WEBVTT

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This is a great week. I hope everybody's doing

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all right out there. We've got Danny Badrosian

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from Parliament Funkadelic on today. It's a big

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week. And he's finished his new book, Make My

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Funk the P -Funk. And you'll get a review of

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that. A brief review. I don't want to spoil much.

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But there's a brief review at the end of this

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episode. I sat down with him. We talked for over

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an hour. We talked about everything from his

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upbringing to writing these books and... It's

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awesome. I can't wait for you to hear it. But

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there's some other cool stuff going on in our

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universe that I want to mention really quick

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before I give you that interview. Cody Shade

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Harrell's got a new single out. And Danny and

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I actually talked about Cody because he, like

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Danny, is somebody that just went out and made

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his own dreams come true. And you'll get what

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I mean there when you listen to this interview.

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If you're new to this show... Welcome. I hope

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you go back and check out some of the older episodes.

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I imagine that there's probably some new listeners

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with this episode here. So welcome to the show.

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Last week I had Taylor Hollingsworth on. That

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was a great, great talk. I really enjoyed talking

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to him. Check that one out. Once you're done

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with this one, hit that subscribe button. The

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other thing I want to mention is friend of the

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show and previous guest Jonathan Spencer is...

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In the number one show on Hulu right now, Murdoch,

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Death and the Family. It's the number one show

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on Hulu. His episode comes out today. He plays

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Jerry. He's another reporter. I can't wait for

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everybody to see it. He announced the role on

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this podcast, which I thought was pretty cool.

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You want to go check that episode out. It was

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the episode back in season one with Slightly

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Famous Somebodies. It was a really fun one. Pretty

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crazy. room we had going that night. So check

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out that show on Hulu. I'm excited to check it

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out myself. I haven't quite, it hasn't actually

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come out yet at the time that I'm recording it,

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but it'll be out by the time that you're hearing

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this. So check that episode out without any,

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without any more delay. Here's my talk with Daniel

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Bedrosian from Parliament Funkadelic. Enjoy.

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We're on overeducated and underemployed. I'm

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here. with Daniel Ben -Rosian from Parliament

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Funkadelic, and also he's a historian and an

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author and artist and all the things, man. He's

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a modern renaissance man, if you will. Thank

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you. And first, we've known each other a little

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bit for a long time. I was working at a record

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store when your solo album came out in 2005,

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and I ran the local section there. So we have

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known each other for... Going on 20 years now.

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Over 20 years. Yeah, yeah. And we've always never

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been like close friends or anything like that,

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but I've always fucked with you and I'm super

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excited to talk to you about all this, man. Oh,

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likewise. First question I ask everybody. I think

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this is going to be a weird answer for you. Okay.

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What's the first song you remember loving as

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a kid? Wow. Wow, that's a cool one. That's a

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good question. Because I started my musical journey

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as a classically trained. pianist my parents

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were both concert pianists and they ran a piano

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school so if i'm going to be honest i would probably

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say that it was izu joy of man's desiring by

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j .s bach i don't know for some reason that appealed

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to me when i was very young that's one that i

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remember struck me with a bullet there's a few

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like that Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven was another

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one. These were like things I had heard as a

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kid and never really knew what they were until

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I was old enough to play them. And then one that

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my father played, it's three, I'm going to have

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three, but they're just all in my memory from

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that era. One my father played at a recital,

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the Piano Toccata by Cacciatorian, and it just

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changed the way I thought about performance.

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Yeah, so those were probably my earliest song

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memories. And you were playing piano at four,

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right? You were probably exposed to these songs

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by playing them or maybe hearing somebody play

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them and then being told to play them. Yeah,

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hearing my parents or my sisters or my peers

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playing them and hearing them at recitals, like

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the older kids in the recital or the adult students

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or my parents playing them at a recital. And

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then being like, that's one I'd like to learn.

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And if I was so young that I couldn't do it,

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my mother would either give me a reduction until

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it was time for me to get the real thing. And

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yeah, so that was definitely like my memory of

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that. It was through like concert recitals and

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stuff and people's lessons because the piano

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studio was in the home. I was hearing, and my

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sisters, we were hearing, I don't know, three

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pianos at a time almost all day. You'd hear the

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two students, my parents, two students, and then

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one of us would be practicing at any given time.

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So there were three pianos playing at all times.

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So that creates a kind of mashup, too, of you're

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hearing three different pieces of music at almost

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all times of the day. That changes your perception

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of sound in a lot of ways, too. So growing up

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in that kind of an environment, was there, like,

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pressure for you to play? Or was it just, that's

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just what everybody was doing, and that's just

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the culture, and that's... More the latter. It

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didn't seem like there was pressure. When it's

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your parents and they're telling you to do it,

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they're just, it's just. Especially at four.

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It's like going to school or do your homework.

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It's all the stuff you know that you are supposed

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to do. And because it was the family business,

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I didn't really know any other alternative. And

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how about this? Dozens. if not tens of kids,

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if not more, were coming into the, or sometimes

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hundreds maybe at the peak, were coming in and

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out of my house all week long just to play the

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piano. To me, it wasn't just like the family

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thing. It was like almost everybody I knew did

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it. Until I, especially since I'm starting at

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four, you're not even in like real public school,

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primary school or anything yet. You're just,

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everything around you is. And then by the time

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I went to school, I was like, oh, everybody doesn't

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play piano. I thought everybody played piano.

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That's what everybody did. So it wasn't like

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a pressure thing. And I do remember like a period

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in fourth grade where I was like rebelling in

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a way. And I remember like the only conversation

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I had with one of my parents about it was my

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father saying something like. You don't have

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to do this if you don't want to or something.

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But I remember that feeling like, no, I have

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to do this. You know what I mean? And again,

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not from a pressure standpoint, just from a,

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I don't want to let them down, and I don't want

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to let myself down, and I don't want to regret

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it. And I keep hearing all these adults talk

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about, I took piano when I was little, and then

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I stopped, and I never stopped regretting. And

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I was like, oh, God, okay. let me just keep playing.

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I think this is the right thing to do. So that's

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what I did. That's right. And you were, but you

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were also not like pretty naturally good at it

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at a young age, which makes it, that makes it

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easier. Right. Yeah. To stick with it and to

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want to do it. And you were winning competitions.

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Yeah. Were you competitive about it? I was the

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drive. Yeah, I was definitely competitive. We

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had at a certain point. In the early 90s, the

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group lesson theory got really big in music lesson

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circles. So they would do five of us, girls and

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boys, and all the same age. So let's say we're

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all in second grade. And now we're all in a group

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lesson. We start on our private thing, and then

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they put us all in the room together, and we

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start openly competing in things like our flashcards

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and note recognition, theory stuff. And it starts

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being like, we're timing you guys. So and so,

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these three in one line and these three in another

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line. Girls versus boys or some other combination.

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And each one gets to the front and they have

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to say the name. They have the same flash card

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and one of us is going to get it faster than

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the other. We stay at the front. The other one

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goes to the back. And it was very competitive.

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And it was even that competition even spread

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to recitals where like where you were sitting

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in the recital was. was basically set by your

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ability. So, you know, if you're one of the first

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five, you're at the beginning of your elementary

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sort of level, mostly young kids. But as you

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get to the back, that's the older and the more

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experienced. So if I was after my competitor,

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like my rival, that meant I was doing better

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than them. If I was before them, I was the underdog

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trying to get up. So, yeah, I was super competitive,

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especially at those young age. I was very, like,

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second, third, fourth, fifth grade. And you were

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competing against people that were older, like,

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much older than you. Sometimes, definitely. Was

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anybody using the word, like, prodigy at the

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time? Not really, only because I had two sisters

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that had three and six years on me, respectively.

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And my oldest sister was definitely very good.

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My middle sister was really good. They were starting

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to diverge into different sort of styles of playing

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and like what they preferred and things. And

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so I think because I had them in front of me,

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it was just like a legacy thing. They weren't

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going to play favorites. My parents were really

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good about being unbiased because the other students

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would always play this, oh, you're the teacher's

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kid, the teacher's kid. I don't know if that's

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what I'm saying. You think that makes it better?

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My father's finding out that y 'all are saying

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this, and he's giving me harder pieces on purpose.

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Oh, they think you got it easy? Here, play this.

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And it'd be like a 16 -year -old piece, and I'm

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like 10, you know what I mean? So it'd be like,

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oh, man. I definitely didn't get any kind of

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special. There was definitely no nepotism. It

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was like the opposite. It was the opposite, yeah.

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It sucked in that way. But it was amazing. Yeah,

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I mean, it did well for you. For ability. Yes.

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And yes, I did compete against older kids, especially

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in theory competitions. They would have these

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music Olympics where it was like you go in a

00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:36.360
different room. Every room is, one room is ear

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training and one room is sight reading. One room

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is rhythm and one room is melody and one room

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is harmony. And there was a bunch. And you had

00:11:45.299 --> 00:11:48.580
to, one room was performance and one room was,

00:11:48.679 --> 00:11:51.700
there was so many different things. So you had

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to go in each one of these and you would get

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a different score or a different ribbon based

00:11:55.259 --> 00:11:58.440
on how well you did. And you were competing.

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It was the gamut of ages. So it was like there

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were kindergartners in there and there were high

00:12:06.340 --> 00:12:08.940
schoolers in there. So yes, you were competing

00:12:08.940 --> 00:12:12.799
against other ages. Yeah, definitely. So at what

00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:16.159
point did you start to listen to music other

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than classical music? Right away. My parents

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had a pretty cool knowledge of non -classical

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music. For instance, we played in the church.

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So choral music, gospel music, spiritual music,

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I heard that all the time. My father was the

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choir director at a local church. It was a gig

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for him. My mother was the organist. And so we

00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:43.120
had to take part in these choirs every Sunday,

00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:46.580
rehearsals every Wednesday. And two services

00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:49.200
every Sunday. So I was like ensconced in that.

00:12:49.379 --> 00:12:51.679
Maybe not so much the religion part of it, but

00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:55.200
just the gig, the job. And the community of it.

00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:57.840
Yeah, community. Definitely the community. And

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the tradition. But my father was a very diverse

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music director. And he incorporated so many different

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things. And we also did these ecumenical councils

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where like all the churches in the community

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would come together. And so I learned. Everything

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from like the Catholic masses, the Pentecostal

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gospel music, the Baptist music, the UCC music,

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congregational and Methodist and Lutheran. And

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I sang in all those choirs. So that was also

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a training ground. But like for enjoyment, my

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mother and father had a few things that they

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really liked that were non -classical. Now, my

00:13:37.559 --> 00:13:42.379
father first, because 99 % of his... was classical

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records. He has an incredible classical vinyl

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collection, like insane, like the best versions

00:13:49.139 --> 00:13:53.899
of every opus by the best orchestras, usually

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out of print, first editions, first prints. He's

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got thousands, if not tens of thousands of these.

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And that's super impressive, because so many

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of those things have gotten bad releases over

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the years, too. Yeah, oh yeah, there's tons of...

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So being able to find the good ones. The right

00:14:07.539 --> 00:14:10.620
ones, yeah. But in addition to that, he had some

00:14:10.620 --> 00:14:13.980
Miles Davis records. He introduced me to Ray

00:14:13.980 --> 00:14:17.460
Charles very early on, and he introduced me to

00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:19.980
James Brown music very early on, and he took

00:14:19.980 --> 00:14:21.940
me to my first James Brown concert when I was

00:14:21.940 --> 00:14:24.500
eight at the Lowell Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts,

00:14:24.500 --> 00:14:27.139
and that changed my life. That was my first...

00:14:27.720 --> 00:14:29.379
I had seen other concerts. I had seen the Beach

00:14:29.379 --> 00:14:33.200
Boys at the beach when I was like six. So I had

00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:35.940
seen them before that. But it didn't move me.

00:14:36.059 --> 00:14:38.899
But the James Brown show really moved me. Because

00:14:38.899 --> 00:14:40.559
by that point, I was already listening to jazz.

00:14:40.679 --> 00:14:42.879
I was already listening to R &B. I liked Motown.

00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:45.220
And then I heard James Brown, and I was like,

00:14:45.320 --> 00:14:49.120
oh, wow. My mother, on the other hand, listened

00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:54.379
to Harry Belafonte, The Beatles. She had first

00:14:54.379 --> 00:14:59.779
editions of all their albums. and Bob Marley

00:14:59.779 --> 00:15:03.860
and the Neville Brothers. Okay, yeah. So my first

00:15:03.860 --> 00:15:05.779
sort of introductions to funk were through James

00:15:05.779 --> 00:15:08.019
Brown, Ray Charles, Neville Brothers. Those were

00:15:08.019 --> 00:15:09.899
like the funkiest things I was hearing first.

00:15:10.500 --> 00:15:13.720
But that was at a very early age, and I even

00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:17.740
took a liking to world music very early on. Being

00:15:17.740 --> 00:15:21.120
Armenian, we had the Armenian picnics we would

00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:23.559
go to. We would see the Armenian bands playing.

00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:25.360
So that was obviously a huge influence on me

00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:27.600
from the very beginning. But I also was really

00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:31.200
into West African music. I was really into Peruvian

00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:33.960
indigenous music. And I was hearing all this

00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:36.559
stuff in Boston, just on the street. People,

00:15:36.659 --> 00:15:39.860
they'd have world music ensembles just playing

00:15:39.860 --> 00:15:43.039
on the street. And then in Lowell, Massachusetts,

00:15:43.259 --> 00:15:45.840
which is closer to where I was born, they would

00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:47.820
have the Lowell Folk Festival every year. Yeah,

00:15:47.820 --> 00:15:51.389
yeah. And Lowell... And it's Twin City, Lawrence,

00:15:51.549 --> 00:15:54.649
where I was born. At one point in America, we're

00:15:54.649 --> 00:15:57.470
the most diverse cities in all of America. That

00:15:57.470 --> 00:15:59.629
was where, like, literally all the immigrants

00:15:59.629 --> 00:16:01.809
got dropped off and they worked in the textile

00:16:01.809 --> 00:16:06.429
factories. Because before 1920, all of the clothes

00:16:06.429 --> 00:16:08.090
in America were made in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

00:16:08.669 --> 00:16:10.750
Unless you sewed your own, which people did,

00:16:10.750 --> 00:16:14.309
too, on the farm. But all the manufactured textiles,

00:16:14.350 --> 00:16:18.899
sheets, clothing, drapes. were all made in Lawrence,

00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:20.700
Massachusetts, where I was born. So the immigrants

00:16:20.700 --> 00:16:23.720
flocked there. It didn't matter if you were German,

00:16:23.860 --> 00:16:27.440
African, Syrian, Indonesian, everybody went there.

00:16:27.559 --> 00:16:29.899
So it really became known as the immigrant city.

00:16:30.700 --> 00:16:33.299
Now, by the time I was born, that had all changed.

00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:35.799
It's very much a Spanish -speaking city now.

00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:38.279
It's 99 % Spanish -speaking. Did you grow up

00:16:38.279 --> 00:16:40.860
speaking Spanish, too? I learned it in school.

