I arrived at
Da Funky Phish at 9:35pm. Da Funky Phish is a very nice club out in the
middle of Long Island. I met the members of Nappyhead, which now included
Rhythm Republik guitarist & keyboardist (John Willis & Eric Wilson,
respectively), saxophonist Tim Dorsey, and Deep Pocket's vocalist Tanya
Thillet. I waited about one hour, watching the fellas set up their equipment
and I met the club owner Craig, who is a big fan of my website, BROOKSYNTELECHY.
I listened as Eric played keyboard riffs of "Darlin' Nikki" and as
Gary Bordies played funky bass riffs of "Alice in My Fantasies",
"Mothership Connection (Starchild)", and "Thank You Falettme Be
Mice Elf Agin".
The
show officially started at 11:05pm with some "P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked
Up)"....Zack Roberson (da phunky drummer) was up-front riling the crowd
of 50+ patrons while wearing a funky hat!! "P-Funk" featured some spaced-out
keyboard riffs, heavy bass lines & a lovely touch of saxophone. "Alice in My Fantasies" was too
damn short, but had some bombastic drumming by Zack, the Lego-Maniac!! John Purvis got his chance to "fly
on" with his high-powered guitar riffs! The kickin' bass & spacey
keyboard riffs were still there, along with the nice percussion by Pat D'Auria
and Tanya. "Fly
on The Wall" was great with John Willis's superb guitar funkiness and
Worrell-esque keyboard riffs by Eric. "Funk Y2K" featured some
"Comin' Round The Mountain", but I could not hear the vocals due to
technical problems. John Purvis played great rhythm guitar licks on
"Funkentelechy". "Mothership Connection" was good, better
than "Standing on the Verge of Gettin' It On", which suffered from
one major thing: lack of strong, hardcore guitar riffs!! Also, the same
song (which, by the way, featured a snippet of "Good To Your
Earhole") suffered due to low volume on the vocals! (again!) "Maggot Brain" featured
earth-shattering, hardcore guitarisms by John Purvis & John Willis's fiery
guitar riffs--Eddie Hazel must have been looking down from funk heaven and
smiled!!
"Tear The Roof Off The Sucka" was the funky closer to the first set,
which ended at 12:20am.
I was so glad
that I got a chance to see Da Funky Phish because it sounded like a really
funky place! Nappyhead plays there regularly and Bernie Worrell has played
there a few times, so Da Funky Phish is definitely tuned in to the funk!! Also,
I figured it wouldn't hurt to go through the extra energy & expense to
check out New York City's finest P-Funk tribute band!
Submit suggestions or comments to david.brooks@brookenstein.com