At
9:55pm, South New Jersey funk band Disciples of Groove started with a song
called "Light the Way" was a light funk tune with some good bass
riffing by Rob Smith. The second song started with a super thumpin' bass intro,
some psychedelic guitar grooves by leader Dan Jost, funkier sax riffs by Matt
Totora and an interesting drum solo by Dave Gardner! "Sir Duke" was a
good rendition of the Stevie Wonder original, with a great sax solo towards the
end. "Chemistry" was good because of the funky rhythm guitar intro
but better because of the showing off of Rob's slap-bass technique!
"Syllabus" featured an electrifying lead guitar solo in the middle. The
Simpsons Theme" was cute, but it's starting to get a little old now.
"So You Can See" was the ending to the show at 10:30pm.
At
10:45pm, BOY WONDER started their set with a song called "Electric
Love", featuring a fast wah-wah guitar intro by BOY WONDER himself,
followed by superfunky bass lines, drum beats, rhythm guitarisms and backing
vocals as directed by BOY WONDER. There was a blues song that was
performed...the bluesy guitarisms were good, but the backing vocals were not
that good (IMHO, the backing vocalist should have been wailin' on the blues)
"Whiplash" started with BOY WONDER playing some heavy rock notes on
guitar, leading into some nasty, hardcore rock guitarisms with matching heavy
bass riffs by J.D.! "Beautiful" was a tender ballad that BOY WONDER
sang to a woman brought up from the audience. The BOY WONDER set ended at
11:30pm.
At
11:50pm, Phunkyman & his merry band of funkateers came out to perform the
JB's classic "Pass the Peas" featuring the phunky horns of Elliot
Levin (saxophone) and Eric Bigelow (trumpet)...along with the lead guitar
blazing and vocoder vocals of Phunkyman himself!!! "Here Comes De Funk" was Warren
Davis's chance to flaunt his secret weapon (like TM Stevens), "walking
backwards" on the bass, heavy funk bass slappin' and some wah-wah
bassisms...along with Andre "Bam-Bam" Adams being the anchor holdin'
it down tight on the drums!! "Waiting on You" featured a nasty lead guitar solo.
Warren started playing some good bass lines and Phunkyman & the rest of the
band jumped into a short rock jam. "Can't Have You" was a dark,
emotional song sounding a little like King's X "Mr. Evil"...featuring
some Hendrix-style guitar pyrotechnics by the Phunkyman himself! The only
problem with "Summertime" is that Dora Eaton's backing vocals were
too low in the mix. Great
things with "Summertime"...with Warren, there was enough funky bass
poppin' to straighten the curls on his head (AND THIS GUY IS BALD!!)...the
trumpet solo was very good...with the sax solo, Elliott blew so hard that we
had to call paramedics after he lost consciousness...like the storm that passed
through the previous day, Bam-Bam was tearing stuff up on drums (anyone for a
30-second drum roll??)...you could hear glass shatter at the supersonic
frequency of Phunkyman's lead guitar assault (everyone ducked underneath the
tables)!!!!! The Phunkyman experience was over at 12:40am.
Submit suggestions or comments to david.brooks@brookenstein.com