Falling For The Funk

Thursday February 21st, 2008 - Milwaukee, WI

Life on Earth is pleasure and pain. Today I felt them both. I drove up to Milwaukee for the George Clinton show at The Rave. That’s the pleasure part. The pain came when as I was crossing the street to attend the show I slipped on some ice and went down as fast as Hillary’s chances in the election. I went ‘ass over tea kettle’ as my grandma used to say.

There’s something inherently funny about someone falling down even when it’s me. It’s my nature as a comedian to laugh at it and I laid there laughing but wanting to cry as well. It REALLY hurt and all I could do was pick myself up and keep walking. There were two people who came to see if I was ok and one of them was a midget. That was even funnier.

It was very cold out and ice was everywhere. The patch I slipped on was hidden under a coating of snow and wasn’t easy to see. I slammed my elbow badly and landed flat on my back with a big thud. I guess it could have been worse but I was immediately sore for the rest of the night. I caught my breath and limped into the club to get my ticket at will call.

I received an email from George’s manager saying my ticket would be waiting so I went to the window to pick it up. Of course the young girl working there with six rings pierced into her lip couldn’t find it and was a complete idiot. Her coworker was either high or just plain stupid and I’d bet on both. Finally I just gave up trying and paid for my own ticket.

George has always put on great shows and if I have to pay one more time I’m not angry. I know I’ll get in for free the next time and I hadn’t seen him in a while so I just did it so I could get in and forget about my pain for a while. That’s what good entertainment does.

The show was supposed to start at 8 but the band didn’t get on until 9:15. George didn’t get on until almost 10:00 but when he did it was off the hook even more than usual. Wow were they hot tonight - even funkier than usual. The band was tight and George was loose and the crowd was into it and I must say out of all the shows I’ve seen this was up there.

The energy of the band working as a unit is what always impresses me. There were a lot of parts that came together to make a single show that was dead on the whole night. There were guitar solos and a horn section and they played hit after hit without a break. They are nothing short of amazing when they’re on and tonight they tore the roof off the sucker.

I’m not even angry that I had to pay for this one. It was worth every penny. George still has it and he’s pushing 70 years old. I sure hope I can do shows when I’m that age. He’s a legend and any time I can see a legend I do it because there’s always something to learn. I watched George run the show and work the crowd and I sat back and enjoyed all of it.

I talked to James Wesley Jackson on the phone today. He used to open for them back in the 70s. I was hoping he would go with me and he wanted to but couldn’t do it this time. I always love to hear James tell stories about working with the band and next time I’m sure we’ll get back stage and I’ll get to hear some more. I can’t get enough of that funky stuff.