ORIGINAL P & DEEP BANANA BLACKOUT
(with Superhoney)
At the Orpheum Theatre in Boston, MA - 3/23/01
At 7:30pm, the funk-rock group, Superhoney, started
their performance......I was kinda "in and out" as far as observing the
show because some of the younger members of Original P had checked in......I
was in the dressing room half of the time. The Superhoney set was over at
8:00pm.
Here's what I recollect:
1. the lead vocalist was a super-fine, super-funky white
chick who first came to the stage wearing a pink wig.
2. the keyboardist did some stank-a-licious synthesized
riffs.
3. the band did a very good version of the Bill Withers's
classic "Use Me".
4. the band did a funky version of Michael Jackson's
"Wanna Be Starting Somethin'"......shit, it beat the hell out of M.
Jacko's version, especially with the funky drums.
At 8:20pm, Original P started their set with
"Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples". The funky hornz from Deep Banana
Blackout were sitting in with Original P. "Undisco Kidd" (as far I as
can recollect) incorporated the Ray Davis's spotlight, "Pumpin' It
Up"! That was followed by "Up For The Down Stroke". "Tear
the Roof Off The Sucka" was extra-funky with some tasty drumbeats by Ben
Powers, Jr!!! (Oh, by the way......did I mention that Original P was using
Superhoney's instruments? O.P.'s gear was still enroute from Cleveland due to
vehicle breakdown). "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" featured some
stank keys by the one and only Douglas Knight-Smith!!
"Cosmic Slop" benefited from the
sizzling, Garry Shider-like vocals of Douglas and the electrifying guitar force
that nearly crumbled the Orpheum Theatre to its foundation (thanks to the
guitarists, Gene Thomas, Billy Mimms, Paisley & Derrick
Davis)......actually, Gene and Billy really turned the mutha out!!!
The female backing vocalists (De'Jean, Emerald
& Jackie Love) sounded good on "Atomic Dog", as well as the lead
vocalists (Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, Grady Thomas & Ray Davis). Pete
Piscarzyk funkatized fans with supergroovalistic grooves on keyboards for
"Knee Deep"!! Derrick shined on the funk bass for "One Nation
Under a Groove"! "Stomp" featured a "heartbeat"
bass drum rhythm intro and s'more good vocals by the O.P. girls!! "Flashlight" was da shit with some funky DBB horns
and stank-a-licious keyboards by Pete and Doug!!! The Original P show was over at 9:45pm.
At 10:15pm, Deep Banana Blackout started their
set..........again, I was in the dressing room for most of the show. I did
catch the guys doing "Breakfast at Volo's" & "Pure
Gravy". The hornz were as smokin' as always and the funky lead vocals by
Hope Clayburn were great!! I love the funky-ass organ riffs that make Deep
Banana Blackout so irresistible!! For the
encore, DBB did an amazing version of P-Funk's "Red Hot
Momma".......everyone from the previous bands (Original P and Superhoney)
came out and danced (and sang) with the DBB on this fiery hot funk-rock song!! Deep Banana Blackout's set ended at 11:45pm.
Submit suggestions or comments to david.brooks@brookenstein.com