ROUND
1:
At 8:30pm, B.T. Express started the battle of the funk bands with some
"Peace Pipe".....a pretty funky song with good percussion, impressive
alto sax solos and some heavy drumming at the end. The crowded theatre room lit
up when the boys did "I Like It", starting out with the super-funky
bass riffs....the tenor saxophone was DEFINITELY on da one! The band did a
blues version of "This House is Smokin'", featuring Valerie Adams
(THAT'S VALERIE ADAMS OF THE DIMENSION BAND, A PLAINFIELD R&B OUTFIT) on
sizzling lead vocals....then, it was time for the funk version! Valerie tore up
the vocals on Chaka Khan & Rufus's "Sweet Thing". "Do It
Till You're Satisfied" was good but short, and the little one-minute taste
of "Here Comes The Express" was definitely groovin', BUT IF YOU'RE
GONNA DO SHIT LIKE THAT....YOU GOTTA DO IT ALL THE WAY.....AIN'T NO
HALF-STEPPIN'!! (Actually, because of time constraint, the band was hurried off
the stage!) The B.T. Express round ended at 9:00pm.
ROUND
2:
After a 15-minute showcase by new female Phila. International Records artist
YSJ, the funk was back with Brass Construction at 9:20pm. From the first song,
folks got that funk brass attack (two trumpets and one sax were front and
center)! "Keep on Movin'" was followed by "Changin'", a
bad-ass funk song featuring some pulsating bass, spicy synthesizer riffs and a
heavy drum solo at the end. Following that was a mellower song about love.
"Movin' On" was another funky song that the fans really enjoyed. The
Brass Construction round ended at 9:55pm.
ROUND
3:
At 10:05pm, the Dazz Band came out with some guys hyping up the crowd to the
song "Dazz" (actually a song by the Atlanta-based group, BRICK).
After about ten minutes of that stuff, it was on to "Swoop, I'm
Yours".....the bass funk was definitely there and some great synthesizers
were there too! "Let It Whip" was a crowd-pleaser with some audience
participation! The vocalist began singing a little bit of DMX's "Party Up
in Here" (the chorus)! The Dazz Band round ended at 10:30pm.\
ROUND
4:
At 10:40pm, the funk went to new levels with the Original PFunk! The O.P. crew
cranked out "Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples", featuring some
super-nasty, noxious synthesized fumes of bad-ass keyboardist Pete Piscarzyk!!
"Standing on the Verge of Gettin' It On" featured the funky vocal
trio of Fuzzy Haskins, Grady Thomas and Ray Davis giving the audience what they
want, when they want, so they won't sit all the time!! The song featured O.P.
signature phrase, "The Funk is in the House" and Ray Davis's seismic
vocalizations of "Pumpin It Up"! "Tear the Roof Off the
Sucka" proceeded to rip the roof off of the Tower Theatre, while
"P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" had the crowd in funk
heaven.....the synthesizer riffs of Pete were great, and it was nice to see
Charlene (of Funk-Kin) on keyboards, too! "Cosmic Slop" suffered
from the fact that the guitars (especially during the solo spots) were horridly
low (somebody betta check those monitors!) Paisley and Gen-O The Cookie Monster
Thomas were jammin' their asses off but the sound came out weak. On the
plus side, it was great to hear Ray's sub-bass co-lead vocals! Missing from the
OP girl lineup was Jackie Love (she couldn't make it for personal reasons).
The female fans
were pulled onstage for the last funky romp, "Flashlight"! The
competition was over at 11:40pm.
IN MY BOOK..........ORIGINAL PFUNK WON THE COMPETITION!!!!
Submit suggestions or comments to david.brooks@brookenstein.com