!"He asks again and again, and the answer is always the same. The people here are not tired of go-go just yet. In an era dominated by whatever pap MTV happens to be favoring on a given week, a time of prefabricated kiddy pop and mercenary radio programming, you might expect regional music scenes to succumb. But more than 25 years after a charismatic ex-boxer and ex-con named Chuck Brown invented a nonstop party groove he dubbed "go-go," D.C.'s unique funk genre continues to thrive. In the late '70s and most of the '80s, Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers, Rare Essence, Trouble Funk and Experience Unlimited took turns presiding over a vibrant live music scene that included well over a dozen lesser-known bands. The most popular groups performed five or six nights a week; on some nights, they might play several shows: one in Northwest, one in Southeast and one in Prince George's County. During the '90s, second-generation groups like the Junkyard Band, the Northeast Groovers, the Huck-a-Bucks, Pure Elegance and the Backyard Band revitalized the genre and made the music theirs. Lately, something even more remarkable has taken place. People who came up listening to go-go, then outgrew the music and stayed home for years, have started coming back out. And musicians who slowed down for a while, local stars like James Funk, Sugar Bear and Little Benny, are performing more than they have in years. For the first time in his 25-year career, Little Benny, 37, has been able to quit his day job. The tireless Chuck Brown, who will turn 67 in August, is as big a draw as ever. "Old-school go-go is hot," says Kato Hammond, a former musician who runs the "go-go resource" Web site www.tmottgogo.com. "That older crowd, the ones who were saying, 'I'm too old for go-gos,' are coming out to shows again. I'm lovin' it."Their bands are playing their hits -- go-go oldies, if you will, songs that have been around long enough to evoke nostalgia. And while part of the appeal is the classic go-go sound eschewed by the younger bands, the revival may also result from the considerable charisma of the bandleaders. "The performers that are doing this -- Chuck Brown, James Funk, Little Benny, Sugar Bear -- they're ageless," says Tom Goldfogle, co-owner of the local distribution company Liaison Records. "Those people are ingrained in the hearts and sounds of this city, and the music is so intertwined with the city and the culture. These artists have the ability to . . . come back on the scene and be as strong as they ever were." Three months after its release, Rare Essence's "Doin It Old School Style" looks as if it will be the band's biggest seller ever, says guitarist and vocalist Andre "Whiteboy" Johnson. Chuck Brown's upcoming "Your Game . . . Live at the 9:30 Club" features Johnson, James Funk, Little Benny, drummer "Go-Go Mickey" Freeman and keyboardist Mark "Godfather" Lawson (all affiliated with Rare Essence at one point or another) along with Big Tony Fisher and Robert "Dyke" Reed from the once-influential Trouble Funk. The Washington Convention Center recently hosted a "Hall of Fame All-Star Celebration" featuring many of these performers, and other multi-band old-school festivals will likely take place this summer. For the fans, old-school represents a trip back in time, even if they're only in their mid-twenties. Onstage, the artists reminisce about way-back-when go-go venues like the Masonic Temple, the Panorama Room and the Washington Coliseum. "We'll talk to them about the old places where we used to play, where we used to party at," says Chuck Brown. "They'll remember how old they was then and all that. It brings back memories. They see old faces, old friends, old enemies that are not enemies anymore. It's a together thing, sort of like if you went to a reunion. "All my gigs are old-school gigs, 25 and up through 65," says Brown with one of his trademark guffaws. "And I'm the oldest of anybody in the whole joint!"Back when they were teenagers, Stacy Taylor and Crystal Rucker used to catch Rare Essence all-ages shows around the city. They stopped going for several years, but now they're Saturday night regulars. "It's a party," says Taylor, 27, a customer service representative. "You can be in the worst mood, but you come in here and they bring you up." "They just have so much love for us," says Rucker, also 27. "They hear your name one time, and they'll never forget it. They'll be onstage and they're like 'What's up, Crystal?' "Dan Powell, 28, is a D.C. government worker who grew up on Rare Essence. "No one under 23 will understand this," he explains during a band break. "It puts you in a zone. You feelin' it. Your mind, your body, your soul. The music envelops you." Old-school go-go, which celebrates such time-honored values as the importance of getting your groove on, also provides a respite from the meanness and crassness that characterize so much contemporary pop music, particularly hip-hop. "With old-school, you remember very good times, times that was peaceful, when you could go to a party and have a good time and come home," says James Funk. "You didn't have to listen to all that 'I'm gonna slap your mom' stuff, the calling females bad names and talkin' about who's the biggest honcho in town. Back then, the music was about partyin', about making