00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:43.759
Okay. Okay, so it was like part of the standard

00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:45.159
curriculum? Yes, it was part of the standard

00:16:45.159 --> 00:16:47.340
curriculum. I did three years of standard Spanish.

00:16:47.639 --> 00:16:51.580
But spoke Armenian in the house as a kid, spoke

00:16:51.580 --> 00:16:53.580
a lot of words that I thought were Armenian and

00:16:53.580 --> 00:16:55.820
I found out later were Turkish because my family

00:16:55.820 --> 00:16:58.740
survived the genocide under the Turks and they

00:16:58.740 --> 00:17:01.120
lived under Turkish dominance for 500 years.

00:17:01.220 --> 00:17:03.559
So they all spoke Turkish too. So I was speaking

00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:06.059
like mixed Turkish and Armenian, Turko -Armenian

00:17:06.059 --> 00:17:09.539
or whatever in the home. My mother spoke Latin.

00:17:09.619 --> 00:17:12.160
She spoke French. My mother was a bit of a polyglot.

00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:14.680
My father was a polyglot. My grandparents, my

00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:18.240
aunties all spoke four or five languages. Because

00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:19.799
they lived in Lebanon where you had to speak

00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:22.660
Arabic, French, Armenian, and just know a bunch

00:17:22.660 --> 00:17:24.220
of different... So you're hearing like three

00:17:24.220 --> 00:17:26.779
songs at a time and three languages at a time.

00:17:26.819 --> 00:17:32.559
All that stuff. And having a pretty diverse community

00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:36.309
around me allowed for... I got introduced. One

00:17:36.309 --> 00:17:38.369
of the first bands I played in was a Puerto Rican

00:17:38.369 --> 00:17:42.029
folk band. So I was hearing this stuff all over

00:17:42.029 --> 00:17:44.630
the place. There was all kinds of influences

00:17:44.630 --> 00:17:48.190
from different music that was changing the way

00:17:48.190 --> 00:17:51.289
I thought about listening to music. And Chick

00:17:51.289 --> 00:17:53.650
Corea was a big early influence on me. He was

00:17:53.650 --> 00:17:56.210
from Chelsea, Mass. So he was from right down

00:17:56.210 --> 00:17:59.589
the street. And somebody had given me his Return

00:17:59.589 --> 00:18:01.869
to Forever Fusion albums when I was really young

00:18:01.869 --> 00:18:05.500
on vinyl. And that changed my life. So, yeah,

00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:08.680
that stuff is insane. And all of this was like

00:18:08.680 --> 00:18:11.480
the backdrop before my introduction to P -Funk.

00:18:11.700 --> 00:18:15.299
But I also got introduced to P -Funk at 11. And

00:18:15.299 --> 00:18:18.059
by the time I'm 11, that became my favorite band.

00:18:18.220 --> 00:18:21.000
That was it. I was like, I finally found the

00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:24.180
thing that encompassed all these other things

00:18:24.180 --> 00:18:26.940
I really liked. So, yeah, that was how that happened.

00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:30.799
You're the second guy I've had on here who, like,

00:18:30.900 --> 00:18:34.240
so I've had. Cody Shade Harrell on here before,

00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:37.940
and what happened with him is he grew up listening

00:18:37.940 --> 00:18:41.799
to R .L. Burnside's music, all that stuff. He

00:18:41.799 --> 00:18:43.599
just starts going to the Hill Country Picnic

00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:47.140
up in North Mississippi every year and hangs

00:18:47.140 --> 00:18:50.299
out with them. Now he's the bass player for Cedric

00:18:50.299 --> 00:18:54.339
Burnside. Wow, check that out. And tours all

00:18:54.339 --> 00:18:55.880
over the world with him and stuff like that.

00:18:56.259 --> 00:18:59.079
You really do, like, when you see something that

00:18:59.079 --> 00:19:02.099
you love and you set your sights on it. Anything

00:19:02.099 --> 00:19:04.900
is fucking possible. Anything is possible. Exactly.

00:19:05.019 --> 00:19:08.779
And I told myself from 11, I said, I'm going

00:19:08.779 --> 00:19:10.220
to be the keyboard player for P -Funk when I

00:19:10.220 --> 00:19:13.259
grow up. And my parents, who were always supportive

00:19:13.259 --> 00:19:16.579
of me. Sounds like absurd now. Yeah, I know.

00:19:16.740 --> 00:19:20.079
It does. And my parents who were working musicians,

00:19:20.420 --> 00:19:24.460
they never said that's stupid. They never said

00:19:24.460 --> 00:19:27.559
that'll never happen. But my mother, the only

00:19:27.559 --> 00:19:29.400
thing my mother said was, Danny, aren't they

00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:33.420
a lot older? And the kind of, this is crazy,

00:19:33.579 --> 00:19:35.579
I think about this now, and my mother always

00:19:35.579 --> 00:19:39.880
talks about it, how as each particular little

00:19:39.880 --> 00:19:43.240
stride that I had made towards, like, communication

00:19:43.240 --> 00:19:46.680
and greater relationship with these guys, including

00:19:46.680 --> 00:19:49.480
George specifically, each time, I remember my

00:19:49.480 --> 00:19:51.980
mother said, she told friends and family, she

00:19:51.980 --> 00:19:54.480
said, okay, he got to go to the show. That's

00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:57.799
good, before George passes on, because he's not

00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:00.900
young, and this, keep in mind, This is like 35

00:20:00.900 --> 00:20:04.500
years ago. Right, right. Yeah, yeah. So before

00:20:04.500 --> 00:20:08.259
he retires or passes on, it's good that Danny

00:20:08.259 --> 00:20:12.240
got to go see them. And then I had the opportunity

00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:14.980
where I won this contest where you make the bed

00:20:14.980 --> 00:20:16.700
sheet for George. He used to wear these big bed

00:20:16.700 --> 00:20:19.099
sheets. And there's a lot of artists in my family,

00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:22.160
fine artists. And so I have some. And for a long

00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:24.539
time, before I discovered P -Funk, my dream job

00:20:24.539 --> 00:20:26.880
was to be a comic book artist. So I had been

00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:29.880
drawing my whole life. I designed this thing

00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:33.519
with all the iconography of P -Funk all over

00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:36.740
it and lyrics. It was very colorful, and it won

00:20:36.740 --> 00:20:38.619
the contest. And he's like, you can deliver this

00:20:38.619 --> 00:20:40.299
to George Clinton in Providence, Rhode Island.

00:20:40.460 --> 00:20:41.980
He's going to wear it. You get your pictures,

00:20:42.019 --> 00:20:43.460
and you get to hang out with the band backstage

00:20:43.460 --> 00:20:45.259
the whole night. I was like, dream come true.

00:20:45.259 --> 00:20:47.599
And how old are you at this point? 16. 16, OK.

00:20:47.779 --> 00:20:51.160
So dream come true. So I do that. I meet him.

00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:54.680
My mother's like, OK. He met him. So that's where

00:20:54.680 --> 00:20:59.400
it's going to stop. So then I start getting to

00:20:59.400 --> 00:21:02.660
know the band a little better. And by the time

00:21:02.660 --> 00:21:04.940
I get to college, I'm still going to the shows.

00:21:04.940 --> 00:21:06.900
I'm front row. Now keep in mind that very first

00:21:06.900 --> 00:21:09.240
time I met them, I drop off my demo. I have the

00:21:09.240 --> 00:21:12.160
wherewithal to drop music off to the guys. And

00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:15.380
so they knew, oh, he not only was smart enough

00:21:15.380 --> 00:21:17.119
to give us this, but it actually sounded like

00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:19.019
something that we could do. Like he got like

00:21:19.019 --> 00:21:22.019
that P -Funk, whatever that is, that feel, that

00:21:22.019 --> 00:21:24.970
ooga booga, it's in him. That stank. Yeah, that

00:21:24.970 --> 00:21:27.490
stank. So they liked what they heard. But they

00:21:27.490 --> 00:21:30.490
first started having me come to the shows. And

00:21:30.490 --> 00:21:32.349
I would, because I had keyboards. I was a keyboard

00:21:32.349 --> 00:21:34.710
player. I would provide keyboards and do like

00:21:34.710 --> 00:21:38.569
technician gigs, like supplemental technician

00:21:38.569 --> 00:21:42.589
gigs for the keyboardists in the band. And keep

00:21:42.589 --> 00:21:46.450
in mind, at this point, I'm like 19, 20. And

00:21:46.450 --> 00:21:49.849
you're in college. And so can we back up just

00:21:49.849 --> 00:21:52.160
a little bit here? Yeah, sure, sure. Because

00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:55.119
a couple of things you said kind of stick with

00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:58.140
me. Like your goal was always from a young age

00:21:58.140 --> 00:22:01.279
to do what you ended up doing. Yeah. But you

00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:04.420
still go to college, get a degree in history,

00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:08.880
Middle Eastern studies. Yeah. And what was like

00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:13.759
the motivation? And I'm wondering if having realizations

00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:16.299
like, oh, these words that I thought were Armenian

00:22:16.299 --> 00:22:20.079
are actually Turkish because of genocide and

00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:23.650
oppression. and imperialism, whatever you want

00:22:23.650 --> 00:22:27.829
to call it. It's beyond genocide, but that's

00:22:27.829 --> 00:22:29.789
what it culminates in. Yeah, the long term. But

00:22:29.789 --> 00:22:33.789
the cultural, I think that's one thing that people

00:22:33.789 --> 00:22:36.849
don't think about a lot. Sure. And I feel like

00:22:36.849 --> 00:22:40.890
realizations like that probably were part of

00:22:40.890 --> 00:22:43.990
why you wanted to learn more about that history.

00:22:44.130 --> 00:22:47.569
Yeah. Armenia is in the Middle East. It's a West

00:22:47.569 --> 00:22:49.809
Asian country, even though a lot of people try

00:22:49.809 --> 00:22:51.960
to... put it in Eastern Europe, not in Europe

00:22:51.960 --> 00:22:54.079
at all. It's in the Middle East. It's in West

00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:56.960
Asia. A lot of times today, they say the Middle

00:22:56.960 --> 00:22:59.119
East is an imperialistic term. It's a colonial

00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:02.019
term. So now they're calling it, they use MENA,

00:23:02.200 --> 00:23:04.359
which is Middle East, North Africa. I don't see

00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:07.500
how that's any different. But West Asia, it tends

00:23:07.500 --> 00:23:10.519
to be like the common nomenclature. It's weird

00:23:10.519 --> 00:23:12.619
to call them two separate continents anyway.

00:23:12.839 --> 00:23:15.279
I know. Like a lot of people call it Eurasia.

00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:19.460
So anyway. But be that as it may, being Armenian

00:23:19.460 --> 00:23:24.259
is intrinsically being an indigenous inhabitant

00:23:24.259 --> 00:23:27.599
of the Middle East, of West Asia. My genetic

00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:30.700
history goes back in the Middle East 40 ,000

00:23:30.700 --> 00:23:33.880
years. So I'm as indigenous of a Middle Easterner

00:23:33.880 --> 00:23:37.599
as you can possibly be. Now, just a little bit,

00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:39.980
not to get too much into the history, but the...

00:23:39.980 --> 00:23:42.319
We can get into anything you want to get into.

00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:44.599
Okay, cool. The Armenians lived in the Middle

00:23:44.599 --> 00:23:47.160
East and West Asia for thousands of years. The

00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:51.059
Turks arrived in the 1000s AD. So they're latecomers.

00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:53.200
It's kind of like the Europeans arriving in the

00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:55.460
New World. It's like the best kind of comparison.

00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:57.799
And the Armenians are unfortunately the Native

00:23:57.799 --> 00:24:00.980
Americans in this story. So it's like a thousand

00:24:00.980 --> 00:24:03.960
years. It's about 900 years of oppression under

00:24:03.960 --> 00:24:05.759
the Turks that unfortunately continues to this

00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:08.940
day with colonialist tendencies and still tearing

00:24:08.940 --> 00:24:11.220
down remnants of what was left of the Armenians,

00:24:11.259 --> 00:24:13.900
et cetera, et cetera. Yeah. Being Armenian, being

00:24:13.900 --> 00:24:17.079
raised Armenian, being raised by genocide survivors,

00:24:17.380 --> 00:24:20.359
because my grandfather and my aunties were genocide

00:24:20.359 --> 00:24:24.000
survivors. So it wasn't some ancient... Obviously,

00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:25.539
massacres had occurred for thousands of years,

00:24:25.559 --> 00:24:28.599
but it wasn't this ancient thing that I was told

00:24:28.599 --> 00:24:30.900
about going down the line. This was taught to

00:24:30.900 --> 00:24:33.500
me by the people who raised me. People who lived

00:24:33.500 --> 00:24:36.460
it. Yeah, exactly. They have this whole thing

00:24:36.460 --> 00:24:38.160
about... I never learned about generational trauma

00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:41.039
until I met my wife, but... She started asking

00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:43.539
me questions, and it was like, she kind of discovered,

00:24:43.779 --> 00:24:46.339
like, Danny, you have, like, goo gobs of generational

00:24:46.339 --> 00:24:49.400
trauma. And there's all these books written about

00:24:49.400 --> 00:24:51.319
it with reference to the genocide. If you are

00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:55.700
raised by or grew up with one survivor, you have

00:24:55.700 --> 00:24:58.380
this much generational trauma. I was raised by

00:24:58.380 --> 00:25:01.900
three survivors. So just a massive amount of,

00:25:01.960 --> 00:25:03.900
and they weren't afraid to tell you what happened.

00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:07.420
And at age five, they weren't afraid to scare

00:25:07.420 --> 00:25:10.250
the shit out of a five -year -old boy. who is

00:25:10.250 --> 00:25:13.150
otherwise American and knows nothing but semi

00:25:13.150 --> 00:25:15.990
-comfort. And my parents at least made our life

00:25:15.990 --> 00:25:18.470
as good as they could. And we didn't know anything

00:25:18.470 --> 00:25:20.990
about hardship, not that kind of hardship. So

00:25:20.990 --> 00:25:23.630
I felt like it was my duty because this was the

00:25:23.630 --> 00:25:26.329
kind of thing that was brushed up under the shelf.

00:25:27.309 --> 00:25:29.769
put away and denied for so many years. I thought

00:25:29.769 --> 00:25:32.329
that it was important for me on a cultural level

00:25:32.329 --> 00:25:35.329
to major in the history of my people and the

00:25:35.329 --> 00:25:37.650
general peoples of the Middle East. I couldn't

00:25:37.650 --> 00:25:39.349
just do Armenian studies because the college

00:25:39.349 --> 00:25:41.890
I went to didn't have the Armenian studies chair.

00:25:42.049 --> 00:25:45.109
If I could have gone to say Harvard or a better

00:25:45.109 --> 00:25:47.529
school or a school in Boston or a school in like

00:25:47.529 --> 00:25:49.829
Detroit or LA, I could have done Armenian studies,

00:25:50.009 --> 00:25:53.190
but it was just too expensive. I ended up getting

00:25:53.190 --> 00:25:55.130
admitted into the University of New Hampshire.

