In A Funk

For the last few months I have been in a complete funk… not literally but musically.  In the immortal words of George Clinton and P-Funk, “We need the Funk'” (or should I say ‘I’ need the Funk).   I find myself listening to Parliament, Lakeside, The Gap Band, The Ohio Players, The Average White Band and dozens of other Funk groups lately (I’m listening to Carl Carlton’s ‘Bad Mama Jama’ as I type).  Perhaps I’m just showing my age but since when did Public Enemy become old-school over artists like Earth, Wind & Fire and James Brown?

Naturally, there are some crossover music genres that are closely related to Funk – like Soul and Disco, and others that either inspired or were inspired by Funk like Jazz or Hip Hop – but Funk has a recognizable uniqueness all to itself (like the horn hit ten seconds into ‘Shining Star’ by Earth, Wind, and Fire).  Disco and Funk both reached their height of popularity in the 1970’s, but Funk had its beginnings in the 1960’s and kept strong in the 1980’s with artists like Skyy, The Dazz Band and Junior.

Part of what I think has gotten me so ‘funkdified’ as of late is that it takes me back to the parties where I used to actually ‘DJ’  (prior to having greater responsibilities managing entire events).  I miss those parties.

In my ‘Funk’ I was looking over my July 2008 schedule and I saw that I had three out of four weekends open, and had not yet made any vacation plans. 

 So… anyone wanna throw a Funk party in July? 

 -Craig