Q & A
- Q:
- "Is it true that George [Clinton] "discovered" Michael Hampton in a
club in Washington, DC when he was only 17? I heard that Mike was playing
"Maggot Brain," and George hired him on the spot. Any truth to this?"
-- J.E. Pugh
- A:
- Mike "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton was discovered at an after-party thrown
by Mr. Ed Sparks in 1974 in Cleveland, Ohio, where Michael is from. The
band asked him to play "Maggot Brain" for them, so he did, along with
cousin Lige Curry accompanying on bass. They liked him so much, they
called him 2 weeks later to join (after Eddie Hazel left to work with the
Temptations on "Shakey Ground").
Mike's first gig with P-Funk, or with anybody, for that matter, was
at Washington DC's Capitol Centre when he was 17 years old.
- Q:
- "Whatever happened to Ron Bykowski? I can't seem to locate him in any
old photos of Funkadelic, either."
--J.E. Pugh
- A:
- Ron Bykowski, "the Gibson-equipped token white devil with a flair for
blacknotic trippacautionary vibrations," apparently departed from the
music scene after leaving Funkadelic in 1975 due to a girlfriend who
wanted him at home. Unfortunately, not much is know about Ron,
Funkadelic's
sole Caucasian guitarist throughout its entire history.
- Q:
- "The whole [lead] guitar work on "Quickie" is a mind BLOWER! Who did
the
principal solo(s). . . . I just gotta know.
--a funkateer
- A:
- The main soloing on "Quickie" (George Clinton, You Shouldn't-Nuf
Bit Fish, 1983) was done by Dewayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight and by
Blackbyrd only! :) (I previously posted that Andre Foxxe had done the
solo, but learned that that was not true at all. Thanks, Blackbyrd and
Marcy G. for pointing my attention to this.)
Have some Q's we can A? Send 'em
to our One Nation News/Q&A editor, at
newsandqs-onenation@iname.com.
© 1997, 1998, A Parliafunkadelicnet
Thang
