The Roundtable of Gentlemen - Episode 241: Round Table 4/20 P-Funk Special

Episode Date: May 5, 2015

It's a Round Table spark dat shit 4/20 special as Ed and Marcus interview keyboardist Danny Bedrosian of Parliament Funkadelic about what makes funk, working with George Clinton, and his own solo project Secret Army while also playing some tracks of Funkadelic's new album First Ya Gotta Shake The Gate.

Hello, Roundtable fans, and welcome to a very special edition of the Roundtable of Gentlemen. Back in November, me and Ed sat down with Danny Bedrosian, the keyboardist for Parliament Funkadelic, and we figured that today, 420, is the perfect day to release this interview, so check it out. We talk about P-Funk, we talk about Secret Army, which is Danny's solo project, we talk about funk in general, man. We just play a bunch of funk. It's a hell of a time. So here she goes. The round table. Gentlemen!

Let's broaden our minds. Lay on, gentlemen, and let them know what's what. Fire at will. It's time for action, gentlemen. Gentlemen of the round table. What's the topic of discussion? Fire at will! special edition of the Roundtable of Gentlemen. It's not even really an episode. We're just going to talk about funk, play some funk. Me, I'm here. Ed Larson, the big ham, Chubby Fats,

and to my left sitting here, Marcus Parks. How you doing, baby? Pretty good. Marcus Parks, skinny bacon. Little wiener. Yeah, little wiener. Baby scratching at the window. And Mr. Horse Danny Bedrosian from Secret Army Keyboardist for P-Funk How you doing buddy?

I'm good, I'm bareback You're bareback Oh yeah man Doing good, good to be here with you guys Good to see you man Likewise You fucking always look Slightly worse than me

And I love you for it And I really appreciate it It does It does Danny If you've been listening to Brighter Side He's been on two episodes

He was our first guest We ever had on Brighter Side And he is an old friend of mine and the funkiest motherfucker I've ever met. Woo-hoo! That includes anyone you've introduced me to, by the way. Because they're all, you know, they're black. You know?

And you just feel it in your Armenian bones. That's right, I do. Oh, yeah, and so today I just wanted to get down to it, have some fun, and talk about funk, and listen to some funk music, because goddammit, the world needs it. And funk is such a powerful thing that means so much to everybody and doesn't necessarily get the respect it deserves as an art form. Agreed. Sometimes, real quick, let's just like, Danny, if I could ask you, what's the difference between like funk and soul? Great. That's a great question. I think it's one of the most often prescribed questions to people in the funk world

because I think there's a combination of people who do know what it is and want to get the answer from the quote-unquote experts, and the other half of the people just have no idea. So it's such a great educational thing. So like funk, to make it, oh, God, as short of a version as I can say, it's sort of this historical american

music that was born out of the african-american experience in america but unlike most forms of music in america it has breaks like there are breaks in the in the periods of funk so there was a version that they were calling funk that was referring to these old shacks and shanties that people were dancing at in like the post-slave Reconstruction South, a place where black folks could go be free and independent and interdependent. So like 1880, there was funk. Probably, yeah. Now that's the first American use of the term. Really?

It also goes back to this Kikongo tribe. I just can't imagine people back then saying the word funk. I know. Because in the 20th century it did become a bad word. And so there is that. But by this time much like being a farmer and smoking weed. Some say funk is a bad word. Yeah. Just like being a farmer and smoking weed in the 1880s

it wasn't a big deal. And then in the 1980s it would have been a big deal. So just like funk. But there's an older version of it too. It came from Africa. The Kifungu tribe in the Congo have a word called funk, which has to do with the elder in the tribe emanating this sort of, not really a smell as much as like an aura, if you will, that everybody kind of wants to be,

but only the oldest cat can really have in their tribe. And it kind of translated into whatever they were calling it in America. Then a bunch of time went by, and funk sort of disappeared again in America. And then in the 1920s, it was started again by this jazz saxophonist named Louis Jordan. And Louis Jordan was playing this really hard jazz, like jazz, but with a real edge on it. And it was just like all the guys in the 20s and 30s, except it was just a little bit more edge on it. Where did he come from? Louis Jordan.

Is he in New York? He might be from New York. I'm not totally sure. We have to look that up. But he was in movies and stuff. He was a big, big part of the African-American experience in the post-Harlem Renaissance, all that stuff. But he was calling his music funk, not jazz. Okay.

stuff, but he was calling his music funk, not jazz. Okay. Then another 20 years go by, 26, 27 years go by without funk as an art form in America, and then it's brought back again by Mr. James Brown. Most funk historians trace it back to a song called Cold Sweat, which was a big James Brown hit. It was the first time that he started using the one, where the one is, in musical terms, it's the first time that he started using the one, where the one is, in musical terms, it's the first beat. Yeah.

And funk is pretty heavy on the first beat, at least the most recent version of funk we're talking about. The one is really heavy. Everything's on the one. Everything is on the one. I love that. So, you know, the rhythm instruments were getting more of a play. Yeah, you hear.

And the horns were doing rhythm parts. So, like, the horns used to be melodic instruments, but now they're playing like da-da, you know, just like real rhythmic stuff, da-da, and the bass is more all over the place, but heavy on the one, and the drums too. And so this created a whole formula for people after Sly and the Family Stone, George Clooney

in Parliament Funkadelic, Prince, the hip-hop world, the world of R&B and dance music, they all took a cue from funk in that way, from this kind of most recent version of funk. And we're still in that cold sweat era of funk today. Yeah. So there hasn't been a break since James Brown.

Even in the 80s. Even in the 80s. Because you had Prince and Cameo and Zap and George Clinton and all those things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fishbone, Living Color. Man, Chili Peppers. Chili Peppers, huge example. The first couple of Chili Peppers is some of the funkiest shit.

Funkyest. Yeah. Mother's milk. Mother's milk is funky. Freaky style-y. George produced it. Gotta hear Brother's Cup, man. Brother's Cup, yeah.

Oh, yeah, man. I love that shit. It's a very tear-the-roof-off-the-sucker type of... Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's completely ripped off. Yeah. It's very... But, you know, George produced it, so it's definitely...

Oh, he did? Yeah, the whole Freaky Style-y album was produced by George. Oh, shit. In fact, you could go ahead produced it, so it's definitely... Oh, he did? Yeah, the whole Freaky Stiley album was produced by George. Oh, shit. In fact, you could go ahead and almost call that album a P... Pretty much call it a P-Funk album because the horny horns are on it, members of P-Funk are on it, guitar players, singers, backup vocalists, all these people, and George produced it. Wow.