00:25:55.950 --> 00:25:57.950
My family lived in New Hampshire by that point,

00:25:58.009 --> 00:26:02.730
so it was an in -state financial situation. Out

00:26:02.730 --> 00:26:05.390
-of -state was extremely expensive. The difference

00:26:05.390 --> 00:26:07.289
between the other school I'd gotten into. It's

00:26:07.289 --> 00:26:09.950
like triple tuition. Exactly. It was at the time,

00:26:10.029 --> 00:26:12.529
and keep in mind, this is 99. It was like $29

00:26:12.529 --> 00:26:15.809
,000 a semester. Or if you were in -state, it

00:26:15.809 --> 00:26:19.250
was like $9 ,500 a semester. So $9 ,500 is way

00:26:19.250 --> 00:26:22.430
better than $29 ,000. So that's what I did. I

00:26:22.430 --> 00:26:24.309
did the in -state option. I paid my own way.

00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:27.900
And to me, when I was, first of all, when I was

00:26:27.900 --> 00:26:30.700
speaking to the guidance counselors in high school,

00:26:30.740 --> 00:26:32.460
and then when I was speaking to the advisory

00:26:32.460 --> 00:26:36.920
people in college, they had all had a unanimous

00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:39.880
answer based on my training. They were like,

00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:44.059
music major is the obvious choice, but why don't

00:26:44.059 --> 00:26:46.259
you tell us a little about what you've done so

00:26:46.259 --> 00:26:49.440
far? And when I told them, they were like, the

00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:52.130
BA in music will be all review. Are you trying

00:26:52.130 --> 00:26:54.329
to get the BA or are you getting the master's

00:26:54.329 --> 00:26:55.690
or the doctorate? I'm like, I can't afford a

00:26:55.690 --> 00:26:57.670
master's or a doctorate. Not right now, at least.

00:26:57.829 --> 00:26:59.549
I said, I'm trying to get the BA. They're like,

00:26:59.650 --> 00:27:02.829
you might want to choose something else, Mr.

00:27:03.029 --> 00:27:05.390
Bedrosian, because you got this 18 years of classical

00:27:05.390 --> 00:27:08.569
training. A lot of these guys. I've just began

00:27:08.569 --> 00:27:11.730
their ear training or their performance, or they've

00:27:11.730 --> 00:27:13.549
been doing performance for four years. Like you

00:27:13.549 --> 00:27:15.210
could teach all these classes. Exactly. That's

00:27:15.210 --> 00:27:16.490
what they were saying. So it was like, this is

00:27:16.490 --> 00:27:18.130
stuff you've not only learned, you learned it

00:27:18.130 --> 00:27:20.630
a long time ago. Unless you really want to go

00:27:20.630 --> 00:27:23.009
back and review, or if you want to do some peer

00:27:23.009 --> 00:27:25.890
tutoring on top of it, this might not be the

00:27:25.890 --> 00:27:28.809
major for you. So I decided history because I

00:27:28.809 --> 00:27:31.920
always had a keen love. of middle eastern history

00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:35.099
i like the idea of writing about history and

00:27:35.099 --> 00:27:38.319
so i did the colloquium which is like not all

00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:40.559
history majors do it but it's the kind of thing

00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:42.819
you do if you want to become like a degree holding

00:27:42.819 --> 00:27:45.740
historian or the historian that writes about

00:27:45.740 --> 00:27:50.849
history it's really boring like No, I have a

00:27:50.849 --> 00:27:54.769
master's in history science. Oh, wow. Okay, so

00:27:54.769 --> 00:27:58.690
history colloquial is very boring, but I'm glad

00:27:58.690 --> 00:28:01.210
I took it now. It was probably my least favorite

00:28:01.210 --> 00:28:03.990
course in college, but I'm glad I took it now

00:28:03.990 --> 00:28:07.390
because it taught me so much about what I just

00:28:07.390 --> 00:28:10.950
wrote, for instance, because it teaches you how

00:28:10.950 --> 00:28:13.190
to write monographs, history books, legitimate

00:28:13.190 --> 00:28:16.369
in the Chicago style with footnotes and end notes

00:28:16.369 --> 00:28:19.180
and all that. And different historical approaches,

00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:25.079
too. Yes. Oh, yes. The idea of either accepting

00:28:25.079 --> 00:28:27.819
or denying historiography based on source material,

00:28:28.019 --> 00:28:30.640
based on legitimation, all that kind of stuff.

00:28:30.740 --> 00:28:33.359
Like, it made sense to me then, but I didn't

00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:36.000
really care about it. It took 25 years for me

00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:38.980
to be like, oh, I've got this training that they

00:28:38.980 --> 00:28:41.559
drilled into me that I've never forgotten. I

00:28:41.559 --> 00:28:44.200
might as well utilize it in this. in this kind

00:28:44.200 --> 00:28:46.559
of way. And I will say this, as strange as it

00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:49.519
sounds, getting the history major, getting the

00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:53.299
Middle Eastern Studies degree at UNH provided

00:28:53.299 --> 00:28:57.680
me with a wealth of wisdom in my touring life.

00:28:58.890 --> 00:29:02.690
Because not only was I aware of cultural norms,

00:29:02.829 --> 00:29:04.589
and not even just in the Middle East, anywhere

00:29:04.589 --> 00:29:07.150
in the world, just because of my historical knowledge,

00:29:07.250 --> 00:29:08.829
because it was something I gravitated towards

00:29:08.829 --> 00:29:11.750
as a youth, just knowledge of historical cultural

00:29:11.750 --> 00:29:14.849
norms in different countries has allowed us as

00:29:14.849 --> 00:29:17.829
a band a little bit of degree of comfort and

00:29:17.829 --> 00:29:23.000
fluidity in navigating certain... kinds of travel

00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:25.779
and certain kinds of hospitality situations and

00:29:25.779 --> 00:29:28.440
certain kinds of transportation situations and

00:29:28.440 --> 00:29:30.460
little things and even little things that you'd

00:29:30.460 --> 00:29:32.799
be like oh okay and that makes me think about

00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:35.380
things like especially it probably wasn't as

00:29:35.380 --> 00:29:38.079
much of an issue once you were joining them and

00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:40.839
in the meantime you're getting this you're getting

00:29:40.839 --> 00:29:44.880
your degree your history degree and you're also

00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:48.599
traveling down here yeah pretty frequently yeah

00:29:49.150 --> 00:29:53.470
Work with George, and you were doing recording

00:29:53.470 --> 00:29:55.349
with him. That was the beginning of my studio

00:29:55.349 --> 00:29:57.789
career, yeah. It was my studio career with George.

00:29:58.769 --> 00:30:02.970
Luckily, I had been, besides having gigs since

00:30:02.970 --> 00:30:06.829
I was a preteen, I had started working in major

00:30:06.829 --> 00:30:09.170
professional studios back when professional studios

00:30:09.170 --> 00:30:12.730
existed. Major professional studios as a producer

00:30:12.730 --> 00:30:16.769
from age 17. So, like, I had already done...

00:30:17.400 --> 00:30:19.660
By the time I'd met George, I was already starting

00:30:19.660 --> 00:30:22.660
to work in these studios. Were you doing session

00:30:22.660 --> 00:30:25.500
work? Yes, but I was also producing full -length

00:30:25.500 --> 00:30:29.299
albums. Because I had, I guess you could backtrack

00:30:29.299 --> 00:30:32.640
and say from 98 to 03, I had what eventually

00:30:32.640 --> 00:30:35.500
became an 18 -piece funk band called Sweet Mother

00:30:35.500 --> 00:30:39.660
Child up in Boston. And we recorded six full

00:30:39.660 --> 00:30:42.680
-length professional studio albums. It's the

00:30:42.680 --> 00:30:47.529
only music of mine which has not... been reprinted

00:30:47.529 --> 00:30:50.769
or digitized. So it's an interesting side note.

00:30:51.170 --> 00:30:54.390
And it was a great band. In fact, my wife discovered

00:30:54.390 --> 00:30:57.069
this music like a year ago. And she's like, why

00:30:57.069 --> 00:30:58.849
haven't you ever played this for me? I'm like,

00:30:58.890 --> 00:31:01.230
the band you're in when you're in high school

00:31:01.230 --> 00:31:03.609
and college, you're not necessarily like wistful

00:31:03.609 --> 00:31:06.490
about the quality necessarily. But I will say,

00:31:06.589 --> 00:31:09.509
comparably to all the other bands we were playing

00:31:09.509 --> 00:31:12.450
with, we were very high quality. And we could

00:31:12.450 --> 00:31:15.460
stand our own against adults. any given day.

00:31:15.619 --> 00:31:19.660
But we were definitely kids. So I look back at

00:31:19.660 --> 00:31:21.319
it the same way I think that George looks back

00:31:21.319 --> 00:31:23.859
at his very earliest records by the Parliament.

00:31:23.940 --> 00:31:25.180
It's like, oh, we couldn't sing. We couldn't.

00:31:25.420 --> 00:31:27.319
Because you're just thinking about you as a kid.

00:31:27.460 --> 00:31:29.619
But whenever I go back and revisit those records,

00:31:29.720 --> 00:31:31.279
it's very rare. But when I do, it's like, oh,

00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:34.559
yeah, we were doing something. So it was a great

00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:36.500
training ground for working with George. I had

00:31:36.500 --> 00:31:39.039
six albums under my belt, and then I produced

00:31:39.039 --> 00:31:41.019
three others for other bands. So I was becoming

00:31:41.019 --> 00:31:42.960
a producer of other groups. It didn't matter

00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:45.259
if they were punk rock, hip hop, or whatever.

00:31:45.579 --> 00:31:47.779
And I was starting to really do this production

00:31:47.779 --> 00:31:50.519
thing, so it allowed me the wherewithal to have

00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:55.000
some kind of lucid abilities in the studio with

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:57.680
George and with the guys in P -Funk when I would

00:31:57.680 --> 00:31:59.359
come down to what was at the time the studio

00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:02.200
in Monticello, which is very close to here. I

00:32:02.200 --> 00:32:04.400
only flew into Tallahassee. We immediately left

00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:07.740
Tallahassee and would go to Monticello. So Tallahassee

00:32:07.740 --> 00:32:09.779
was just the place where the airport was. And

00:32:09.779 --> 00:32:12.779
then we were going to this country town in the

00:32:12.779 --> 00:32:15.380
middle of nowhere. And I was like, what are we

00:32:15.380 --> 00:32:19.339
doing? And they live down a dirt road, way in

00:32:19.339 --> 00:32:22.500
the woods, way off a highway. Because you have

00:32:22.500 --> 00:32:25.440
to go to like the most remote part of the most

00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:28.940
remote town in North Florida to find this studio.

00:32:30.269 --> 00:32:32.250
Yeah, I would work there. Start hearing banjos.

00:32:32.250 --> 00:32:35.710
Yeah, exactly. Which for me was big culture shock

00:32:35.710 --> 00:32:41.390
coming from the north. Sorry. I definitely cut

00:32:41.390 --> 00:32:44.529
my teeth on a lot of the work with George, like

00:32:44.529 --> 00:32:47.250
that studio stuff in those early days. And it

00:32:47.250 --> 00:32:49.190
was definitely a huge learning experience because

00:32:49.190 --> 00:32:52.109
it was preparing me for my eventual road job.

00:32:52.210 --> 00:32:55.529
I had done some road work, but the studio thing.

00:32:55.930 --> 00:32:59.089
bracketed between my early road work, teching

00:32:59.089 --> 00:33:01.529
when I was still in college, to when I got hired

00:33:01.529 --> 00:33:06.470
on full -time on the payroll. And you start,

00:33:06.730 --> 00:33:09.970
but you're dedicated to finishing your degree.

00:33:10.289 --> 00:33:13.089
George even said, finish school. Finish school.

00:33:13.170 --> 00:33:16.450
I would come to the shows, front row, drop off

00:33:16.450 --> 00:33:19.450
my newest album, my newest music. I'd go backstage

00:33:19.450 --> 00:33:21.269
with George. Me and George would be singing.

00:33:21.799 --> 00:33:23.579
the rest of the night. So they closed the dressing

00:33:23.579 --> 00:33:25.279
room down. We got to go. We got to get out of

00:33:25.279 --> 00:33:27.720
here. He pulled me on the bus. We go singing

00:33:27.720 --> 00:33:30.220
on the bus because I knew all the really old

00:33:30.220 --> 00:33:31.960
songs by like the parliaments. And he was blown

00:33:31.960 --> 00:33:35.000
away that this 17, 18 year old kid knew these

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:36.740
songs. Like, how do you know this stuff? He's

00:33:36.740 --> 00:33:39.240
like, my band doesn't even know this stuff. And

00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:42.680
so that blew his mind. And I was Boston Danny

00:33:42.680 --> 00:33:45.140
for years. And then when they invited me down

00:33:45.140 --> 00:33:47.180
to Monticello, they were like, oh, he can play

00:33:47.180 --> 00:33:50.569
too. He's a player. And I was doing everything

00:33:50.569 --> 00:33:53.789
from programming to piano to drum, live drums,

00:33:54.029 --> 00:33:57.769
all kinds of stuff. And singing and writing.

00:33:58.250 --> 00:34:02.230
And yeah, they definitely took a liking to me

00:34:02.230 --> 00:34:04.509
from a very early point. But I finished my degree

00:34:04.509 --> 00:34:07.069
first because I was paying my own way. And George

00:34:07.069 --> 00:34:10.570
told me, he said, finish school. So I thought

00:34:10.570 --> 00:34:14.829
that was cool. Do you think he saw what you could

00:34:14.829 --> 00:34:17.710
become in terms of somebody that could help?

00:34:18.699 --> 00:34:21.739
tell his story, protect his legacy, show this

00:34:21.739 --> 00:34:25.199
kind of stuff to the world in a way? I think

00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:29.019
initially it was just, here's this kid who knows

00:34:29.019 --> 00:34:31.179
this music really well. I can't believe somebody

00:34:31.179 --> 00:34:35.780
so young knows this really old music. And I don't

00:34:35.780 --> 00:34:37.460
think it even had reached like a musicological

00:34:37.460 --> 00:34:41.019
level yet at that point. Because then they hired

00:34:41.019 --> 00:34:45.420
me as a technician. But my very first gig, I

00:34:45.420 --> 00:34:48.059
had to play the whole show. So the technician

00:34:48.059 --> 00:34:51.280
thing didn't last super long. There was a period

00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:54.119
where I was gigging and teching the whole show.

00:34:54.380 --> 00:34:56.599
So it was like being a basketball player. Yeah,

00:34:56.679 --> 00:35:00.440
yeah, yeah. It was insane. But I think early

00:35:00.440 --> 00:35:05.360
on, it was really a lot like George saw my knowledge,

00:35:05.420 --> 00:35:11.070
but the band saw my talent. So it was the guys

00:35:11.070 --> 00:35:13.750
in the band, Blackbird McKnight, Billy Bass Nelson,

00:35:14.070 --> 00:35:16.769
Bernie Worrell, Gary Scheider, Cordell Mawson.

