Back in Stride Again!

Last Thursday, I went to the Maze featuring Frankie Beverly concert here in DC with my girls J & T. We met at the FABULOUS Founding Farmers on Pennsylvania Ave. I went to their sister restaurant Farmers & Fishers on the Georgetown Waterfront for my birthday lunch earlier this year. They both have fabulous food, drinks, decor, concept & service. So after J got stuck in traffic & T got stuck in a meeting we finally got a chance to eat. I had ordered the popcorn of the day while I waited... That ranch popcorn was like a DRUG! Then I got the short ribs (bye bye diet), J ordered the pan-fried chicken & waffles and T ordered the black pepper wings in soy glaze from the appetizer section (she said she was eating all day). They also make their own sodas so the ginger ale I ordered was DELIGHTFUL and STRONG like ginger beer from the islands!

After dinner, we walked to J's car & T remarked she didn't remember where she parked. We drove around for a while trying to find her car. She said it was on 18th or something, by a guy on a horse near the Department of the Interior. We found a guy on a horse, but didn't see her car. We drove passed more than one building that said Dept of the Interior, but didn't see her car. We parked in another garage closer to the venue& decided to look for her car AFTER the show. As we were walking up, T said, "I think I parked down there." Again we decided to check after the show.

When we got to our GREAT seats, Raheem Devaughn was performing his little behind off as usual. He sang & gyrated & crooned & bodyrolled & came out of his nice suit jacket & shirt. T said he should have left his untied bow tie on with his undershirt. He brought out Chuck Brown & Stomp to do a little something & the crowd went wild. For some reason in DC whenvere you see Chuck it's like the first time. It's like you have never been to a Chuck Brown show a day in your life... it's quite unexplainable. But TOTALLY awesome!

There was a long period between Raheem & Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. So we decided to entertain ourselves by playing 2 games: Look at That Outfit & Name That Fur. When playing LaTO all we did was yell out: "LOOK AT THAT OUTFIT!" and point in the general direction of someone in the crowd & the others would have to call out the features of the outfit- perfect game to play when we had a full view of the orchestra seats. This game was especially fun because the crowd on average was over 40 & overdressed. There were shiny pants suits on women & plaid pants on men, wigs cocked to the side & too small hats on large bald heads.... TONS to keep us entertained. Name That Fur consisted of naming the type of animal someone's fur coat came from. J won when she correctly identified a lady's coat as griffendor fur.

When Frankie Beverly hit the stage, it was nothing but a party. In spite of his illness, he put on an AMAZING show & you HAVE to respect that! DC does! We connected with him in a major way! He even apologized for not coming to town last Thanksgiving which has been a tradition since I was born! When he hit Happy Feelings, the crowd was on their feet... arms swaying... If you have never been to a Maze show, go! Don't expect him to hit every note because he has had some throat problems, but the band is AMAZING & the music still holds up after 30+ years. GOTTA RESPECT THAT! There were several people's grandparents cutting the FOOL! One guy in all white & a cream Kangol kept dancing ALL up & down the aisles, sloppily. There was one guy in all black & sunglasses that I thought was security until I notice that as he stood with his back to the stage, he was PARTYING HARD! He also broke out a pair of white maracas. You could see the sweat pouring off of his head & at one point he had a cup of something in his hand. There were drunk couples dancing in the aisles. And our personal favorite, a dude in a Santana Moss jersey was giving it his ALL in the aisle at NO point did he EVER stop dancing OR pointing at the stage & "praising" the band. He shoulder-hinched & bank head bounced around the world like he was the only person in the room. Then there was the younger drunk girl, about our age, that was drunk-dancing down the walkway and FELL to the floor. She sat with her head in some lady's lap for the rst of the song. It seemed that most of the people seated in the front section of the orchestra knew one another or something.

So I bet you're wondering what happened with T's car, right? WELL... after the show we walked out the first front door we came to, then crossed the steps to the right in the direction that T said her car was parked. We walked for over 2 blocks but didn't see her car. She thought the name on the statue was: "Salvador or Salvatore." J googled it, but found no such statue. We hop in J's car & I ask T: "Where did you go when you got out of the car?" Form there we concluded she parke don 18th Street. So, we drive down a series of one way streets to get back to 18th Street. We get back to 18th street & lo & behold, there is a statue of a man on a horse... His name? SIMON BOLIVAR. Nothing like Salavdor or Salvatore. We find her car finally across the street from another Department of the Interior building. As we pull up to her car, we look up & notice she is parked on the corner DIAGONALLY across from the concert venue. When I tell you we laughed for a full 2 minutes... I am NOT lying to you!

Overall a GREAT night...classic Bri, J & T!