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FUNKTRIP 2003A AUG 18 7:35pm home, packing, getting ready. setting this here thang you looking at up... for somebody with a
minimal wardrobe, |
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| AUG 19 8:42am at work. starting to feel the excitement and the power that comes from that energy. | |
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AUG 19 9:28AM excited about this trip cause it will be challenging. one night of P-FUNK in DC, 2 days and a night of P-FUNK in NYC and then a drive across the length of pennsylvania to my hometown. where i will watch my son play senior year football for my and his future alma mater. the pittsburgh steelers play thurs night on national tv so if the club has the game on while DRUGS (a P-FUNK spin-off group that i been dyin to see (opening for P-FUNK) is playing i will experience great moments with the things i most passion. and this i believe to be if not heaven, a form of it. on my free day in NYC i hope to visit the world trade center site and i think i want to go to harlem or take the circle line cruise around manhattan. ive been to NYC and have done the |
| MET and museum of natural history and empire state so these attractions ill pass. what i REALLY want to do is go into a neighborhood and experience true local life and hang out. but to do that ya kinda need to know someone and i dont sooooo.... | |
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| AUG 19
5:28pm had to leave work early as the excitement inside me began
to build. ive learned from 41 years of being jeffery its better to
remove myself than to try and control it. home now, laundry in dryer,
everything pretty much set, all systems go. one cool thing is since ive
done this before im not overly excited. sometimes an event can be too
new of an experience to really enjoy. ive seen folx so overdressed and
so uptight that its not possible for them to enjoy themselves. the more
familiar the routine, the less stress. also i know to pace myself. not
too much too fast...
i take pride i can sleep on a greyhound or a boeing and wake up to a warm rainy chicago morning or sumn. im hoping to window seat sleep some cause i got such a good deal ($209) im flying out of SNA which is john wayne which is orange county which is like a 1+ hour drive even at 3am. airline recommends 75 minute early arrival so thats 5:30am. i'll leave at 4am. even going to work i leave early so i can take my time (55 in the slow lane and dont run up on the brutha). i'll get up at 3:30am, thats not too too bad. what is bad is john wayne airport parking. $12 a day. out of LAX i van nuys flyaway and pay $4 a day plus like $7 for the shuttle. i dont even usually budget it in. but this $72 (6 days) at SNA forced me to create a new category. but thinking it now i bet its so orange county nice and convenient that ill be happy to pay almost $80 to park my car for 6 days. damn i must be feelin really good to say sumn like that... one thing i am feeling good about is writing this here thing after having let people know about it. i cant deny there is an excitement i get from it. and how many or which people actually read this doesnt deeply matter. i kinda dont really wanna know. i write as if everybody i know is reading or will read. from my kids to my mother to you. all i need is for the possibility that you could be reading this to exist. and i was sure to create this possibility. i did this at my former job when i went to italy (it cost me $400 in phone bills uploading pics) kinda on accident and some of the buzz my writing created in the building got back to me and i liked it. i liked it alot in fact. check dryers. |
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| AUG 20 7:32A SHIT
SHIT SHIT!!!!! i aint never
overslept for a flight or trip in my rememberable life!!!! i wake to go
to the bathroom and its like 12:34am or sumn. lay back down and the next thing i know i look up
and its 5:12!!! F@#K!!! i get in the shower for what i dont know, all i
did was get wet. im grabbin shit and flyin out the door and aint brushed
nan tooths . i call the airline while on the freeway and they say standby is
my best option. there is an 8:40a flight that will get me there by 7pm
which is cool. im driving like the people in the mornings i cant stand
all crazy and fast but i gets my black ass to the airport by 6:20a. but
it is too late. i hit the airline ticket counter and she confirms my
standby option. then she says i can confirm all flights for $100 more.
F@#K!! im already traveling on a shoestring "where's a mcdonalds"
budget. but for peace of mind, i paid the hundred.
so now im sittin here at john wayne airport at 7:56a and im starting to settle down a little. havent eaten and cant eat and desperately need to brush my teeth. for my lateness and the extra $100 i got the emergency row seat, so i guess the legroom will be cool. called budget and told them ill be a little late picking up the rental, they said cool. so it looks like things are back on schedule. tried connecting thru a dataport on a pay phone but it didnt work. so now im using my laptop thru my cellphone (sprint pcs has unlimited internet access in my calling plan). solid connection using frontpage to edit my webpages. and dont you know as soon as i say the connection is solid, it drops. thats one thing about life. when i get too cocky or confident life has a way of giving me a knock. just a little sumn to let me know to slow down. |
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| AUG 20 9:12am like
this morning and writing this here thang. i was confident last night and
even talked some shit about this being routine. i done did this so many
times before so it aint no biggie. life nudged my ass this morning. AND
i lost the sweat shirt i was carrying with me somewhere in the airport.
