I
arrived at 8:45pm, just in the nick of time to see the DRUGS (the P-Funk
offshoot band) take effect, stoning the fans with the mellow grooves of "Daddy's
Got a Secret"! The vocals were handled by (of course) da crazy fool, Clip
Payne (aka CLIPADELIC)!! Joe Eppard was on hand funking the people with his
brand of funk-rock called "Billy"....vocally, he sounded great and
his lead guitarisms were good. The audience participated on the funky
"Deep Down in the Dumps".....Lige Curry did some beyond-superb,
stank-ass bassisms that melted the walls of 9:30!! Also, Robert
"Chicken" Burke was on hand to wreck airthang else with some heavy drumming
towards the end!! "Cold-Hearted World" as good, with Joe giving up
some great lead vocals, but personally, I miss seeing Stephanie McKay doing
this song. The last song was intended to set fire to 9:30...."Never
Ever".....the place rocked and rocked to and fro with funkateers in FUNK
HEAVEN to the very rough vocalisms of Clipadelic and Adam Widoff's insane
guitar riffs!!! The DRUGS wore off at 9:30pm.
At 10:00pm, da bomb dropped in D.C. (and no, it
wasn't the Taliban or al Qaida type).
....Chocolate City and its vanilla suburbs experienced the
landing of the FUNKY KIND...GEORGE CLINTON & THE P-FUNK ALLSTARS!!!!!!! The
band started with a powerful, smolderin' guitar intro (all of the guitar
army.....Kidd Funkadelic, Garry Shider, Eric McFadden, Blackbyrd McKnight,
Billy Bass and Lige Curry.....were in serious effect)!! "Maggot
Brain" was louder, with Blackbyrd playing lead guitar (for the rhythm
part) and Kidd Funkadelic (of course) smoked the shit out of the Eddie Hazel
masterpiece!! The noxious fumes of Lige Curry's bass choked many a funkateer
during "Dog Star"! Garry was sounding very good on lead vocals for
"Cosmic Slop" (and I hope he stays that way)! A low point was
seeing Garry and a few other vocalists out of sync with the musicians
....like they missed their cues (actually, the band changed
some of the musical arrangements and dropped one of the chorus lines during the
song) "Aqua Boogie" was TIGHT......the keyboardisms were good,
thanks to Razorsharp, and the song incorporated a little bit of "The Big
Bang Theory" (courtesy of the funky horn players, Greg Thomas, Bennie
Cowan and Scott Taylor)
! Sir Nose came out and danced for the fans during "Aqua
Boogie" and "Flashlight". Another low point was George
Clinton's attempt to sing the lyrics to "Aqua Boogie"......one-third
of what he sang was totally incomprehensible.....his vocal chords seem to be
getting worse! "Flashlight" incorporated some "Electric
Spanking of War Babies". "Knee Deep" was zeep as usual, with the
beautiful Belita Woods doing soulful vocalizations on "Sentimental
Journey"! Greg Thomas did some super-long, rapid-fire scatting on
"Knee Deep" and Kidd Funkadelic's lead axe-slaying was electrifying!
Sativa Diva (the artist formerly known as Shonda Clinton) came out and had a
toke of the "mary jane" while she rapped her signature shit,
"Somethin' Stinks and I Want Some"......afterwards, she tackled her
granddad's proverted "Hard as Steel" with such ease only a Clinton
could do!! The band broke down in the style of "Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication"
(ya know the part I'm talking about......"LOWDOWN, CAN YOU DO THE
LOWDOWN?!") with super thumpin' bass (thanks Lige) and great lead
guitars....Eric McFadden brought the house down with some red-hot lead
axe.......it was illegal in all 50 states! "U.S. Customs Coast Guard Dope
Dog" was done by George Clinton acapella-style.The band raised the roof
off of 9:30 with "Tear the Roof Off the Sucka" and paralyzed
funkateers by getting them "Up For the Down Stroke"!! "Bounce To
This" featured some heavy-duty dreamwork by Ron Wright and lead vocals by
Kendra Foster! ABSOLUTE LOW POINT OF THE
SHOW: "I'm Never Gonna Tell It"......well, I'M GONNA TELL
IT.......why does G. Clinton allow such travesty???? The song was totally
butchered by a white woman who cannot sing and this version is light-years
behind the original!! The funk energy was basically sucked out of the room!! After the audience chanted some P-Funk phrases, the show
was over at 12:45am.
Submit suggestions or comments to david.brooks@brookenstein.com