Once upon a time, in a beautiful old city filled with romance and mystery, along the cobbled streets and humid whispers, there came to being a thing called Funk. Funk was born in the tempest-tossed perfection of this cauldron, where musicians speak only the truth and the congregants wave their hands in the night air. Midwifed by the blues and jazz, and fathered by the deep groove ringing from the four fat strings of the electric bass, funk became A Way of Life. To pass this shimmering torch ever forward there was an Institution of Funky Learning established. The earliest purveyors and professors of this New Phat Thang were well-known wizards gifted with the ability to channel music and cause people to rise up from their chairs and wear grooves in the floor with the souls of their shoes. They were Art Neville, George Porter Jr., and Russell Batiste Jr. In time, they brought in Joseph (Zigaboo) Modeliste and Leo Nocentelli. And they were called The Meters.
Since then, the wizards have come and gone and returned yet again, but for decades, the Funk was delivered to all corners of the earth leaving believers in their wake. In this, the summer of our worst fears and highest hopes, the newest re-creation of The Meters call themselves The Funky Meters (so you won’t forget what this is really all about). They are Art "Poppa Funk" Neville on the keys, George Porter, Jr. on bass, guitarist Brian Stoltz, and Terrence Houston on drums. Class will begin shortly.
With these very funky METERS there is another practitioner who brings the gris-gris, the spirits, and incantations to cure your lamentations. Dr. John, The Night Tripper from the Crescent City – he with amulets filled with Funk - adds his Voodoo spells to what is portended to be the Funkiest Telluride Jazz Festival confabulation in the History of Time.
Leave stillness and quiet contemplation on your yoga mat and shake your beads. You are indeed strutting in the right place, at just the right time.
