January 14, 2004 - Washington, DC

It's Sunday, January 18th and I'm just getting around to doing the last entry because of a combination of being very tired and having a lot of things to do. Divinity came back to the house after the show to visit with Toné and I for a couple of days. We were supposed to get some recording done and Toné is starting to design Divinity's web site. We didn't get any recording done because we both needed some rest. But we did manage to get a lesson in when she came to work with me on Friday. It's been cool having her around and it seems that she really needed to get away from Atlanta for a while.

Anyways, when Toné and I woke up Wednesday morning we decided that I would ride the tour bus back to DC and she would drive because she had some other business to take care of. So I would just see her later at the venue. After we showered and got dressed we went downstairs to the hotel restaurant to order some breakfast sandwiches. After we ate I loaded my luggage for her to take back since I wasn't going to need it anymore. I jumped on the tour bus and waited for the rest of the band to arrive and she headed on down the road. On the way to DC, Kurt showed Joe & I funny pictures and videos on this computer. Victor was playing Scrabble on his Palm Pilot. He figured out a way to play with other players using Blue Tooth technology. He was very funny because the whole time he was making up words, like ... jaro and draken. We just laughed at him the whole time. As we approached Washington's beltway, I jumped into the suicide seat next to Jeff, the bus driver. I love my home town and I know it's streets very well. I was going to help direct Jeff to the 9:30 Club even though he had pretty good directions. Plus it was just cool to be able to point out some landmarks along the way. We took exit 22 off the beltway which is the Baltimore/Washington Parkway heading south. I know that no trucks are allowed on the parkway, but I guess buses are a different story. We jumped on Route 50 West which turns into New York Ave. and heads into town. We rode passed BET on the right. Then we rode past the Brentwood Post Office where me, my mom and my stepfather used to work. I stopped working there in '85 and my mom and my stepdad just recently retired. It's also the post office where 2 employees died of anthrax that was sent through the postal service. The facility just recently reopened. We made a right on Florida Ave. at the new XM radio building. Further down on Florida Ave. we passed the old Howard Theater on the left. I pointed out to the band that's where all the old black stars in the 60's and 70's used to play. It's where James Brown would perform back in the day. In the 80's it became the hot spot for Go-Go music. I performed there with various Go-Go bands. It's a shame that the building is abandoned and run down now. Maybe one day the city will realize the historical value of the Howard Theater and refurbish it. It's just as important to the history of Black music in DC as the Apollo Theater is in NY. A block down we made a right on Georgia Ave. Then we made a quick left. At the end of the block on the right was the 9:30 Club. We parked the bus on the side of the building and we went inside. One of the DVD's that we watched on this tour was a tribute to Chuck Brown. The DVD was filmed at the 9:30 Club. So when I recognized the place, I told the band that that's where we're going to be playing in DC. I think Victor picked up the DVD in Japan and as we say in DC, it's 'Crankin'!! Chuck Brown buys his guitars from the music store that I teach at so I see him from time to time. He's still gettin' it done after all of these years.

The Isaiah Williams Project are opening for us and they arrived just before we did with Future Man. Tony Hinton from bass camp was hanging out there with them. We loaded in all the gear and set up. After we sound checked the Isaiah Williams Project set up their drums in front of our setup. We decided that Drue would use Victor's rig and that James would play Joseph's keyboards. That would make their tear-down go quicker. My good friends Felicia Fett and her daughter Bryton came to hang out and as usual me and Bryton ran around acting like kids. I decided to go for a walk in the neighborhood down 'U' Street. 'U' Street has a lot of good restaurants, bars and shops. When I walked out front I saw my students Chuck Scyphers and Rob Haynes in the front of the line (of course). I also saw my student Craig Johnson and his parents. It was freezing outside. So I went walking down 'U' Street and stopped in a restaurant a couple of blocks down the street. While I was waiting for my french fries a tune from the Jaco Big Band CD came on the radio featuring Victor Wooten on bass. I called Victor from the mobile phone to tell him that he was being played on the radio. He thought that was very cool. I love satellite radio. My wife and I both have Sirius radio. I'll never listen to AM/FM again. I hear Jaco, Stanley Clark, Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, the Flecktones and the Yellow Jackets almost every day on the radio now. I had never heard a Jaco tune or Flecktones tune on the radio before I got satellite radio. They even announced Victor Wooten tour dates on the radio. Sirius and XM are both good, but my preference is Sirius even though it costs a couple of dollars more.