So it's like more, almost more of a P-Funk record than a Chili Peppers record if you listen to it. It's got horn arrangements and all these, like, really, like, polyrhythmic things and all these vocals and stuff, and George is singing on practically every track with Anthony Kiedis. So that's a really George Clinton album. He was doing a lot of that back then. A lot.

Still is doing a lot of production. Yeah. He still does a lot of production and stuff. But that was his first foray into the sort of punk funk that was happening in the 80s in California and places like that. And then those guys really started taking, you know, I guess they always listened to him. The Fishbone guys, the Weapon of Choice, Red Hot Chili Peppers, all of those bands from out west really took to him and, you know, were really influenced by him. As well as the rappers, of course, with Gangsta Rap and all that stuff.

But not just Gangsta Rap. East Coast Rap was heavily influenced by, you know, the New York sound was heavily influenced by P-Funk as well. De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, the Philly guys, The Roots, all those, you know, they had a heavy P-Funk influence. So there was a lot of good music coming out of Philly? Because I kept racking my brain recently and I couldn't think anything past Boyz II Men. Well, the Philly sound. You got to go back 20 years. The Philly sound of Philadelphia. T-S-O-P. Philly Sound, Sound of Philadelphia, T-S-O-P.

T-S-O-P? T-S-O-P. What were they singing? The writers of the Sound of Philadelphia guys were... Oh, wow. And it's just... Okay, I'm over time. T-S-O-P is a great name.

Yeah, it is. And there were these two famous writers, for some reason it's just... And every one of my friends and contemporaries right now is like, you don't remember the name? Yes, I can remember. But these two writers, anyway, they wrote all of that. They wrote the OJs, Philadelphia. They wrote that.

Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Philadelphia. Oh, awesome. Tom Hanks, Philadelphia. Nice. Oh my God. But you know, like Teddy Pendergrass and all those guys. It wasn't really funk. It was kind of like soul funk with like a little disco edge.

And that was like the sound of Philadelphia. Lots of strings, lots of orchestration mixed with this funky kind of. They had their own sound in the 70s. That's fucking cool as shit, man. You're so articulate. I appreciate it. I always feel bad asking questions. I feel like I'm ruining what you're talking about.

Oh, man. Well, you know what? We're here to hear some funk music. Let's get into it. Let's listen to a P-Funk song. This is, you know, my favorite Funkadelic song changes every week. Me too. You know, but this one has been it about 30 times.

And so we're going to play Ickaprick. It's off of the Electric Spanking of War Babies. Yes. Which is a difficult album to find apparently. Is it? I think it's pretty easy to find. I thought it was. I actually used to own a CD but now I've been looking for it and it's been bothering me. It's not on Spotify.

But you can find this song on YouTube if you want to hear it. Right. It's called Ickaprick by Funkadelic off of The Electric Spanking of War Babies. Enjoy it. Listen to the Cuecas. Let's hear the cue track. Right. Oh, you ain't seen I've seen yet.

We're going to be nasty this hip time. Check it out. This is going to be too hardcore for your ears. I've seen yet. Lifting weights with his tits. Doing push-ups with his clit. Disgusting. Ain't no decent dick in Detroit. Hell, gross and hot. Nasty can't be boy. You think that's nasty? Follow this with a man's rope.

Watch me right on the wall. Gravel thing. Suck my mind. This is equal opportunity nasty. Listen. Gravel thing. Suck my mind. Oh! This is equal opportunity nasty. Hey, that house, they got milk there. Take it off. Take it off, dog.

Pick a pickin' line, listen. Pumpin' the please. You're a fuckin' muscle cup. Now, hunk, there'll be no get over. Pick a pickin' line, listen. And still there's no decent dick in Detroit. That's a great point to appeal. Hey, you know about that.

I love that. Ah, serving pussy from the shoulder. Oh yeah, you get knocked up listening to that bitch. Better put some protection on your ears. This is Gravel Bay. Can you imagine this? Get that thing out of here, boy. Take a break. You're sick.

Who you gonna stick? It's a counterfeit dick. Can you imagine this? It's a fake or fake. It's a fake or fake. Can you gonna stick? It's a counterfeit dick Can you imagine this? It's a J-Bone bandit Can you imagine this? It could break your eyes Can you imagine this? It could shock a fucking motherfucker

She said it ain't about infiltration It's about tenderness and concentration Preaching what gets you off Oh, you ain't seen our scene yet Oh Follow me to the men's room Watch me right on the wall It's your Oh you ain't seen our scene yet Oh Follow me to the men's room Watch me right on the wall I'll tell it all

Flush it before I go Wash out my mouth with soap And shit drops from my mouth Let's discuss disgusting You ain't seen our scene yet We gonna be nasty While he's serving pussy from the show She's serving d pussy from the show,

she's serving dicks from the head. Oh, you ain't seen our team yet. We're going to be nasty this year. They don't want that nasty. Total masturbation. Psychological perversion. Hey, hey. Yeah, this is going to be a quick one.

Don't take it close. Follow the hormone line. Freaking behind the neighbor bar. You can do your belly button window. Let me take that down. I'm pussy's on a steel wool rag. It's a couple fucks, it's penetration of the drag. It seems like there's no reason to cut in Detroit.

Of course, I like the water. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She lifts weights with her tits And does push-ups with her legs She lifts weights with her tits

And does push-ups with her clit Bring in the choir Tits with her tits. Pushups with her clits. Bring in the choir. We're singing about clits and tits. That ending is the best. I love it so much, man. That song fucking rips me to shreds. That whole album does.

It's a beast. And you were saying that is the last Funkadelic album to come out. So, yeah. So that was released in 1981. And, you know, George and them, they have a bunch of different bands Not to be confused with Parliament or the P-Funk All-Stars Or George Clinton's solo albums But it's all the same band, it's all the same people It's just the concept that's different

Funkadelic was always very revolutionary Sometimes more guitar dominated More of a message in the music Whereas Parliament was more about the hits. But this was the last Funkadelic album. It was 33 years ago, the last official Funkadelic release, not including compilations and things.

And so this new Funkadelic album just came out on the 25th, and it's called First You Gotta Shake the Gate. Last Tuesday. Last Tuesday. I love the cover. Oh, I do too. Pedro Bell, the guy who did all the Funkadelic covers, all the artwork for Funkadelic,

so it keeps up the tradition of that. And it's 33 songs, three discs, and George describes it as one song for every year since we haven't done a Funkadelic album. And 66 people involved. And it's like all these threes. 66 people involved? Now, that's not just musicians, correct?