i can almost say that more has gone "wrong" on this trip than
all my trips last year. well funktrippin 2002 i did loose a hat that i
had got in florence italy and that kinda stung.
im on the plane now and they servin breakfast. bagel, bannana, cheerios and milk. not bad but ever since my drinkin days i cant mess with no milk, unless its a shake. anyways, the point is to settle down. bring it way down and get back in sync with life and my surroundings. let the tension of this morning go, forget about the extra $100 and my lost walmart sweat top. relax, take pics of the pretty white clouds out the window and chill. and i will eventually. and maybe cause i was russian around i didnt see or notice any females. well, the stewardess was kinda cute (snuck a pic) and there was maybe 2 almosts in the terminal, but nothing to go goddamn about yet. next stop detroit. naptime. |
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| AUG 20 4:29PM (pacific time + 3hrs) chillin in detroit airport. got about 20 till i board flight to dc which is about an hour forty minutes. feel pretty good, had a bunch of small nappings on the plane. the extra legroom cause i was in the emergency exit was cool as hell. i was wondering though between my mico-naps, can a person join the mile high club if they are alone? i dont see why ya cant. why ya got to have a partner? i think im gonna start a new club. detroit seemed to have a lot of smog. like a brown hazey fog over the area. seems like they smog worse than L.A. |  |
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| AUG 20 5:48PM (EST) on the plane to dc, another window emergency exit seat. lots of room for the laptop in front of me. the detroit airport is really spread out. long taxi in to the gate after landing and they have the coolest monorail like train and a people mover cause gates are so spread out. also i saw an "on-line" snack shop where you could eat and have a dataport and power for your computer right there at your table. other than that, nothing impressive. a few cuties but no goddamns. and they weren't black or white, they were like middle eastern or mediterainen or sumn. still they turned my head. one of our stewardesses was black female (actually maybe 1.5 of them may have been |  |
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black female judging by the way
"he" gave cabin instructions). and she reminded me of
something that there aint too much of in cali. them midwestern soft brown and
round females. soft creamy brown skinned girls with just a little bit of
extra weight in all the right places making them so cuddly round.
minimal makeup, jetblack hair and almost natural eyebrows. with them big
back east bootys and thighs. hey we makin our decent into b-more! i need
to get sumn to eat. pretzels and water aint gonna do it. think im gonna
go to the hotel on campus in college park maryland (home of the
terrapins and where i stayed at earlier this year) shower and thank you
jesus brush my teeths. (yes i said teeths). then roll over to the club
and see whats up in that area and whats goin on at the venue where
george clinton and the p-funk allstars is gonna do it tonight at.
im feeling good. my confidence and comfort with life and everything i do is higher than it has ever ever been. its so high i have to watch myself. i aint tryin to flex and hurt nobody's feelings or offend nobody. but i am out to have a good time and experience life with the deepest passion. so when im walkin down |
| the concourse filming and talking to myself outloud and just being happy jeffery and not really caring who is watching, i really dont want to make folx uncomfortable. i mean, im just happy. im VERY VERY happy like a kid, but unlike a kid i dont have to stop clowning. time to go, we makin our decent.... | |
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| AUG 21 2:40AM i am exhausted, but its that good kinda tired. i turned it out. i came to DC and i turnt it out!! i'll tell ya bout it in the morning. good night. | |
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| AUG 21 10:40AM all i got to say is 3 words HUMID IT TEE!!!! jesus h oh my god mary mother of christ. soon as you step out of the terminal it hits you BAM!!! i just took a shower and im sweating so profusely i wonder why i took a shower. 2nd thing i always notice is all the black people. i love black people and ill tell you why later. rat (pronounced "rat") now im gettin my ass up and out and on my way to new york city cause i messed around and missed the opening band DRUGS last night. 4 hour drive and i hope maybe to stop at a rest area (quiet and outside the city) and put down here how funky it got to me... | |
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| AUG 21 3:22PM this is
literally what i envisioned; an old dirty wood picnic table with some
woods behind it. heaven is the little things. anyways im some distance
which shouldnt be far from NYC. the city of cities. los angeles is the
best, but it aint a city. manhattan is a city. i got a burger king
chicken salad, some cool shade and another night of P-FUNK ahead of me. it started in the jetway gettin off the plane as i was shootin video of myself doing funky commentary. i was feeling really good and i knew it. instead of waiting i pass by baggage claim and hit the rental car counter. black female. and she was being black female but my energy was too much. |
