What follows is a series I've been asked to write in my official capacity as The Ambassador of Funk for the Krewe of Fat Banker. Stay tuned for further installments:
What is Funk? Funk is a sound, a feeling, a motion. It can also be described as something nasty or bad, something that doesn't smell right, but only in the vernacular of the people who, when they say something is so good they say "That's bad!!!". However, it's also so much deeper than that. We will go into the history of Funk on another occasion, but for the purposes of this overview let me describe how I personally found out what Funk actually was.
I grew up in a musical world that was dominated by Heavy Metal aggression and depressing "woe is me!" singer songwriters. While I am sure they both deserve their place in the pantheon (I still like to bang my head on occasion! LOL) I always felt that those styles just added to the mountains of negativity that we face every day already. And even the happy feel good pop music seemed a little on the corny side for my tastes.
Then one day, it happened. While listening to some suitably heavy music with some friends I accidentally pushed play on the wrong cassette player (remember those?) Someone, (probably as a joke) had put a "Best of the Jackson 5" tape in there. Out of the speakers that had been blaring Metallica and Alice in Chains came the unmistakable sound of "I Want You Back". I was transfixed at the stereo. More incredibly, though, when I was able to turn around, I saw all of my heavy metal, doom and gloom brothers and sisters up off the couch and..."DANCING!!!"LOL. These were cats who definitely did "NOT" boogie! And even though they were most likely fooling around and making fun of it and themselves, what I realized is that the music, the groove of the music, made them do two important things. One, they knew that they were supposed to dance, and two, for one minute, they forgot who they were (or who they were supposed to be) and could laugh, smile, boogie and groove! That doesn't happen with all music. I witnessed the same thing riding with you all on the parade route. When The Funky Tucks came rolling down the street I saw all manners and types of people get out of their chairs, forget what it was that they were doing and start dancing. Even if they didn't recognize the song or group, they forgot their troubles and problems for that brief magical moment that happens only when we get out of our own way and let our true selves, our souls, shine through. And that is something worth talking about...
That's all for now, so,
Until...
We Meet...
Again!