Musicians and singers. You don't consider singers musicians? Well, the union doesn't either. So, like, if you're a musician, you're a member of the American Federation of Musicians if you're in the union. If you're a singer, and I'm in both because I sing and play.

If you're a singer, you're a member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which is also actors and DJs. Interesting. Yeah, for whatever reason. All right, so we're going back to Ickaprick. How did something this fucking dirty come out in 1981 and not just get, you know, bombed? Right, well, George had already done some pretty scatological and filthy type of lyrics

in some of his music with Funkadelic in Parliament already. Especially Funkadelic. Yeah. And I think, I'm sure that they didn't know that this was going to be the last Funkadelic song on the last Funkadelic album for 33 years. I'm sure they didn't know that. But strangely enough it is. But it wasn't because of the filthy

language. In fact, in places like Detroit and other places where, when that first came out, it was a big deal song and I think the filthiness added to it. It was definitely a precursor to hip hop in two ways. It was the first P-Funk song to use a drum machine and the first and not the first one but one that really

went deep into the potty mouth stuff. And both of those were big precursors to hip hop. 81. Ain't no decent dick in Detroit. Damn. Check my nine. Both of those were big precursors to hip-hop. 81. Ain't no decent dick in Detroit. Damn. Check my nine.

Man, I can just see Mike Hampton coming in with that, just like scowling, coming off, just a frown on his face. He's so mad at the funk. Mike Hampton on guitar, Lodge Curry on bass Davis Bradley on keys George and Gary And Ron Ford singing That's amazing And Lodge is in

Your band Secret Army Yes Yes he's the bass player For my band as well Yeah Since a founding member Yeah That's amazing

And we're gonna listen To some of that later But now we wanna Go into the most recent Funkadelic album That came out on Tuesday Shake the Gate Go fucking buy it

Yes Please buy it We need you to buy it. Or just listen to it on Rhapsody. Do these guys a favor. But Danny, you have a couple songs you want us to hear off the album? Yeah. The first one is called Boom, There We Go Again.

And I'm proud to say that other than George, I'm on more songs than any other contributor to the album. That's fucking cool. So I'm on 17 of the songs. 17 of 33. Of 33. I'm very proud of that. It's a little more than half.

A little 51%. You just... Fuck yeah. And I'm very proud of that It's a little more than half A little 51% You just Fuck yeah And I'm really proud of that And so this one I play all over The keys And I only sing on one

So I thought I'd pick that one I sing like a verse A little part Great And that's Boom There We Go Again And the other one we picked Is Jolene Which is a favorite of yours

Yeah I love it And it's a great We've done it live With P-Funk many times It's a pretty well-known live melody and arrangement that has been finally put out. No, I totally, I recognized it when I heard it, but man, I just, you know, if you're going to sing about doo-doo, I'm on board.

Okay. Got that doo-doo. All right, so let's hear it now. What's the first one again? I'm sorry. Boom, There We Go Again. Boom, There We Go Again by Funkadelic. Yeah, what a little funky thing

Oh, does that make you sway? Oh, does that make you sway? There you go again Yeah, what a little funky thing Oh, does that make you sway? Oh, does that make you sweat. You hold it. I put it back. Boom.

There you go, girl. I'm giving up all that I've got. It's taking all I've got to give. But I'll be giving as long as I can take it. I'm packing that fire and it's hot. But this is my time to burn. You should be cool. You can be cool when it's your turn. She takes all that I've got to give

And I think it's all I can say There's so much more to get down to I'm giving up all that I own She takes all that I possess But I'll be giving as long As I can take it Yeah, what else can I give you? Oh, if I'd make you sway Boom, boom, boom Boom, boom, boom Boom, boom, boom

Boom, boom, boom There you go again It would be absurd to think we never heard of this We're talking shit And every word's a turd of it And it would be ludicrous to think that we are new to this But we do this. We do do this.

I don't hear any music. Oh. Thank you. This here? Oh, we do this. Oh, we do do this. It would be absurd to think we've never heard of this. They're talking shit. Every word's a turn of it. We're talking shit.

Every word's a turn of it. Got that doo-doo. We got that shit. We got that shit. We got that doo-doo. We got that doo-doo. We got that shit. We got that shit.

We got that doo-doo. We got that doo-doo. We got that shit. We got that shit. We got that doo-doo. We got that doo-doo. We got that doo-doo We got that shit We got that doo-doo We got that shit We'll be right back. We got that shit. We got that shit. We got that doo-doo. We got that doo-doo. We got that shit. We got that shit. It would be ridiculous to think that we are new to this.

But we do this. This is what we do. It would be preposterous not to rock to this. Like hippopotamus or rhinoceros. Why not, sir? Rhinoceros Rhinoceros DJ She's a DJ She's a DJ She's a DJ She's a DJ

She's a DJ She's a DJ She's a DJ She's a DJ She's a DJ Ludicrous to think that we are fearless Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, It's been Thank you. It would be ridiculous to think that we are doing this. We do this. We do this. We do this. It would be ridiculous. Ridiculous.

Do it to the top Oh, we do do this A day in Spain Can't get out till the day is right Pumpin' like we knew they would Do this Pumpin' like we knew they would do this Pumpin' like we knew they would do this Just what to do when they say to do it, do this Done that, got the t-shirt I'm not alone I'm not alone

I'm not alone I'm not alone I'm not alone I'm not alone I'm not alone I'm not alone I'm not alone I'm not alone

I'm not alone I'm not alone I'm not alone Oh, we do this. Oh, we do this. Oh, we do this. Shit. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Jolene, Jolene, Jolene is gone And she left, and she left with the right to be wrong Jolene is gone Jolene Play on, Jolene

DJ Jolene DJ Jolene Play on girl We do this Oh we do this This here We do this Doing the others

That you and I We do this. Doing to others as you would have. Then you do to you this. This is the thing, Jane. Please play. The trumpet. I do. You really want to do this. When we do what we do to this.

That's what we tell you. You want to do this. Then we tell you You know you love this And you would have a thing to do this Do this Do this Do this Do this Do this

Got that doodoo Got that shit We got that shit We got that doodoo We got that shit Got that shit. Got that doo-doo. Yeah. That's my favorite thing in the world. I swear to God, I sing it in my sleep.

