Last Night: Bootsy Collins At Warehouse Live
Bootsy Collins & Funk U-Nity
Photos by Groovehouse
Warehouse Live
June 16, 2011
See more fabulous funksmanship in our slideshow.
Funk is good for the soul. There's no denying it. After 12 hours at the office Thursday, Aftermath entered Warehouse Live clenched tight as an oyster. A whopping two and a half hours later, we left loose as a goose. Although geese have always seemed pretty high-strung to us... never mind.
In between, Brother From Another Planet Bootsy Collins and his plus-sized Funk U-Nity band got up on the downstroke and funked away like there was no tomorrow. (There almost wasn't.) Bootsy would leave the stage for long stretches of time while his band did their thang, and return in an even more outlandish costume than the last time, our favorite being an elliptical hat of white ostrich feathers that made the bassist look like the world's funkiest lampshade.
It took Aftermath about half an hour to get out of our uptight (outtasite) head and completely into the groove - to start, in the words of one wise dude we overheard outside, "cheesin'." When you're cheesin', the funk knows no rhyme or reason, so here are our notes from the show exactly as we wrote them down - plus a few texts we sent - beginning shortly before Bootsy yielded the stage to guitarist Blackbird McKnight for a Jimi Hendrix tribute that singed the hair on our chinny chin chin. If you want the short version, this was a MOTHER of a show.
Bootsy: "We're going to funk you until your funk drops off... we're gonna take our time."
Peppermint Patty and Bootsy
("Purple Haze")
...someone is smoking some real purple haze nearby...
(Interlude featuring keyboardist Bernie Worrell)
Bernie Worrell
...screaming for vengeance...
Text: "This is helping. It's a stone groove."
Overheard: "I've never seen so many people cheesin' at the same time... just smilin'."
(Sly & the Family Stone's "I Wanna Take You Higher")
...they do not quit... boom shakalakalaka...
Text: This shit ain't right, man.
...also, where the hell is Bootsy? His minions are stealing the show...
...Devin the Dude is grinning from ear to ear...
...no wonder Houston loves cover bands so much...
("Flash Light")
...sick, cell-phone routine [the crowd was encouraged to wave them from side to side - you know, like a flashlight], still no Bootsy...
...well, here he is, just in time for "Bootzilla"...
("Bootzilla")
...thigh-high platform boots and matching ostrich-feather hat...
...OK, maybe he is the main attraction... this is just wrong... they're crankin'...
Bootsy: "Yall ready to party?"
Aftermath: "What have we been doing?"
Text: Dude, if you're not at Bootsy I'm going to have to disown you.
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