TRIBUTE TO MANDRILL (plus performance by
PHUNKYMAN)
At Wingdom Festival 2007 (at the Rotunda) -
Philly (8/25/07)
A special artwork presentation, designed specifically for Mandrill...a tribute
to about 37 years of Mandrill FUNK!!!
At
11:50am, after Ghetto Songbird performed two songs...it was time to do a
special presentation in honor of the legendary Afro-funk band
MANDRILL....Ghetto Songbird and younger musicians (kids) joined in and
performed a couple of Mandrill songs in front of the Wilsons Bros. (Lou,
Wilfredo "Wolf" and Dr. Ric ... 4th brother Carlos couldn't make the
event) and Lou's son The One Sun Lion Ra. The songs performed were "Lord
of the Golden Baboon", "Fencewalk" and the chant of "Peace
& Love". The music was pretty funky and the horn riffs were very
good.... maybe nowhere in the range of the true horn players of Mandrill (the
Wilson Bros.) but very good nonetheless! Just after 12:00 noon, Mandrill was
presented with a special painting done by one of the members of Ghetto Songbird
(see the picture above). After the 3 Wilson brothers gave speeches, it was time
for a quick photo shoot of the Ghetto Songbird band plus the Wilson brothers
(with the artwork painting on display). After The One Sun Lion Ra performed 4
rap songs, it was time to leave the Wingdom Fest for a little bit (I was
planning on returning to see PHUNKYMAN do his short set). It was fun getting to
hang out again with the Wilson Brothers...even, doing a one-minute video shoot
with Dr. Brookenstein saying HELLO to the peeps, dressed in Bootsy persona and
habadashery, baba!!
Group photo of the Wilson Bros. w/ Ghetto Songbird/Mandrill tribute members!
Lou & Dr. Ric Wilson
Dr. Ric & Wilfredo "Wolf" Wilson
Dr. Ric & Wolf Wilson
The One Sun Lion Ra
The One Sun Lion Ra
Click here for pictures
of the Mandrill Tribute Band
PHUNKYMAN himself!
At
2:55pm, I returned to the Wingdom Fest to check out PHUNKYMAN throw down hard
on a 4-song set. The band started out with the FONKAY "Here Comes De
Funk", featuring the hot 'n' funky lead guitar stylings of Phunkyman
himself...the highlight of this short set was the enormous blast of slap-bass,
thumpin' bass fonk of Warren Davis, playing "Thank You Fallentime Be Mice
Elf Agin"....ENUF FUNK 4 YA RUMP, baba....people next door at the movie
theater were probably in a daze of confusion, petrified...wondering "What
the hell is that?!!" The funk got stronger with the funk-rock explosion of
"Give Me Something I Can Use"....featuring shredding lead guitar fire
by Phunkyman and the powerful drumming of "Bam Bam" himself, Andre
Adams!! "(You Are) My Funky Sunshine" was good, but better was the
bass-poppin', lead guitar stirring "Guitar Slinger", featuring Dora Eaton
backing up her husband Phunkyman on backing vocals & percussion. At 3:20pm,
it was all over.
Click here for pictures of
PHUNKYMAN
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