Nice. So that was off of the new album. That last song you just heard was Jolene. Not to be confused with Donnie Parton. Danny, you said while we were in the break there that Sly was on six of the songs. Sly is on six

of the songs on the new album. That's fucking crazy. Is that the first time that Sly has ever been on an album with Funkadelic? No, actually he was in the band in the late 70s and early 80s. What? In fact, one of your favorite albums, Electric Spanking a War Baby, he's all over that. No shit.

Funk Gets Stronger. Really? He's on both of those. That's fucking amazing. Yep. Oh, I love that. Singing and playing. Oh, damn, I feel like a real stupid fucker.

No, he's going through some hard times lately. Is he doing all right now? I think he's doing a lot better now. I mean, the fact that he's on an album, and George was very instrumental in helping get him out and doing things because he's still got a lot to say. I mean, there's one song on this album that blows my mind every time I hear it. So I'm still very much, and it's one of the ones he wrote.

What song is that? If I Didn't Love You. It's amazing. I mean, Sly has a very specific way of writing a song. And I think as a keyboard player and a funk guy, I have stupid respect for him because he just changed the way that people arrange songs

and record them. He's got his own way of recording. It's really deep. He's a really eccentric character. And George has always been a big fan of Sly, right? Huge fan of Sly. I remember once you were in college, Danny was teaching me about funk. Because I knew a little bit, and he knew, like, he could see that I loved it, you know? But, like, and he was just like, he kind of just tutored me for, like, three years on

funk. And he gave me, one of the first albums you gave me was There's a Riot Going On. Nice. And when you gave it to me, you're like, this is George's favorite album. Yeah, I think it is George's favorite. It's definitely his favorite Sly album. It might be one of his favorite albums of all time. It's definitely one of his favorite albums of all time. And the way you described it to me was perfectly

put, it's depressing funk. Yeah. It's a sad funk, which is a weird thing to exist. You know, it doesn't make much sense, but I picked a song off of this called Just Like a Baby. I want everyone, we're going to play a couple Sly songs here, and I just want, you know, it doesn't make much sense, but I picked a song off of this called Just Like a Baby. I want everyone, we're going to play a couple of Sly songs here.

And it's one of the little lesser known songs. You know, they're popular, but you should know about these and get in there. And there's a lot of Sly that you think you know, but you don't know. Yeah. All right. So this first song we're going to listen to is Just Like a Baby and it's off of Riot going on. Let's hear some of this, Marcus.

Such a smooth opening. Yeah. God, I just want to fuck one of you right now. Just like a baby Just like a baby All right. That's some smooth shit. All right. And then we're going to keep on moving, which is a cover by Sly and the Family Stone off of the album Fresh.

Now, I'm not sure if this was originally on the album. Yeah. Or it was. Yeah. It was originally on the album. Because I know there's some bonus tracks on here that are pretty fucking great, but they might just be remastered songs. Maybe.

This is such a great album. It's got Babies making babies Stuff like that You guys gotta check out this album It's the one of Slide doing a karate kick on the cover So get out there This one's all fresh Everyone listen to Que Sera Sera

Oscar winning song sung by Doris Day Whatever will be, will be, will be. We'll be. We'll be. We'll be. We'll be. We'll be. We'll be. We'll be. We'll be. We'll be. We'll be.

We'll be. We'll be. We'll be. We'll be. Oh, my future's not ours to see. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Kisara. Kisara. Kisara. I tell you, man, a few years ago, I was living off of the M train.

Mm-hmm. And it was one of the most worst, oppressive parts of my life. And I was listening to a lot of Sly ago, I was living off of the M train. It was one of the most worst, oppressive parts of my life. I was listening to a lot of Sly and the Family Stones. What stop? The Central Stop on the M. Absolutely awful neighborhood in Bushwick. Just listening to the song and looking out over all these fucking horrible burnout houses and all the pigeon coops on the roofs. I just remember listening to this and just thinking thinking it's going to be okay, man.

It's all going to be alright. Not for those pigeons though. Everything's going to work out, man. Just fucking get through it. Get out of this fucking place. Everything will be cool. Love this fucking jam.

Alright, so we know Sly now. We've heard two of these songs here they're both kind of slow uh that isn't necessarily what sly is known for sure so i wanted to play something that really fucking kicks and everyone knows everything off of uh those other albums you know off of stand and all that stuff i wanted to play a song off of the album life it's the first song on the album it's's called Dynamite. Man, listen to the way this thing kicks off. It's so fucking powerful. I love playing it at the Murderfish shows. Check it out. Dynamite

with an explanation point. This plane, she's so together and nice Yeah Miss Plain I got to see her twice Miss Plain I like the way she moves Honeybub

When I went down she turned on the light Made my heart beat dynamite Dynamite, dynamite, dynamite ¶¶ Beautiful tan. Miss Clean. Straight to my head. Miss Clean. I remember what she said. This is Miss Clean. What a bad motherfucker, man. Love him so much. Yeah. motherfucker, man.

Love him so much. Yeah. Oh, man. You know, I'm so mad at myself. I never got into those first two albums until recently. And this is off the third album. Yeah. But those first two albums are fucking crucial.

My favorite is the first one. Oh, my God. A whole new thing. I love it. Love it. I fucking love it. Yes. All right.

But now we want to move on. I want to talk about, there's funk. We've been talking about how funk is an American institution and how it was mostly created here, but also other countries have picked it up, and Marcus brought to my attention some crazy shit. Go ahead. Take it away, buddy.

Yeah, man, I found this compilation of all Soviet funk. It's not just Russian funk. This is Soviet-era 1970s breadlines funk. It's not just Russian funk. This is Soviet era 1970s bread lines funk. Second world. So basically if the guitarist died, another guy comes in, picks up the guitar, just starts playing.

That's industrial. And really like this compilation that I have, I have to kind of choose a song at random because all the song titles and all the artists, it's all Cyrillic. So I have no idea what any of it says. All I know is that one looks like yak nink, possibly. So Cyrillic, that's like toasted clay? No, that's ceramic.

All right, keep going, keep going, keep going. So I just kind of have, and they use the term funk pretty broadly in this. No, that's ceramic. Oh, all right. Keep going, keep going, keep going. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just kind of have, and they use the term funk pretty broadly in this. It's like some of the songs are like, oh, it's got a wah pedal on it. Oh, that's funk. Okay. But yeah, I'm just going to pick one at random that we can listen to here. These are the Polish guys?

