I have oft spoken of The Funk in this space...however, I have never heretofore endeavoured to quantify The Funk.

what is this thing, this property, this essence that I claim to contain?

well, Wikipedia defines it as a "rhythmic, danceable form of music[...]that deemphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a "hypnotic" and "danceable" feel."

...which does sound about right at a glance but I think we can all agree that one of the least funky acts that I could perpetrate in this space is to let Wikipedia provide a definitive label for this juice up in me.

could a genre of music have roots in who you are?

of course!

The Funk came into being at a particularly turbulent moment in history...the children of the World War Era were had finally reached ages of agency. American cities struggled to be truly born as large swathes of the population fought the future with all their earthly strength.

the future came anyway.

once banished from public space, the pioneers of funk took to outer space...alien messengers sent across the galaxy to find their freakiest selves and radiate neon light back to Earth to funk up your Friday night.

or at least that's what was in the promo materials.

okay wait my cynicism could stand to skip a meal...the resistance always takes a bit of mythmaking.

still, the actual factual cold concrete of contemporary streets saw them criminalized, discriminated against, forced into exile on their own planet.

all for the strength of their suntan.

so fuck it, let's get a little crazy yeah? meet up and remind ourselves that we can make good vibes from scratch. get loose, maybe shake some ass. 

they danced defiantly under the stars as streets not so far away blazed in the night...in a world where some folx could get sealed in a concrete box for possessing some party plant while Agent Orange made heroes and millionaires in the 60s as surely as it still marks newborns today, our funky forecousins embraced what some might call absurdity through feather boas and star-shaped sunglasses.

imagine dressing "professionally" in the attire of the criminal psychopaths that have forced their fingerprints onto recent history: my lifetime, yours, yo mama's.

okay I feel a rant about standardized Western dress and internalized colonialism coming on here...point of this segment is that it is said (even by me twice here so far) that any musician must be deeply familiar with at least one musical tradition...couldn't tell ya what a diminished chord is on the spot but I feel as though I inherently understand what this type of music is and wants to accomplish. the spirit. the mindset. the myth and the reality.

I have The Funk, I claim it. behold this solid gold.

yes indeed it's the confidence, swagger, style, the rhythm and bounce...having a damn good time and looking damn good doing it.

ya can't fake The Funk, these are the facts.

...but see, check this out: it's also snapped strings and cracked drum cases and popped tires and a palpable air of "this kinda has to work so we gonna make it work."

had plenty of all that before I ever got paid to pick up the mic...this is simply the AJ Way.

now to be fair, we're not purely a funk band...says so right on the posters:

[ funk * reggae * disco * hip-hop * locura ]

we take pride in the diversity of our sound, absorbing elements of groove from around the world; you name it we've probably ripped it off just a little bit. that's how you know it's good.

kinda like if you're not doing at least a little bit of tribute to the Godfather of Soul onstage you're probably a shitty frontsman...your favorite rockstar in any genre wears James Brown hand-me-downs.

therefore he is also in the band. see how that works?

hell you're in the band when ya show up to a demonstration, or at least you have the opportunity to be...this, friend, is what is being demonstrated! 

it's not just some vague ideological thing either, a call-and-response part sounds kinda crazy without the...response.

"you talkin' to me?"

"yup!"

The Funk manifests appreciably only in a communal space. its a group effort...ya don't hear a lot of solo funk acts.

it's... "alluring," maybe? "bodily?" "engaging?" 

like, you wanna be close to it. you wanna be a part of it, join in.

that's exactly what happened the other Friday at Sanctuary...at some point in the evening our tribute to dear Uncle George was in its second lap when dancers suddenly stormed the stage--pleasantly--and that night's Uprising took the form you see here.

"hey look, we're in a future blog post!" I metacommented to Tom mid-shoulder bounce.

noticing you're in the good times before they have passed is not only funk-coded, but a vital life skill. cuz ya see, it's not the bubbles and bullshit that form The Funk, only kinda but not really much yaknow?

it's the spirit that moves us together, the ancient call to frolic in circles and step in time.

it's reciprocity. take a listen to your favorite Funkadelic song sometime, see if it pretty much starts over entirely at some point...the first time was from them to you. the second time around you're supposed to give it back.

it's that one face you make when a musician does something especially filthy stank nasty [complimentary].

it's random seminonsense, most of which rhymes.

it's the notes you skip...once heard you gotta play the silences as hard as the notes, always stuck with me. the spaces count.

idk maybe that's reflective of the unseen stories that have shaped popular music, that shape any historical narrative...sometimes there's an even more interesting story in the spaces between notes.

or maybe it just sounds cool all jiggy like that.

...but you already know it's just a bit of all the above, dig it?

all power to The People.

--Flor!!