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there is a song we use to sing in church that goes "this little light of mine, im gonna let it shine." well basically i get so overwhelmingly happy inside i dont want to hide or contain it. sometimes i want to let it shine and this was one of them times. "you happy today aint you?" she said. i told her im happy every day and in a bold animated voice i told her why. i asked her about the price of an upgrade cause the car i booked was a ford focus and that would be too small. (i feel like im gettin bit by sumn, damn woods). for playful reasons i shot my happy energy directly at her as she told me the price of the upgrade. i had to pass, couldnt afford it. i think i told her about missin my flight and the $100 |
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i was talkin about everybody&everything, i was on a roll. told her
that the last time i was here the girl just gave me the taurus. long
story short she gave me the free upgrade and this boosted my energy
higher. (im longwindin this and at this rate ill
be here typing all night.) anyways by this time im so up im dancin to
the baggage conveyor belt noise. and i mean i hit a good groove. i was
full on dancin as all my co- passengers stood still waiting. it was good
too. leave there get to the hotel to check in. black female. im learning
to better vibe these unique creatures. i admit i may have strayed but
there is sumn bout that strong personality and attitude that brought me
back. we had fun.
after that i hit the show. i walk in the joint in almost full groove. missed DRUGS opening but the crowd had a good buzz and there was music bumpin. im immediately on the groove of the music and dancin. and i mean im dancin with the uninhibitedness of a drunk white girl and the rhythm of a black male. i was lettin my light shine and i was hittin it. then they played my jam and i went off. by this time folx around me is feelin it and they start dancin. there is nothing like black people in a groove. especially black female. they was freakin some brothers to my left. young white girls behind me. white boys in front to my right head bangin the beat. brothas front left and next to me and all over the place in groove. then we started chantin "we want the funk" and stuff. energy gettin higher and higher. all this and the show aint even started. i gotta get and i gotta find a way to catch this up to what im doin. salad was good. |
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| AUG 22 3:21AM times square maybe the best place to hang out in the world (venice beach?). so many different kinds of people and the place has a good energy about it. and the quantity and quality of female may be the best in the world too. i did noticed that ALL the girls back here have a little extra weight in all the right places. white, black, puerto rican- it dont matta. they all thick. prolly cause back here they be havin billboards advertising pork.im standing outside bb kings times square talkin to a buddy filmmaker when i see this soft, brown and just enough round. the subject of my conversation immediately shifts to her. she was exactly the cute i talked about. so i get in the place and i see her gettin a ticket. i was like cool. so i continue on checking out the venue and gettin a feel for the place and vibin folx. after awhile im dancin to the house music and im the only one dancin. mostly white crowd, coolish people drinkin and chit chattin. i look over and i see the soft brown and just enough round standin at the rail and she is obviously alone and im groovin in full view of her. i knew she could feel me so without ever making a direct acknowledgement, i grooved for her. and i danced in the idea that she could feel me. after a |  |
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time i peep her and she is feelin the music in a way that made me feel she has a good vibe. she was relaxed and feeling it where most people all around her wasnt. real or imagined, fact or fantasy in my head it felt good to think she could feel me. she could have been completely oblivious to anything i was doing, but in my head the possibility was enough for me to get off on. i was one of few in the groove but the most visible. oh yeah, to vibe a room you gotta get your groove on where everybody can see and feel you. and thats where i was doing it house lights up. i was lettin my light shine. anywayz much goes on and the concert starts and im doin my thang all over the room when i feel |
| somebody squeezin by me. it
was soft so i knew it was female so i bounced on beat and got a little
rub on. i got a little kick out of that and when i turned to see it was
her i let the excitement energize me. i broke it down and danced as if
to worship her as she walked away her back to me. i didnt think she
could see me and i did over gesture it cause by this time the house is
mine. i done seen everybody in the joint and aint none of 'em got sum'n
for me. im bold and confident and doing pretty much whatever i wanted.
and believe me with girls everywhere there was a lot to do. completely
relaxed and confident just walking around looking at and enjoying
everybody&everything. i felt like i could have anything i wanted and
im sure my chest out confident groove let everybody who saw me know i
think that. yeah ya better pull her closer to you. stay close or ill put
some of this groove on her.
