Rickey Vincent data file

THE FUNK ARCHIVES
(Always Under Construction!)

The Funk Archives:
Here is a running tally of All Things Funky that yours truly RV has managed to get his name on over the past decade or so. These Funk Archives are always under construction, 'cause The Funk is forever comin' at ya!

All KPFA shows (list)
“The History of Funk” takes on a theme at least every other week or so, and the theme could be educational, such as a ‘clavinet tribute’ or stanky, such as ‘melo jams with fat bass’, or political such as a Vietnam War music show, or just ridiculous, like the Zootzilla visit recently. Here is a list of all KPFA radio shows since 1995, when “The Uhuru Maggot” went Prime Time on Friday nights at KPFA.
In 1997 KPFA Music director Chuy Varela assigned my radio program to Friday nights at 9pm to 11pm, with a once a month show going to 12 midnight. The format was a great way to showcase the giants of The Funk that deserve three hour tributes. Some of my favorites were the Earth Wind & Fire set, the Stevie Wonder mix, and of course the MAGGOT BRAIN SHOW!
Click here to see the LIST OF ALL HoF SHOWS
1995 shows
1996 shows
1997 shows
1998 shows
1999 shows
2000 shows
2001 shows
2002 shows
2003 shows
2004 shows
2005 shows
List of Selected PLAYLISTS

This archive is also under construction, in part because my playlists do not always wind up listing what has actually played on the air, so I usually wait until its too late and then forget about the playlists. This link is my little reminder to put these up on a regular basis. audio archive:
Eventually there will be some cool sound effects and station I.D.’s for folks to check out.

RV on TV!
For a good part of this decade, RV has been seen on television as an expert on Funk History. He has appeared on some of the most respected treatments of black music and culture made in the 2000's. Here is a list of them and where U can find them.

The Night James Brown Saved Boston

2008 RV appeared in the documentary "The Night James Brown Saved Boston" which aired on VH1 on April 5, 2008, forty years to the day of Brown's seminal concert the night after Martin Luther King was murdered in Memphis. The film is now available in a spectacular 3 DVD box set "James Brown in the Sixties" now available from Shout! Factory, yes!

2007 RV appeared in the documentary "Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story," narrated by Samuel L. Jackson which debuted on PBS in August, 2007, and is now available on DVD from Concord/Stax.

2006 RV appeared in the wild BBC documentary "The Tales of Dr. Funkenstein" in which former musician (Big Audio Dynamite) and producer Don Letts goes nuts for George Clinton and tells his story, with much contribution from RV, as well as Dawn Silva, Kash Waddy, Garry Shider and many others. Get this and bug on it if you can.

2005 RV appeared as the only scholar in "One Nation Under A groove, the Story of P-Funk," which first aired on the PBS series "Independent Lens" October 2005. This was Yvonne Smith's definitive treatment of our beloved P-Funk Mob. Her groundbreaking acheivement placed P-Funk in its proper place as one of the greatest bands with one of the greatest stories ever told. It took Yvonne almost a decade to finish the film. I did my taping with her in L.A. back in 1998.

Check out the PBS Independent Lens webpage for One Nation Under A Groove:

2004 RV appeared in the documentary "Soul Deep: The Story of Black Popular Music," which was produced by the BBC and airs continuously on US cable channel VH1Soul. These folks came to KPFA and got down with the real raw stories of soul, funk and social change. A great series if you can locate it.

Writings by RV

RV in magazines

The American Legacy FUNK Article

During the summer of 2004 I had the opportunity to be a part of the "Seventies issue" of the black history magazine American Legacy. It was a great ride and I had the chance to break down the story of The Funk, from James Brown to Outkast. The editors there inserted some great pictures, and gave the article a cool layout. If you can find a fall 2004 back issue, it'll be worth the hunt.

