P-Funk and me.

These pictures were taken after a P-Funk concert on Saturday, March 9, 1996 at the Maritime Hall in San Francisco. On some of the pictures, you will see the date-stamp of 5/26/94. That date is incorrect.

I borrowed my sister's camera for the concert and didn't bother turning off the date feature. When I was putting the film in, I saw that date on the rear of the camera; I didn't trip. I didn't think the date would print out.

I checked out the concert with two of my friends, Fred, who snapped the pics and Marlon, one of my oldest friends. If P-Funk is in ti-zown, Fred and I are up in there gettin' some funk. On the other hand, even though I've known Marlon forever, even before "Knee Deep" came out, this was his first Parliament/Funkadelic concert.

Following are the pictures I took with small captions about who's who (an' ney momma!)

As ya can see, I was waaay back in the hall. Most of the P-Funk concerts in this area, San Francisco/Berkeley, are at least 50% white. A helluva change from the 70's and 80's.

I'm not quite sure what the deal is with this mess-pile. It was sitting on the side of the building and I wanted to use up the rest of the film, so there ya have it!

I was told that the person that owns this car has a station-wagon with the same, err, ahh, "motif". :-)

Naturally, I'm the one in the center. Beyond that, the short brother under my right arm is P-Funk Horns saxophonist, Greg Thomas. On the other side is Miss Belita "I sang the blues" Woods. He's cool; she's nice. When I spoke to Belita, she walked up to me and hugged me like we knew each other- and that was fine with me.

This is the touring second drummer, Richard White. Gabe Gonzalez told me Richard is an artist, too. I believe Gabe said Richard is a graphical artist and makes t-shirts.

On the left side of the picture is the current touring first drummer, Gabe Gonzalez. He remembered me from P-Funk's December gig so we chatted for a li'l bit. About the time I asked him to take a snapshot with me, Cordell "Boogie" Mosson, current rhythm guitarist and the second Funkadelic bassist (1972) walked by eating something. I couldn't tell what it was, but I could smell BBQ sauce and I wasn't offered any! :-) Gabe wanted to take a picture with Boogie and that was funky with me.

In this frame we have the #1 OG Funkadelic bassist, William "Billy Bass" Nelson with either his bass or guitar strapped to his back. He played guitar through most of the show and played a bass solo at the end of the show.

I don't recall who's the tallest, Boogie or Billy Bass, but neither towers above the other and at the most the tallest would be about 5'4". Believe me, they are both small men. Yeah, yeah, I know height doesn't mean this or that, blah, blah, blah, however people are familiar with their work and not familiar with the faces.

Errrr, who is this? Michael "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton himself. This was right after he asked my buddies and I if we had a match.

"Naw, podna, I don't smoke. Come over here and take a picture."

R-U-B-B-E-R B-A-N-D, he's from the Rubber Band and he's fon-kay. Robert "P-Nut" Johnson was one of the first funkateers out of the building, the first to take a picture with me and the only one to sign an autograph.

I don't know when P-Nut last toured with the Rubber Band. Bootsy started touring by himself in '93 and P-Nut wasn't with him then or since.

Now, we're talkin' OG Parliaments. On the right is "Shady" Grady Thomas. He was one of the three original members of Parliament that cut out in '77 or '78. When P-Funk came to town in late '94, he was back, big beard and genie outfit and all.

On the other-hand side, is the one, the most-onliest bass vocalist "Sting" Ray Davis. If you think you don't know, just think of the beginning to "Tear the Roof Off", "Atomic Dog", "Aqua Boogie" and all of those songs when he's obviously singing in the low registers. In the early 80's, he sang with Zapp on "Doo Wa Ditty", "I Can Make You Dance" and so on.

He did a stint with The Temptations also. He told me he left the Temptations in '94 because he fell ill and the Temptations weren't willing to cut him sick-time slack so they let him go. He recuperated and rejoined Parliament. He said the Tempts asked him to come back, but he declined because he was "with his homies."

When P-Funk came to town in early '92, neither Ray nor Grady was touring. By '93 at the Circle Star Center, Ray was in the hi-zouse. I read an article, at the time, in Vibe with George-adelic saying that Grady and Fuzzy Haskins were supposed to start touring with P-Funk. Grady showed up around '94, I think. I haven't seen hide nor hair of Fuzzy.

A photo-op with George "Dr. Funkenstein" Clinton himself. This was an oddity because after a concert, if you see George, he is the very last person out of the hall. For some reason, he was probably one of the first few to come toodling out of the back of the hall.

I asked if I could take a picture with him.He told me to hold on for a minute. He handled some business, then turned around and asked me if my camera was ready.

"Oh,yeah,George-adelic, and you know that! "

 


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