An updated tour list is available at pfunkarchive.com

-P-Funk Tour List-


Original P



Review 10/17/98
From: Dr.Brookenstein

At Tramps - New York City [$20]                                           
(w/ Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, Grady Thomas & Ray Davis)                

I arrived an hour early to witness the historical coming of the Original  
"P" to the Big Apple.  If you don't know, Original "P" is headed by four  
of the five original Parliaments (Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, Grady      
Thomas and Ray Davis).  The group also consists of "sons of the P",       
Derrick Davis (son of Ray) and Gene Thomas (son of Grady and one-time     
member of Plainfield's new-generation funk group, Funk-Kin).              


At 9:20pm, a funk-rock group My Brother's Dream started the show with 50  
minutes of heavy-duty, slamming rock music laced with a taste of funk.  I 
can't say what they performed because I am not familiar with their        
material, but they were very, very good!  Their set ended at 10:10pm.     


At 10:40pm, the Original "P" took it to the stage.  The band members      
stepped onstage, followed by the "Big 4" themselves (Fuzzy, Calvin, Grady 
& Ray)!!  The band members included Derrick Davis (bass), Bataan          
(keyboards, sax, flute), Douglas Knight-Smith (keyboards), Billy Simms    
(guitar), Gene Thomas (lead guitar), Ben Powers, Jr. (drums), and Pete    
Pisarczyk (keyboards).  The ladies of the group are Jackie Love, Sonya    
Holmes and Emerald Davis.                                                 

The band performed an amazingly soulful version of the Parliaments's hit  
"I Wanna Testify", a funky-ass version of "The Goose That Laid The Golden 
Egg", and a really smokin' version of "Standing on the Verge of Getting It
On". "Cosmic Slop" was so good that the walls began to melt from the hot  
guitar licks & sweet vocals of Gene Thomas. Ray's vocals on "Cosmic Slop",
"Tear The Roof Off The Sucka" and "Pumpin' It Up" sent a seismic wave     
throughout Manhattan of magnitude 7.0!!!   But the best came when the band
performed "Red Hot Momma"...their rendition was so hot that the sprinklers
went off in the building and everyone was more than thoroughly            
soaked.....especially hot was the LONG guitar solos by Gene Thomas and    
Billy Mims.....YEAH!!!!                                                   

They performed some new tracks from their upcoming debut album, among them
a funky song called "Party".  They performed a new slow song about their  
journey from the early beginnings of the Parliaments to Original P, called
"35 Years"....it was lovely!  They performed two more funky songs from    
their new project called "Funk For You" and "What's That Shakin' Behind   
You Right There", of which the latter will soon be released as a single.  
Fuzzy mentioned that the new album should be out in the next few days, but
I wish that they had copies of the new CD at the gig! Original P performed
a rousing version of "Flashlight" and "Bop Gun". "Maggot Brain" was nice, 
but the flute makes the song sound somewhat weaker!                       

By the way, Douglas Knight-Smith has a funky-ass voice, somewhat in the   
vein of Garry Shider....he sang the shit out of "Bop Gun (Endangered      
Species)" and his scatting/singing in the middle of "(Not Just) Knee Deep"
was superb!  Oh....one more thing, did I already say that Billy Simms can 
REALLY play the guitar......DAMN!  Grady was fanning his towel at Billy,  
to keep him being overheating during one of his amazing solos.  'Twas so  
funky in the club that it was getting to be too much for me....I almost   
broke out a can of air freshener to neutralize the heavy-duty smelly      
funk!!  Okay....one LAST thing, every ass in the club went crazy when the 
group did a nasty version of "Music For My Mother"!!!                     


The track listing:                                                        

Night of The Thumpasorus Peoples                                          
Standing on the Verge of Getting It On                                    
Pumpin' It Up                                                             
Up For The Down Stroke                                                    
Tear The Roof Off The Sucka                                               
I Wanna Testify                                                           
The Goose                                                                 
Cosmic Slop                                                               
Atomic Dog                                                                
Party  (new song)                                                         
Maggot Brain                                                              
Bop Gun (Endangered Species)                                              
Knee Deep                                                                 
One Nation Under a Groove                                                 
Stomp  (originally by Kirk Franklin)                                      
35 Years  (new song)                                                      
P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up)                                           
Funk For You  (new song)                                                  
What's That Shakin' Behind You Right There  (new song)                    
Flashlight                                                                

ENCORE:                                                                   

Mothership Connection (Starchild)                                         
Music For My Mother                                                       


The set ended at 1:15am, but the 10-minute encore began at 1:20am!!       


If Original "P" is coming to your area, rush to the venue to check them   
out!!!