00:35:16.869 --> 00:35:19.929
These guys were like, you know, this guy can

00:35:19.929 --> 00:35:22.650
really play. This kid can play. And they would

00:35:22.650 --> 00:35:25.449
have me play with them at sound checks. And then

00:35:25.449 --> 00:35:27.969
those playing at sound checks turned into me

00:35:27.969 --> 00:35:30.150
playing in the show. And then first it would

00:35:30.150 --> 00:35:32.809
be. The first show aside, when I had to play

00:35:32.809 --> 00:35:34.670
the whole show, aside from that, it would be

00:35:34.670 --> 00:35:36.949
like, Danny's going to play on one song, okay?

00:35:37.030 --> 00:35:39.150
He was going to play on two songs now. But then

00:35:39.150 --> 00:35:47.289
by, man, by June of 04, which means by that point,

00:35:47.329 --> 00:35:50.489
I'd been in the band nine months. So by nine

00:35:50.489 --> 00:35:53.070
months, I'm doing the whole show regularly, like

00:35:53.070 --> 00:35:56.489
every night. And so that was like a growth. That

00:35:56.489 --> 00:35:59.710
was like a growing into that, into that situation.

00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:03.440
The music program at the University of New Hampshire

00:36:03.440 --> 00:36:05.820
wasn't going to teach you anything, but the College

00:36:05.820 --> 00:36:08.300
of P -Funk had a lot to show you. Oh, my God.

00:36:08.719 --> 00:36:11.440
Yeah, I learned almost as much there as I did

00:36:11.440 --> 00:36:13.699
in my classical training. Just so much about

00:36:13.699 --> 00:36:19.190
performance and feel and... And paying attention

00:36:19.190 --> 00:36:22.409
and how to play, like, I always knew how to play

00:36:22.409 --> 00:36:25.349
an ensemble, but, like, the real kind of minutia

00:36:25.349 --> 00:36:27.730
of playing an ensemble and following a band leader

00:36:27.730 --> 00:36:31.789
and following George, which is a case study all

00:36:31.789 --> 00:36:35.449
in itself. Yeah, yeah. And people like Questlove

00:36:35.449 --> 00:36:37.110
have said in interviews, like, this is, like,

00:36:37.150 --> 00:36:41.269
the hardest band to be in. And I did an interview

00:36:41.269 --> 00:36:45.469
last night with my buddy Mr. Christopher on Funkatopia.

00:36:45.469 --> 00:36:48.289
It's, like, a Prince -centric. funk show. I've

00:36:48.289 --> 00:36:50.329
seen a few episodes. Okay, cool. And Michael

00:36:50.329 --> 00:36:52.570
Bland is his current co -host. And Michael Bland

00:36:52.570 --> 00:36:54.489
was Prince's drummer in the late 80s and early

00:36:54.489 --> 00:36:57.670
90s, new power generation. Like right after Sheila

00:36:57.670 --> 00:37:01.289
E, right? Yeah. And Michael Bland even told a

00:37:01.289 --> 00:37:04.929
story about how he was asked to fill in one night

00:37:04.929 --> 00:37:07.789
and how everybody, he was like, man, even the

00:37:07.789 --> 00:37:10.250
audience, people who don't even play music, they

00:37:10.250 --> 00:37:12.429
know all the turnarounds and all the changes.

00:37:12.550 --> 00:37:15.869
It was just too much for me. He's like a cult.

00:37:16.030 --> 00:37:18.269
He's like, everybody, Gary and George are turning

00:37:18.269 --> 00:37:20.650
to me, and they're hitting every accent. I'm

00:37:20.650 --> 00:37:22.190
like, oh, God, there's just so many moments,

00:37:22.250 --> 00:37:25.710
so many events. And it takes a musician to see

00:37:25.710 --> 00:37:28.510
what I later pointed out in that interview, which

00:37:28.510 --> 00:37:31.550
is that I think the layperson sees the sheen

00:37:31.550 --> 00:37:35.829
on the front of like, party, good time, chaos.

00:37:36.550 --> 00:37:40.449
But you go right behind that to the band, and

00:37:40.449 --> 00:37:45.050
it is like everyone is in. full -on concentration

00:37:45.050 --> 00:37:48.010
mode. And if one of them lets up, the rest of

00:37:48.010 --> 00:37:53.070
them can feel it. Yeah. Like all these organisms

00:37:53.070 --> 00:37:56.269
coming together to become one organism. And it's

00:37:56.269 --> 00:37:59.070
strict. And it's more strict than people think.

00:37:59.269 --> 00:38:02.030
It's not this just fun, he lets you do whatever

00:38:02.030 --> 00:38:05.769
you want. No. Being able to stay in his band

00:38:05.769 --> 00:38:10.409
for this many years was not because he just liked

00:38:10.409 --> 00:38:13.630
me as a person or because... I like this band

00:38:13.630 --> 00:38:16.949
and I don't want to quit. It's because I was

00:38:16.949 --> 00:38:20.150
able to not get fired. That's literally what

00:38:20.150 --> 00:38:24.170
it is. And a lot of people just can't hang. Even

00:38:24.170 --> 00:38:29.329
great musicians. Because it's just, it's a very

00:38:29.329 --> 00:38:31.789
hard job. You have to unlearn a lot of stuff

00:38:31.789 --> 00:38:35.130
you learned. You have to put into practice theories

00:38:35.130 --> 00:38:38.289
that you maybe didn't even know existed until

00:38:38.289 --> 00:38:41.719
contemporaneous moments. And you have to really

00:38:41.719 --> 00:38:45.420
make those theories work every single time. Like

00:38:45.420 --> 00:38:47.840
it has to be perfect every single time, which

00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:50.019
goes back to my classical training and helps,

00:38:50.139 --> 00:38:53.199
obviously. And Bernie Worrell, who was my mentor,

00:38:53.440 --> 00:38:55.860
he was classically trained. And so like to have

00:38:55.860 --> 00:38:57.679
the classical training in P -Funk to be the keyboard

00:38:57.679 --> 00:39:01.039
player, it's a must in a way. But I also tried

00:39:01.039 --> 00:39:03.000
to take it upon myself to learn the way every

00:39:03.000 --> 00:39:05.039
subsequent keyboard player played this music

00:39:05.039 --> 00:39:08.940
because... there's no kind of end in the variation

00:39:08.940 --> 00:39:11.019
to how this music has been played. And if you

00:39:11.019 --> 00:39:14.920
can figure out how everybody did it, then you

00:39:14.920 --> 00:39:17.719
can put your stamp on it, and then you can fully

00:39:17.719 --> 00:39:21.119
say, I understand the canon in a much more comprehensive

00:39:21.119 --> 00:39:27.360
way. But it's not an easy band to stay in. What

00:39:27.360 --> 00:39:29.000
are some of the things you remember struggling

00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:33.280
with directly, especially early on? Yeah, so

00:39:33.280 --> 00:39:35.340
in the early days, George would do this thing

00:39:35.340 --> 00:39:38.130
where he'd say, turn down and play hard, that's

00:39:38.130 --> 00:39:41.150
hard to do, especially when you're looking at

00:39:41.150 --> 00:39:44.050
situations where the sound man doesn't want you

00:39:44.050 --> 00:39:45.590
to turn down. The sound man wants you to actually

00:39:45.590 --> 00:39:48.829
turn up all the way so he doesn't get surprised

00:39:48.829 --> 00:39:51.849
later on. So now you're turning down and playing

00:39:51.849 --> 00:39:56.489
hard, and it's a different velocity. In a way,

00:39:56.489 --> 00:39:59.360
it stuck me in this one thing where... They started

00:39:59.360 --> 00:40:01.739
upgrading my speakers over time as I became a

00:40:01.739 --> 00:40:03.739
more important member of the thing, and they

00:40:03.739 --> 00:40:06.480
started upgrading my rig. Then I had to learn

00:40:06.480 --> 00:40:09.800
how to get used to hearing myself so loud. Oh,

00:40:09.820 --> 00:40:12.179
my God, I'm so loud. Am I, like, bothering everybody?

00:40:12.699 --> 00:40:16.380
And everybody else is hearing it like... They're

00:40:16.380 --> 00:40:18.880
not hearing like... But I'm hearing it like...

00:40:18.880 --> 00:40:22.559
And I had to get used to that. And I was like,

00:40:22.599 --> 00:40:26.280
oh, no, what is this? Some other things, too,

00:40:26.360 --> 00:40:30.070
were like... George would do this thing where

00:40:30.070 --> 00:40:32.750
we would be in a groove and it's just one line.

00:40:32.889 --> 00:40:35.570
And he would have us play that one line, sometimes

00:40:35.570 --> 00:40:39.190
for a half hour. And there's something with repetition.

00:40:39.250 --> 00:40:42.170
It's no different than if you were forced to

00:40:42.170 --> 00:40:45.710
recite a single sentence, a short sentence, like

00:40:45.710 --> 00:40:47.849
the bottles on the table. And he's saying the

00:40:47.849 --> 00:40:51.030
bottles on the table 800 times. Eventually, the

00:40:51.030 --> 00:40:53.449
bottles on the table to you is, it doesn't mean

00:40:53.449 --> 00:40:56.369
anything anymore. So you have to find a way.

00:40:57.000 --> 00:41:00.840
for this seemingly simple groove, this line that

00:41:00.840 --> 00:41:05.019
might only be five notes, to maintain its meaning,

00:41:05.159 --> 00:41:08.880
at best evolve into a new meaning equally as

00:41:08.880 --> 00:41:12.300
meaningful, if not more, in this half hour that

00:41:12.300 --> 00:41:15.460
you're forced to very tight, and if you, like,

00:41:15.559 --> 00:41:18.500
I know it's one line, it's only one thing, but

00:41:18.500 --> 00:41:22.480
the best, most virtuosic players out there, they

00:41:22.480 --> 00:41:25.780
can't do it. Because they'll play it twice and

00:41:25.780 --> 00:41:28.769
it'll be different. let alone a thousand times.

00:41:29.050 --> 00:41:32.090
You need it to be exactly the same those thousand

00:41:32.090 --> 00:41:34.550
times. And if anything, you need to be deeper

00:41:34.550 --> 00:41:36.309
in the pocket by the time you're done than before.

00:41:36.409 --> 00:41:39.429
Not speeding up, not getting it wrong, not hitting

00:41:39.429 --> 00:41:42.050
it wrong once, not hitting it wrong twice or

00:41:42.050 --> 00:41:44.110
a hundred times. You have to get it right every

00:41:44.110 --> 00:41:45.730
single time. And you have to really be deep in

00:41:45.730 --> 00:41:49.090
the pocket every single time. And it takes a

00:41:49.090 --> 00:41:51.750
massive amount of concentration. It doesn't matter

00:41:51.750 --> 00:41:54.929
if you are naturally good at it or not. I was

00:41:54.929 --> 00:41:58.329
naturally gifted. in understanding the pocket,

00:41:58.489 --> 00:42:00.610
thankfully. And a lot of it came from my classical

00:42:00.610 --> 00:42:03.250
training and being able to study with Bernie

00:42:03.250 --> 00:42:06.130
for so long. But a lot of it came naturally.

00:42:07.150 --> 00:42:09.489
That being said, you still have to put every

00:42:09.489 --> 00:42:11.750
bit of concentration the moment you think about

00:42:11.750 --> 00:42:14.349
something else or the moment your mind veers

00:42:14.349 --> 00:42:17.949
away from the task at hand. You're screwed. To

00:42:17.949 --> 00:42:20.789
be entirely present. Yes, those little weird

00:42:20.789 --> 00:42:24.539
things. Anybody else, like your average... to

00:42:24.539 --> 00:42:26.820
your best players. They're going to play it so

00:42:26.820 --> 00:42:29.940
sloppy two times and not ever think about it

00:42:29.940 --> 00:42:33.699
any other. Oh, we play this line now. Both times

00:42:33.699 --> 00:42:35.360
they play it, it's not the same. It's almost

00:42:35.360 --> 00:42:38.940
like a meditation. Yes, yes. And it's supposed

00:42:38.940 --> 00:42:42.519
to compound the meaning as time goes on. You

00:42:42.519 --> 00:42:45.659
can't lose meaning. There's a lot. You could

00:42:45.659 --> 00:42:47.639
write a whole book just about this one little

00:42:47.639 --> 00:42:50.000
concept I'm talking about. And it's just one

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:53.400
of the many theories espoused by the... Parliament

00:42:53.400 --> 00:42:55.860
Funkadelic, especially the guys who were still

00:42:55.860 --> 00:42:58.099
with us at that time, who've largely passed on,

00:42:58.159 --> 00:43:00.920
not all, but a lot of them. And they were like

00:43:00.920 --> 00:43:04.980
real proponents of these theories. And not only

00:43:04.980 --> 00:43:08.199
is this stuff impactful and important to playing

00:43:08.199 --> 00:43:12.619
in P -Funk, a lot of these theories are subjectively

00:43:12.619 --> 00:43:15.719
singular to P -Funk. So like you could play in

00:43:15.719 --> 00:43:18.380
another funk band, like the Bar Ks or the Ohio

00:43:18.380 --> 00:43:21.880
Players, and they don't even utilize these theories.

00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:23.659
They're just... playing through, and they're

00:43:23.659 --> 00:43:26.280
great. But they're not even doing, it's what

00:43:26.280 --> 00:43:29.179
you're going to call dig in, digging in, like

00:43:29.179 --> 00:43:32.840
digging your feet into the ground and not moving.

00:43:33.219 --> 00:43:35.559
That's a thing that P -Funk perfected. And you

00:43:35.559 --> 00:43:37.719
can hear the guys from Kool and the Gang and

00:43:37.719 --> 00:43:39.579
Earth, Wind & Fire talk about it. They'll talk

00:43:39.579 --> 00:43:42.239
about it in interviews, like those guys were

00:43:42.239 --> 00:43:45.059
on the one and stayed on the one forever. I remember

00:43:45.059 --> 00:43:49.280
Earth, Wind & Fire, we played with them not too

00:43:49.280 --> 00:43:52.489
long ago in Europe. And Philip Bailey and those

00:43:52.489 --> 00:43:54.070
guys came out, and they were talking to all of

00:43:54.070 --> 00:43:55.630
us in front of George, and they were like, you

00:43:55.630 --> 00:43:57.289
guys should have seen George back in the day.

00:43:57.469 --> 00:43:59.389
They used to funkadelic. They would come out,

00:43:59.469 --> 00:44:02.449
and they'd do this one groove. And he said, they'd

00:44:02.449 --> 00:44:05.869
do that the whole night. I was like, oh, God.

