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And KPFA is archiving them now! LISTEN TO THE LATEST "HISTORY OF FUNK" SHOW RIGHT NOW!! Just go and click the latest show! |
About the "History of Funk"
Broadcasting every Friday night from the SF Bay Area, "The History of Funk"
cuts directly between a PARTY Jam session, and Funk Education! With
the non-commerical status of KPFA, the deejay can stretch beyond the top ten
list, and with 500.000 watts of Pure Funk Power (+ the internet) the show can
Rock the Bay Area and get All Around The World For The Funk!
Some nights of course are straight up Party Jams, but other shows get into serious treatments. Themes that range from Vietnam War music, to crazy titles like "Funky Sexual Preferences" and "Christian Funk" we get into every take on The Funk we can. Then there are musical tributes, such as "fat bass ballads" and "the Clavinet Show". Every now and then we get inspired and go for the PEE FUNK in a righteous way. One of the best example of that was the "Maggot Brain Show" and our annual ALL BOOTSY SHOW! But my favorites are the treatments of the artists themselves. Two hours UNCUT of your favorite (and not yet favorite) funky acts - with their trippy album cuts, soul ballads, extended tracks and interviews that CELEBRATE the works of these unsung Giants of music.
RV had been cranking some form of 'The History of Funk' on KALX, the Cal station across town in Berkeley since 1985. It all began at KPFA when James Brown was in jail in 1991, and RV went to KPFA to demand a "Payback marathon" there. At the time, Third World Department Director Bari Scott approved of the project, and engineer Jim Bennett approved RV for the station use, and The Funk was on! That night RV did a 12 hour James Brown blowout, with the first 5 hours on KPFA and the final 7 at KALX.
So RV stuck around as a backup programmer and did a few funky fundraising marathons until he could get his own raggedy time slot -- RV started by doing 1:30 to 4:30 am Friday nights/Sat.mornings! - but music director Chuy Varela finally gave a mug the hookup in 1997 and moved RV's mix to Friday evenings, and since then the show has settled into A GROOVE! You can check out the lists of shows and guests in the playiists section!
Here is George's violinist
Lily Hadyn and our own Zootzilla!Here's the whole crew! (l-r) a friend, drummer Gregg Errico, Sly's sister Rosie Stone, Reggie Harris and Suzanne DePasse (two of the folks that brought this great session together) sax player Jerry Martini, trumpet player Cynthia Robinson, Sly's brother and guitarist Freddie Stone, and RV! Yes!
Here is RV and Freddie Stone: 
How about RV and legendary bassist Rusty
Allen!
This is new Columbia records artist GOAPELE (on the right), and her stylist - and my homegirl - Andrea Lamadora!
RV and our favorite KIMIKO JOY!
(photo courtesy of Dan Eldridge)
Another world-famous Bay Area talent is the delightfully funky keyboardist "Rad",
who recently toured with PRINCE and played in his band at the 2004 Grammy's.
You can check her many CD's and tours out at radmusic.com!
And Don't Sleep on the HIP HOP JAM SESSIONS!
That's right, Paris - "P-Dog" is in the House!
Listen to “The History of Funk”
NOW You can hear THE HISTORY OF FUNK ANYTIME! from anywhere in the world from KPFA’s
website, at www.kpfa.org.
Or just click here and listen to a stream of the latest show!
| LISTEN TO THE LATEST "HISTORY OF FUNK" SHOW RIGHT NOW!! Just click and start Giving Up The Funk! |
RV and the
One and Only FUNKYMAN!
I have also done a number of excellent shows with Gary “The G-Spot” Baca, who has a regular KPFA program on Saturday nights (1 to 5am Sunday mornings) G-Spot is one of the most tireless historians and is the best music interviewer I know of. He regularly scours the local clubs for legendary old-school talent, and interviews them in depth on tape, and edits those interviews for airplay on his show. I can usually muster one serious interview every few months. If G-Spot goes more than a couple weeks without a tight artist interview, he’s out of town or something.
Here is G-Spot with one of his favorite stars, local keyboardist Rad!
My most recent recruit has been Ryan “Grizzly” Scott. His hysterical funkativity and deepknowledge of all things funky blew him into the KPFA crew while he was in high school. Grizz has recently taken off into political organizing and his work keeps him busy at meetings on Friday night, but we have not heard the last of Grizz.
Here's a Jam Session with (l-r) TOMMY CASH, Jose Vega, RV and the One and Only
Rudy Ray Moore a.k.a. DOLEMITE!! + Funkyman!.
In 2000 the History of Funk crew got busy with Funkyman, Rickey Vincent (The Uhuru Maggot), homie Kevin Foster, and Zootzilla. Zoot is now an exploding artist in his own right, and ALL FUNKATEERS NEED TO CHECK OUT ZOOTZILLA’S ALBUM! He’s in the Brand New Funk, and his lp is available at thefunkstore.com!
In 1999 Jose Vega came to KPFA and turned the station on its head, bringing
us an interview with Blowfly, and the one and only Rudy Ray Moore a.k.a. Dolemite
to the station! 
Back in 1998 RV broadcast "The History of Funk" with students from
SF State. The summer 98 crew includes (l-r) Chris "Scientific" Davis,
Claire "The Quiet Rebel" Tran and "Infinite." “Infinite”
was an accomplished artist, and he designed this wild looking flyer for the
show.
PLAYLISTS, past shows, flyers & lists
Yo Dig, you can check out playlists for every show this past year by going to the KPFA website and Check out some Wild Playlists for 2009!
There are plenty of radio show updates on RV's Myspace Page too!
“The History of Funk” takes on a theme at least every other week or so, and the theme could be educational, such as a ‘clavinet tribute’ or stanky, such as ‘melo jams with fat bass’, or political such as a Vietnam War music show, or just ridiculous, like the Zootzilla visit recently. Here is a list of all KPFA radio shows since 1995, when “The Uhuru Maggot” went Prime Time on Friday nights at KPFA.
Click here to see the LIST OF ALL HoF SHOWS
1995 shows
1996 shows
1997 shows
1998 shows
1999 shows
2000 shows
2001 shows
2002 shows
2003 shows
2004 shows
2005 shows
KALX where it all started
In 1983 when I was floating through Cal looking for a direction, I decided to
spend a summer learning the ropes at the Cal Berkeley radio station KALX. While
I was able to learn the basics of news and public affairs journalism, it was
made clear to me that music programmers were locked in their time slots, and ‘new people’ would have to wait years essentially for a good time
slot. In addition, the punk-thrash-goth-grunge musical culture there was not
encouraging to a fan of black music.
Nevertheless, the open minded and free form format allowed me to develop and
affirm a wide open approach to the music over the air, and to create my funk
name character “The Uhuru Maggot” The station has since become a breeding
ground for eclectic hip hop oriented ‘college radio’ deejays, and
is well worth checking out.
++link to KALX.
In addition, a number of important Bay Area deejays came out of KALX from the 1980’s along with myself, including Davey D, Gary “G-Spot” Baca, Klay “Brother Kayumanngi” Ordona, Benni B, DJ Zen (Jeff Chang), and a host of others more recently.
Click here to email Rickey Vincent: rickeyvincent77@yahoo.com
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