NPG drummer Michael Bland joins Mr. Christopher to break down Prince's Love Symbol album track by track. But as always, we have MANY stories and funky rabbit holes including a discussion on Questlove, Canadian funk nights, and much more.
We chat about the passing of the iconic dancer Cat Glover and her work with Prince on Sign O' the Times and Lovesexy and welcome special guest Michael Dean from Podcast Juice who extensively interviewed her twice. Then we share 7 tracks of new funk music artists that we feel should be added to your playlist. NOTE: There is an 8 minute tribute video for Cat that has been removed from the audio version here due to the highly visual component. To view the video tribute, visit Funkatopia's Facebook,...
We interview Sheila Brody-Head aka Amuka and Sheila Horne from the Brides of Funkenstein, P-Funk All Stars, Public Enemy, and more. She shares deep stories of George Clinton, the Brides, Chuck D and Public Enemy, Bootsy Collins, and so much more.
Mr. Christopher breaks down the Ezra Edelman Netflix Prince documentary The Book of Prince. We discuss what we know so far about the 9 hour documentary including the content, the objections of the Prince Estate, the potential damage it could cause the Prince legacy, the stories of abuse and neglect, and so much more.
We finally do episode 2 of Soundstage where we showcase new funk music that's out now. This episode we welcome Andre Cymone who describes his new funk album and sits in while we listen to a new track called Hot Funk in the Summertime. We also take a listen to Judith Hill, St. Vincent, Nikka Costa, Electro Deluxe, The Rumble (formerly Cha Wa), and Lenny Kravitz. Tune in for new funk.
We sit down with Minneapolis legend Andre' Cymone to discuss his history, his family, a street renaming in honor of his mother, and a brand new album about to drop called The Resurrection of Funk.
We sit down with the Queen of Funk, Dawn Silva whose illustrious career has spanned from Sly and the Family Stone and through George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, to the Brides of Funkenstein to the Gap Band to her own solo journey that still funks to this day. Tune in for unbelievable stories of funk.
We sit down with the legendary guitarist Jesse Johnsons to discuss his time with Prince, Morris Day and The Time, D'Angelo, and new music. Tons of stories and guitar riffs.
Special announcements and music news (purple and otherwise)
We sit down with St. Paul Peterson and Jerry Hubbard to discuss the 40th anniversary of The Time's Ice Cream Castle and share TONS of stories. We discuss how they were brought in to replace Monte Moir, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis who had just been fired from The Time by Prince. We reflect on the insanity of it all as Paul Peterson, Jerry Hubbard and Mark Cardenas were thrust into the spotlight to share the stage with Morris Day, Jesse Johnson, Jerome Benton, and Jellybean to complete the lineu...
We sit down with 15 year old guitar phenom Taj Farrant to discuss his journey from his viral worldwide appearance on Australia's Got Talent performing rock melodies and Prince's Purple Rain to sharing the stage with Kingfish, Buddy Guy, Carlos Santana, Orianthe, Kiss, and so many more. Here's his travels so far and what we can expect in the future with an upcoming new album on the way.
Mr. Christopher sits down with Mark Cardenas from the Ice Cream Castle era of Morris Day and The Time. Mark was brought in with Paul Peterson, and Rocky Harris (who would be replaced by Jerry Hubbard) to take the place of Monte Moir, and also Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis who got trapped in an Atlanta snow storm and missed a show. The new members found themselves at the center of the Purple Rain movie and The Time's biggest album Ice Cream Castle and here's Mark's story of how it all went down.
Mr. Christopher and Jeff Paige discuss the 2024 Prince Celebration at Paisley Park in Minnesota. A coverage of each day, the events, the music, the challenges, and more.
We celebrate 40 years of Purple Rain on the day it was officially released. We're joined by Andrea Swensson (Prince and Purple Rain: 40 Years) and Duane Tudahl (Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions, 1983-1984) to discuss all things Purple Rain including talking about each track on Prince's masterpiece.