00:44:06.210 --> 00:44:09.030
And they just, that's it. They'd do all their

00:44:09.030 --> 00:44:12.940
songs over that groove and just. And they'd hold

00:44:12.940 --> 00:44:15.260
it so hard the whole night that the whole crowd,

00:44:15.340 --> 00:44:17.059
including us, would be in a trance. And we would

00:44:17.059 --> 00:44:18.579
time it for us to go on because they were always

00:44:18.579 --> 00:44:20.659
like the perennial openers. But they were the

00:44:20.659 --> 00:44:22.480
openers you almost didn't want to open for you

00:44:22.480 --> 00:44:25.880
because everything they did was either so fantastic

00:44:25.880 --> 00:44:30.639
or so extravagantly different than what anybody

00:44:30.639 --> 00:44:32.699
had heard that it would change the course of

00:44:32.699 --> 00:44:34.519
what the show was supposed to be. It's like the

00:44:34.519 --> 00:44:36.880
groove. It's almost like getting into quicksand.

00:44:37.179 --> 00:44:39.920
Yes. Yeah. You got to just get deeper and deeper

00:44:39.920 --> 00:44:42.610
into it. Not move a fucking inch of anything.

00:44:43.289 --> 00:44:46.170
Just let it suck you down. And amaze people with

00:44:46.170 --> 00:44:48.670
how deep it can actually go. Because people always

00:44:48.670 --> 00:44:50.630
think, okay, it's not going to get any funkier

00:44:50.630 --> 00:44:52.710
than where they're at right now. And then the

00:44:52.710 --> 00:44:55.550
next couple bars, all of a sudden... And all

00:44:55.550 --> 00:44:59.570
you can do is just be like... It's just so stinky.

00:44:59.809 --> 00:45:04.250
But knowing how to do that, that takes a massive

00:45:04.250 --> 00:45:06.949
amount of control. A massive amount of control.

00:45:07.050 --> 00:45:09.150
Especially if you're a technically gifted dude

00:45:09.150 --> 00:45:11.840
who wants to play... everything under the sun.

00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:14.019
And when you're trained in classical and jazz

00:45:14.019 --> 00:45:16.639
and you're playing fusion and you're doing all

00:45:16.639 --> 00:45:20.579
this stuff, sometimes that stuff is, I don't

00:45:20.579 --> 00:45:22.420
know how to put it, not unorthodox, but just

00:45:22.420 --> 00:45:27.179
like unheeded or missed by your average virtuoso.

00:45:27.320 --> 00:45:31.079
Like they missed that lesson somewhere. And I

00:45:31.079 --> 00:45:35.019
consider myself as... Technical is the next guy.

00:45:35.099 --> 00:45:38.280
I can be virtuosic. I can do all the crazy things

00:45:38.280 --> 00:45:42.239
that people expect from a player at their highest

00:45:42.239 --> 00:45:45.500
caliber or whatever. But there's another level

00:45:45.500 --> 00:45:48.900
of that, and that's groove and pocket. And for

00:45:48.900 --> 00:45:51.420
as many people as I know that can do a diatonic

00:45:51.420 --> 00:45:55.860
run in 200 BPM or whatever, for every 10 guys

00:45:55.860 --> 00:45:57.840
I know who can do that, there's half a guy that

00:45:57.840 --> 00:46:00.920
can hold a groove. Half a guy who can hold it

00:46:00.920 --> 00:46:03.780
correctly and do... what is expected of him.

00:46:04.199 --> 00:46:08.539
It's a lost art. These people who can do it are

00:46:08.539 --> 00:46:14.400
dying off like the samurai. And I have a couple

00:46:14.400 --> 00:46:16.960
of peers who are in my age group, where we're

00:46:16.960 --> 00:46:19.900
like early to mid 40s, that have learned this

00:46:19.900 --> 00:46:22.559
stuff from the masters. There's maybe three or

00:46:22.559 --> 00:46:28.059
four of us, if that. Everybody else is old, getting

00:46:28.059 --> 00:46:32.079
older, or gone. So it's one of these things that's

00:46:32.079 --> 00:46:35.599
been lost to time. And I guess you could teach

00:46:35.599 --> 00:46:40.420
it at a university, but it still hasn't been

00:46:40.420 --> 00:46:45.119
indoctrinated or included in the sort of intrinsic

00:46:45.119 --> 00:46:48.179
learnings and teachings at university level for

00:46:48.179 --> 00:46:51.360
music students. What I think is interesting...

00:46:51.880 --> 00:46:54.280
Maybe just something I didn't think about, I

00:46:54.280 --> 00:46:57.320
guess, is not only have you become the historian

00:46:57.320 --> 00:47:02.440
of P -Funk in terms of telling the story, documenting

00:47:02.440 --> 00:47:07.880
what happened, but also preserving the ways of

00:47:07.880 --> 00:47:13.579
playing and the music in a very fundamental way.

00:47:13.719 --> 00:47:17.500
It makes me... I had Baylor Trucks on earlier

00:47:17.500 --> 00:47:21.150
this year. Nice. Butch's son. Yeah. And he plays

00:47:21.150 --> 00:47:24.309
with Melody in the Brother and Sister tribute

00:47:24.309 --> 00:47:28.650
band. Cool. Their goal is to play it as authentically

00:47:28.650 --> 00:47:31.510
as they possibly can and to keep their parents'

00:47:31.630 --> 00:47:35.289
music alive. Awesome. And I feel like that's

00:47:35.289 --> 00:47:39.269
your goal. Yeah. Yeah, very much. When we do,

00:47:39.349 --> 00:47:42.389
whether it's work with P -Funk directly, doing

00:47:42.389 --> 00:47:47.190
the actual corporate act and rehearsing new old

00:47:47.190 --> 00:47:50.090
songs. for the set that have never been included

00:47:50.090 --> 00:47:52.690
before and like really bringing back that sort

00:47:52.690 --> 00:47:55.969
of canonical flavor or even doing a special curated

00:47:55.969 --> 00:48:00.030
set full of music from a specific period. Like

00:48:00.030 --> 00:48:02.489
with the book and quite the new book, it's 1975.

00:48:02.670 --> 00:48:05.469
So we've been doing these curated sets from 75

00:48:05.469 --> 00:48:08.329
using some of the instruments from that period

00:48:08.329 --> 00:48:11.050
too. So it's not only just the technique and

00:48:11.050 --> 00:48:13.789
the technical, but also the technological as

00:48:13.789 --> 00:48:17.920
well. So that's an important aspect of it. Good

00:48:17.920 --> 00:48:22.880
time to dive into this book. Sure. Because you

00:48:22.880 --> 00:48:27.320
start, to keep the story going, you start not

00:48:27.320 --> 00:48:30.639
only playing with P -Punk full -time and touring

00:48:30.639 --> 00:48:32.480
around the world with them, but you start also

00:48:32.480 --> 00:48:36.460
preserving a lot of the things that you're finding.

00:48:36.500 --> 00:48:38.639
Can you tell me just a little bit about how...

00:48:38.639 --> 00:48:41.559
Is it wrong to say that you've developed an archive?

00:48:42.000 --> 00:48:44.599
Yes, yes, I definitely have. Okay. And, like,

00:48:44.599 --> 00:48:47.739
George has... Made me like the band musicologist

00:48:47.739 --> 00:48:51.480
and the band archivist. There are a hundred ways

00:48:51.480 --> 00:48:54.079
I could tell this, but like the shortest kind

00:48:54.079 --> 00:48:56.559
of most concise way is that I'd been collecting

00:48:56.559 --> 00:49:00.980
materials, discographical materials, musicological

00:49:00.980 --> 00:49:04.409
materials. Probably since you were a kid as a

00:49:04.409 --> 00:49:08.349
fan. Yeah, since like seventh grade. And I still

00:49:08.349 --> 00:49:11.690
have stacks of papers on this stuff. Notebooks

00:49:11.690 --> 00:49:13.469
that were supposed to be like my math notebook.

00:49:13.909 --> 00:49:16.289
And there'd be like a page of notes and the rest

00:49:16.289 --> 00:49:19.769
of the book is all P -Funk stuff. And never did

00:49:19.769 --> 00:49:21.389
I think this stuff would all be published. Being

00:49:21.389 --> 00:49:24.429
an author was not my... end goal. It was not

00:49:24.429 --> 00:49:26.949
even a part of the goal. I didn't even know that

00:49:26.949 --> 00:49:29.150
I was necessarily going to become a writer, even

00:49:29.150 --> 00:49:31.489
when I became a history major. And everybody

00:49:31.489 --> 00:49:33.309
said, oh, you're a history major. So are you

00:49:33.309 --> 00:49:36.610
going to be a teacher or a writer? Or an expert,

00:49:36.750 --> 00:49:38.849
where they pull you in. But the expert jobs,

00:49:39.010 --> 00:49:41.090
it's like being a musician. You've got to find

00:49:41.090 --> 00:49:43.570
gigs left and right. And it's not easy. And it

00:49:43.570 --> 00:49:46.070
doesn't pay well. I could be the head of a chair

00:49:46.070 --> 00:49:50.449
of a history... studies department at a good

00:49:50.449 --> 00:49:53.510
school and make 20 G's less than I make now.

00:49:53.690 --> 00:49:56.650
You know what I mean? And have way more work.

00:49:56.750 --> 00:49:59.670
It's a ton of work. There's a certain aspect

00:49:59.670 --> 00:50:02.010
to that where I was not aware that was how it

00:50:02.010 --> 00:50:05.420
was going to go. But... By COVID, it became,

00:50:05.579 --> 00:50:07.659
oh, this is going to be one of my goals since

00:50:07.659 --> 00:50:09.900
I don't have a job anymore. None of us are working

00:50:09.900 --> 00:50:12.559
anymore. I'm going to up the ante on this aspect

00:50:12.559 --> 00:50:15.000
of my life, this aspect of my life, this aspect

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:18.239
of my life. And the three big ones were my health.

00:50:18.500 --> 00:50:21.840
So I began exercising and running. My classical

00:50:21.840 --> 00:50:23.860
because it was always the most important part

00:50:23.860 --> 00:50:28.280
of my training. And I just read like crazy six

00:50:28.280 --> 00:50:31.019
to nine hours of classical every day. And then

00:50:31.019 --> 00:50:33.750
writing. the first book, the authorized P. Funk

00:50:33.750 --> 00:50:36.210
song reference, actually putting pen to paper,

00:50:36.309 --> 00:50:38.909
if you will, and collecting all these source

00:50:38.909 --> 00:50:41.710
materials, new interviews, et cetera, et cetera,

00:50:41.789 --> 00:50:44.170
and beginning the arduous process of, again,

00:50:44.289 --> 00:50:47.530
five to nine hours a day of writing and interviewing.

00:50:47.809 --> 00:50:53.150
So my day was very regimented, extremely long,

00:50:53.289 --> 00:50:56.190
and full of all the things I felt like, okay,

00:50:56.190 --> 00:50:58.510
now is the time to do this. I actually have the

00:50:58.510 --> 00:51:01.469
chance and the time. So that's where... It was

00:51:01.469 --> 00:51:04.969
really a desperation, not desperation. You're

00:51:04.969 --> 00:51:07.230
in these moments. None of us are working. There's

00:51:07.230 --> 00:51:10.489
a worldwide pandemic. Okay, now is the time.

00:51:10.570 --> 00:51:12.849
I'm not going to be bothered. Nobody's coming

00:51:12.849 --> 00:51:15.610
to the door and nobody's calling. We got a gig

00:51:15.610 --> 00:51:18.590
for you. So now is the time to start writing

00:51:18.590 --> 00:51:20.909
this stuff. And so that's how it happened. I

00:51:20.909 --> 00:51:23.349
was already the band musicologist before that.

00:51:23.469 --> 00:51:26.230
But then after that, they started adding archivist

00:51:26.230 --> 00:51:28.070
and having me do different things with the tapes.

00:51:28.429 --> 00:51:31.230
The reels and all this stuff, like archiving

00:51:31.230 --> 00:51:33.690
what all the reels are that George has and getting

00:51:33.690 --> 00:51:37.929
a full textual document of all his reels. That's

00:51:37.929 --> 00:51:40.650
another thing I did, a non -published job that

00:51:40.650 --> 00:51:45.769
I did as an archivist. And then eventually, with

00:51:45.769 --> 00:51:48.690
the success of the first book, being able to

00:51:48.690 --> 00:51:51.949
utilize my history degree at its utmost and create

00:51:51.949 --> 00:51:54.250
this second book, this monograph, Make My Funk

00:51:54.250 --> 00:51:58.050
the P -Funk, which is all about the... 50th anniversary

00:51:58.050 --> 00:52:00.570
of 1975. It's all about the three albums that

00:52:00.570 --> 00:52:02.989
came out that year and how that year is essentially

00:52:02.989 --> 00:52:05.610
the paradigm shift, the movement, the sort of

00:52:05.610 --> 00:52:08.489
watershed movement that transformed Parliament

00:52:08.489 --> 00:52:12.730
Funkadelic into P -Funk, as it were, and stood

00:52:12.730 --> 00:52:16.829
as the kind of the middle point between their

00:52:16.829 --> 00:52:19.730
status as like the darlings of the underground

00:52:19.730 --> 00:52:22.409
Chitlin circuit, still riding in station wagons,

00:52:22.469 --> 00:52:26.880
to having a spaceship and a platinum album. And

00:52:26.880 --> 00:52:30.099
songs in the top five and like pop success for

00:52:30.099 --> 00:52:33.659
the first time. So it's a year that a lot happens.

00:52:34.000 --> 00:52:36.559
It's the beginning of their superstardom. It's

00:52:36.559 --> 00:52:38.320
not the beginning of their stardom, but it's

00:52:38.320 --> 00:52:40.679
the beginning of their like massive superstardom.

00:52:40.699 --> 00:52:44.539
And it's a year when you can really track almost

00:52:44.539 --> 00:52:48.280
two different entities in one. They were this

00:52:48.280 --> 00:52:51.219
way at the beginning of the year. It became this

00:52:51.219 --> 00:52:55.309
by the end and it never changed. There was never

00:52:55.309 --> 00:52:58.809
any turning back, in a way, to that old book.

00:52:59.750 --> 00:53:04.590
So I've got a few questions. So the first book

00:53:04.590 --> 00:53:12.449
is kind of just a tome of everything. Maybe it's

00:53:12.449 --> 00:53:16.010
almost like a document, if you will. A reference.

00:53:17.150 --> 00:53:20.949
Encyclopedic. It's an encyclopedia of P -Funk,

00:53:21.010 --> 00:53:24.519
is what it is, essentially. And your approach

00:53:24.519 --> 00:53:26.139
to this book is very different. Very different.

00:53:26.159 --> 00:53:29.260
Much more, and I haven't, obviously it comes

00:53:29.260 --> 00:53:32.239
out today or tomorrow, so I haven't read it yet.

00:53:32.380 --> 00:53:34.980
Yep. But from what I understand and from hearing

00:53:34.980 --> 00:53:37.579
other talks that you've given, it's much more

00:53:37.579 --> 00:53:39.519
of a story. Yes. You're telling much more of

00:53:39.519 --> 00:53:42.619
a story. Yep. And something that you said earlier

00:53:42.619 --> 00:53:46.679
about your history degree and how that's helped

00:53:46.679 --> 00:53:48.719
you guys on tour, especially internationally.

