Anyone else gonna be in the house?

 

 

I'll be crossing state lines to check this show out, this weekend at Bethesda Blues and Jazz. Yes these are the same brothas we interviewed on Soul-Patrol a on 1/17. So I will be in the house this Saturday Night with my "funk flag flying high."

 

So that part yall already know.

Now for the rest of the story (in my best Paul Harvey voice.)

I’m in the midst of dealing with (yet another) “kozmic convergence,” this time around “THA FONK.” So here is what the components are at this moment…

1. The Rick James Stone City Band Live Interview on the Soul-Patrol website

2. The Rick James Stone City Band Concert at Bethesda Blues and Jazz in Bethesda MD, I will be attending tonight.

3. I will be accompanied at the concert with my wife (“Mrs. Earthjuice”) and my daughter “Baby Earthjuice.”

4. BTW, the last time I saw the Stone City Band perform live was back in the 1990’s in Atlantic City, accompanied by “Mrs. Earthjuice.” (show was OFF THE CHAIN)

5. For those of you out there who have been keeping score “Baby Earthjuice,” is damn near 30 years old. She is a successful young college educated Black woman, with her own real estate empire, stock portfolio and sports car. (Just like the ladies you see on TV…..lol.) This however will be her very first FUNK SHOW. So expectations for the Rick James Stone City Band show are from both “Mrs. Earthjuice” and “Baby Earthjuice” are running VERY HIGH.

6. Earlier this week, “Mrs. Earthjuice” prevailed in court in a long-standing civil matter (which I won’t go into the detail of here. And of course, for those of you reading along, a large part of being a “Funkateer,” is being able to and actually saying “F*CK YOU TO THE MAN,” which is what she did this past Thursday.

7. As you also know, I am currently in the midst of reading, Dawn Silva’s damn near 600-page epic book called “THE FUNK QUEEN.” As it happened, I had a telephone conversation with Dawn yesterday afternoon. I was excited to talk with her because I have read enough of the book to develop a framework for what will ultimately become my review. Yes this book is so EPIC that even the review requires a “framework.” Part of that conversation evolved into a whole separate (yet related) conversation about just why White Amerika/US Government/Entertainment Business Moguls HAD TO MAKE SURE THAT THE FUNK CAME TO AN END. (And of course, why Black America allowed it to happen.)

8. Given the presence of “Baby Earthjuice,” at tonight’s show, the Future of the Funk, will be paramount in my mind. Generally speaking, she isn’t a Funk music fan, although she has certainly been exposed to the music and knows who Rick James & Teena Marie are. So, I will be definitely checking her reactions relative to tonight’s show, to see if she might just want to get into it a little bit deeper?

9. Btw, Dawn is looking forward to my review of tonight’s Rick James Stone City Band Concert at Bethesda Blues and Jazz in Bethesda MD, especially given that most of their gigs are on the west coast these days.

10. So now I have to “prepare for the show.” Back in the day, preparation for a show like this, usually meant sequestering myself in a “smoke/incense filled room for several hours with some good friends, loud music and a bottle of wine.” In 2023 I can assure you that none of that will be happening, except for the loud music. I have to put together a a playlist for the car, for our journey across state lines to the concert venue.

11. During the journey across state lines (bout 2 hrs) I will be keenly away of the activities of the modern-day descendants of the “slave catchers” (state & local police.) The Delaware/Maryland area is the “home area” of the great Harriet Tubman, so “slave catching” is in the blood of these police departments. Tonight, I will be traveling with a heightened sense of this, not only because I will be traveling with my family, but also because of the release last night of the video lynching of Tyre Nichols in Memphis.