In Funky Heaven

Saturday July 26th, 2008 - Chicago, IL

If I can’t be on stage doing a show on a Saturday night the only other place I’d rather be is at a George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic show. Tonight the P-Funk played at the Cubby Bear nightclub across from Wrigley Field and it was nothing less than funktacular.

I tried to count how many times I’ve seen them live and I can’t. It might be 30. It might be 40. It might be more. Any time I have a chance to catch George and the boys live I will always do it. They rarely disappoint. Some shows are better than others depending on lots of variables but tonight it was all systems go and the Mothership was flying at full speed.

This was a fantastic night on many levels. I contacted James Wesley Jackson who used to open for the band back in the 70s. He had some kind of a falling out like many of them did and it wasn’t really my business so I didn’t pursue it as I got to know James. I think it may have had to do with money but a lot of the band members have had those squabbles.

Again, that’s no business of mine. I know how hard it is keeping MY money in line so I can’t start pointing fingers at George for how he deals with it. There are a lot of people in the band and I have no idea how everyone gets paid. All I care about is hearing the funk.

I had always known James opened for them and as I got to know him better I found him to be just a wonderful soul. What a laid back nice guy he is and I consider him a friend on several levels. We’re both comedians and worked together many times and we’re both on the same page when it comes to loving the P-Funk. We just hit it off right from the start.

I’ve been asking James to come with me to a show for several years now. I would love to see him not only patch up whatever needs to be patched but also have him open up for them again. I know he loved it and who wouldn’t? The gigs might not have been the best because of the circumstances but I’m sure it was fun touring and having fun on the road.

I contacted James this week and he was off tonight and said he’d love to come. I sent an email to George’s manager who I met in Houston last year. She’s very nice and said she’d leave two tickets for us at the will call window. James and I were supposed to meet at 9.

When I got there right at 9:00 I didn’t see James anywhere. I called his cell phone and it went to voice mail so I wasn’t sure what happened. I stood in a long line that got a whole lot longer as people showed up from every direction. This was going to be a full house.

As I stood in line I noticed Pedro Bell standing on the sidewalk. He’s the artist that did most of the cartoon illustration cover art on a lot of George’s biggest albums and he lives in Chicago. His art style is very familiar to anyone who is a fan of the funk and I sure am.

I’ve been trying to track him down for years so he can hopefully do the cover art for my CD. Nobody else would know how cool that is but anyone who is a P-Funk fan would get it right away. I tried to have the artist for my first CD shoot for that style but he missed it.

I walked up to him and asked if he was Pedro Bell and he said yes. I told him I loved his work and named a few of my favorite covers he did and his eyes just about popped out of his head. He was shocked that I knew who he was and we talked for a few minutes and he is very sharp mentally. He’d been sick for a while and nobody knew if he was still alive.

James knew him but said he lost track of Pedro when I asked James to help me find him so I could get him to do my CD artwork. Tonight I found him and we exchanged business cards and I asked him if he’d do my cover and he said he would. I have no idea what he is going to charge me but whatever it is I’ll pay it if I have to sell my hair, lungs and sperm.

How cool would it be to have a Pedro Bell CD cover? I don’t care if nobody else knows who he is, I do and I’d love it. The fans would get it and that’s all I’d care about. The rest of the people will just think I hired some wacky cartoonist to do my artwork. That’s fine.

As I talked with Pedro I got a call from James who was already inside. He had spotted a few people he knew and they got him in and then he came outside and found us and all of us went to the stage entrance and got in that way. That’s the first time I’d ever done that.

James thanked me up and down for coaxing him to show up because he was greeted by the band very warmly and they made him feel welcome. I could see how glad they were to see him and it made me feel great that I had something to do with that. James is part of an era when they were one of the biggest bands in the world and he deserves to get his props.

He told me they loved seeing him and they were thinking of a way to get him back with the show. He was floating on air and I was too just hearing it. He said ‘And YOU are the one who made it happen.’ I don’t know if I made it happen but I did suggest he show up.

While I was talking to Pedro James was meeting up with his friends in the band. He did get some time with George and George made it a point to ask how I was and he saw what I wrote when I covered the show they did in Milwaukee. He loved it. I loved hearing it.

To have all this happen in one night is a feeling if pure electricity. James was in heaven and so was I. I’d never really been backstage before and I got to see the show from a new perspective. I stood next to James and we just grooved our asses off. George comes out at about an hour into the show and we were standing right next to where his path would be.

The band was even hotter than usual tonight and then it was time for George to show up and crank it up even higher. He walked right past us and gave us both a look and a nod of recognition. I could tell he knew who I was because I was standing right next to James.

James turned to me and said ‘He knew it was you’ and that made my whole night. I saw it in his eye and I nodded back and he went out to the stage and the place went nuts. He’s got so much presence and energy even though he’s in his late 60’s. I was amazed as I saw the band take it even higher and they ripped through some old obscure songs that made all of us hardcore old time fans happy. This whole experience was one of my very best ever.