About The Book | Behind the book | Praises for the book | The ASCAP award | The book is a movie star! | buy the book | The Japanese edition! | The Italian edition! | back to Vortex
(from the original press release) |
In 1996, St. Martin’s Press, known for publishing almost any trendy topic,
took a chance on an unproven writer and published “Funk”. To their
surprise, the work sold out quickly and has remained in print for over eight
years, a surprising (and almost miraculous) event for a black music history
book published in the U.S.A. The book has since served as a definitive discussion
of the music and culture of Funk.
“Funk” has been translated into Japanese, and Italian editions, and won the 1997 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for Excellence in Music Journalism. While RV has done a few other things, and the book was a great idea whose time had come, it is THE FUNK which truly deserves its due, and despite all the hyping of this book, funkateers know, It’s All About The Funk. But in the meantime, if y’all want to know more about this thang, read on.
The Number One Funkateer of All Time Bobba!
Dark Magus
Behind the book
Funk was a labor of love for Rickey Vincent, who grew up in Berkeley, California,
soaking up The Funk from radio stations KDIA, KSOL and KSFX, local funk giants
like Graham Central Station and Con Funk Shun, and from homegrown funky talents
like his brother, keyboardist Teo Barry Vincent. (check his stuff out too)
In 1983 Cal student Rickey Vincent began a stint at KALX radio which lasted
ten years and spanned the rise of hip hop sampling and the rebirth of The Funk.
His shows began a record of stank that is now on KPFA. (click here to see some
KALX radio special promos)
In 1993 RV received his Master’s Degree from San Francisco State University,
with his thesis on “The History of Funk” which he subsequently sent
to St. Martin’s Press, among many other potential publishers.
A young editor, Marian Lizzi took a chance on this unsolicited manuscript, and
after two more years of writing, editing, collecting photos and clearance rights,
“Funk” was ready for publication.
I know people have had their ups and downs with George Clinton over the years, but he has always come through for me, and he has truly been a blessing in my life, years ago as a mysterious "Super Funky Hero" and recently as a mentor and friend. .
And it was not about the dollar bills either. (Just in case anyone believes that I cashed in on this book at the expense of my Super Funky Heroes, unproven writers with unsolicited manuscripts DO NOT get advances for their work. What St. Martin’s Press paid me to write this book didn’t even pay for the phone bills used in the interviews, but they DID give me the opportunity to share The Funk with the peoples. I only hope that the rise in interest and affection for The Funk that coincided with the popularity of this book helped create a return in record sales and recognition for so many of the funk artists discussed in the work.)
In 1996 the book hit the stores with just a trickle of fanfare, but things picked
up quickly. The initial run of 10,000 copies ran out within a few months, and
while St. Martin’s did not take the signal and follow up with a huge new
printing or make a gigantic media blitz, to their credit, they kept Funk it
in print, and it has been available worldwide for funk fans to get their groove
on ever since.
Praises for the book
When the book was released it got a quick run from some of the music magazines,
most of whom really liked it. My editor Marian Lizzi had a contact at St. Martin's
that knew Paul Shaffer from the David Letterman show, and he read an early copy
and shot over some hype for the book too. A couple of years later I had a chance
to speak with Paul for awhile about The Funk, and he was full of stories about
the greats that have come by the show. I was very honored to have some juice
and respect from one of the most accomplished FUNKATEERS in the business. Here
is a sampling of some of the early reviews of "Funk":
|
--C.B.S. Late Night band leader Paul Shaffer "With FUNK, a whole new school of discourse
has been knocked open -- and all ya gotta do is follow the bass line."
"A monster achievement, an exuberant, exhilarating
and enlightening book." "The first book to examine seriously both funk music
and its accompanying culture." "He chronicles, circumscribes and captures the essence
of this potent musical form..." "Vincent paints an illuminating illustration of Funk
music's evolution being a human event gaining importance with time...
