R.I.P., Garry Shider! (Interview from the New Funk Times Archive)

Garry Shider in Munich
(©Peter Jebsen)

P.Funk won’t ever be the same again: Yesterday, Garry Shider (56) lost his battle against lung and brain cancer (see reports by The Star Ledger and Rolling Stone). I have known Garry and Linda, his wife of 32 years, for about 25 years – one of our first meetings took place at George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic’s legendary live Rockpalast broadcast from St. Goarshausen/Germany (watch the video clip below, featuring Dennis Chambers, Eddie Hazel, Michael „Kidd Funkadelic“ Hampton, and Rodney „Skeet“ Curtis).

I once even acted as his ‚fashion consultant‘ 😉 : On P.Funk’s 1986 „Saturday Night Live“ performance, Garry wore a jacket I selected while clothes-shopping with George Clinton. You can see a picture in this blog entry.

When I published the official P.Funk newsletter New Funk Times from the late ’80s to the early ’90s, I did several interviews with Garry. One of them took place at his house in Atlanta/Georgia in 1989. I’m reposting it as tribute to this great vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, producer and overall funky human being.

„We’re not gonna ever quit, man, I wanna be old and in my grave, still funking!“ (Garry Shider in 1989)

George Clinton reveals why he keeps his mouth shut about new music that pisses him off [Video]

Yesterday in Singapore, Parliament/Funkadelic’s George Clinton aka Dr. Funkenstein met classic rap group The Sugarhill Gang („Rapper’s Delight“). He had a nice two-part Periscope chat with them about the origins of P.Funk and rap, touring together, his musical backgropund and collaborators (including Skip McDonald/Bernard Alexander and Doug Wimbish, members of Sugarhill’s house band, plus Philippé Wynne, Bernie Worrell and Bootsy Collins), and the story behind several of P.Funk’s greatest hits:

Funk-A-Hall-Licks Wooing the World (1991 Bernie Worrell interview from the New Funk Times archive)

Bernie Worrell in 2009 – concert with SociaLibrium at the jazz club Porgy & Bess in Vienna (Photo: Manfred Werner/Tsui. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)

I was sad to hear that Bernie Worrell, P.Funk’s „Wizard of Woo“, passed away yesterday at the age of 72. I last saw him in person a long time ago – he, his wife Judie, his band and I were holding hands backstage at New Orleans‘ Tipitina’s club, praying for a good show.

On a personal note: My favorite P.Funk has always been about George Clinton, Bernie, Bootsy Collins and Garry Shider – the hustler and the three musical geniuses. (I am sure George won’t mind – he and I talked about this. 😉 )

Here is a phone interview about his album „Funk of Ages“ I did with him in 1991, for the P.Funk newsletter New Funk Times I used to publish from the late ’80s to early ’90s (continuing the great work of Archie Ivy & Co.).

New Funk Times: I was wondering if you cut any of the basic tracks with the whole band present in the studio, or were there a lot of over-dubs going on?

Bernie Worrell: There’s a lot of over-dubs. You won’t believe the size of the studio I had to record it at! It’s pretty small, but the one good thing about it was… a lot of recording studios in New York don’t have windows, you can’t see out to the street. But this one was in what we call the Tribeca area, and it had two windows. So at least we could see outside.

The Complete New Funk Times Issue #1 from 1989

The New Funk Times used to accompany George Clinton albums on Capitol Records in the ’80s. From 1989 to 1991, I published it as a subscription-only newsletter. I made the P.Funk History Double Issue available before, here is issue #1 from 1989. It features interviews with George Clinton & Bootsy Collins, and a 250-record P.Funk discography.

Funky Shots: George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic 1989-1991

I used to publish ‚round 2‘ of the George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic newsletter New Funk Times from 1989 to 1991. I can’t find the original photos I took back then, but here are black & white scans from the issues. You can view full-size versions on flickr. If you are interested in the NFT: The P.Funk History Double Issue is available here.

The Complete New Funk Times P.Funk History Double Issue 4/5 from 1990

Rolling Stone Magazine has just published the story „Doctor Atomic“ about my favorite funk musician George Clinton (issue #1234, cover date: May 7, 2015). They printed a photo I took during my 1986 home story on George’s Funky Farm and the cover of the P.Funk History Double Issue of the P.Funk newsletter New Funk Times which I used to publish from the late ’80s to early ’90s, with permission of George Clinton.

The NFT website has been hacked quite a while ago and I haven’t had the time yet to bring it back. Therefore I am using my personal blog to post scans of the issue you see in Rolling Stone – with cartoons by Pedro Bell, Overton Loyd and Howard Priestley. Enjoy!

George Clinton (72) on Quitting Drugs (plus new European Tour Dates)

From the keynote interview at the Ibiza International Music Summit (May 2014)

Craig McLean (at 24:42): Did you get paid for all these samples?
George Clinton: Nooo … that’s what made me stop doing drugs. You can not be fucked up and not expect things to be fucked up, too. I’m saying that it took me 72 years to find that out. Plus: The drugs was no good. Wasn’t even good drugs by the time, you know. Then I realized; Damn, I’m not even high; plus, they done took all my money.

Question to Bootsy Collins: Did The J.B.’s Understand James Brown?

A short excerpt of a phone interview I did with Bootsy Collins today:

I may post more clips during the weekend.

George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic on Saturday Night Live (1986)

IMHO, this is one of the best P.Funk performances ever shown on TV:

This video brings back very nice memories:

The Saturday Night Live show took place a few weeks after I did my George Clinton home story (here’s the German version).

The Funky Farmer: George Clinton Home Story (1986)

This is the English translation of a George Clinton home story which I did in 1986 when I was working as a music journalist (original German version):

One morning at 5 a.m. on the funky farm: sputter – sputter – zang – boom – crash. Strange sounds are emanating from the hall. A few minutes later George Clinton stands in the living room: „Damn, not even 4000 points! When I’m that bad, I know that it’s time to quit. Good night!“ A last disappointed look at the Galaxian video game, and Clinton disappears into the bedroom. In the neighborhood the first cocks are crowing.