Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland sit down with Maya McClean. While she was mostly known for performing with her sister with Prince as The Twinz, she now shares her journey to becoming a spiritual life coach, life on her own, working with Prince, and much more including her upcoming album Awakening. She also graces the show with a full performance of her song Waterfall. It's a super spiritual mind journey of discovery for herself that she wants to share with the world.
Jul 09, 2025•1 hr 35 min
Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland sit down with the legend behind the scenes Jerry Hubbard. He has been a solid pillar in the Minneapolis music scene from childhood. He's played with Prince, The Time, The Family, Jesse Johnson, was on Michael Jackson's label and so much more. Take a deep dive into Minneapolis music history as we discuss Minnesota's deep musical history discussing bands like Grand Central, the original Sonny Thompson version of The Family, Flyte Tyme, Alexander O'Neal, Morris Day...
Jul 02, 2025•2 hr 15 min
Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland sit down with the Time Band featuring Jellybean Johnson, Monte Moir, Tori Ruffin, and Ricky Freeze Smith to discuss their history with Morris Day and the Time, their Masterclass, and plenty of behind the scenes stories.
Jun 25, 2025•1 hr 26 min
Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland welcome Indian bassist Mohini Dey to chat about her current touring schedule, her past, her upbringing, childhood challenges, religion, space in music, cathartic performances, and much more.
Jun 18, 2025•1 hr 8 min
Mr. Christopher sits down with Funkatopia co-host NPG drummer Michael Bland to discuss the 2025 Prince Celebration taking place in Minneapolis and Chanhassen, MN. We discuss the new music coming, the Celebration panels, unreleased music heard, plans for video releases, the rebirth of the NPG Music Club, and much more including addressing a few "Mr. Funkatopia" shout outs from Londell McMillan during the Vault Session panel and the stories that sparked it. All this and way more than we deserve in...
Jun 11, 2025•2 hr 50 min
Join Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland as they sit down with all of the members of The Family including St. Paul Peterson, Jerome Benton, Jellybean Johnson, Susannah Melvoin, and Eric Leeds. We discuss new FDeluxe music, the Prince Celebration performance and a wealth of purple stories. Then we top off the night with a surprise visit from New Power Generation (NPG) members Morris Hayes and Tony Mosley to share even more unheard stories from the road and new events for the band.
Jun 03, 2025•2 hr 59 min
Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland sit with Philip Lassiter and Shelby J to discuss his new album Soul of the World and debut a new track. Plus Damon D joins to talk about his Minneapolis dance class. Then Mr. C and Michael chat about the upcoming Prince Celebration in Minnesota, the pricing, the events, as well as the external events in and around Minneapolis area.
May 27, 2025•2 hr 12 min
Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland sit with the iconic trombonist Fred Wesley who was an integral part of the sound of James Brown, Parliament Funkadelic, the JB's, the Horny Horns, and many collaborations from Abraham Inc. to Van Morrison.
May 14, 2025•1 hr 4 min
Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland sit down with funk maestro Cory Wong to discuss his history, Prince's influence, the Fearless Flyers, Vulfpeck, ADHD, working with Michael Bland, and so much more.
May 07, 2025•1 hr 18 min
Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland welcome Tower of Power drumming legend David Garibaldi to discuss his time with Tower of Power, his near death experience with a train, the true story behind the 777-9311 drum track, his retirement, and what he's doing now.
Apr 30, 2025•1 hr 34 min
Mr. Christopher and NPG drummer Michael Bland discuss the 40th anniversary of Prince's Purple Rain follow-up, Around the World in a Day. We also discuss how we've dealt with the loss of Prince 9 years later. Plus plenty of rabbit holes.
Apr 23, 2025•2 hr 46 min
Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland sit down with bass gawd MonoNeon to discuss his upbringing, his wardrobe, the sock, Prince, the album he worked on with Prince (Black is the New Black), inspirations, and much more. Tune in and vibe out.
Apr 16, 2025•1 hr 6 min
Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland sit down to discuss the interview with MonoNeon and of course, in their usual style, it diverges into a full blown show that has very little to do with MonoNeon and all about Prince's legacy and whatever else they discuss. Which is everything purple.
Apr 16, 2025•2 hr 1 min
Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland discuss the newly released information on the Prince Celebration 2025. We talk about the pricing, the bands, the events, the hotels, transportation, and more. Including a visit from a special guest.
Apr 10, 2025•2 hr 7 min
Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland sit down with music luminary Thomas Dolby. We talk about his breakout success in the 80's, From his side projects, his hits like Hyperactive and She Blinded Me With Science, chilling with Michael Jackson, friendships with XTC's Andy Partridge, working with Todd Rundgren, and so much more.