anywayz its 4am now and i just ate hotdog street vendor food and it was pretty good. i dont have to get up tomorrow and im happy for that. got a full day on the island of manhattan before i drive to ohio. hope i dont sleep thru it. the room is small but nice. for $100 a night in times square this is a steal. super 8 hotels rule. though the last one had some issues that i let the check out lady know when she asked me to fill out a comments card. i said i cant and i fired off 3 or 4 things that werent right. told her if i filled out the card i would i would tell the truth and a smiley face would not be that. told her though it wasnt that bad and i would stay here again, but to compliment the accomadations, no. so before i got the cheap feely rub from soft brown and just enough round i had seen her and let my light shine in her area. no it wasnt stalking, i just noticed that she had moved closer to the stage and there was space by her (but not too close to her, that would ruin it) so i took it. and i think we made eye contact once before this cause my head prolly jerked around when i first spotted her new location. so i let the concert go on and i think towards the end ill give her a flyer for the book im writing that has my websites they have my e-mail address. i never push this sort of thing and i always think ill see them again and i usually do. so time went by and funkadelic was good. |
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| and oh yeah during my dancin to the house music folx that i knew was greeting me with whattups, handshakes and hugs. so now the big black man who is the only one dancin out where everybody can see him is gettin love from folx. funkadelics, internet buddies, band members, strangers. think about it, im borderline actin up dressed in cuttoff blue jeans (my daisy dukes), PFUNK1 jersey and sandals (with white socks) gettin mad love from funkadelics and folx for all to see. i cant deny this made me feel good and was a major ego boost. and part of the reason i was walking round like i own the world. so i go back to the spot where she was and she is gone. i was like damn. i looked too cause it seemed right before she disappeared she walked |
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and wandered in my area. like almost directly at me. fact or fantasy in my head that could have been her way of giving me a last chance to step up. but i wouldnt take it, i never take it. maybe only one time in my whole life when i was confident enough just to step to it. and that was cause i was sure i wanted to spend time with that person. it was undeniable how well we got along and i was absolutely sure that i wanted so "steppin" to her was easy. she is gone and im not sad cause i have these kind of infatuations all the time and i know if it was meant to be it would have been. plus almost every time i go out and i go out a lot theres always one who is the best in the room to me. and it always seems i have some kinda accidental interaction with them in one way or another. i vibe them but not directly and from a distance, but they always seem to come stand next to me or bump me walking by or sumn. so i get over it and am back gettin my groove on when i look up on stage and she dancin next to george clinton. i was like "you muthaf&$ka!!! thats my girl." i seen her up there my energy soared i got my camera out and made my way thru the crowd close to the stage. i aint did that in years!!!! they was playin atomic dog and for me it was like magic. i got video of her up on stage!!!! soft brown and just enough round is stored on this here laptop im typin on. i should back her up to cd-rom right now!!! george had to notice me coming up to the stage like that too cause i |
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| never do that and he was like 15 feet from me and my light is shining ever so bright. she had to notice too come to think of it. so im right there with her and george clinton in groove and parliament funkadelic is playin atomic dog. heaven. after seeing her on stage i knew i would see her again and i would create a possibility. so as usual i kept partyin till the show was over and didnt rush to her. the show ended i gave props to band members and let my energy settle and thats when i saw her. never have i been so confident in my life. i simply walked over to her, got her attention and extended a hand to shake hers. i told her that i enjoyed her energy on and off stage and i handed her my flyer. |  |
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my voice was shot from singing, it was still loud in there and everybody's ears are ringing so i dont try to communicate much in that situation. but im sure with smile, gesture, eye contact and my flyer i got my point across and i created a possibility. and thats all i want. right after i do this the filmmaker buddy of mine that i was talking to earlier about her walks up and im all excited like a teenage boy just learning the game so i boast to him about it. so he turns and starts talking to her and then writes his number on the back of my flyer!! i laughed and said "damn, right behind me. even on the back of my flyer." aint sure what his game was but it dont matter. hell i even asked him what she was about. he said she was from L.A. and some kinda actress i think. i was like damn. come all the way to the east coast to see soft brown and rounds and the one i see is from L.A. life, ya gotta love it. so now its 5am and i been writin this for like an hour and a half. whatever it is must be good to me to keep me up like this. or it could be that all of it is good. talked to my father and daughter today and all is cool in ohio. told my daughter when i get there me and her is running buddies till i leave. also that i was broke but teased her with lettin her drive some. she told me with excitement about the nelly concert she just went to in small town ohio. how she snuck down to the front row and was gettin mad love from the stage. how she caught all kinds of nelly stuff and that one of the singers gave her a rose after a song. i let her know that when she could do it in a major city like i do then she can talk. then i told her that for her age she is way ahead of where i was. told her i was still too "scared" at concerts to enjoy myself when i was at her stage. i let her know she is way way way ahead of where i was at that age. and in fact, both my kids are... so after magical P-FUNK concerts in a couple days i will watch my son play high school football and hang out with my daughter. what more can heaven be? and i hope i dont cry. if my son does anything outstanding on the field i aint ashamed to say i could become overjoyed and tears will flow. its happened before. all that and a new possibility. a possibility that i may get an e-mail from a certain soft brown and just enough round. |
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| AUG 22 1:10PM
been up a couple hours after about 5 hours sleep. had much energy in me
and didnt wind down to sleep till around 6am this morning . i feel
really good, my body still tingling from the experience of the last
couple days. i was thinking that i feel so good right now i could just
stay in this room all day with food, tv and my computer. im satisfied
and have no real motivation or desire for anything. but i think i at
least have to see the world trade site. im a 5 minute walk from the
heart of time square and that in itself is enough to do, so tonight i
can just hang out take pictures and peep the people. just showered and
dressed and im thinking wtc.
