September 21,2019, 8pm. My band, ToNY CaMM & The Funk Allstars, was about to take the stage at the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Club in Bethesda, MD. to kick off Funkateers Ball 4. I was nervous as shit. This was the mecca of events that celebrate the music and lifestyle of P-Funk, and here we were, a novice funk band out of Lynchburg, VA. as the opening act for Clip Payne and the 420 Funk Mob.
We were still high off of our performances at Brett Murray's Savor Bowie Festival in Bowie, MD. back in April and George H. Darden's Funk show at the Blue Dolphin in Crofton, MD. in June, but now we were about to stand front-and-center and go toe-to-toe with the P-Funkiest crowd you're ever gonna see.
See, there are funk audiences, and there are music lovers that attend P-Funk concerts and sing along with the songs that they know…but “real” Funkateers, Clones and Maggots, that's a whole different thang. EVERYBODY in the crowd will know every lyric, how the song is supposed to go, how the solos are supposed to be played, etc…and we were an unknown entity to all but a few in attendance.
I'm always super nervous in the 2 minutes leading up to taking the stage at every show, but THIS, this was extra-special “do I belong here?” nervous. What if they don't like us? What if we sound like shit? What if they just sit there during our set and politely applaud to get us off the stage? What if they decide that we are just “fakin' the Funk”? All of this and more ran through my mind during what seemed like a days-long intro of us by the legendary P-Funk drummer Frankie “Kash” Waddy.
Waddy led the all-seated crowd in the chant of “WE. WANT. THE. FUNK…2,3,4…WE. WANT. THE. FUNK”, Robert “Big Funk Rob” Woods, drummer for the Clones Of Funk who was sitting in with us because our drummer had a last minute emergency, counted us in…and away we went!
I had decided to open with a brand new Parliament song “I'm Gon Make You Sick ‘O Me” off of their new album, to somewhat differentiate us from other P-Funk tribute acts, as I hadn’t seen anyone yet performing it.
The band kicked into the groove, our frontline made it's way to the stage, I yelled some stuff into the mic…and NO one left their seats. The cleared area in front of the stage made the crowd seem (to me) like it was sitting on a hill at a festival, staying out of the sun. Everyone's face seemed to have the “let's see what you gon' do” expression. My worst fears were coming true. The fairy tale was over. Bring out the pumpkin carriage.
THEN…one minute and forty-five seconds into the song the earth moved…Jefferey “P-Funk 1” Mitchell, Funkster Jones and Funk Ken danced their way to the front of the stage, followed by “Mama” Sandy, Brenda “Honeybee” Robinson and a handful of others, and just like that…we had a party.
From that point we went straight to familiar territory with renditions of “Flash Light”, “Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off)”, the Bootsy classic “I'd Rather Be With U” with Frankie Waddy sitting in on drums and a rousing “pull the people up onstage” version of “Atomic Dog”.
The band was on fire, and I was fully immersed in my George Clinton-inspired bravado. We had arrived!
Highlight of the night was during 420 Funk Mob's rendition of “Mothership Connection”, Clip Payne handed me the mic in the audience to summon the holy Mothership. “Swing down sweet chariot, stop and let me ride” indeed.
September 25, 2021. After taking a year off due to COVID shutdowns, Funkateers Ball 5 came back with a vengeance with the return of the powerhouse The Clones Of Funk headlining and featured Garrett “Starchild Jr.” Shider, Michael “Kidd Funkadelic” Hampton, Gabe “Undisco Kid” Gonzalez, Guy “Nowchild” Curtis, Greg Boyer, Linda Shider and Shirley Clinton celebrating 50 years of “Maggot Brain”.
Although my band wasn't playing this year, we had made an impression in the ‘funkateer orbit" and I was developing a name for myself, so I was asked to emcee this year’s ball and jumped at the chance.
8pm. After being introduced by George “Dr. G” Darden, Julia Ridgely and Rob Woods, I took to the stage and grabbed the mic. “Good evening, do not attempt to adjust your radio, there is nothing wrong…we have taken control as to bring you this special show, we will return it to you as soon as you are groovin'”.
Then the call and response…(me) "welcome to station W-"…(crowd) "E-F-U-N-K"…(me) “better known as”…(crowd) “WE FUNK”…(me) "or deeper still"…(crowd) “the Mothership Connection”…(me) “home of the extraterrestrial brothas…dealers of funky music…(ALL TOGETHER) “P-Funk…uncut funk…the bomb”.
I went on to recite the rest of the verse then led the crowd in the “Make my funk the P-Funk” chorus before enlisting the help of Jeffery “P-Funk 1” Mitchell in leading the “WE. WANT. THE. FUNK.” chant with the precision and choreography that only Jeffery can.
Then the Clones took the stage and everyone went to work, playing P-Funk classic after classic to the letter. Mike Hampton set the house on fire with a blazing special rendition of “Maggot Brain”, walking through the crowd, and my funk brotha Wesley Bean pulled me onstage to lead the band on “Mothership Connection”.
I kept thinking "How could this get any better?".
It did.
December 30, 2021. Now finding myself fully ingratiated into the “Circle of P”, my wife and I decided to host a Funkateers New Year's Weekend in our city. My band headlined, with guest performers Garrett “Starchild Jr.” Shider, Gabe “Undisco Kid” Gonzalez and Shirley Clinton. Local rock band Earthbound Creatures was the opening act, and lots of Funkateers made it in to ring in the new year.
Julia Ridgley from the Chocolate City Alliance was in attendance and right before the start of the NYE concert she asked me if I was interested in becoming a member of the Alliance, the driving force behind the annual Funkateers Ball.