people feel good." When Go-Go Got Going The first go-go hit, Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers' "Bustin' Loose," was a national hit in 1979. It predates the classic go-go sound, but the elements were in place: the percolating percussion patterns, the call-and-response chants, the rump-shaking party mood and the bandleader's engaging personality.From the mid-'70s to the early '80s, other local bands helped forge go-go's sound. Trouble Funk and Experience Unlimited intensified the percussion. Rare Essence perfected the art of an extended party jam that didn't stop until it was time to go home. In the mid-'80s, Island Records chief Chris Blackwell, who had turned reggae's Bob Marley into an international superstar, signed several of the bands and announced that he would take go-go global. But his plans quickly fizzled. Island and other labels that signed go-go acts didn't understand how to record, produce or market them. The labels tried to refine the very rawness and street urgency that had made the music so appealing to Washington fans. Some bands paid a price: Trouble Funk, which aggressively pursued national stardom, would never fully recover its credibility with the D.C. audience. Still, the go-go bands played on for local crowds, whose enthusiasm for the music seemed boundless. In 1988 Experience Unlimited caught a well-deserved break. After film director Spike Lee saw EU play a party here, he used the band in "School Daze." The song "Da Butt," which was featured in the film, spurred a national dance craze and shot to No. 1 on the R&B singles chart. Ultimately, though, EU's stardom proved fleeting, and after a couple of poorly executed major-label albums, the group disbanded and Sugar Bear took a day job, teaching special education at Alexandria's T.C. Williams High School. ("It's so funny," he says now. "I try to teach a class, and kids are goin' 'Ow! Doin' da butt!' And all their moms want autographs.") The music also survived something far more debilitating than clueless record executives. The crack epidemic hit Washington hard in the late '80s, and go-go shows became a magnet for trouble, in part because they attracted rival neighborhood crews quick to settle disagreements with gunfire. In 1987 a gunman sprayed bullets into a crowd leaving a go-go at the Masonic Temple on U Street NW, and 11 people were shot. After several other well-publicized shootings, some resulting in fatalities, many clubs closed their doors to go-go promoters. The media and city politicians found an easy scapegoat in go-go. Some went so far as to suggest that the music's tribal beats riled up young people, that it made them uncontrollable and violent.As the violence eventually subsided, the shows became safer but many of the old-school musicians stayed home -- and so did much of their audience. Chuck Brown continued to play, attracting older fans, while Rare Essence competed with innovative next-generation groups for the younger audience. How, precisely, did go-go's old-school revival come about? Depends whom you ask. Chuck Brown may have helped it along in recent years by bringing James Funk and Little Benny to join him on his marathon live sets. The departure last year of several Rare Essence members who favored a more contemporary sound seems to have led that band to revisit its past. And while old-school go-go has received little airplay in recent years, people never stopped listening to it. "A lot of people were still riding around in their cars and crankin' old-school go-go," Little Benny points out. "That's how it stayed alive and how some people was gettin' hip to it." Sugar Bear played a key role in the revival. After EU had toured as much as it could off the success of "Da Butt," Sugar Bear says, he "wasn't even trying to come out to play the live scene no more." But in the spring of '97, his old EU drummer, William "JuJu" House, asked him to fill in for an absent bass player in a local '70s revival act called Maiesha & the Hiphuggers. When people in the audience saw him, recalls Sugar Bear, "they gave me love and 'wind me up, Bear,' and all that. So I did all the old songs for them, and they went crazy. "Word got out that Bear is playing old-school stuff with Maiesha, and the crowd started swelling. We went from one night a week at Bailey's in Silver Spring to doing three nights a week at different clubs, then we were playing seven nights and nine shows a week. The band was doing the '70s and '80s music, and the last hour was strictly go-go. I did all my old stuff: 'Shake It Like a White Girl,' 'Da Butt' . . . all my go-go chants. It just blew up. "Maiesha isn't performing now -- she's recuperating from an illness -- but the Hiphuggers are still together. "Now to this day, everybody is doing what I did," says Bear. "I feel really good that I opened up doors and brought live entertainment back for the bands of Washington, D.C." The go-go scene has always been competitive. Bands keep a careful ear perked in the direction of other groups. Once the Hiphuggers got hot, other bands noticed. But Rare Essence's Andre Johnson says he had been considering regular old-school shows for years. "I run into a lot of people who used to come and see us in '85 and '86 and '87, but they won't come out now because what we're doing now was geared more |