00:53:48.940 --> 00:53:54.789
Yeah. How much about... Did you see change in

00:53:54.789 --> 00:53:56.949
terms of them having to use things like the Green

00:53:56.949 --> 00:54:01.289
Book at the beginning of 1975? At the end of

00:54:01.289 --> 00:54:04.949
it, it being a little bit more easy for them

00:54:04.949 --> 00:54:06.510
to get around the country. Can you talk about

00:54:06.510 --> 00:54:09.510
that? Yes. To your first point, it is very much

00:54:09.510 --> 00:54:12.289
more of a narrative. I've actually met a few

00:54:12.289 --> 00:54:14.670
people recently, a good friend of mine, his wife.

00:54:15.340 --> 00:54:17.840
told me she read the authorized P -Funk song

00:54:17.840 --> 00:54:20.739
reference cover to cover. I said, I've never

00:54:20.739 --> 00:54:23.159
even done that. I wrote the book. I was like,

00:54:23.199 --> 00:54:26.099
really? And he said that she didn't really know

00:54:26.099 --> 00:54:27.860
much about P -Funk before, so this was like her

00:54:27.860 --> 00:54:29.739
introduction. I'm like, that's a hell of an introduction

00:54:29.739 --> 00:54:33.500
because it's the nerdiest. It's just straight

00:54:33.500 --> 00:54:39.280
information, cold, hard facts. And this is story

00:54:39.280 --> 00:54:43.500
-based. It's definitely narrative. That book

00:54:43.500 --> 00:54:45.900
is chronological too, but this chronology is

00:54:45.900 --> 00:54:48.300
the kind that you can pick up before bed, read

00:54:48.300 --> 00:54:50.320
a few pages or maybe even a chapter if you're

00:54:50.320 --> 00:54:52.579
that type of reader, put it down and get ready

00:54:52.579 --> 00:54:54.579
for the next day at the same time. Those kind

00:54:54.579 --> 00:54:56.900
of before you go to bed reads. This is that good

00:54:56.900 --> 00:54:59.280
kind of before you go to bed type of read. Yeah.

00:54:59.400 --> 00:55:04.780
And to the second point, you were saying how

00:55:04.780 --> 00:55:07.579
the band changed. And a lot of this, there's

00:55:07.579 --> 00:55:09.239
a chapter, the first chapter actually, after

00:55:09.239 --> 00:55:11.280
all the introduction material, after all the

00:55:11.280 --> 00:55:14.059
back matter. There's a chapter on the actual

00:55:14.059 --> 00:55:18.679
history of 1975. So it deals with political history,

00:55:18.820 --> 00:55:21.039
military history, economic history, demographic

00:55:21.039 --> 00:55:24.659
history, technological history, and touches on

00:55:24.659 --> 00:55:27.920
important events that shaped the world at large,

00:55:27.980 --> 00:55:31.119
including George and Parliament Funkadelic, and

00:55:31.119 --> 00:55:34.699
shaped not just their motivations, not just their

00:55:34.699 --> 00:55:37.539
insights, not just... their lyrical and musical

00:55:37.539 --> 00:55:40.420
framework, but shaped their ability to conduct

00:55:40.420 --> 00:55:43.000
their business on a day -to -day level. Like

00:55:43.000 --> 00:55:44.820
you said, things like the Green Book, for instance.

00:55:45.239 --> 00:55:50.280
There were strides taken towards the accession.

00:55:50.960 --> 00:55:53.300
a session into higher echelons for the African

00:55:53.300 --> 00:55:57.460
American community in 75 that helped allow for

00:55:57.460 --> 00:55:59.380
an album like, say, Chocolate City to come out

00:55:59.380 --> 00:56:01.820
in April of that year. And there are events that

00:56:01.820 --> 00:56:05.380
transpire alongside it in history that help to

00:56:05.380 --> 00:56:07.340
allow for something that would be considered

00:56:07.340 --> 00:56:10.579
subversive two years before to be accepted and

00:56:10.579 --> 00:56:14.480
even chart two years later. And so I talk about

00:56:14.480 --> 00:56:17.239
a lot of that in the book. But I also talk about

00:56:17.239 --> 00:56:21.570
how despite the... the accession forward the

00:56:21.570 --> 00:56:23.969
sort of movement forward there were still massive

00:56:23.969 --> 00:56:28.250
demographic economic blocks on the african -american

00:56:28.250 --> 00:56:30.789
community they're stopping them from being able

00:56:30.789 --> 00:56:33.070
to achieve how they could at their highest level

00:56:33.070 --> 00:56:36.050
if they were allowed to and so it talks about

00:56:36.050 --> 00:56:38.190
how strides had been made but there would need

00:56:38.190 --> 00:56:41.269
to be further strides made for say such for such

00:56:41.269 --> 00:56:43.889
ideals to actually take shape in reality but

00:56:43.889 --> 00:56:48.260
for them to take shape in art was why the history

00:56:48.260 --> 00:56:50.579
allowed certain things to happen. And it talks

00:56:50.579 --> 00:56:53.260
about also that the beginning, the first however

00:56:53.260 --> 00:56:55.659
many months of that year, history is very much

00:56:55.659 --> 00:56:58.260
shaping what George and P -Funk did. By the end

00:56:58.260 --> 00:57:00.099
of the year, George and P -Funk are helping to

00:57:00.099 --> 00:57:03.420
shape what happens in history. It doesn't necessarily

00:57:03.420 --> 00:57:07.340
flip, but there is a dichotomy that finds itself

00:57:07.340 --> 00:57:09.239
on the other side of that through the success

00:57:09.239 --> 00:57:13.119
of George. That's, yeah, that's exactly what

00:57:13.119 --> 00:57:18.500
I was starting to think about. Their music, I

00:57:18.500 --> 00:57:21.599
mean, changed the world as much as it was in

00:57:21.599 --> 00:57:24.699
response to the world. Yes, yes, very much so.

00:57:25.179 --> 00:57:29.800
So how, as someone who works closely with a lot

00:57:29.800 --> 00:57:32.619
of the characters in this book on a day -to -day

00:57:32.619 --> 00:57:39.119
basis, I think, so history as like a field. it's

00:57:39.119 --> 00:57:41.500
changed tremendously in the last 50 years yeah

00:57:41.500 --> 00:57:45.099
so in 1975 like military history would have been

00:57:45.099 --> 00:57:46.900
one of the main ways that people just talked

00:57:46.900 --> 00:57:51.039
about history period sure and now even to talk

00:57:51.039 --> 00:57:55.539
about a band it's the historian's job to put

00:57:55.539 --> 00:57:57.900
it all in a context of what's going on in military

00:57:57.900 --> 00:58:02.059
technology culture but also how did you put it

00:58:02.059 --> 00:58:04.719
in the context of i know these people Right.

00:58:04.960 --> 00:58:07.679
So one thing that definitely helps, and I've

00:58:07.679 --> 00:58:10.739
said this before, the first book probably, and

00:58:10.739 --> 00:58:12.500
I'm not saying this to toot my own horn, I'm

00:58:12.500 --> 00:58:15.079
just saying this to show like that these things

00:58:15.079 --> 00:58:19.239
happen. The perfect environment has to be made

00:58:19.239 --> 00:58:22.619
for such things to reach completion and conclusion.

00:58:22.920 --> 00:58:25.679
People always say, oh, Danny, so you always finish

00:58:25.679 --> 00:58:27.840
your project. That's such a, because those of

00:58:27.840 --> 00:58:30.199
us in the arts, there's always, I want to do

00:58:30.199 --> 00:58:34.019
that, but I never will type of thing. It was

00:58:34.019 --> 00:58:36.599
the perfect environment, just the right nature

00:58:36.599 --> 00:58:39.579
had to be in place for me, for a person, for

00:58:39.579 --> 00:58:42.519
a Danny Bedrosian to write an authorized P -Funk

00:58:42.519 --> 00:58:44.500
song reference or even make my funk the P -Funk

00:58:44.500 --> 00:58:48.239
for that matter. It was the perfect duality of

00:58:48.239 --> 00:58:52.260
this is my favorite band of all time. I've been

00:58:52.260 --> 00:58:54.380
in this band for almost 25 years. And you put

00:58:54.380 --> 00:58:57.679
those two things together and that's how I have...

00:58:57.679 --> 00:59:01.039
A musicologist whose favorite band is P -Funk

00:59:01.039 --> 00:59:03.860
couldn't have written the first book. A band

00:59:03.860 --> 00:59:08.079
member who didn't necessarily fall in love with

00:59:08.079 --> 00:59:10.480
P -Funk organically couldn't probably write this

00:59:10.480 --> 00:59:13.400
book. I had to have the right combination of

00:59:13.400 --> 00:59:19.139
know -how, experience, expertise, talent, and

00:59:19.139 --> 00:59:23.340
knowledge and relationships. Much like the first

00:59:23.340 --> 00:59:27.219
book, this one has a number of brand new primary

00:59:27.219 --> 00:59:31.099
source interviews. In addition to... Knowing

00:59:31.099 --> 00:59:33.559
how to place these guys in the context of the

00:59:33.559 --> 00:59:36.739
narrative, they have placed themselves in the

00:59:36.739 --> 00:59:39.019
context of the narrative through their own words.

00:59:39.860 --> 00:59:43.800
Whereas I used the 55 different interview subjects

00:59:43.800 --> 00:59:47.739
in the first book, their words were used to contribute

00:59:47.739 --> 00:59:52.300
information and not direct quotes. in this book,

00:59:52.320 --> 00:59:55.039
are used as direct quotes. So you're getting

00:59:55.039 --> 00:59:57.440
from their own words, from George Clinton, Fred

00:59:57.440 --> 01:00:00.460
Wesley, all these guys, exactly how it went down

01:00:00.460 --> 01:00:05.760
in their words. So you are transporting your

01:00:05.760 --> 01:00:10.449
colleagues, your peers. back in time to where

01:00:10.449 --> 01:00:12.909
they were when these things happened. And they're

01:00:12.909 --> 01:00:15.110
transporting themselves through their own words

01:00:15.110 --> 01:00:18.030
and actions. It's more of an oral history kind

01:00:18.030 --> 01:00:20.710
of approach. In a way, yes. So it's a mixture

01:00:20.710 --> 01:00:26.090
of that narration and the quotes from the actual

01:00:26.090 --> 01:00:28.989
primary source interviews interspersed. Whenever

01:00:28.989 --> 01:00:33.030
something needs to be exemplified without a cited

01:00:33.030 --> 01:00:36.139
source, use the primary source interviews. And

01:00:36.139 --> 01:00:38.760
those really drive home the most important points

01:00:38.760 --> 01:00:41.519
in a lot of ways. What are some of the most surprising

01:00:41.519 --> 01:00:45.119
things that you found when putting together the

01:00:45.119 --> 01:00:46.920
P -Funk archive? What are some of the things

01:00:46.920 --> 01:00:50.119
that really stood out to you? One of the things

01:00:50.119 --> 01:00:53.019
that stood out to me the most is that the general

01:00:53.019 --> 01:00:56.880
knowledge of personnel, which goes back to my

01:00:56.880 --> 01:00:59.760
first book, but also affects this book. The general

01:00:59.760 --> 01:01:02.280
knowledge of personnel is largely erroneous.

01:01:02.440 --> 01:01:08.599
And so that There's not a concise consensus on

01:01:08.599 --> 01:01:11.480
who did what, which was, again, the impetus for

01:01:11.480 --> 01:01:14.099
me writing the first book. But there's three

01:01:14.099 --> 01:01:16.340
very major chapters in this book that deal with

01:01:16.340 --> 01:01:19.179
exactly the same subject matter, and it's the

01:01:19.179 --> 01:01:21.460
chapters on the three albums in question. So

01:01:21.460 --> 01:01:24.300
each album gets its own dedicated chapter, which

01:01:24.300 --> 01:01:28.239
are, of course, all about legitimate, personnel

01:01:28.239 --> 01:01:31.309
-important... documentation of personnel, an

01:01:31.309 --> 01:01:34.329
important sort of back matter of those albums.

01:01:34.750 --> 01:01:37.949
And so for those to be legitimized, you have

01:01:37.949 --> 01:01:40.150
to take a number of really important steps as

01:01:40.150 --> 01:01:45.349
an historian. And yeah, that part of the process

01:01:45.349 --> 01:01:50.690
is of uber importance. And I definitely link

01:01:50.690 --> 01:01:56.190
the sort of correctness of the aptitude for getting

01:01:56.190 --> 01:02:01.900
this stuff right to And a complete sort of, what

01:02:01.900 --> 01:02:04.880
do you call it, like adoration for authenticity,

01:02:04.940 --> 01:02:09.980
a complete adoration for getting accurate answers,

01:02:10.159 --> 01:02:13.599
accurate results. Yeah. And again, you don't

01:02:13.599 --> 01:02:15.900
always get it right. And as time goes on, you'll

01:02:15.900 --> 01:02:17.980
find out, oh, this was actually this. But that's

01:02:17.980 --> 01:02:21.079
history. That's what history is. The historian

01:02:21.079 --> 01:02:25.380
today is writing about... another historian's

01:02:25.380 --> 01:02:27.539
book about another historian's book about another

01:02:27.539 --> 01:02:30.059
historian's book and that's how this stuff goes

01:02:30.059 --> 01:02:34.300
down and you're really just adding your your

01:02:34.300 --> 01:02:39.260
hypothetical page to an already existing tome

01:02:39.260 --> 01:02:41.800
of massive proportions at best like there might

01:02:41.800 --> 01:02:43.920
be like a new primary source that gets uncovered

01:02:43.920 --> 01:02:47.780
like i think about when darwin's wife's cookbook

01:02:47.780 --> 01:02:52.780
yeah published okay nice because there's A lot

01:02:52.780 --> 01:02:55.559
of debate about where his illness came from throughout

01:02:55.559 --> 01:02:58.400
his life. Some people thought it was anxiety.

