The Suite 16 » funk — The Suite 16

Ain't No Party Like a P-Funk Party

Nancie S. Martin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:47:07 +0000

The Mothership landed in central Brooklyn last night – George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic played free at Wingate Field courtesy of the amazing Martin Luther King Jr. concert series hosted by Friend of Shore Fire Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. Controlled anarchy – 20 people on the stage, 10,000 people on the field, me dancing with a goofy smile on my face in the 3rd row. It funked and rocked so hard! A great tribute to P-Funk’s late music director Garry Shider. Funk In Peace, Starchild. And yes, I brought my flashlight. Ohio Players opened – a great choice, especially when they closed with [Shore]“Fire.”

Here’s a P-Funk clip from 1978:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JbUP-skb7E]

Myron Walden gets funky

Nick Loss-Eaton — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:13:00 +0000

Myron Walden blew the roof off of Fat Cat last Friday night (which is hard to do since Fat Cat’s a basement club!) with his band Countryfied. They mixed funk, soul, blues, gospel, jazz, and rock and roll into an intoxicating, high energy show and Myron was working hard onstage. Jared Gold was incredible on organ and Kenneth Salters amazed on the drums. If you’re into Booker T & The MGs or Jimmy Smith, you’ll be into Myron Walden’s Countryfied. As he reminded us, both musically and in his comments between the songs, he grew up in the south, and you can feel it listening to his playing.

Here I am with Myron and Shore Fire’s own Miyako Hannan:

Here’s Myron wailing:

Stomping In New Orleans

Nick Loss-Eaton — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:23:00 +0000

Just got back from New Orleans where I was working at the Ponderosa Stomp. Two nights of insane rock n’ roll is their motto, and it’s spot on. The music started around 6:30 each night and didn’t finish until about 3:30. Musical highlights were numerous: Wardell Quezergue’s set with Mac Rebennack (aka Dr. John), Jean Knight (“Mr. Big Stuff”), Tammy Lynn, and Tony Owens; the incredible delta blues of Louisiana Red; supercharged rockabilly from the Collins Kids; Eddie Bo showing us a history of funk; the Tail Dragger (a Howlin’ Wolf protege) crawling onstage; Barbara Lynn (“We Got A Good Thing Goin’”); and the highly energized ? and the Mysterians; and many more.

The beauty of the Stomp is that it’s all there at once and you can literally see and hear the connections between blues, rockabilly, swamp pop, girl groups, surf, funk, soul, gospel, garage rock and psych. The downside is that at any given time, there are often two or three amazing acts playing; it’s an embarrassment of riches! Other amazing moments included joking around with Roy Head (“Treat Her Right”) and eating a new dish called Pasta-laya backstage with Stomp organizer Grace Callahan. Congratulations to Stomp curator Dr. Ike on an incredible festival. My advice to you? Start planning a trip to New Orleans in late April next year.

Here’s Bill Kopp of SKOPE Magazine following an interview with the Green Fuz.

Here’s Mac Rebbenack, better known as Dr. John, sitting in during the Wardell Quezergue Rhythm & Blues Revue, one of the highlights of the Stomp for me.

Curator Dr. Ira “Dr. Ike” Padnos was interviewed by Phillip Rollins of MTV.com’s Street Team at the Louisiana Museum Cabildo.

Here’s swamp blues legend Lazy Lester (original singer of the song “Ponderosa Stomp”), New Orleans electric bluesman Little Freddie King, and Mrs. Samantha Padnos (Stomp organizer and Dr. Ike’s wife).

Here’s Lester, ? (of Question Mark and the Mysterians) and yours truly backstage.