No, this is Soviet. Oh, okay. No, this is Soviet. Oh, okay. Now, Danny, how much flute do you hear in people? Sometimes. Sometimes there's some flute. Depends on who's playing them.

Would you guys really make fun? If you guys hired a flute player, you basically hire them just to make fun of them. No. Usually the sax player plays flute. Oh, okay. If he's going to, if somebody's going to play flute. If someone's playing the flute. It's the sax guy. Not hiring no fucking flute guy.

Flutist. It's pretty fucking good, though, you know? It is good. I like it. Yeah. Danny, you played a lot of shows in Russia, right? Yeah, yeah. A lot of shows.

Moscow, St. Petersburg, with my band and with George. What's up with the crowds out there? How is it? They're huge, actually. And, you know, I'm really surprised as to the amount of people in these, like, not exotic, but just very un-American countries that tend to really like funk to the point of having a lot of funk bands. Russia, there's a whole bunch of funk bands that I work with.

One called Clone. They're incredible. Incredible. But there's a whole bunch of them. Urban Funk Army, Felix Lahoudi, Funkyland. I can go on and on. There's a bunch of like... And to be honest with them, not to dog our own people, but a lot of them are funkier than most of the young American bands I've seen.

Yeah? Yeah. Wow. Than some American funk seen. Yeah? Yeah. Wow. Than some American funk bands. That's amazing. I mean, I think what we have in America, and possibly the reason why those bands over there are a little more funk, because I think in America, we're spoiled for choice as far as genres go. Yes.

We can listen to, like, I can play you 50 different genres right now. At the touch of a button. At the touch of a button. Yeah. But out there in, say, Russia, they don't have that same... Two genres! Two genres!

You've got funk, you've got piano, and fish. Damn it! Yeah, man, they specialize! They specialize like a motherfucker! It's like, I listen to funk because I've got,

like, say, Gogo Bordello. Like, that guy, he grew up in the Ukraine, and he said all he had to listen to was, like, one reel-to-reel of Search and Destroy. And that was it. So he just sat there and listened to Search and Destroy over and over and over again. But he also heard a lot of that traditional Eastern European stuff. So by the time he got, you know, a band together, that's what it was. It was gypsy punk. Right.

Yeah. So I think these people, like, they are just very focused on what they got. And they got it so much later in the game that it was like, you know, when the Iron Curtain fell, so to speak, a lot of the Soviet bloc was getting some American music for the first time. Yeah. So they've only had the funk since, say, the 90s. That's amazing.

It's still very underground. That's fucking scary. It's fucking scary. There's good funk bands in Japan and funk bands in Australia and New Zealand and France and the Netherlands and England and Argentina and Chile. I want to play some Polish funk right now.

Tight as shit, man. Stupid people good at math. I like this more than the Russians. Oh, yeah. The Polish are better than the Russians. I'm mostly Polish. That might be why it speaks to me. Yeah, this whole thing is just just called Polish Fungus.

Fantastic compilation, man. I can't believe he got an accordion to sound like that. More flutes. They love them. It's all Eastern European. Yeah, they got flutes! They love them. It's all Eastern European. Yeah, they got flutes in there. They're just trying to get the rats out of the studio. I gotta get you...

I gotta get you this compilation called Heavy Flute. Oh, I love it. That it's all, like, funky flute shit. But it's, like, really intense flute shit. It's really good, man. Yeah, we play in Warsaw sometimes, too. They're definitely funky. They got the funk over there. Did you ever go to a concentration camp?

Oh my god. I don't even know. Now, what is funkier? Auschwitz or Bergen-Belsen? You ever play Auschwitz? You and George ever play Auschwitz? Arbyt marked both. Dachau in the spring is beautiful.

Oh, yeah. Well, that's some Polish funk right there. God, I don't think I could have disgraced it worse. It was funky. I liked it. It had a little thing on it. Oh, I loved it. I thought it was phenomenal.

Yeah, definitely. Oh, it's great stuff, man. Now, Danny, this is very confusing to a lot of people. You've taught me this a million times, but, you know, the people out here can't hear my brain. So I'm going to have you go into it intensely as you would like. Okay. What is, there's Parliament, there's Funkadelic, there's P-Funk, P-Funk All Stars. What's going on?

So it's all essentially the same group of musicians over a really protracted period of time. Yeah, it's everyone's. Yeah, it's the same cat. Same cats. All George as the producer, George as the leader, the band leader, the ring leader, the referee. You know, it's all his stuff. But like I was saying before, Funkadelic is a little more revolutionary. They kind of skated on the black rock thing for a long time.

There was always a joke that that they were too white for blacks and too black for whites. They actually caught fame first in England, right? Yeah, Funkadelic had a lot of, yeah, in the UK, but also in black America, like in Detroit, but also in white America in the colleges. So it was like specific scenes where they started picking up first. Whereas Parliament, another entity, but the same members, also George, was a little more horn

and vocal dominated funk R&B, the hit machine, if you will. Now Funkadelic had some hits, especially later, but Parliament had more hits. Parliament was more the hit maker. And also very meaningful music and lyrics, but sometimes a little less revolutionary,

a little bit more about the party, maybe. Then you've got like P-Funk is just sort of, you can just, P-Funk is like the genre or the sub-genre. A lot of people pretty much maintain that P-Funk is its own genre, separate from funk, related maybe, but separate. I could totally see that. A lot of people say that.

So P-Funk is just sort of Parliament Funkadelic or Pure Funk, which is like the other terminology for it, the Pure Funk, Uncut Funk. The Bomb. The Bomb. But, you know, P-Funk All Stars was started after the 70s when they lost the rights to use the band's names in contractual, you know, legality stuff. And so they started using the P-Funk All-Stars

and touring under that name. Okay. But it was still basically all the guys from Parliament Funkadelic. So the band has evolved over time. George has used a number of different, and then there's, I mean, side projects galore. Everybody in the band has a couple bands.

Yeah. And most of them work with George as well on the side. How many people are in the band right now? Touring? Like touring in the band right now? Yeah. How many people are playing at BB King's tonight? Oh, at BB King's tonight, maybe 25.

25 musicians and singers? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, about that. It's like two bass players, two keyboard players, two drummers, three guitarists, two horns, players, two drummers, three guitarists, two horns, and then like, I don't know, 10 or 12 or 14 singers. So there's like three seconds of silence in the whole show. Yeah, nice. So people are just rotating out the entire time, or is everyone on stage all at once?