Hmmmmm…let me think…YEAAAAH!!!!!
In January of 2022 we began planning for Funkateers Ball 6.
Not only was I now a CCA member, but my band ToNY CaMM & The Funk Allstars was asked to headline this year's event. That was monumental for us. Our first appearance was as the opening act and I had taken a smaller unit of just six people, and now I'd get the opportunity to showcase the full 20 plus member funk army at my disposal.
Grammy winner Kendra Foster, Michael Hampton, Gabe Gonzalez, Linda Shider, Shirley Clinton, Zack Roberson, Rob Woods and Robert Harper would all join us onstage, and legendary Mandrill drummer Neftali “Funkadrill” Santiago was booked to emcee. Whew!
To make it even more amazing we contracted P-Funk keyboardist Danny Bedrosian and his band Secret Army to “P” all over the stage before us.
We began extensive rehearsals to nail down the 20 song setlist, knowing that we were going to have some real P-Funk alumni playing with us.
A few months later we were informed that Danny and Secret Army would have to pull out understandably when P-Funk booked a show for that same night. Quickly I pulled in Earthbound Creatures to serve as the opening act and started rehearsing with them on classic Funkadelic material. Two bands to rehearse, 40 plus personnel for the show. I was (not just) Knee Deep for real…and I loved it.
September 10, 2022. 8pm. Following a moving tribute to the late, beloved CCA founding member Brenda “Honeybee” Robinson by Robert Woods, Funkadrill Santiago came in with his marching band, welcomed the crowd, then introduced Earthbound Creatures. Zack Roberson, Brett Murray and myself joined the funk rockers and blazed through renditions of “ Standing On The Verge (Of Getting It On)”, “Super Stupid”, “I'll Stay” featuring Kendra Foster, “Good To Your Earhole” and “Alice In My Fantasies”. Michael Hampton also lent a few signature riffs during the set.
Then after a brief intermission, I led my Funk Allstars army (close to 30 ppl) to the stage and ripped through a ten song high-octane P-Funk tribute that included “Pole Power”, “I'm Gon' Make U Sick O' Me", a Linda Shider-led “Red Hot Mama”, “One Nation Under A Groove”, “Flashlight”, “(Not Just) Knee Deep”, “Maggot Brain” featuring Michael Hampton, “Cosmic Slop” and for the finale, we brought the house down with “Mothership Connection” featuring Robert Harper on blistering space bass.
All of the months of rehearsing and planning had culminated in the highlight musical performance of my career…and you couldn't tell me NOTHING!
September 30, 2023. 8pm. Our Chocolate City Alliance committee had managed to pull together the biggest list of P-Funk Allstars yet for Funkateers Ball 7.
I returned as emcee for this one and following an electric opening by MD-based The Muthafunkaholx, who delighted the crowd with some P-Funk classics and their own originals, I introduced P-Funk alum drummer Gabe Gonzalez and his group Enema Squad to the stage, featuring Michael Hampton, Guy “Nowchild” Curtis, Garrett “Starchild Jr.” Shider, drummer Benzel “Baltimore” Cowan and the P-Funk horns, Greg Boyer, Greg Thomas and Bennie “The General” Cowan.
If you know anything about Enema Squad, or Gabe Gonzalez, you KNOW that the funk was GOOOOOD and DEEEEEP, and the group played some P-Funk classics in a style as only they can.
I was the emcee for the affair…where I got down and NEVER came up for air.
February 3, 2024. We received the shocking news that our fearless leader, CCA co-founder and all-around soldier for the funk George H. Darden II (the man with a GhD in the funk) had passed away suddenly.
The Chocolate City Alliance was officially just Julia Ridgely and myself, and now seeing Funkateers Ball 8 as a herculean challenge at best for just the two of us, we were poised to make the reluctant decision to not hold a ball in 2024 and let the event rest on it's laurels and great memories.
To the rescue came Skip Kelly and Bethesda Blues & Jazz Club, booking and handling the event for that upcoming September 28th that would be renamed “The George H. Darden II Funkateers Ball” and would feature Garrett Shider's Groovallegiance along with P-Funk members Danny Bedrosian, Lige Curry, the P-Funk horns, Michael Hampton and up and coming Funk artists Brandon “Taz” Niederauer, Yahzarah St. James, Moon Newbill and Marcus Machado to push the funk forward.
Although I didn't have an official role at the Ball that year, Julia and I retained our responsibility as hosts for the weekend, as usual co-ordinating the hotel accommodations and facilitating the funky activities that all the Funkateers look forward to.
March 15, 2025. Uncertain of a future for Funkateers Ball, a handful of us, spurred on by an idea from “Circle of P” member Terry Hart, decided to organize a spring Funkateers get-together in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, which we named “Spring Splashdown”.
We booked a hotel room block and a ballroom space, planned some activities for the weekend and Anthony Davis locked down Danny Bedrosian and his band Somn' Fierce to be our closing night party entertainment.
We had 30 Funkateers in attendance…and it was a blast.
Julia and I held an informal meeting at the end of the evening, gauging the feasibility of doing Funkateers Ball 9 Weekend this September in Bethesda based on the model of the Splashdown, with full weekend activities all held within the Bethesdan Hotel and a closing night party with live bands in the hotel ballroom.
FB9 Weekend was born!
We are less than a month away from this fall's Funkateers Ball 9 Weekend…and are working on the planning of Spring Splashdown 2 in March 2026.
Funkateer Weekend gatherings are on the rise…
We got D.C… we got Miami…and we're working on L.A.
Chocolate City Alliance is no dream…"you're my piece of the rock, and I love you C.C."
GET YOUR TICKETS FOR FB9 WEEKEND HERE.
