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The
Mothership Lands
in
Farmingdale
George
Clinton
and
the P. Funk All-Stars
w/ HYJINX
3/12/06 @ The Crazy
Donkey
By Brian Weinstein
The name “George
Clinton” is synonymous with heavy bass, beat-centered
funk, and a hairstyle that rivals a Crayola box for the
sheer number of colors. And while George Clinton’s
name was front and center on the marquee at The Crazy Donkey,
it was his band—the P. Funk All-Stars—that made
the show a party worth attending.
Following a strong 45-minute
set from Long Island-based funk/rock septet Hyjinx (www.hyjinx.org),
George Clinton and P-Funk played for nearly two hours to
a jam-packed crowd that gave a great reception to the band’s
performance.
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However, before reviewing
P. Funk’s set, a word or two must be said about Hyjinx.
A self-described pop/rock/funk group from Long Island, Hyjinx
is a band of young musicians who create tight rhythms with
a Latin-flavored brand of rock. The band played a short,
but solid, set that did a perfect job of amping up the audience
for the headliner.
With pitch-perfect vocal harmonies
and creative horn arrangements, Hyjinx played a well-received
mix of older songs, and selections off their newly released,
self-titled debut album. Highlights of their short but sweet
set included the wah-wah-drenched “Blind Path,”
the upbeat, melodic “House of Cards,” and the
enthusiastic “More.”
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Judging by the response
of the crowd, it would not be surprising to see a packed
house when Hyjinx returns to the Crazy Donkey on April 13.
The lights went down at 9:30 for P.
Funk to take the stage, roughly 45 minutes after Hyjinx
finished their set. P. Funk rhythm guitarist Garry “Starchild”
Shider, wearing nothing but a white blazer and a diaper
(he ditched the blazer after a few songs) energized the
crowd by asking: “Y’all ready to get funkdafied?”
Soon enough, he was leading the crowd in a raucous chant
of “We…Want…The funk!” Ever happy
to oblige, the band laid down a groove so thick that you
could cut it with a knife. The crowd was easily taken over
by the band’s danceable, funky rhythms. Even though
George Clinton himself had yet to appear onstage, each member
of the audience was already a slave to the groove.
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About ten minutes into the set, Mr. Clinton himself appeared
from the back of the stage, wearing a Rocky Balboa-style sweatsuit,
with his trademark white beard and rainbow-colored hair peeking
out from underneath the hood. Bopping his head to the rhythm,
the crowd cheered wildly for Clinton as the band told them to
“Get off your ass and jam!” Soon enough, the band
was into a strong rendition of “Give Up the Funk,”
with Shider and backup singers providing excellent backup vocals.
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It was difficult for
anyone in the audience not to have a good time. At the beginning
of the set, Shider said “We’re gonna party here
all night,” and he meant it. When P. Funk comes to
town, it’s a party just by the sheer number of musicians
in the band. There were times during the set when 15+ band
members could be counted on stage, not to mention members
of the horn section that were hiding in the back. Clinton’s
official website (www.georgeclinton.com) lists 21 members
of P. Funk, and that may be a conservative estimate. Despite
the presence of a drummer, a bass player, a percussionist,
three guitars, a beat box operator and countless other musicians,
the band never missed a cue and never lost count. The fact
that so many musicians were onstage at one time was impressive;
the fact that they kept perfect time and stayed tight was
astounding.
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Strangely, there were several times during the show when Clinton
condoned a revolving-door policy in terms of the band’s
lineup. Band members would arbitrarily come onstage to play guitar,
sing backup, play with the beat box, or freestyle over the music,
and then leave just as casually as they arrived. After ten minutes
of trying to make note of each onstage switch, I gave up; it’s
impossible to keep track of the lineup, since Clinton barely takes
any time to introduce any members of his posse by name.
However, keeping track of the band’s lineup was easier
than keeping track of the setlist. Rather than playing song after
song, P. Funk played its set as one loooooong groove over the
course of two hours, rarely stopping for more than a few seconds
at a time. This method proved to serve the band’s sound
well, as the non-stop bass and drums acted as a musical heartbeat
that kept the rest of P. Funk going. Weaving in and out of fan
favorites like “Flashlight” (during which P. Funk
Dancer Carlos “Sir Nose” McMurray gyrated to the audience),
“Under the Sun,” and “Mothership Connection,”
the band acted as a multi-limbed organism hell-bent on getting
the audience to move.
Unfortunately, this organism’s
head--Mr. Clinton himself—was the weakest part of
the show. Aside from occasionally slapping the microphone
with his palm and choking out a chorus here and there with
his ravaged vocals, Clinton added very little. His voice
was all but shot, he appeared disoriented much of the time,
and his onstage command of P. Funk was shaky at best. His
eyes were closed for most of the set, and they were bleary
on the rare occasion that he opened them.
With his gray beard and his shabby
sweat suit, there were times when Clinton sadly resembled
the late Jerry Garcia during his last few years with the
Grateful Dead. Of course Clinton did not become the Master
of Funk by living a healthy, clean-cut lifestyle, but at
65 years old, his slip is showing. Despite his warm reception
from the audience, it would not be difficult to imagine
P. Funk performing the same music with the same intensity
without Clinton onstage. For Clinton himself, it is not
a good sign that he has become a peripheral member of his
own band.
Yet it was still George Clinton’s
name on the marquee, and he was the primary reason that
the Crazy Donkey was packed on Sunday night. Even if Clinton
himself no longer contributes much to the deep funk that
made him famous, it is still worth the effort to see, hear,
and groove to the P. Funk All-Stars.
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