There are periods where everybody's on stage, for sure. But it really has to do with what George, like everybody has specific parts. It looks like a big chaotic thing, but it's really a lot more you know, concentrated. Yeah, let me ask you about that. Everyone says, you know, James Brown's

style as far as arranging and orchestrating, very famous. Like, if a guy fucked up, he was off stage. So how does George take care of that? arranging and orchestrating, very famous. Like, if a guy fucked up, he was offstage. He was fined. Yeah, fined. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So how does George take care of that? Like, what's his approach to that sort of thing?

So people who have played with both of them, and there's a lot of guys who have, who've played with James and George, always like to make this distinction. And I think that the distinction is mostly made because of physical appearance, A, and what everybody is supposed to believe, B. And I think that that has to do with, like, they always say,

oh, James Brown was really strict, which he was. But George kind of lets you do what you want, which he kind of does. But where that kind of is gray. The outfits, definitely. The outfits, definitely. So on the physical, you know, it's come as you are, wear what you want, act how you want on stage. That, he was never as stringent as James.

I love that. I was just watching. It's like, oh, no one says no. No one says no. It's like, I'm going to dress like a chic. All right. You know, have a good time. That works, yeah.

Nobody's going to ever complain. Yeah, that's the last thing anybody would complain about. But the music, the funny thing about it is I think musically, and granted I can only speak for my era and what I know of the history of the band, but I've been in the band 12 years now, and I can state that George is also one of these pretty stringent band director dudes who knows exactly what he wants and knows how to get that out of his musicians better than almost anybody else in the world.

And what I think a lot of people don't realize, but I heard Questlove speak on this in an interview once, said how James Brown and George Clinton's band members had some of the hardest jobs in the history of American music. And it's because, okay, yeah, our band director doesn't... He's not in a... Well, he's in a suit now, I guess, but he's not making us wear suits too and not making us da-da-da. But he knows exactly what he wants in the parts of the songs, and he's very strict about how those are supposed to be.

He's very strict about who plays on what songs, what parts. And at least in my early years, he was not averse to fining himself. So he also comes from that fine, throw the hand up, 5, 10, 15, 20, whatever you want to call that. Yeah, but all bands do that. All bands do that? I mean, I'm just basing this off of documentaries I've seen and shit like that, but if some people fuck up, you get fined.

Some bands, especially I've noticed in black American music, they've been really strict band leaders, Like, what's my man's name? Y'all are going to make a joke about it. Ike Turner. Ike Turner. Yo, man. He's really hard on his band members. Yeah, man.

New York Post. Not just the singers. New York Post, when he died, Ike Turner can't beat death. That was the headline. Damn. I will never forget that. I never like, wow. But it was just sum up.

First of all, I turned it created rock and roll. Nice. But yeah, I mean, that's an example. Rick James, he also was really hard on his band in a way that maybe George isn't. And that George will hear your idea. So George is more democratic in that way. And he also depends on the energy and the strength and vitality

of the people he puts around him. He's a smart, brilliant producer who knows what he wants to have sound. So in that same way as James Brown, in a lot of ways, he is like that. Maybe not as strict on the outset. Maybe not as strict looking. But definitely musically, he is very strict when it comes to what he wants to hear. Man, that's cool as shit.

Yeah. Thanks. And we never know what we're going to play. He just tells us right before the show, like right before the show, oh, we're starting with this. Tell them. And then as each song ends, he tells us what the next one is going to be. How many songs are in the P-Funk catalog?

Tens of thousands So you can pick any song And you have to know it Yeah, you just gotta figure it out At least live, it's one thing I can say That I love about you guys No song I've ever heard sounds the same Then there's that, right?

Because there's different ways everybody played it over the years Next year we'll be celebrating our 60th year as a band. Yeah, doesn't Funkadelic have the record for the longest serving? P-Funk in general. Yeah, in general. Yeah, I think so. Longest running American band with the band director still alive. Yeah.

And probably the biggest discography of any single musical group, musical unit. I'm not going to say band because it's like a multitude of bands, but any like circle of musicians, they're probably, we're like the biggest discography. That's fucking bananas. Thank you. I just can't believe that you did this, that many songs that you have to choose or that he has to choose from. I mean, granted, the hardcore fans want to hear the rarer, the better.

Yeah. But the majority of people coming to the shows want to hear like 16 certain songs. Yeah. So like in various, you know, he really doesn't care what other people think. He's going to do what he's going to do. But, you know, depending on the crowd, the demographic, because our demographic changes drastically from city to city and country to country, continent to continent. So he look at it, engage it, and be like, okay, this is more, say, an older black crowd and we're in the South.

Okay, we have to start with a hit and we have to kind of maintain hits throughout. More Parliament than Funkadelic and hits like Atomic Dog or Not Just Knee Deep, Flashlight, 1A, as many of those type of songs as possible. Give up the funk and a good order for it. Then we could play at a college and maybe play one hit, if that. You never know. We could open with Maggot Brain, which is this guitar opus that's like 13 minutes long or whatever.

So it really depends on A, his mood, B, the way the demographic seems like it's going to be and also who we're playing with that night. Who we're dabbled with. Now, we were talking about Down South for, you know, you're just using as a reference, but one of the

most interesting things you told me is how I'm a big Skinner fan. And that's like when you were getting me into P-Funk, I was like, Danny, we gotta listen to Skinner. We gotta listen to Skinner. And I remember you were telling me how Sweet Home Alabama is this P-Funk song or Funkadelic song off of Cosmic Slop, Can't Stand the Strain. It follows the exact same arrangement. Now, can you explain it?

Go into the details before we hear it. Okay, so the version we're going to hear is from 1973, but the music itself was written far further back than that. It was written originally for a song called Whatever Makes My Baby Feel Good by George Clinton, Rose Williams, and Funkadelic. That was the name of the... It was before any funkadelic album, too. It was like 1968.

So the original music was written at least in 68. At least. Okay. Then this version, they used lyrics from another song called Can't Stand the Strain, and they turned it into this new version of Can't Stand the Strain. So in a way, George sampled himself. Okay.

Okay, before sampling even existed. He was redoing his songs, combining the music from one and the lyrics from another, and creating a new song. He did that with Can You Get to That also. He did redoing his songs, combining the music from one and the lyrics from another and creating a new song. He did that with Can You Get To That also. He did that with a lot of songs. The Goose, Can You Get To That, Red Hot Mama, All Your Goodies Are Gone, Testify, tons of songs. And so

I don't know what year Sweet Home Alabama came out or when they wrote it for sure. I'm pretty sure it was 75 or 76. Okay, so it's definitely these songs are precursors to that. And they definitely follow the exact same musical part. It's like the same music. So it's interesting to see how many bands have been influenced by Funkadelic.