We welcome a TREASURE TROVE of purple professionals for the ultimate Purple Rain Round Table with Jerome Benton, Craig Rice, Gilbert Davison, Hucky Austin, Damon Dickson, and surprise guest Alan Leeds. It's a wealth of purple stories on Purple Rain including deleted rape scenes, insanity at the Purple Rain premiere, money splurging, and tons of laughs and memories.
We discuss Prince birthday events in Texas and Minnesota welcoming guests Gilbert Davison, Damon Dickson, Craig Alexander, and a video from BrownMark. PLUS, we welcome DuJuan Elliott of the Blackshires to share his brand new single No Grease and reminisce a bit with Mr. Christopher.
We discuss more purple news including new Celebration details, and a visit from Mayte. PLUS we unbox Andrea Swensson's new book (which doesn't make for great audio, but we did it!).
Your latest dose of purple news. Construction near Paisley Park, the demolition of Chanhassen Cinema, Prince's birthday weekend, bowling with Mayte, and more!
We sit down with a beautiful vocalist and muse, Marva King. Her voice has supported renowned artists including Prince, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, George Howard, Phil Collins, Chaka Khan, Prince, Whitney Houston, Yolanda Adams, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Michael McDonald, Gap Band, Anita Baker, Ronald Isley, Mavis Staples, Jesse Johnson, and tons more. She's got some stories!
We discuss all of the details we have for the Prince Celebration in June 20-24, 2024 including events, hotels, flights, and more. PLUS we welcome Mayte Garcia (1:20:25) to chat about the Live4Love Charities Bowling event on June 6, and also Michael Bland (1:52:30) with a post 2gether concert review and feedback on their historic concert where he joined forces with Sonny T, Tommy Barbarella, Levi Seacer Jr., Tony Mosley, and so many more.
We interview the legendary Jill Jones to not only discuss her times with Prince, but also visit stories of Teena Marie, being a member of the Gordy family, her new album The London Sessions, the memories it stirred up, and so much more. We've waited forever for this special guest. Enjoy.
We sit down with sound engineer Scottie Baldwin that has run sound for Prince, Lady Gaga, Madonna, and so many more. Listen to the stories and challenges of working with some of the greatest artists of our time
We sit down with Lawrence L*A*W Worrell (Amy Winehouse, Rick James, Chaka Khan) and Martin Kember (AZ-1, Color Me Badd) to talk about their Prince-centric performances and their undeniable music resumes.
The early bird sale was released for Celebration 2024 at Prince's Paisley Park and the date and talent was also announced which include The Revolution, New Power Generation, and Morris Day with special guests. We talk about the pricing, the acts playing, and all that we know so far.
On the iconic date of 3/19, we get the blessing of a 2nd visit from Michael Bland and Sonny T to answer more deep probing questions. And we also welcome special guest BrownMark as he checks in to let us know about his special Houston event with Prince Day Houston and Craig Alexander.
We sit down with Rick James' Stone City Band including Levi Ruffin, Tom McDermott, Nathaniel Hughes, and Lanise Hughes. We debunk the rumors about Prince and Rick James working together including stolen keyboards, forced drinking, and so much more. It's a funk filled fiesta. Note: There were some audio issues with Levi's connection that caused echoes and we worked with it as best as possible.
We sit down with two music legends Sonny Thompson and Michael Bland. Both of them have shared the stage with Prince's New Power Generation, but they have plenty of stories of their own becoming legends in their own right. We talk about musical history in Minneapolis before Prince became a household name, Michael's work with Soul Asylum, dispelling vault myths, and so much more.
We dish about great funk events happening around the world and entertainment news covering Sinead O'Connor's Estate vs. Trump, P Diddy vs. Everyone, Rihanna's $6 million show, purple news, and so much more.
We interview Timex Social Club's Marcus Thompson as we discuss the rise and fall of their success, the Club Noveau controversy, the identities of the characters named in Rumors, touring with Run DMC, and much more.
We interview artist, photographer Steve Parke as we dive into his incredible work with Prince from album covers, photo shoots, wall murals, t-shirts and the stories behind them. Note: This was a very visual show, but there were dozens of stories to warrant the audio. Watch the video on youtube.com/funkatopia.