Over the years I have written a number of articles for a very broad range of magazines. One of my first magazine articles was for Mondo 2000, an early high-tech counter culture magazine that had a very irreverent approach.
I wrote three colorful pieces for them. An interview with George Clinton, a commentary on Hip Hop as Cyber-Apocalypse, and an interview with Shock G and Humpty Hump of Digital Underground. (some of you will know that they are one in the same person, but it was funkier to write the story as two people). I am grateful to the editor/founder of Mondo 2000, R.U. Sirius, for allowing me to expand my head and write on their level.
-see George Clinton artwork
-see Hip Hop as Cyber-Apocalypse article
-see Digital Underground article

RV in other languages
One surprising element of my writing career has been the interest in The Funk overseas, and in my writing. I have lost track of a number of the articles that I was asked to write for publications in England, France, Holland and Germany in particular.
One of my favorites was an article about Funk written for the German magazine “Du” That featured a picture of James Brown on the cover. I’m including the article here. If you can read German, it would help! And don’t forget that the entire book “Funk: The Music, the People and the Rhythm of The One” is in Japanese and Italian editions.

Some other notable works include an article about The Funk for Color Lines; I reviewed the Cornel West album for the NAACP paper The Crisis, and had the honor of interviewing Larry Blackmon of Cameo and Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire for Vibe.

My earliest published writings involved music. I will always be grateful to Ann Powers, who is quite famous in New York today, but back in 1989 was editor of the SF Weekly, and she hired me to review Public Enemy’s “Fear of a Black Planet” which was not a lightweight assignment.
Shortly after Ann left, she was replaced by Danyel Smith, who wound up also thriving in New York City, and was editor-in-chief of Vibe magazine when “Funk” came out in 1996.
I also managed a rather radical weekly column for the UC paper, the Daily Californian for a few years from 1990 to 1992, called “Below the Funk” The topics ranged from Bay Area politics to racism in movies to the Oakland Raiders. Ain’t a damn thing changed.

CD notes by RV
Here is a list of CD’s with my liner notes written inside. At some point the text of the essays may make it to the site, but if folks see a dusty used copy of one of these CD’s it may be a fun splurge to check The Funk out, and read some of the trivia I’ve added.
My first essay was for the best of Latimore, and I am grateful to David McLees at Rhino records for the opportunity to get started. I am also indebted to Harry Weinger at Universal and Dana Smart at Hip-O, who hooked a brotha up.
Naturally the high point of this stint was doing the Bootsy Collins anthology and Larry Graham anthology in the same year. (Much thanks to Barry Benson at Rhino for that hookup also). I had the honor of interviewing my heroes Bootsy Collins and Larry Graham and ask them questions funkateers have been wondering for years. Their generosity and infinite richess of spirit was as inspiring as their Funk Grooves.

Rickey Vincent’s CD Liner note writings
as of April 2004

1995 LATIMORE: Straighten it Out: The Best of Latimore RHINO
1996 various: NEW JACK HITS RHINO
1997 FATBACK: Fattest of Fatback RHINO
1997 SLAVE Stone Jam RHINO
1997 B.T. EXPRESS Best of B.T. Express RHINO
1998 JAMES BROWN: Dead on the Heavy Funk, 1975-1983 POLYDOR
1998 various ELECTRO FUNK vol. 1 PRIORITY
1998 various ELECTRO FUNK vol. 2 PRIORITY
1999 various ELECTRO FUNK ESSENTIALS HIP-O
2000 GROVER WASHINGTON, JR Milennium Collection MOTOWN/UNIVERSAL
2000 RICK JAMES Millenium Collection MOTOWN/UNIVERSAL
2001 BOOTSY : Glory B da' Funk's on Me!: The Bootsy Collins Anthology RHINO
2002 GRAHAM CENTRAL STATION : The Jam: The Larry Graham & Graham Central Station Anthology RHINO
2003 SLAVE Party Lites: More of the Best of Slave RHINO