Anyways, my wife called as I was leaving to tell me she was pulling up, so I told her to park right behind the tour bus. When I got back I ran into what seems like hundreds of students and friends of mine. I must have seen at least 30 students. Terry Day came out - he also came to Baltimore on Monday. Terry's a crazy dude! He's one of my best friends and most of his exploits I can't talk about in this Diary. I'll just keep those thoughts to myself and grin every time I think about them. Terry and I are members of the 'Buddha Bros.' The 'BB's are students and friends of mine who fit a particular profile. We are all short, fat, black and bald (OK maybe not fat - more like stocky). Here are some of the people that I saw who study with me - Bruce Yarborough, Donovan Willis, Clayvon White, Aaron Suplizio and Francis Luong (members of the Geeks on Bass club which include Chuck Scyphers and Rob Haynes), Andraise, Mike Johnson, Snow, Tim DeMartino, Dave VanGasbeck, Jack Bannister, Chuck Morrison, Tony Moreno, Dale Dudley, Jason Brynarsky (also a member of the Geeks on Bass club), Torrain Gwaltney, James Lenore, and for those whose names I forgot to mention, I apologize. I also saw my good friend Maria 'Pete' Durgan. The place was sold out.

The Isaiah Williams Project went on at 8:00 and they sounded great. Isaiah and Future Man had a great intro and the band sounded good. Drue Williams was excellent on bass and James Dudley was holding it down on keyboards. They're heading out on a tour soon. If you get a chance to see them, you should. Isaiah is truly a prodigy.

We got their gear off stage pretty fast and then the Victor Wooten band hit the stage. I knew that most of my home crowd was about to get something they didn't expect. It's hard to describe a Victor Wooten show - you just have to see it. We do so many different styles of music that you can't call the VWB a jazz band or a funk band or a rock band. We just do it all. And most of the time people leave having gotten way more than they expected. I felt the extra sense of pride since I was home and it was the last show of the tour. I wore my #28 Washington Redskins jersey in honor of a new/old coach Joe Gibbs. I had planned on starting my solo by playing 'Hail to the Redskins', then I considered starting my solo by playing something in honor of Martin Luther King since his birthday was the next day. But I just ended up starting by playing 'Washington DC, no place I'd rather be'. The solo went pretty good. I kept it really short. The response from the audience was good. It felt good looking out in the audience and seeing a bunch of familiar faces. At the end of the show a lot of my friends came up to say hello. A lot of people came up to inquire about lessons. We broke down and loaded out the gear. As JD would say 'that grip'. Here's something that's funny. JD and the Wooten brothers don't curse so I take notice of the words that they use in place of curse words. Me and Joseph talked about it a couple of time on tour when I told him that I noticed that JD uses the word 'grip' as in "let me move that 'grip' out of your way." Victor, Joseph and Regi use the word 'joker' as in "that 'joker' can play that horn." Sometimes will substitute the word 'rascal' for 'joker'. My stepfather, Tom, uses the words 'bad mister' in the same way. That's definitely old school! I use the word 'joint' (rhymes with don't or won't) as in "look at that car, that 'joint' is bad." Derico, Joseph and I started using 'grip' to poke fun at JD a little bit.

Joseph and I were also talking about old school dances and I showed him the dance my dad used to do when I was growing up and we both fell out laughing. So every now and then we would do it on stage during the show and we would start laughing at each other.

Anyways, Divinity and I weren't riding the bus back to Nashville. She was going home with me and Toné. Our tour manager Danette was going to fly out of DC in a couple of days. I didn't mention much about Danette on this run, but I kept telling her the whole tour that she was insane. And of course I mean that in the best way. She always has a lot of stuff to do. She books the tour, advances the tour, takes care of all the hotel stuff when we arrive in a city (which usually means she has to wake up early in the morning). Then she handles all the merchandise and has to deal with club owner/promoters at the end of every show. Sometimes that doesn't go as easy as it should. She can go into 'business mode' and be as hard core as they get and then at times she can be the most sensitive person in the world. She actually started crying when a bird flew into the tour bus windshield. She's a very good business person and she's good at promoting the VW band. She could probably convince the White House to hire the VW band to play for the Inaugural Ball.

Anyways, I want to thank the rest of the guys for a great run. We'll be doing this again in less than 2 weeks. Here's a picture taken by Chuck Scyphers at the 9:30 Club.

peace & blessings

anthony