01:02:58.619 --> 01:03:00.760
Some people thought he caught some kind of tropical

01:03:00.760 --> 01:03:04.500
disease. When the cookbook came out, everybody

01:03:04.500 --> 01:03:07.599
realized that's what it was. Maybe he was lactose

01:03:07.599 --> 01:03:09.239
intolerant. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because she used

01:03:09.239 --> 01:03:12.039
heavy cream all the time. And he seemed to get

01:03:12.039 --> 01:03:15.380
better. But the point is, even then, they're

01:03:15.380 --> 01:03:18.559
still just in conversation with these other historians

01:03:18.559 --> 01:03:23.179
that have... made these theories that you know

01:03:23.179 --> 01:03:27.059
none of it is going to end up being the truth

01:03:27.059 --> 01:03:30.300
right capital t right it's all different interpretations

01:03:30.300 --> 01:03:34.480
of the same kind of facts yeah it's really rare

01:03:34.480 --> 01:03:36.059
that you have like a new source get uncovered

01:03:36.059 --> 01:03:38.940
that turns things on its head i will say this

01:03:38.940 --> 01:03:40.679
now obviously in the first book there's tons

01:03:40.679 --> 01:03:43.739
of that yeah it's every page is that but in this

01:03:43.739 --> 01:03:45.519
one because it hadn't been documented in the

01:03:45.519 --> 01:03:47.940
first place exactly that i mentioned that recently

01:03:47.940 --> 01:03:51.300
too that It's something that this is all new

01:03:51.300 --> 01:03:55.480
to the written page. This book, there is also

01:03:55.480 --> 01:03:58.480
some new discoveries and some things that have

01:03:58.480 --> 01:04:02.059
never been uncovered on the page or off. So there

01:04:02.059 --> 01:04:05.000
are some really cool surprises in this book,

01:04:05.099 --> 01:04:08.139
some that adhere to personnel, some that have

01:04:08.139 --> 01:04:11.159
to do with promotion, some that have to do with

01:04:11.159 --> 01:04:15.599
things that even George... George has done tens

01:04:15.599 --> 01:04:17.059
of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of

01:04:17.059 --> 01:04:19.360
interviews in his life. And to try to get new

01:04:19.360 --> 01:04:21.619
organic information out of George, you really

01:04:21.619 --> 01:04:23.539
have to know what kind of questions to ask. So

01:04:23.539 --> 01:04:25.360
I tried to focus on questions I'd never heard

01:04:25.360 --> 01:04:28.460
people ask him with reference to this time in

01:04:28.460 --> 01:04:31.679
general. So he was able to give me stuff I've

01:04:31.679 --> 01:04:34.659
never heard him talk about. And when you watch

01:04:34.659 --> 01:04:37.420
George in my podcast, A Bump by Bump Rundown,

01:04:38.090 --> 01:04:41.090
Which you definitely should watch. That's just

01:04:41.090 --> 01:04:43.610
how we talk. That's just how we have conversation

01:04:43.610 --> 01:04:46.170
in general. I try to keep it focused when we

01:04:46.170 --> 01:04:49.309
do the show. But that's just our general kind

01:04:49.309 --> 01:04:51.429
of, so we're having these conversations all the

01:04:51.429 --> 01:04:54.070
time and there's constantly sort of new things

01:04:54.070 --> 01:04:58.190
coming to light. So for there to be brand, after

01:04:58.190 --> 01:05:00.610
knowing this man almost 30 years and being his

01:05:00.610 --> 01:05:03.150
friend for 30 years, to have like new information

01:05:03.150 --> 01:05:06.539
come to light from recent interviews. It shows,

01:05:06.659 --> 01:05:09.860
A, how much he's done, B, how good his memory

01:05:09.860 --> 01:05:13.960
is, and C, just how much there is to still know.

01:05:14.480 --> 01:05:17.380
And so, yeah, we definitely uncovered, not just

01:05:17.380 --> 01:05:19.280
through George's interviews, but through a lot

01:05:19.280 --> 01:05:21.420
of the other guys too, we uncovered some things

01:05:21.420 --> 01:05:24.139
that, A, nobody's talked about before, and B,

01:05:24.300 --> 01:05:27.460
nobody's really heard about before. So it takes

01:05:27.460 --> 01:05:30.679
both getting the subjects to talk about those

01:05:30.679 --> 01:05:34.579
untalked about things and having the reader.

01:05:35.159 --> 01:05:37.659
find out, oh, this has never been mentioned before.

01:05:38.420 --> 01:05:40.840
There's a lot to that. But yeah, there are a

01:05:40.840 --> 01:05:44.820
lot of surprises and stones turned over in this

01:05:44.820 --> 01:05:46.980
new book, too. I hope there was at least one

01:05:46.980 --> 01:05:49.420
question I asked you that you hadn't gotten before.

01:05:49.880 --> 01:05:52.119
No, actually, most of these are really good.

01:05:52.239 --> 01:05:55.559
Oh, thanks, man. Actually, all of these are really

01:05:55.559 --> 01:05:58.480
good. I was just trying to make a joke. Look,

01:05:59.360 --> 01:06:01.000
I've been interviewed many times. I know, you've

01:06:01.000 --> 01:06:03.500
been doing a lot of these lately, man. And I

01:06:03.500 --> 01:06:05.659
haven't listened to all of them. So I've been

01:06:05.659 --> 01:06:08.619
trying. And I keep everyone different, but it's

01:06:08.619 --> 01:06:09.579
easy to keep them different because everybody's

01:06:09.579 --> 01:06:11.900
questions are pretty different. That's good.

01:06:12.159 --> 01:06:14.739
So I try to keep a specificity to my approach.

01:06:15.420 --> 01:06:18.239
Yeah, we're definitely talking about a lot of

01:06:18.239 --> 01:06:21.320
the nooks and crannies in the historiography,

01:06:21.539 --> 01:06:24.380
which I think is important. And I guess that

01:06:24.380 --> 01:06:27.780
leads me to one of the last things I really want

01:06:27.780 --> 01:06:30.599
to ask you today. I'd love to have you back sometime.

01:06:30.719 --> 01:06:35.360
I would love to be back. But how did you stay

01:06:35.360 --> 01:06:40.000
objective? The other side of that, where on the

01:06:40.000 --> 01:06:43.579
one hand, like you being in the band, being the

01:06:43.579 --> 01:06:46.079
big fan is like part of what gave you the authority

01:06:46.079 --> 01:06:48.920
and legitimacy to do it. Yeah. But it also like,

01:06:49.019 --> 01:06:52.719
how do you avoid being the guy in the story?

01:06:53.199 --> 01:06:55.300
Part of it, you weren't there. I wasn't born

01:06:55.300 --> 01:06:57.739
yet. For this. I wasn't born yet. That helps.

01:06:57.760 --> 01:07:00.480
So that helps. But you do know all these people.

01:07:00.559 --> 01:07:05.500
I do, and I do develop a bias based on cult of

01:07:05.500 --> 01:07:09.800
personality, familial relationships, work relationships,

01:07:09.980 --> 01:07:13.139
decades of working with some of these guys. You

01:07:13.139 --> 01:07:16.480
do develop biases. He's your boss. Yeah, and

01:07:16.480 --> 01:07:20.119
all these guys are my big brothers. So it can

01:07:20.119 --> 01:07:25.619
be difficult. However, I go back to my... colloquial.

01:07:25.619 --> 01:07:28.539
I go back to my history analysis, writing about

01:07:28.539 --> 01:07:31.400
history. I go back to those courses. There were

01:07:31.400 --> 01:07:33.320
two or three really important ones in my history

01:07:33.320 --> 01:07:37.559
degree. And they always talked about... They

01:07:37.559 --> 01:07:40.079
used to make us write about stuff that was close

01:07:40.079 --> 01:07:43.500
to us in order for us to eschew the feelings

01:07:43.500 --> 01:07:47.840
of bias and make... the non -biased approach

01:07:47.840 --> 01:07:51.820
be the primary approach and have the bias come

01:07:51.820 --> 01:07:57.519
in where it's necessary to give a non -analytical

01:07:57.519 --> 01:08:03.980
human idolism to the narrative. It doesn't happen

01:08:03.980 --> 01:08:06.880
all the time. And I try to keep it, luckily,

01:08:07.019 --> 01:08:10.219
even a book like this, like you said, I'm separated

01:08:10.219 --> 01:08:13.480
from it by many years. I wouldn't join the band.

01:08:14.280 --> 01:08:18.220
for another 29 years. So luckily I'm separated

01:08:18.220 --> 01:08:20.720
from this stuff, and it definitely gives me a

01:08:20.720 --> 01:08:23.979
less biased approach. Having been a fan of this

01:08:23.979 --> 01:08:27.100
stuff, you have to be careful of bias too. I

01:08:27.100 --> 01:08:31.220
run into that on here. Yeah, for sure. Like fans

01:08:31.220 --> 01:08:33.779
who become musicologists who aren't in the band.

01:08:34.300 --> 01:08:36.779
fall privy to just the same kinds of problems

01:08:36.779 --> 01:08:39.039
as ones who would be in the band, if not worse

01:08:39.039 --> 01:08:41.680
problems, because they're dealing with hearsay,

01:08:41.680 --> 01:08:44.659
all kinds of hearsay, that has or has not been

01:08:44.659 --> 01:08:47.220
legitimized or delegitimized by the important

01:08:47.220 --> 01:08:50.560
people involved. They fall under the same types

01:08:50.560 --> 01:08:53.439
of issues. Your best historian has to be careful

01:08:53.439 --> 01:08:55.460
of those types of things. So I think it's equal

01:08:55.460 --> 01:08:59.640
across the board, but I try to stay... as unbiased

01:08:59.640 --> 01:09:03.000
as possible and give a large kind of consensus

01:09:03.000 --> 01:09:08.640
based on majority rules, based on accuracy of

01:09:08.640 --> 01:09:13.039
intel, based on the number of legitimate sources,

01:09:13.380 --> 01:09:16.500
based on the number of sources I can cite that

01:09:16.500 --> 01:09:19.439
can back up said. And I think it's really important

01:09:19.439 --> 01:09:21.720
that you acknowledge that you have a body. Like

01:09:21.720 --> 01:09:24.180
that's the only thing you can do at the end of

01:09:24.180 --> 01:09:26.569
the day is like acknowledge. hey, this is a perspective

01:09:26.569 --> 01:09:29.729
that's going to be a little bit biased. I'm not

01:09:29.729 --> 01:09:33.569
pretending to not be part of this. And that's,

01:09:33.569 --> 01:09:35.689
I think, important. Do you know of any other

01:09:35.689 --> 01:09:41.010
bands that have the kind of history, importance

01:09:41.010 --> 01:09:45.649
in -house? Do you know of any other people that

01:09:45.649 --> 01:09:48.289
have stepped into a role similar to yours with

01:09:48.289 --> 01:09:52.050
other musicians? The Zappa family. His kids have

01:09:52.050 --> 01:09:56.180
done a lot to curate. Although that kind of comes

01:09:56.180 --> 01:09:58.760
from directly from the family, which I guess

01:09:58.760 --> 01:10:01.779
is a little different. No other pop group goes

01:10:01.779 --> 01:10:05.199
as long as this. So this is really setting the

01:10:05.199 --> 01:10:08.039
precedent for historiography within a group setting,

01:10:08.180 --> 01:10:11.180
a band setting. In a lot of ways, we're treading

01:10:11.180 --> 01:10:15.239
new ground because this book represents the first

01:10:15.239 --> 01:10:19.159
monograph in P -Funk. historiography. Yeah. So

01:10:19.159 --> 01:10:22.699
there are memoirs out there. There are autobiographies

01:10:22.699 --> 01:10:25.279
out there. There are biographies out there. And

01:10:25.279 --> 01:10:31.319
there is an oral history. However, at this point,

01:10:31.319 --> 01:10:33.500
it leaves out a large portion of the history

01:10:33.500 --> 01:10:36.239
since it was written. Yeah. And there are books

01:10:36.239 --> 01:10:38.300
that deal with Pifang history in a more cursory

01:10:38.300 --> 01:10:41.439
way. And the historical approaches have changed

01:10:41.439 --> 01:10:43.380
since those were written too, which I think...

01:10:43.949 --> 01:10:47.189
Just the fact that you put all of 1975 in context

01:10:47.189 --> 01:10:49.949
in this book and in all of the ways that you

01:10:49.949 --> 01:10:52.569
talked about earlier is something that like those

01:10:52.569 --> 01:10:54.810
books would have never, those books wouldn't

01:10:54.810 --> 01:10:56.869
have done. No, no, that wasn't their intention.

01:10:56.890 --> 01:10:59.750
That wasn't their goal, nor was it even like

01:10:59.750 --> 01:11:00.909
an idea yet. And that was almost like standard.

01:11:01.350 --> 01:11:03.489
Yeah. It's almost like if you're writing about

01:11:03.489 --> 01:11:06.289
this time, you have to put it all in context

01:11:06.289 --> 01:11:09.729
before you launch off. And I also wanted academia.

01:11:10.250 --> 01:11:12.850
George and myself have been very dedicated to

01:11:12.850 --> 01:11:15.909
academia enveloping P -Funk history a little

01:11:15.909 --> 01:11:19.109
bit more because now we're at 70 years, and academia

01:11:19.109 --> 01:11:22.069
has only been flirting with this concept for

01:11:22.069 --> 01:11:25.770
maybe about 10 years. Yeah, yeah. With what do

01:11:25.770 --> 01:11:29.890
they need, what does academia need to further

01:11:29.890 --> 01:11:34.739
the proponents of P -Funk historiography? In

01:11:34.739 --> 01:11:38.340
said academia, what do they need to further the

01:11:38.340 --> 01:11:41.140
legitimacy of P -Funk historicity and historiography

01:11:41.140 --> 01:11:44.460
in academia? What they need is more books. What

01:11:44.460 --> 01:11:46.659
they need is more monographs. They need more

01:11:46.659 --> 01:11:49.960
actual history books. So this is going to be

01:11:49.960 --> 01:11:52.579
the beginning of a series of what I call yearbooks,

01:11:52.819 --> 01:11:55.380
for lack of a better word. Books about different

01:11:55.380 --> 01:11:58.079
years in P -Funk history and what makes them

01:11:58.079 --> 01:12:00.300
important. And really just touches on the...

01:12:00.590 --> 01:12:04.369
puts the microscope in on a moment and says,

01:12:04.550 --> 01:12:08.369
this happened and this happened and it changed

01:12:08.369 --> 01:12:12.750
the world. Yeah, yeah. And both these books are

01:12:12.750 --> 01:12:17.909
on a typically academic publisher. Sure, yeah.

01:12:18.029 --> 01:12:23.270
I feel like that helps with creating legitimacy

01:12:23.270 --> 01:12:27.090
for universities. These are things that I think

01:12:27.090 --> 01:12:30.529
are important, maybe not always important. Sometimes

01:12:30.529 --> 01:12:34.090
they're abused. But I do think you're doing it

01:12:34.090 --> 01:12:36.909
the way that it needs to be done in the systems

01:12:36.909 --> 01:12:39.890
that are built in order to get this shit into

01:12:39.890 --> 01:12:42.210
the curriculum. And I'm trying to do it in a

01:12:42.210 --> 01:12:45.449
way that George never wants it to be gestated

01:12:45.449 --> 01:12:48.810
in a way where it becomes sterile. You know what

01:12:48.810 --> 01:12:51.750
I mean? Because it can happen very easily with

01:12:51.750 --> 01:12:55.289
any art form. And you look at how some academia

01:12:55.289 --> 01:12:59.680
has co -opted jazz into... Something it necessarily

01:12:59.680 --> 01:13:02.979
wasn't. So you have to be very careful to maintain

01:13:02.979 --> 01:13:08.359
a historiographical approach that maintains authenticity

01:13:08.359 --> 01:13:12.939
and doesn't dust the dirt off of it because the

01:13:12.939 --> 01:13:16.920
dirt is an important part of it. Yeah. So it's

01:13:16.920 --> 01:13:19.340
about not cleaning it. It's about presenting

01:13:19.340 --> 01:13:23.180
it as it is to the academics. This is what it

01:13:23.180 --> 01:13:27.890
is. Take it as it is at its purest. cleanest,

01:13:27.890 --> 01:13:31.090
and still historiographical form. The world's

01:13:31.090 --> 01:13:32.850
a messy place. It's a messy place. It's got to

01:13:32.850 --> 01:13:36.750
be messy. Yeah. Is there anything else you want

01:13:36.750 --> 01:13:39.529
to say about this book? Because I feel like,

01:13:39.550 --> 01:13:42.550
dude, you and I could talk for hours and hours,

01:13:42.630 --> 01:13:46.050
but people are going to get bored. We should

01:13:46.050 --> 01:13:49.069
probably... Yeah, that's cool. I would say it's

01:13:49.069 --> 01:13:51.829
available everywhere books are sold. Yeah. You

01:13:51.829 --> 01:13:53.409
can get it direct from the publisher. That does

01:13:53.409 --> 01:13:55.090
help me, but you can also get it from Amazon

01:13:55.090 --> 01:13:57.510
and a review on there helps me big time too.