For the German company Bureau Buskies, in an arrangement with Universal/Germany, I wrote notes for the following CD reissues:
2003 COMMODORES ; Hot on the Tracks
2003 KOOL AND THE GANG : Spirit of the Boogie
2003 OHIO PLAYERS : Contradiction
2003 PARLET: Invasion of the Bootsy Snatchers
2003 RICK JAMES: Bustin’ Out of L Seven
2003 THE JB’S WITH FRED WESLEY: Doing it to Death

2003 THE UNDISPUTED TRUTH: Smiling Faces: The Best of the Undisputed Truth MOTOWN

And in 2004 Gilles Petard at Miracle records in the UK hired me to write booklets for these great albums, some of which have been impossible to find for years:

KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND self-titled
CALDERA self-titled
MAZE featuring FRANKIE BEVERLY self titled
BRASS CONSTRUCTION self titled
SUN Destination Sun
DAYTON self titled
JIMMY G AND THE TACKHEADS Federation of Tackheads
POISON Going Straight to Number 1
COLD FIRE Too Cold
LITTLE BEAVER When Was the Last Time

They are all out now! US collectors can try dustygroove.com. They stock a number of great European imports, including these.

RV on CD-ROM: Encyclopedia Britannica
In 1998, thanks to the earlier version of this website, I was contacted by the Encyclopedia Britannica, who was developing a CD-ROM of their esteemed Encyclopedia series.
They wanted some articles on Funk, and since I was the only published author on The Funk at the time, I was asked to write articles about Sly Stone, George Clinton, and a dozen other acts.
Since then the Encyclopedia Britannica has posted some of the articles on the web.
- article on Sly
http://www.britannica.com/psychedelic/textonly/slyfamilystone.html
- article on P-Funk
http://www.britannica.com/psychedelic/bands/pfunk.html
- info on CD-ROM
If you want more of their in-depth research, pick up their CD-ROM. It’ll give you hours of browsing through worlds of knowledge, and some of their stuff is On The One.

Articles about RV
While I’m indulging and reminiscing, there were a number of very helpful articles written about me by local writers that I think helped to solidify my work in the Bay Area. The first was written by Sylvia Chan, one of my favorite people in the whole world.
A second article about my “hip hop workshop’ appeared in the SF Chronicle, and since the writer came to a lecture on April 4th, the day MLK was shot, the tone was more politically charged, and thus so was the article.
And of course, the SF State paper, the Gator had a few things to say about my funk classes, not the least of which was the cover story the day after GEORGE CLINTON came to my class! The headline read “SF State All Funked Up” And that irresistible photo covered the page.
-- see Sylvia Chan’s SF Bay Guardian RV story
-- see SF Chronicle RV story
-- see the SFSU Gator articles
-- click here to peep the classic photo of GEORGE CLINTON going to class!

Educational Archives
Teaching The Funk has been a rewarding and frequently groundbreaking experience. I’m including a mock syllabus for people that might be thinking about developing a course of their own on a similar topic. There are also a number of important books that can help in any analysis of The Funk.
First off, The Funk from the Funksters themselves is the MOST IMPORTANT!
Therefore I would recommend The Autobiography of James Brown, and Miles Davis the Autobiography for starters. But for the real lowdown on the inside the Funk story, you should read Fred Wesley’s autobiography: Hit me Fred: Confessions of a Sideman. THAT is the Bomb!
Also, if you can find the Avon books called ‘in their own words’ There is the Sly and the Family Stone book, and David Mills’ ultimate P-Funk account.
There are other brilliant analytical accounts of black music, and I consistently use Craig Werner’s “Change is Gonna Come” but there are many more. I have listed some of the most notable ones.
Syllabi for RV courses
- see ‘History of Funk’ syllabus
Reading lists for RV courses
- see ‘History of Funk’ syllabus

Click here to email Rickey Vincent: rickeyvincent77@yahoo.com

THE FUNK ARCHIVES (Always Under Construction!)

THE FUNK ARCHIVES
(Always Under Construction!)