My Spotify Top Songs of 2016 Playlist

My Spotify Top Songs of 2016 playlist is a nice mix of funk, soul, a little country and some surprises. Enjoy!

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.

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!

R.I.P., Jack Bruce! (George Clinton on patching up things with Cream)

Jack Bruce (Photo: Christian Sahm / licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license)

John Symon Asher „Jack“ Bruce passed away yesterday (Saturday, October 25, 2014) at age 71. In his just-released autobiography „Brothas Be, Yo, Like George, Ain’t That Funkin‘ Kinda Hard on You?“ Parliament/Funkadelic’s George Clinton (73) remembers running into Cream’s founder member in the spring of 1993 – before and during the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

(…) Cream was inducted, which was a kind of brain twist: I got to watch two of my most important influences [Sly Stone was there as well – PJ] and think about the way that I had built Funkadelic on the intersection between their two bands. Jimi Hendrix had it right when he said that Cream was quitting just as everybody else was getting started. I also got to watch how a band acted when they put old rivalries and infighting behind them.

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.

Funky Luftbrücke from New Orleans nach Hamburg

Wenn Moderatoren im Radio ihre Hörer grüßen, assoziiere ich das eher mit NDR-2-Sendungen, in denen Oma Martha den Enkeln, die nie anrufen, trotzdem alles Liebe wünscht. Kürzlich jedoch durfte ich mich selbst über einen solchen Gruß freuen – wobei die Freude besonders groß war, da sich hier eine meiner ältesten Passionen, nämlich Old-School-Funk, mit diesem neuen weltweiten Datennetz verband, von dem man heute so viel hört.

Sooo neu ist das natürlich nicht, denn per elektronischer Post habe ich seit Mitte der 90er Jahre Kontakt mit Melissa A. Weber (aka DJ Soul Sister), einer afroamerikanischen DJane in New Orleans. Sie und ich betrieben damals Websites, die sich um unsere Lieblingsmusik drehten: P-Funk (George Clinton / Parliament / Funkadelic / Bootsy Collins & Co.).

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.