The Night P-Funk’s Anti-Tour Tore Up Hollywood

first_guide_funk

The following is an excerpt from Scott Goldfine’s book Everything Is on THE ONE: The First Guide of Funk, Chapter 8, Let’s Take It to the Stage. Get your copy of the book today at Amazon.com.

I had noticed George Clinton’s protégé act the Brides of Funkenstein was listed to perform its very first headlining show at the Starwood, a standing-room-only, 300-capacity club in West Hollywood, Calif., that was quite popular at that time. By then I was so deep into music and especially funk that I had cultivated a sort of “Spidey sense” about the artists of which I was a fan. And knowing that the Brides would have to have a band with them I had a hunch that perhaps others of the Funk Mob would be present. I shared my suspicion with a couple of other friends, convincing them to take the gamble and join me (it helped that tickets were only in the $10 range, although not insignificant at the time for high school kids).

After arriving at the venue the evening of Nov. 16, 1978, we found ourselves shoulder-to-shoulder in a packed house with a perceptible buzz in the air. A P-Funk camp representative eventually appeared on stage and told the crowd they were going to be bringing the funk to us in three parts, first opening comedian James Wesley Jackson (who often toured with P-Funk), then the Brides and then Parliament-Funkadelic! The place went berserk, with no one shouting louder or throwing their P-Funk sign into the air with more authority than me. While my funky sixth sense had proven right about what was in store, I later found out Clinton had revealed his hand on local radio that day, ensuring the venue was spilling over and with hundreds of people turned away outside.

The show, which would kick off what came to be known as the Anti-Tour in which with little advance fanfare the Funk Mob would pop up at club-sized venues around the country, afforded Clinton and his cohorts a much-needed reprieve following the utter insanity and massive crowds of the Earth Tour. The Brides (Dawn Silva and Lynn Mabry) were a feast for entranced eyes and dancing feet, backed by a band of mostly newcomers to the P-Funk fold. They included DeWayne “Blackbyrd” McKnight (guitar), Jeff “Cherokee” Bunn (bass) and Dennis Chambers (drums). I remember being particularly impressed with Blackbyrd, who despite the relatively short set was given the space to contribute a blistering solo spotlight. All of them would go on to ingratiate themselves as important, longtime members of the P-Funk family.

Finally around midnight, the curtain rose again and, as memory serves, the band led by diaper-clad frontman Garry Shider launched into a throbbing “Cholly (Funk Get Ready to Roll”), with Clinton later strolling on stage amid a deafening and orgasmic collision of electrified sound and roaring hollers. The place rocked for three hours until the wee hours of the morning.

The heat generated on stage was matched by the venue’s steadily rising temperature (the fire marshal would have had a field day). The sweaty throng vibrated in unison until the last groovalistic gasp, following which everyone stumbled out onto Santa Monica Blvd. with wobbly legs, soaked clothing, buzzing ears and dazed smiles plastered on their blissful faces. Libations and substances notwithstanding, all were riding the altered state of having received the ultimate funktastic high. I would subsequently see at least a dozen more P-Funk shows, but none quite like that one.

For more stories like this, plus funk history, perspective, reviews, ratings, rankings, memoirs and more – get your very own copy of Everything Is on THE ONE: The First Guide of Funk today at Amazon.com!

Scott Goldfine

As a fervid lifelong music & film enthusiast / student, I grew up in and around the Los Angeles entertainment industry. I have worked and held many positions in various media realms, since 1998 serving as Editor-in-Chief and now Associate Publisher for Security Sales & Integration, a trade publication serving the electronic security industry. I love several genres of music & film. The former includes funk (Parliament-Funkadelic, Prince, Ohio Players, etc.); blues (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Eric Gales, etc.); rock (Jack White, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Young, etc.); hard rock (AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, etc.); jazz (Herbie Hancock, Bob James, Crusaders, etc.); R&B (Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Gil Scott-Heron, etc.); and more. I was a club disc jockey and ran a mobile DJ company (Musical Moods) for more than 15 years, which is where the name Dr. GX originates (Doctor Good Times). Fave film genres include horror (Dawn of the Dead, Evil Dead, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc.); science fiction (Aliens, Terminator, 2001, etc.); action (Warriors, Road Warrior, Die Hard); westerns (Outlaw Josey Wales, Showdown at OK Corral; Wild Bunch, etc.); suspense (Jaws, Inception, Silence of the Lambs, etc.); drama (Apocalypse Now, Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, etc.); and comedies (Life of Brian, Superbad, Ruthless People, etc.). I have attended many hundreds of concerts and movies (in theaters or screenings). I may as well also throw in a few favorite TV shows to give an even broader taste of my sensibilities. A handful would be Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Lost, Justified, Fargo, Seinfeld, Sopranos, South Park, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Key & Peele, Monty Python, Inside Amy Schumer, Louie, Modern Family, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Last Man on Earth, Bob Newhart Show, All in the Family and The Office. Fave authors are Stephen King, Clive Barker and Michael Crichton. I am also a big sports fan and lifelong supporter of the Dallas Cowboys (NFL), Los Angeles Lakers (NBA) and Pittsburgh Pirates (MLB). Also enjoy my family of course, electronics/computers/AV gear, and animals, nature and outdoor activities. Graduate of Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica College and California State University Northridge (Radio-TV-Film, Psychology minor). Also studied at UCLA for kinesiology/psychology and earned post-grad Certificate in Accounting from Santa Monica College. Present main occupation is as Associate Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Security Sales & Integration (SSI), which I joined in 1998. I am responsible for overseeing all editorial content in print. online, electronic, in-person and any other media or products for the electronic security industry's leading business-to-business trade publication. SSI is part of Framingham, Mass.-based Emerald Expositions.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CAPTCHA


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.