The impact and effect of this work cannot be overstated." |
There are also a gang of reviews of the book at amazon.com. The true response
is from readers who decided to Give Up The Funk!
The“Deems Taylor Award for Excellence in Music Journalism” is an annual award given to writers about music, from the largest music publishing company, the The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, or ASCAP. Typically two dozen writers from different genres and formats are given a plaque at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan each year.
In December of 1997 ASCAP flew me out and I got to schmooze with some uppity New York writers, and pick up my award. I also got to meet my editor, Marian Lizzi, who took a chance on me and my – unsolicited - work in 1994, for which I will always be grateful. Yea, its corny, but here are some pictures of my trip:
It's not my suit! 
==Yea I was a tourist. What about it?
== look out for a clip of "The New Guy”
In 2002 Columbia Tristar pictures released the film “The New Guy”
starring DJ Qualls as a loser, Eliza Dushku as the love interest and Eddie Griffin
as his prison ‘educator.’ The premise of the movie was about a high
school loser (DJ Qualls) who happens to be a funkateer, and through a series
of misadventures becomes the coolest (and funkiest) cat at the high school dance.
In a childhood sequence, the skinny geek played by DJ Qualls is played by an even skinnier geek at age 10 or so. The boy is playing "air guitar" and jamming to a remix of James Brown's "Superbad" which is in itself ironically funny if you are a sociologist maybe.
But the cool part is that during the Jam, the camera pans to two books on his desk: The Autobiography of James Brown, and “Funk: the Music, the People and the Rhythm of The One.” (!!) I didn't make this up.
One Funk fan who saw the movie in the theaters said he got a kick from the book
shot, but then walked out on the movie, it was so bad. But the book sequence
happens in the first five minutes of the film, and if nothing else, Eliza Dushku
is always worth checking out.
You can check out the reviews of the movie at amazon.com,which are maybe funnier than the film itself (!) and pick it up if you like. But be warned, it ain't for Siskel & Ebert!
buy the book
"FUNK
The Music, the People, and the Rhythm of The One"
by Rickey Vincent
with a foreword by George Clinton
Now in it's UMTEENTH Printing!
Includes 16 pages of RAW photos, a 20 page discography of "Essential Funk
Recordings," tables, charts, and a funky map
You can pick up the latest edition of “Funk” from amazon.com
or order it from ST. MARTIN'S PRESS at 1-800-288-2131 or 212-674-5151. ISBN#
0-312-13499-1
There are plenty of reviews of the book at Amazon.com, click here to go to:
Rickey
Vincent's "Funk" at amazon.com
P-Vine hired the Osaka-based funkateer Chifumi Ui to translate the book, and her dedication and deep understanding of funkativity helped not only produce a fantastic Japanese edition, but her painstaking review of the English version has led to a number of revisions and updates that tightened up “Funk” to a completely new and groovalistic level.
P-Vine hired its own artists Miquella “BuBu” Goblinez, and designer
Kikuchi Osamu for the new cover artwork that flipped around the soft cover book…
.
If you prefer your Funk in Japanese, DO check out the translation of “Funk”!
So now one can say that this book is truly ALL AROUND THE WORLD FOR THE FUNK!
1999 Edition!
While I have not tracked down the official information from St. Martin’s
Press, the book was indeed on sale, and Ralph picked up a copy for me during
a visit to Italy.
In 2010 I heard from Paolo Zecca over facebook and he sent me the link to the NEW EDITION of the Italian language edition of the book! Here it is!
and check out the link to Buy the Italian Edition!
All thephotos are all the same, and it’s anyone’s guess as to which edition of the book was used, but hey, it’s all around Italy AGAIN (!) and I hope folks know The Funk there.
Over the years was some interest in publishing the book in French and German
editions but they never materialized. Some of my music essays and CD liner notes
were written for German publication. You can peep those in The Funk Archives!
Click here to email Rickey Vincent: rickeyvincent77@yahoo.com