one thing about the weather and humidity back here; it makes for the most comfortable nights. I LOVE BACK EAST SUMMERTIME WEATHER AT NIGHT. its completely comfortable to me. california gets cold at night and no where near as comfortable. walking the streets of new york (alone with no fear or apprehension) last night in this weather after having a good time with parliament funkadelic and havin just met my future wife to be i waded in semi euphoria. i love the alone time after the high of a good party. re-experiencing the experience makes me smile and laugh as i drift around in my joy. also back east folx hang out at night and i forgets that everytime. its so comfortable outside that people just be out 2-3am its no biggie. so riding thru dc after the show yesterday there was black folk all over just sittin on their brownstone like stoops. groups of black males almost on every corner or block. i can see how a person could get nervous seeing this, but i can tell these is just folx hanging out and not necessarily looking for trouble. but now if trouble came they way you betta believe they gonna handle it. and i know if given a good opportunity to get you for sumn some of these cats would, but for the most part they is just chillin, talkin shit and about each others mother and gettin there buzz on in the manner of their choice. i recognize the fact that i ride thru neighborhoods like this without worry. i know that airbody cant. being a cool big black male has its advantages sometimes. as opposed to being a nerdy white boy comin thru here giving some of these people an opportunity to mess with them. nobody gonna mess with me cause im cool and jus kickin it. also there are police EVERYWHERE!! i aint never seen so many police stoppin people in my life. seems like there are more police than people. so im cruising dc neighborhoods windows down enjoying the local atmosphere of black folx hangin out on my way to the hotel. im always hungry after turnin a place out (i turned dc out, but not ny so much) so i figure to get sumn to eat close to the hotel cause there aint nothing better than eating and then going to sleep. i get to college park around 2amish and as the name implies its a college town; university of maryland so there were drunk white kids everywhere. totally different vibe from which i left. loud, crazy, young, drunk, excited and young. yeah i said young twice cause this is their world and their vibe. i aint mad at it, just wasnt in the mood to have drunk white kids talking to me and if ya know drunk white people you know they love talkin. so im sittin in there waiting for my pizza and chicken wings and lookin at all the young girls wearing clothes they shouldnt be and all the low riding jeans and too high heels that try to make they flat asses appear not so flat when a college black girl walks in with her boyfriend. they stop and and she is standing like right in front of me. she had the nicest smallish shaped ass ive seen i awhile and she out classed every other girl in the place without really even trying. i just looked at her in her cargo jeans, baby dreads, toe rings, dangling chain ankle bracelet, backpack and light moca skin. i just looked smiled and enjoyed and it didnt matter about her boyfriend at all, he was a non issue. i wasnt tryin to talk to the girl and actually didnt want to. i just like to look and when im in the zone i was in i have no shame in my game. and though i wasnt crude about it, she (and prolly he) had to see or feel me checkin her. fact or fantasy i feel as if i own the world and can have anything in it should i desire it- the fact might be fake but the feeling is real (thats the power of belief and faith). she sat down 2 feet from me and her hips spread out them cargo pants so beautifully on the chair. and i just smiled. aint i spose to be leavin and goin somewhere? oh yeah, world trade center site. |
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