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Taken from Delaware Online (June 03, 2015)
George Clinton in a funky mood before Dewey show
George Clinton, touring in support of "First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate," plays Bottle & Cork.
by Brian McCollum, GANNETT
(Photo: SUBMITTED) |
George Clinton is sober, recently married, has a rollicking new autobiography on the shelves, and has just issued the first Funkadelic album in more than three decades. Now in his early 70s, it's safe to say, the psychedelic funk pioneer is feeling certifiably recharged.
"I feel young again," he says. "When you're a great-grandfather and you've still got the funk …"
Clinton will make his latest stop at the Bottle & Cork in Dewey Beach on Sunday, June 7. The tour supports the three-disc "First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate," the first album in 33 years under the Funkadelic banner. The album features 33 tracks to mark 33 years.
His memoir is titled, "Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard on You?" Penned with music journalist Ben Greenman, it chronicles the journey that led him from aspiring Motown singer to the cosmic musical mastermind behind Parliament-Funkadelic. Released in late 2014, it's a barrage of colorful anecdotes that recount his freewheeling drug days with buddy Sly Stone and his long-ago laundering of $1.2 million in counterfeit bills — and that's just scratching the surface.
Q: People have prodded you for years to do a book. Why now?
A: If you look at page 379, that's the real reason — it's all about the fight we've had over the copyright and royalty issues. In order for me to get that point across, I knew I had to write the story now. I knew the stories of P-Funk would aid me in the fight. I figured I should do it now to make people aware of what's going on. The mother ship (P-Funk's famed stage prop) is going in the Smithsonian next year, so I just think it's a good time to get this story out there.
Q: There have been so many twists and turns in the legal saga. Is it challenging to boil it down for people in an uncomplicated way?
A: It's not confusing — it's just hard to get the real story out there. It's been such a phenomenal story, with all of the hip-hop records that have hit, but the (sampled) writers not getting any of that money. That's very immoral.
Q: The book includes so many wild stories, a lot of crazy times. But you seem to have a tight memory for all this stuff.
A: I've been saving stuff over the years. I knew we'd tell the story one day. I could write another whole book with more stories. I was particularly putting stuff aside the last 10 years, knowing that I was going to write a book, remembering the different stories I knew would be fun.
Q: You've said you could write an entire book just on your early Detroit days, after arriving at Motown in the '60s.
A: I could, from (the Parliaments') "(I Wanna) Testify" up until (1975's) "Mothership Connection," going from Parliament into Funkadelic. There's so many stories I could do from that alone.
Q: The Detroit rock scene was also becoming part of your world at that point.
A: When that stuff came up, Amboy Dukes and "Journey to the Center of Your Mind," MC5 and "Kick Out the Jams," Iggy Pop — all of us, we'd be called the bad boys of Ann Arbor. We were part of that scene as it became a scene. Motown was hot and happening, but the rock scene was growing. And we were definitely a part of it.
Q: What was your reaction when you heard the United Sound recording studio was finally getting restored and reopened?
A: I was so happy because they had kept telling us they were tearing it down. I thought that was such a waste. That studio had such a history, more so than … not more so than Motown, but as much and longer. I was so glad to hear that they were going to preserve the building, and it gave us a place to put the piano we used to do all the rehearsing on, that used to be at my house at Adrian, Michigan. So I donated the piano. It's beautiful, refurbished by "American Restoration." They redid the piano — did it like my hair. (Laughs)
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