Mar 25, 2025•1 hr 31 min
Mr. Christopher and Funkatopia co-host Michael Bland discuss Prince, the Prince Celebration. Joni Mitchell, Meshell Ndegeocello, and tons of New Power Generation questions for Michael.
Mar 19, 2025•2 hr 40 min
Prince and the Revolution keyboardist Dr. Fink joins Mr. Christopher and NPG drummer Michael Bland in an extremely loose and rare interview discussing Rick James, drugs in the 80's, working with P. Diddy, Revolution memories, arrests, touring, the future, and so much more.
Mar 12, 2025•1 hr 50 min
Michael Bland returns to Funkatopia Live to discuss more on the cancelled Netflix Prince documentary, the 2025 nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, plus other highly notable bands that still haven't been nominated. PLUS. we also discuss the new list for Record Store Day 2025 and much more.
Feb 20, 2025•2 hr 7 min
Mr. Christopher sits down with Patavian and Danny Bedrosian of George Clinton Parliament Funkadelic as they release Patavian's new album The Red Balloon. Patavian is the granddaughter of funk icon George Clinton and is married to long time Parliament Funkadelic keyboardist Danny Bedrosian. We discuss her family history, her poetry used for this album, and also dissect the new music track by track.
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 29 min
Jesse Johnson returns to Funkatopia to help Mr. Christopher celebrate the 40th anniversary of Jesse Johnson's Revue. Jesse breaks down the history, the stories behind each track, instruments being used, and so much more including his take on the Netflix Prince documentary cancellation.
Feb 19, 2025•2 hr 53 min
NPG drummer Michael Bland returns to Funkatopia to discuss the cancellation of the Netflix Prince documentary, Kendrick Lamar's Superbowl performance and more.
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 16 min
Mr. Christopher sits down with Funkatopians to chat about the 2025 Grammys including the highlights and lowlifes. Prince's Lifetime Achievement Award, Quincy Jones tribute, Grammy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. announcement regarding the inclusivity changes and overhaul of the Grammy electorate, the big winners and losers, and much more. Also, upcoming events in Minnesota.
Feb 03, 2025•2 hr 3 min
Mr. Christopher sits down with Deshawn D'Vibes Alexander of Watermelon Funk to discuss his beginnings, his work with Kingfish, the origin of Watermelon Funk, their journey, and the DNA they share with George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic.
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr 12 min
Mr. Christopher sits down with Lettuce guitarist Adam Smirnoff aka Shmeeans. We discuss the origins of Lettuce, their creation process, Live in Tokyo, Prince, bootleggers, and so much more.
Jan 08, 2025•41 min
Mr. Christopher and special guests ring in 2025 with the longest Funkatopia Live show on record at 5 hours. We talk about what was wrought in 2024, upcoming Prince events, and we also welcome Eric Rogers (Paisley 5 and Dime), Eric Leeds, Greg Boyer, Damon Dickson, Sheila from the Brides of Funkenstein, DuJuan Elliot of the Blackshires, and TC Ellis.
Jan 01, 2025•4 hr 57 min
Mr. Christopher interviews legendary drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie who is the most recorded drummer in history being on over 4000 albums including Miles Davis, Steely Dan, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and many others. We talk about his career, his style, and book.
Dec 20, 2024•49 min
Mr. Christopher sits down with Prince's sister Sharon L Nelson to discuss her childhood, the lineage, being Prince's sister, and her new book When It Rains, It's Purple. Note: Sharon had to join via a 3rd party bluetooth connection, so her audio is hot. Apologies that we couldn't resolve her technical issues beforehand.
Dec 20, 2024•1 hr 37 min
Mr. Christopher sits down with funk bass legend George Porter Jr., co-founder of The Meters to discuss his lifetime of work and a brand new album with his band The Running Pardners.
Dec 03, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Mr. Christopher celebrates his birthday with a BUNCH of special guests including St. Paul Peterson, Duane Tudahl, Ashley Tamar Davis, Gilbert Davison, Atlanta Bliss, Sheila Horne, Mayte Garcia, Dawn Silva and Sheila Brody-Head Amuka (Brides of Funkenstein), Mic Murphy (The System), Mychael Gabriel (Sheila E), and Tori Ruffin (The Time, Freakjuice).
Dec 03, 2024•2 hr 35 min
We sit down with Matt Blistan aka Atlanta Bliss where we discuss his work starting as Prince's first trumpet player and performing on Parade, Sign O' the Times, Lovesexy, and many more. Plus the release of his brand new book Mind, Body, Trumpet.
Oct 28, 2024•2 hr 27 min
