P-Funk Medley

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History

Original Artist: George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars ("Butt-a-Butt"), Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz ("Get Low"), Parliament ("P Funk (Wants to get Funked Up)" and "Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)"), and Funkadelic ("One Nation Under a Groove")

Original Album: How Late Do U Have 2B B4 UR Absent ("Butt-a-Butt"), Kings of Crunk ("Get Low"), Mothership Connection ("P Funk (Wants to get Funked Up)" and "Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)"), One Nation Under a Groove ("One Nation Under a Groove")

To the passive observer, the Lizard King and Dr. Funkenstein appear to have very little in common. Although they were contemporaries (two years separates their birth dates), Jim Morrison's life and chaotic career was cut short at age 27, while George Clinton has continued funkin' things up for over four decades and has lived into his 70s. Where Morrison and the Doors were an overnight sensation, Clinton's path to notoriety with The Parliaments began in 1956 and was not fully realized until the early 1970s. There also does not seem to be much cross-over in style between the leather-clad hedonistic narcissism of Mr. Mojo Risin while fronting the bluesy psychedelia of The Doors and the cosmic space pimp Sir Nose D'Void of Funk who came to Earth in the Mothership to drop the raunchy rhythm and blues funk of Parliament, Funkadelic, and the P-Funk Allstars. 

They are seemingly as different as night and day...but they do share the ignoble distinction of both being arrested in Tallahassee, Florida. For Morrison, his arrest on September 28, 1963 primarily for being drunk and disorderly at a Florida State University football game, was the first of many. For Clinton, his arrest on December 6, 2003 for cocaine possession, appears to be his first and only. This odd connection became somewhat stronger 24 days later, when Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars appeared with Phish at their 12/30/03 show in Miami (site of another notable Morrison offense, March 1, 1969 at the Dinner Key Club for indecent exposure and inciting a riot) in lieu of a performance of The Doors "Touch Me" late in a second set that had already included a brief version of "L.A. Woman." 

In the midst of "Makisupa Policeman" (perhaps another veiled reference to the godfather of funk's legal troubles) Trey explained that having P-Funk come out was better than hearing Fish sing "Touch Me" so Clinton, Bernie Worrell, Diaperman, and the rest of the current Allstars crew took the stage. The Dr. Funkenstein Medley as it is often named in P-Funk Allstars sets began with a "Butt-a-Butt" rap which explains how to check if you are shaking your booty effectively ("Bend Over!") and briefly veered into the all important "Skeet, skeet, skeet, skeet!" climax segment of Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz "Get Low" before finally getting to the point where we could all "Give Up The Funk" and help the Phish Funk Allstars "Tear the Roof Off the Sucker!" Quite prophetically, this selection foreshadowed the 2009 NYE gag that featured Fish being shot out of a cannon and through the roof of the arena. "Give Up The Funk" then transitioned smoothly into and back out of "P-Funk (Wants to get Funked Up)" before finally resolving into "One Nation Under a Groove." The segment concluded with Fishman alone on stage getting funked up on his Electrolux. Phish then returned to the stage to complete "Makisupa."

Not to be outdone by the Lizard King and Dr. Funkenstein, following the "breakup" of Phish in 2004, The Bad Lieutenant joined the rogues gallery of rock stars that have been arrested (though in Whitehall, NY rather than Tallahassee) on December 15, 2006. Arguably the low point in his life, Trey entered treatment for his addiction, got his life back on track, and subsequently got the band back together to once again unite the Phish nation under a groove. 

 

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