January 10, 2004 - New Jersey

The previous night I had set my alarm for 8:00AM, but then I realized the gig was in the hotel that we were staying in. That means there wasn't going to be any bus call. We had brought the gear in last night, so all I had to do was go downstairs and set up Victor's rig. We had all agreed to go down and 9:30AM to set up. We had to be done sound checking at 1:00PM. So pretty much just stayed in bed till about 9:15. Then I brushed my teeth, threw on some clothes and took the elevator downstairs. I could always come back later to shower. When I got to the ballroom, I saw that Derico, JD and Joseph had already set up. They decided to just set up after we brought the gear in last night. So I set up a smaller version of Victor's rig and that was that. My friend Darryl Dixon from Alicia Keys band is going to come visit me and JD. He's going to bring this music of this new project. Darryl was the leader of the horn section for P-Funk and he did all the horn parts for all the Sugar Hill rap records back in the day. He wanted me to hear his new tune featuring Dennis Chambers on drums. He and Dennis were in P-Funk at the same time. We decided that he should come after the gig around 8:30PM

Sound check went pretty smooth. We pretty much knew that it wasn't going to be a regular Victor Wooten show and that there was going to be a chance that the guys would have to play some dance music.

After sound check the promoters set out some food for us. After I ate I looked at some African American arts and crafts that were on display and for sale in the lobby outside the ballroom. Then I went upstairs to my hotel room and slept for 4 hours. Dinner was going to be served from 5:30 to 6:30 so I came down for that. Before dinner I went to the sports bar in the hotel to catch some of the football playoff games. Our lighting director Ted Atwell and Regi Wooten were already there. We watched some of the gamere and then it was time to eat dinner. All of a sudden I heard somebody call my name. I looked back and to my surprise, it was Joey Lauricella from Fodera. I figured he came to see us play since he didn't make it from the night before. But he looked like he was very surprised to see me. He said, "What are you doing here? I thought you were out with Victor?" I said that I was and we were gigging at this hotel tonight. He said he had just gotten off the phone with Danette about 10 seconds ago. I asked him what he was doing there and he said that he was gigging at the hotel too. His tuxedo should have tipped me off to that fact. I told him that our gig was only from 7:30 to 8:30 and that we should hang afterwards. He said his gig was from 8:30 to 11:30 and that we should just come to his gig when we were done. When I went back up to eat dinner, I told Dannette that I had just seen Joey downstairs and she said, "You couldn't have - I just got off the phone with him!" I said I know, but he was right downstairs. Just then, her phone rang and it was Joey. We all had a good laugh about the situation. Some of us in the band decided that we would see Joey play after our gig.

After dinner the promoter informed us that the key note speaker went on a half hour earlier, so we were going to go on a half hour earlier, which meant 7 or 7:30. After she finished we only had a couple of seconds to reposition stuff that we had moved so that other performers would have room. We played a couple of Victor Wooten songs and then the guys started playing old school R&B. The audience, which was made up mostly of older black people, really loved the music. When we were done, we all got autographed books as gifts from the key note speaker whose name was Patrice Gaines.

It felt kinda' weird to be done playing so early - it was almost 9...it almost felt like having a day off. My friend Darryl Dixon from Chops Horns was sitting at a table talking to JD. JD is a big P-Funk fan. I chatted with them in between loading gear out to the bus. I didn't have my coat because it was upstairs in the hotel room. By the time it would have taken me to get it, they would have been done loading out already. It was freezing outside! I think it was below 10 degrees. I went back upstairs and talked to Darryl and JD for a while and they decided to go up to JD's room to watch football and listen to music. Danette, Victor, Derico, Regi and I went to one of the hotel conference rooms to hear Joey play. Joey was sounding very good on the bass, too. At one point he did a smokin' solo and his Fodera sounded great. We were off to the side and we were dancing and acting silly. I ran and borrowed Ted's camera to get pictures of Joey while he was playing. After we left Joey's gig we went to the sports bar and hung out there for a while. Derico and I decided to go back to help Joey pack up and bring him to the sports bar. When we got back, though everybody else was gone except Ted. So Joey, Ted, Derico and I just hung out there. Of course Joey and I talked basses. He would be leaving for the NAMM convention on Tuesday. He was telling me about the new Fodera rack mount preamps. They're going to make them with wood faces to match your particular Fodera bass. They're even going to make Victor a Yin Yang preamp. They're going to do one for me in chestnut. Anyway, here's a picture of Joey at his gig.

peace & blessings

anthony