March 6, 2025Scott Goldfine

TIR 52: Living Lige; 4 Decades as Guardian of P-Funk’s Bottom

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Brought to you by FUNKNSTUFF.NET and hosted by Scott Goldfine — musicologist and author of “Everything Is on THE ONE: The First Guide of Funk” ― “TRUTH IN RHYTHM” is the interview show that gets DEEP into the pocket with contemporary music’s foremost masters of the groove.

Featured in TIR Episode 52 (three segments): Longtime Parliament-Funkadelic, P-Funk All-Stars and George Clinton bassist Lige Curry. Born in Flint, Mich., and raised in Cleveland, he got deep into music as a teenager inspired by his cousin Michael Hampton, a wicked guitarist who soon joined the Funk Mob and was dubbed Kidd Funkadelic.

Lige began hanging around that camp and before he knew it he was lending background vocals to Funkadelic’s 1979 smash album Uncle Jam Wants You and playing bass on Parliament’s 1980 Trombipulation album and Funkadelic’s final Warner Brothers record in 1981, The Electric Spanking of War Babies.

He went on to become a permanent fixture in studio and on stage for pretty much every Clinton-related show and project through the 1980s, 1990s and right up to present day. That includes all of Clinton’s solo albums as well as the P-Funk All-Stars records. Along the way, in addition to his cousin Hampton, he has worked with all the P-Funk luminaries like Bernie Worrell, Eddie Hazel, Boogie Mosson, Garry Shider, Bootsy Collins, Rodney Skeet Curtis, Blackbyrd McKnight, and so many others — many of which are sadly no longer funking in this frequency. Lige has also recorded and released many of his own projects as well as those with others from the P-Funk camp, including current band members Danny Bedrosian and Garrett Shider.

Here, in this sprawling three-part interview, he dives into every conceivable aspect of his 40-year stint with the good Dr. Funkenstein.

Recorded April 2018

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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.