Led Zeppelin, Chili Peppers like we talked about, Rage Against the Machine, people we don't always know about. Not to mention all of hip hop. All of hip hop. Erykah Badu, D'Angelo. I mean, all these people that were heavily influenced by Funkadelic music. And I think there's also quite a few rock bands, quite a few white rock bands, especially in the 70s, that would go to the shows and were super influenced by it.

Yeah. Just learning what these do. All right. So let's hear by Leonard Skinner, Sweet Home Alabama. Sweet Home Alabama. of me What for, baby? This old heart is not in shame This old heart couldn't stand this pain This old man is gonna say

You're taking your love away away I'm losing you I don't know why Tell me what can I do I don't want no sympathy Just to hold on to you. Diggy baby, love is worth it, so unfair, to make love without a kiss. I don't know what I'll get lost, make me deserve this. baby a little heart is not in shape oh no

a little heart can stand the strain this old man is going insane don't do it don't take your love away don't do it, don't do it, don't take your love away Mama, don't take your love away Don't do it, don't do it, don't take your love away

Don't do it, don't do it, don't take your love away Mama, don't do it, don't do it, don't take your love away Mama, don't take your love away Don't do it, don't do it, don't take your love away Don't do it, don't do it Don't take your love away Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

Everybody sing! Don't do it! Don't do it! Don't take your love away! Don't do it! Don't do it! Don't take your love away! Don't do it!

Don't do it! Don't take your love away. Don't do it, don't do it, don't take your love away. Don't do it, don't do it, don't take your love away. Don't take your love away. Don't do it, don't take your love away. Don't do it, don't take your love away. All right, Can't Stand the Strain by Funkadelic. That shit. Nasty.

Is nasty. Yeah. Ain't nothing before you but thang, baby. Oh, woo. I love that. When you describe, that's a song off of Osmium, right? Osmium, yeah. I love when you were describing it.

I'm like, what is thang? You're like, what is thang, Danny? Thang is like, it could be, you know, a part of a woman's body, you know, and there's nothing before you but thang. I mean, talk about a good thing, you know what I mean? And they talk about, but they even say at the end, like sort of they're mentioning the transcendence of it because they talk good thing, bad thing, old thing, new thing.

It's all relative to what you are considering the thang to be. It could be something really good or really bad, just like funk. It could be something really good or really bad, and bad doesn't always mean bad in a bad way either. Like that's a bad motherfucker. That should be a horrible thing. Right, exactly. That should be terrible.

So there's a lot of transcendence in the lyrics, but that's how I've always looked at it. Here I am, and I'm out here among them. There's nothing before me but thang. Out here among them. It's like, damn. All I picture is like a hundred booties in some dude's face. You know what I mean?

I'm out here, I am, and I'm out here among them. It's like, damn. But it could mean even more serious things than that, too. You know what I mean? There's nothing before me but thang. It could be like a thang that's really hanging over you that you can't get away from. You know what I mean? Whatever that might be.

Fuck yeah, man. Yeah. Osmium, that's an album you turned me on to. That is also one that's a little more difficult to find. Yeah, probably. Especially the full one, right? There's one that's like seven songs, and then there's one that's like 19 songs. Yeah, exactly.

That's the one to get. Yeah. If you like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones and you haven't really heard funk yet, you should get Osmium. Yeah. Because it's just so diverse. So many songs on that album I play for people and they have no idea. You couldn't guess.

You could never guess it was P-Funk. You could never guess in a million years. There's bagpipes and psychedelic rock. Well, not that they didn't do a lot of psychedelic rock. It's a song about a tugboat, right? Yeah. The Silent Boatman. Silent Boatman. Yeah, yeah. But you know what that's about't do a lot of psychedelic rock. It's a song about a tugboat, right? Yeah, the Silent Boatman. Silent Boatman. Yeah, yeah. But you know what that's about?

Just a dude who can't talk? No, it's about after you die. You know in Greek mythology, the boatman who takes you to Hades? Over the River Styx. The River Styx. That's what it's about. I'm waiting for the Silent Boatman to carry me across the unknown waters. Fuck yeah, man.

Have your coins. Okay. There you go. Oh, man. And also, before we start talking about Secret Army and your solo work, what is your favorite P-Funk album right now? What are you jamming? Let's Take It to the Stage by Funkadelic. Always been that, right?

Yeah. It's been. Man, that is the funniest of all the albums, if you ask me. As far as comedy goes, from a comedian standpoint. Oh, yeah, the title track is George making fun of all the other funk bands. Yeah. And he was hoping that a lot of the other guys would, like, jump in the game and hit him back. And most of them didn't.

They either took it personally, didn't notice, or just ignored it or whatever. And he was like, man, come on, you motherfuckers, come and say something. Yeah, just roasted him a little bit. That's what it was supposed to be. It was a roast. It's straight up a roast. Way before hip hop, way before all that,

but definitely after the period of the great friars' roasts, it was in that style. You know what I mean? I love it. From a street perspective, but totally in that style. And I just love that album. I think every song on that album is genius.'s it's everything P-Funk's supposed to be the silly songs are actually serious the serious songs are actually silly the you know

what I mean like it's the silly seriousness of P-Funk in in all of its splendor I want to put my stuff in your stuff I want to do things to your stuff yeah stuffs and thangs and thangs and stuff's. Yeah. I want to do things to your stuff. You'll hear that tonight probably. Oh, yeah? Probably. Stuff your stuff with mine.

Yeah. We do that one a lot. That's a beast. Yeah, man. And shit goddamn. What's the name of it? Get off your ass and jam. Get off your ass and jam, man. It's amazing.

That is a murder fist staple. Oh, nice. Yeah, we play that at almost every show, man. That is the party song. I love the weird guitar solo it starts off with. I know. Just for no reason. It's like, oh, okay, song, little beat, little beat, guitar solo.

It's fucking cool as shit. It's a great album. Like you were saying before, it's hard to pick a favorite, but the album, ever since I first got it, that has remained my favorite P-Funk album. Really? So where it's hard to say favorite song, it's really hard for me to say favorite song, because the songs are all so different, but album, by far. You know, I would have to say the same thing happened to me, and you were the one who gave

me my first P-Funk album that wasn't a greatest hit. What was it? Maggot Brain. Oh, wow. Yeah, I thought you'd like that. Yeah, you were the one that gave me Maggot Brain, my first album. Which is still my favorite to this day. Nice.

