OK Let me state this right off. This is not an April fools day joke. This shit really did happen so Believe it or Not : )

I went and saw the Time at the Funkfest in Dothan, AL on Saturday April 1, 2006. This was the big 25th time I have seen them and oh what a time it was.

As seems to be the case way too often these days, things were not looking well. I had been looking forward to this show(as I do all their shows) I have been sitting at home for 5 weeks recovering from surgery and this would be my first real time out since then. I also spent all day Friday at the hospital with my Grandmother who suddenly took a turn for the worst. I was up there again Saturday as well, but she had made progress so after much soul searching I decided to go to the show if for nothing else, to distract me from the gloom and doom.

I went to pick up my partner in crime Jason at his house. His girlfriend Ashley decided to go with us as well so we pilled in the car and started on our road trip. The drive was an easy one through the wilderness of Florida and Alabama. It took us only about 90 minutes to get to the venue in Dothan, AL. I kept hoping this was not going to be cheesy, but it was sure looking like it was going to be. I could find almost no info on this show ahead of time. The only thing I know about Dothan is that's its evidently the peanut capital of the US(the venue was the peanut festival fairgrounds) and that the home office of movie gallery(who sponsored the stage) is located there.Also this was an outdoor festival show. I'm not a fan of that bring your lawn chair and cooler type shows and had had some bad experiences with that type of crowd. Well we get there and its a sea of chairs. they did have a section of permanent chairs that were separated from the festival seating and we went right up to the front row and sat down.

Well the gates opened at 2 p.m. and the show was suppose to start at 4 p.m. We arrived around 5:30p.m. and the first group was still playing. it was some Latin group called Con Clause. Just not my type of thing. Well after their set they started the typical electric slide dance party thing and the area between our seats and the stage filled up. we figured it would clear out since most times at this type of thing people are always bitching about people standing, but it didn't so we were kicking our selves that we didn't go lean on the stage when we first got there.

The next performer for the evening was Cherrelle. We remained seated and just listened to her show. She is a great singer and I like a few of her songs, BUT she didn't have a band and was singing to backing tracks. Kind of lame when the cd starts skipping. After her set, we decided to stand up and see how close we could get to the stage. we got to the front, but were further too the right than we really wanted to be. it took longer than we thought it should for the change over to the next act, especially since they weren't changing any band equipment. So instead we got to amuse ourselves with watching accesses jump on stage dance around and then jump off stage and kick over somebody's beer not once, but twice. That and the apparent infestation of mole crickets on the stage. Howard Hewitt was next. Like Cherrelle he sang to backing tracks. Alot of people at the show were digging both of them. I turned to Jason and told him they were going to be blown away when they saw a real band play. The cops decided to come out and tell every that anybody that got on stage without being invited on stage would be hauled to jail. Too little to late I think. Well on to the main event.

The line up
Morris Day- vocals and cool
Jerome Benton- vocals, percussion and general mischief maker
Jellybean Johnson- Drums
Monte Moir- Keyboards
Chance Howard-keyboards
Ricky " Freeze" Smith- Bass
Tori "Freakjuice" Ruffin-Guitar

At about 8:30 p.m., the familiar ticking started and it was on. Here is the setlist with my ever insightful comments afterwards.

1. DAT Intro
2. Ho parade
3. Wild and loose
4. The Stick
5. Fishnet
6. The Oak Tree
7. Jerk Out
8. Get it up
9. Cool
10.777-9311
11. Gigolos get lonely too
12. The Walk
13. The Bird
encore
14. Jungle Love

Tori spotted us early and slapped out hands. Jerome saw us as well and came by and did the same. The lighting at this show was absolutely horrible and I know the pictures are going to look like shit. that and we had to contend with a pole in our way and at that angle it was hard to get our normal shots. About halfway through the show, Jerome announces that they have a special guest in the audience " Rhastus, from Panama city(actually Pensacola, but close enuff) is in the audience. He follows us all around. Give him some love" Then he came over and gave us five. Very cool to be recognized and acknowledged by name. The show was not with out its faults. Tori was having some problems with his guitar early on and so was Jellybean with his kit a little later. When the Bird started, Jerome came straight over to us and tried to get all three of us in stage. Ashley and I stayed down, but Jason got on stage. FINALLY, I have found somebody that dances worse than me, but hey he did talk to Monte and steal one of Jerome's drum sticks while he was up there. After the show wound down, Tori and Monte both came over to us, shook our hands and thanked us for coming to the show. Very Cool. The show was only 45 minutes long which was kind of a disappointment since they headlined, but hey a short Time show is still better than about just about anything else.

We sqeezed between a gap in the fence and went back behind the stage. The fellas were about to get in the van to leave. Jellybean spotted me and I got him to sign this poster I got from a show in 99. Jason and Ashley were talking to Tori and he invited us back to their hotel to hang out. We got directions to it from a cop and headed for the car. When we were trying to get out we saw the van with the Time in it and we just pulled in right behind them and followed them right to the hotel which was good since that way we didn't get lost. we went down to the bar and hung out waiting for the fellas to come down after they got settled in.

Well it struck me as a redneck kind of place. They had the Saturday night Karaoke thing going and there was a pretty good sized crowd. We went more to the back of the place and chilled out. Tori came down first and hung out with us. later Morris came in which surprised me since it was pretty crowded, but I guess the majority of the people in there wouldn't know who he was anyway. The karaoke guy announce that the Time were in the bar and there were a few cheers. They didn't have any of their stuff, but they did play the normal version of Jungle Love which cracked my ass up since miss white trash and her man of the moment decided to dance to it right in front of Morris oblivious to who he was. Too funny. as the night went on, Jellybean, Jerome and Freeze all made it down there as well. I got all the guys that came down to sign that poster as well as my import cover to The bird with the kick ass cover.

we spent most of the time just chilling out with jellybean, Jerome and Tori. very Cool. Much love to the fellas for treating us so nice. freeze showed up with a pizza which was great cause it was late and nothing was open and we were all starving. Well some of us probably had too much to drink(well I know I did, I'm a light weight) Tori was wanting Jason and I to sing karaoke with him I was having none of that. well Ashley got the book and signed us up with out telling us. Well they called us up and we chickened out. Well a little later they called us up there again. With alot of prodding, we went up there. We had to make sure Tori went in front of us cause I had this funny feeling he was setting us up. So we all get on stage and cue the song up. Guess what. It was the skillet(ok that was my one lie) It was Purple rain. Jason and I did our best(or more likely our worst) to sing it while tori ran around like a mad man getting the crowd pumped up. Ashley was sitting in front of us laughing her ass off and taking pictures so if they turn out I'll definitely post them. Jellybean and Jerome also got a big kick out of it. Well finally we decided to go since we still had the drive home. We got a group picture. The three of us with Jellybean, Jerome and Morris. Hopefully it will turn out. Once again, I would like to thank the fellas for their as always great show and the way beyond the call of duty hospitality they showed us. that's the best time I've had in a very long time and I'm looking forward to show 26 sooner than later

Thanx 4 the review, I was wondering how the show went.
When are they coming 2 the East Coast?
[Edited 4/7/06 21:16pm]