01:13:57.689 --> 01:13:59.529
Especially because then it says verified purchase.

01:13:59.770 --> 01:14:02.890
Exactly. That's a nice thing about there. It's

01:14:02.890 --> 01:14:05.449
already at number three or four on the R &B sold

01:14:05.449 --> 01:14:07.229
charts for Amazon, which is great because it

01:14:07.229 --> 01:14:10.149
hasn't come out yet. So I would recommend to

01:14:10.149 --> 01:14:12.369
people get it everywhere books are sold. Please

01:14:12.369 --> 01:14:14.510
recommend it for your local brick and mortar

01:14:14.510 --> 01:14:16.949
stores too, like Barnes & Noble or Books A Million,

01:14:17.130 --> 01:14:19.529
because they already have the book. They just

01:14:19.529 --> 01:14:21.529
need to place it in their brick and mortar. So

01:14:21.529 --> 01:14:23.930
if the Kansas City Barnes & Noble doesn't know

01:14:23.930 --> 01:14:26.229
that they should put it there, they won't. But

01:14:26.229 --> 01:14:27.770
if somebody comes in and says, hey, you guys

01:14:27.770 --> 01:14:29.550
should have this great book, they'll put it in

01:14:29.550 --> 01:14:30.770
there because they've already got it on back

01:14:30.770 --> 01:14:33.810
order. In addition, I highly recommend, because

01:14:33.810 --> 01:14:35.689
with the first book, this was very successful,

01:14:35.869 --> 01:14:37.770
and I always tell everybody, highly recommend

01:14:37.770 --> 01:14:40.350
that you recommend it for your local public library,

01:14:40.649 --> 01:14:43.869
university bookstore, or school library, depending

01:14:43.869 --> 01:14:46.789
on what age you are, because all three of those

01:14:46.789 --> 01:14:49.090
became big proponents of the first book of the

01:14:49.090 --> 01:14:51.369
Authorized P -Funk Song Reference, and now the

01:14:51.369 --> 01:14:53.409
Authorized P -Funk Song Reference is in libraries

01:14:53.409 --> 01:14:55.850
all over the world. I would like very much for

01:14:55.850 --> 01:14:58.550
the same thing to be true of Make My Funk the

01:14:58.550 --> 01:15:02.000
P -Funk. So I just recommend everybody... Recommend

01:15:02.000 --> 01:15:04.600
it for your local libraries. If you read it and

01:15:04.600 --> 01:15:07.140
you like it, write a review. Hell yeah, man.

01:15:07.520 --> 01:15:11.199
And the podcast that you do with George, I think,

01:15:11.199 --> 01:15:15.119
is really something special. Yeah. And it's been

01:15:15.119 --> 01:15:19.140
a really nice companion piece to the book. Everybody

01:15:19.140 --> 01:15:22.220
should check that out as well. Bump by bump rundown.

01:15:22.220 --> 01:15:24.359
I hate sending people to another podcast. No,

01:15:24.399 --> 01:15:27.340
I'm just kidding. Maren retired, so you've got

01:15:27.340 --> 01:15:30.060
room now. Nice. Bump by Bump Rundown, yeah, it's

01:15:30.060 --> 01:15:32.060
George's, and it's attached to his Patreon as

01:15:32.060 --> 01:15:34.060
well, which people, if they love P -Funk, they'd

01:15:34.060 --> 01:15:36.460
love his Patreon. The cool thing about the Patreon

01:15:36.460 --> 01:15:39.239
is you're constantly putting out unreleased songs.

01:15:39.340 --> 01:15:41.939
Oh, yes. And this is part of the archiving process,

01:15:42.039 --> 01:15:43.819
too. Exactly. As you're archiving this stuff,

01:15:43.979 --> 01:15:46.239
you're releasing unreleased stuff all the time.

01:15:46.260 --> 01:15:47.979
Exactly, stuff that never seen the light of day,

01:15:48.039 --> 01:15:50.960
which the fans love. And then I highly recommend,

01:15:51.060 --> 01:15:53.159
if you're trying to figure out, because I'm always

01:15:53.159 --> 01:15:56.270
doing new stuff, Matt. Got like the comic books,

01:15:56.470 --> 01:15:59.390
the books, the albums, the poetry books, concerts,

01:15:59.770 --> 01:16:02.710
curated sets, lectures, book signings. And so

01:16:02.710 --> 01:16:04.750
the best place to probably check out what I have

01:16:04.750 --> 01:16:07.489
coming up is I have a little podcast, Danny on

01:16:07.489 --> 01:16:11.630
Everything. And it's not just my stuff, but I

01:16:11.630 --> 01:16:14.369
do interviews with famous folks, with important

01:16:14.369 --> 01:16:18.640
folks in the P -Funk and other places. and concerts

01:16:18.640 --> 01:16:21.840
that you can't see anywhere else. And I also

01:16:21.840 --> 01:16:23.420
promote all my stuff. It's probably the easiest

01:16:23.420 --> 01:16:25.479
way to find out where I'll be next and what I'll

01:16:25.479 --> 01:16:27.439
be doing. And you're doing book tours and all

01:16:27.439 --> 01:16:29.739
kinds of stuff coming up. All through the end

01:16:29.739 --> 01:16:31.560
of this year and all through next year. Man,

01:16:31.560 --> 01:16:34.560
I'm so excited to read this book. Thank you,

01:16:34.579 --> 01:16:36.659
man. I can't wait. I want to tell you the way

01:16:36.659 --> 01:16:41.659
I first ever heard George. Yeah. It's silly,

01:16:41.720 --> 01:16:45.659
but I was probably not much older than 11. Yeah.

01:16:46.109 --> 01:16:50.149
And I watched PCU. Yeah. And PC, and still, dude,

01:16:50.229 --> 01:16:52.050
that movie's still pretty funny. Like, in fact,

01:16:52.069 --> 01:16:56.170
in some ways, it aged remarkably well. It did

01:16:56.170 --> 01:16:58.270
age remarkably well. Because I saw it not too

01:16:58.270 --> 01:16:59.949
long ago. I was like, oh, it's still pretty good.

01:17:00.090 --> 01:17:04.569
Yeah, it still is, man. And I just, yeah. I've

01:17:04.569 --> 01:17:07.250
been a fan ever since I've seen him. Like, my

01:17:07.250 --> 01:17:09.609
aunt and I have seen him in the past, seen y

01:17:09.609 --> 01:17:12.329
'all in the past. Yeah. Where does that drive

01:17:12.329 --> 01:17:14.569
to play? And you hinted at it at the beginning.

01:17:15.320 --> 01:17:17.159
You're backstage and you and George are just

01:17:17.159 --> 01:17:19.300
singing all night and they can't get rid of you.

01:17:19.739 --> 01:17:22.159
Is that where it comes from, these three -hour,

01:17:22.199 --> 01:17:26.020
four -hour shows, these playing all night? Yeah.

01:17:26.199 --> 01:17:28.539
You just get stuck in the quicksand, huh? Yeah,

01:17:28.579 --> 01:17:30.760
it's like that. And it all comes down to the

01:17:30.760 --> 01:17:35.359
boss and his love for it. He's still very excited

01:17:35.359 --> 01:17:38.100
about what he does. And his favorite thing to

01:17:38.100 --> 01:17:41.029
say is, we're just getting started. We're just

01:17:41.029 --> 01:17:43.590
getting started. He always says that. And if

01:17:43.590 --> 01:17:46.170
you work with him, you really feel that because

01:17:46.170 --> 01:17:49.489
he's still the 15 -year -old kid that started

01:17:49.489 --> 01:17:52.010
the parliaments. He's still that 15 -year -old

01:17:52.010 --> 01:17:54.989
kid excited about the next venture. He's always

01:17:54.989 --> 01:17:57.970
excited about the next venture. So yeah, that's

01:17:57.970 --> 01:17:59.590
where it comes from. It comes from the big guy.

01:18:00.010 --> 01:18:02.250
There's no replacing a George Clinton because

01:18:02.250 --> 01:18:06.710
his infectious energy is what drives this thing

01:18:06.710 --> 01:18:09.229
more than anything else. So it's really special.

01:18:10.699 --> 01:18:13.140
Man, congratulations on making your fucking dreams

01:18:13.140 --> 01:18:15.619
come true. Thank you. And I hope that these books

01:18:15.619 --> 01:18:17.539
keep coming out, man. I hope you keep doing these.

01:18:17.760 --> 01:18:19.939
I'm really excited. These are the books I like

01:18:19.939 --> 01:18:21.840
to read. These are the kinds of books I read

01:18:21.840 --> 01:18:24.380
on a regular basis. Nice. I think there's like

01:18:24.380 --> 01:18:27.359
a big audience for stuff like this. Make my funk

01:18:27.359 --> 01:18:30.060
the P -Funk. Daniel Bedrosian, pick up the book.

01:18:30.600 --> 01:18:33.739
Pick up the authorized P -Funk song reference.

01:18:33.840 --> 01:18:35.960
I'll have pictures of that and links to everything,

01:18:36.060 --> 01:18:39.279
links to the podcast. Danny, it's been fucking

01:18:39.279 --> 01:18:40.779
awesome, man. Thank you. Thank you for having

01:18:40.779 --> 01:18:44.239
me. I appreciate you. Hope you enjoyed my talk

01:18:44.239 --> 01:18:48.119
with Daniel Bedrosian, good old Danny. That was

01:18:48.119 --> 01:18:52.979
awesome. One of those opportunities that I just

01:18:52.979 --> 01:18:57.979
can't believe came my way. Thanks, Danny, again,

01:18:58.119 --> 01:19:02.079
for doing that. His new book is amazing. And

01:19:02.079 --> 01:19:05.140
just like I feel like Danny had to acknowledge

01:19:05.140 --> 01:19:08.449
that. He was going to have some level of bias

01:19:08.449 --> 01:19:11.810
writing a book about the band that he's in. I

01:19:11.810 --> 01:19:14.390
am going to have a little bit of a bias towards

01:19:14.390 --> 01:19:17.989
my review, a positive bias towards the review

01:19:17.989 --> 01:19:24.050
of the book that somebody I know wrote. I don't

01:19:24.050 --> 01:19:26.390
really interview people on this podcast that

01:19:26.390 --> 01:19:29.149
I'm not a fan of, so there's always going to

01:19:29.149 --> 01:19:32.829
be that inherent bias a little bit in the way

01:19:32.829 --> 01:19:35.449
I talk to them and the things that we talk about.

01:19:36.079 --> 01:19:42.159
I do think Danny avoided getting too self -reflective

01:19:42.159 --> 01:19:45.779
in the book. He's talking about a time and a

01:19:45.779 --> 01:19:48.380
place in the band in this particular book that

01:19:48.380 --> 01:19:54.340
he was not there for. The way that he puts the

01:19:54.340 --> 01:19:58.600
band in the context of everything going on in

01:19:58.600 --> 01:20:03.859
1975, the way he interjects both archival material.

01:20:04.510 --> 01:20:07.369
And interviews with the people that were there

01:20:07.369 --> 01:20:12.270
is a really amazing format and unique way that

01:20:12.270 --> 01:20:16.130
I haven't really come across. Just not quite

01:20:16.130 --> 01:20:18.630
the way he does it, at least in terms of music

01:20:18.630 --> 01:20:20.949
history books. You know, the first book really

01:20:20.949 --> 01:20:24.789
was like an encyclopedia. And I really do encourage

01:20:24.789 --> 01:20:27.449
people to pick that one up. It's something I

01:20:27.449 --> 01:20:31.130
go to frequently when listening to Parliament

01:20:31.130 --> 01:20:34.850
or Funkadelic or anything. part of that whole

01:20:34.850 --> 01:20:38.430
thing but this new book really is a book you

01:20:38.430 --> 01:20:42.449
can sit down and read I read it in it was less

01:20:42.449 --> 01:20:46.350
than two days it may have been less than 24 hours

01:20:46.350 --> 01:20:49.670
it was less than 30 between when I picked it

01:20:49.670 --> 01:20:51.590
up and when I finished it couldn't put it down

01:20:51.590 --> 01:20:56.170
it was great it really makes you feel like you're

01:20:56.170 --> 01:20:59.649
there in a way that that a really good novel

01:20:59.649 --> 01:21:03.310
can Capturing the vernacular of the people that

01:21:03.310 --> 01:21:06.949
he interviewed and having all the archival material

01:21:06.949 --> 01:21:11.550
to reference really painted a rich picture. And

01:21:11.550 --> 01:21:15.289
I think picking that year in the first place

01:21:15.289 --> 01:21:20.729
was really a great choice for Danny. There's

01:21:20.729 --> 01:21:24.789
a reason he picked that year and was transformative,

01:21:25.069 --> 01:21:27.970
not just for the band, but I think for a lot

01:21:27.970 --> 01:21:32.960
of culture. And check it out. I don't know a

01:21:32.960 --> 01:21:34.699
whole lot else to say about the book without

01:21:34.699 --> 01:21:38.720
getting into spoiling it for people other than

01:21:38.720 --> 01:21:42.420
I think that it set an example for the way that

01:21:42.420 --> 01:21:45.279
books in the history of music can be written.

01:21:45.760 --> 01:21:49.880
But it's also, as Danny pointed out, the window

01:21:49.880 --> 01:21:52.720
for the kinds of books like this being written

01:21:52.720 --> 01:21:56.859
is closing for some artists because you do have

01:21:56.859 --> 01:21:58.760
to be able to sit down with some of the people

01:21:58.760 --> 01:22:02.069
that were there. and have those conversations

01:22:02.069 --> 01:22:04.590
and interview them. Thanks for listening, y 'all.

01:22:04.970 --> 01:22:09.449
Check out Make My Funk the P -Funk by Daniel

01:22:09.449 --> 01:22:11.930
Bedrosian. There's a link to grab it from the

01:22:11.930 --> 01:22:15.010
publisher in the description. Thanks for tuning

01:22:15.010 --> 01:22:16.829
in. We'll catch you next week.