It's a lot of people's favorites. I mean, it's just so fucking smooth. Yeah. Super Stupid is my favorite on that album. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And Wars of Armageddon. I love that. Why did you even make that song?

What, Wars of Armageddon? Yeah, it's like the 18-minute musical interpretation of the world from beginning to finish. Yeah, from beginning to end. And then they resuscitate it at the end. The world dies, and then they resuscitate it, and the heartbeat comes back, and the song comes back in and fades out. More power to the pussy. More poopy to the peep. Pussy to the peep.

Power to the peep. Peep to the eater. Right on. Yeah. We actually did that live a couple times, believe it or not. What? Even with all the vocals and stuff, where each one of us was like, Shut that goddamn kid up. I'm crying. God damn it. live a couple times, believe it or not. What? Even with all the vocals and stuff. Where each one of us was like, shut that goddamn kid up.

I'm crying. God damn it. Like all the little like. I can't feel me. Yeah. All of that is like in it. It's in the song. So we did it live a couple times.

It was dope. That's amazing, man. Humboldt County. Humboldt. That's where we did it. That's where you're supposed to do it. That's where you play Wars of Armageddon. Yeah.

For the weed farmers. And Marcus, do you have a favorite? Oh, yeah, you just said. Oh, yeah, Maggot Brain. Maggot Brain. Definitely, man. That's an awesome album. Oh, man.

Yeah, can you get to that? Me and your folks. Everyone get out there and discover these Funkadelic albums and Parliament albums. There are so many amazing albums that you don't even know. I've been studying this shit for 15 years now, and I still don't know all of it. Right. So just get in there. Just dive in deep.

Your mind will expand into a fucking infinity. Yes. And then you also, I want to talk about your solo work right here before we go, Danny. Cool. Now, you have your own albums out by Danny Bedrosian,

and then you also have Daniel Bedrosian in The Secret Army. Correct. Now, what is the difference between that? Okay, so the ones that are just in my name alone, I guess, are my solo albums, quote-unquote. But they're as much solo albums as George's solo albums are. So it's not like I only do myself. I have other people on them as well.

But maybe the focus is a little different. Maybe the concept is a little different or whatever. Now, there's one I did where it was all just me called Serimistic. I did that one all just me. But for the most part, it's just a different focus. Secret Army is my band, and so we also do Secret Army releases. And it's made up of myself and the drummer, Ben Cowan,

and the bass player, Lodge Curry, from P-Funk. So when we're not with George, we do our own tours with Secret Army, and we play all over the world as well, Australia and Russia and all over the U.S. So that's something that we do on the off days, quote-unquote the off days. But we have six or seven albums out now with Secret Army,

and then I have three or four solo albums in addition. So I think the next one that's coming will either be my 10th or 11th album in my name. Slow down. I can't. I can't do it. I have a lot of trouble with that. There's always something coming out. Take a vacation. I can't do it. I have a lot of trouble with that. You know, there's always something coming out.

You know, like, take a vacation. I don't know how. It was Thanksgiving yesterday. You drove across the eastern seaboard. Exactly. This is how I spend my Thanksgiving. I left at 10 a.m. from Florida to New Jersey. Tallahassee.

From Tallahassee. And we arrived at Edison, New Jersey this morning at 9.30 a.m. God, damn. 23 and a half hours. I slept for three hours, and then I came here and met you beautiful people. And you're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, man. That's right. Man, he's going to be nuts tonight.

I'll tell you that, man. It's going to be fun. And so what are we going to listen to? We're going to listen to a song off your new album? Yeah. We're going to do one off the new Secret Army album called Endangered. It's the title track. And you get to hear the trio, the three of us, myself and Lodge and Benzel, playing together,

which is great. And then another one I think we're doing off my newest solo album, Songs for a Better Tomorrow. The song is called Clam Dunk. I love Clam Dunk. I picked Clam Dunk. It's about eating pussy. I was like, the second time I listened to it, I was just like, this song's about eating pussy. Clam Dunkin'.

Dunkin' for clams. Slamming the jam around. Well played, Mr. Bedroom. And it is a smooth motherfucker. I love it. You hear it. It sounds like sex. Nice.

It's great, man. I can't wait. I'm going to actually, I might use it tonight. Okay, cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Beautiful. I'll let you know. I'll text you in the middle.

Let me know how it goes. Let me know how it goes. Oh, cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Beautiful. I'll let you know. I'll text you in the middle. Let me know how it goes. In the middle. Oh, yeah. But P-Funk is on tour right now? We are. We're doing just a small promotional tour in promotion of the new Funkadelic album. Cool. First, you got to shake the gate.

And just a few dates. We're doing today in New York at BB King's, tomorrow at New Haven, Toad's Place, and then Ram's Head in Baltimore the next day. Cool. And then you're going back to Tallahassee, taking a break? Taking about a month, which is a really long time for us to be off. So I'm really happy to be at my home and at my studio and all that stuff.

So everyone gets Christmas off. Everybody pretty much gets Christmas off. That's nice. Yeah, it is nice. That is great. I like to hear that. December is the wine down time, so I'll do a lot of studio work,

booking shows, and some piano gigs and things like that. That's super cool, man. Thank you. And then, you know, thank you, Marcus, man. Thanks for coming in

on your day off, buddy. I appreciate it. Yeah, no problem at all, man. It was a fucking great time. Hell yeah. I love it. All right, and so let's hear these.

We're going to hear Endangered by Danny Bedrosian and Secret Army and Clam Dunk by Danny Bedrosian. Thank you so and Clam Dunk by Danny Bedrosian. Thank you so much, buddy, for stopping by. Thank you, guys. I love you with all my heart.

Love you, too, man. Much love. And that's it until the next time. Every time Danny's in town, we're going to fucking do this shit. Yeah. Why not? What else are we doing? Right.

All right. Funk will never die. Free your mind and your ass will follow. The kingdom of heaven is within. Oof. I'll see you guys later. You ain't got no love for me You just love my rampage I'm an angel, not a stranger

Engineered for being lost in time My DNA I want angel, angel Ooh, don't love me I'm just a danger I, I Ooh, don't love me I'm just a danger

You don't love me I'm just a danger guitar solo Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. okay Oh, yeah. Clam dunkin', slammin' with glam Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, okay ***