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Review 04/24/99 From: Jack Abney
I was at the O.P. show in Spartanburg SC Apr. 24. Many thanks, Bill Walker WJMZ, for your post to Melissa's list because I would never have known about it. A few notes. My wife went with me to this one. We got there as planned around 8 PM and talked to one of the employees outside. He told us to come back around 9 to 9:30 PM when the doors open. So we checked out the mall and bought a couple of things for our 2 sons. Drove back and got there just a little before 9 PM. I had brought a picture from Rock and Soul mag. (mid 70's) of the funk mob. I am on a mission to get autographs from everyone in the picture, except Glenn G. (Rest In Peace) :-(. Well, to my surprise, as I was getting out of the car and getting the picture. I saw someone waiting to walk across the street to the club. Having a feeling it was Ray, I asked if he was a member of O.P. and he said yes he was. Yep, :) it was Ray. I said "RAY!!!!!". He said, how did you know? I told him that once I heard his voice, I knew for sure. "TEAR THE ROOF OFF" :-) Anyway, we talked to him outside for a few minutes. He gave me a run down of the members in the picture. I wasn't sure where Calvin was. (He was in the back behind someone, just could see the top of his head from eyes up). I asked him if he would mind taking it with him and asking the others to sign it. I didn't know the layout of Magnolia's so I didn't know if I would get to see the others. Ray was glad to do it. Many thanks to Ray, he is a really nice person and we both enjoyed talking to him. We talked for a few more minutes inside also. Talked about R&R Hall of Fame, children, mid 30's to mid 40's aged funkateers (Where are they now? My wife says staying home with their kids, always too tired to funk.), those late 70's P Funk shows, and other stuff. To my surprise, Ray knew who I was :-), he had read some of my posts on the internet. Wow!! Inside we met Fuzzy H. and Gene Thomas and talked with them for a minutes also :-). My wife had to leave early (around 10:30PM) to get back home. We had to keep the 2 year olds at church Sunday morning at 8:45AM and she needed to get some sleep. I can get by on much less sleep than her and there was no way I was leaving an O.P. concert early anyway :-). Whew, that's another story in itself, 20 something 2 year olds running around in one room. I was too tired to type this last night. :-) After she left I saw Grady and talked to him also. I talked to a couple of people there who didn't know about the O.P. members. So I gave them a little P Funk history lesson. Who was who, who did what, who sang what, etc., back in the day. I'm no expert, but I was glad to share what I knew. Also, told him a little about BW and the Woo and his relationship with the P. Gotta promote the Woo too. We need the WOO Funk down south also. :) Sorry, I guess I rambled. Show notes. Begin 11:15PM end 1:15-1:30AM???? (I didn't check my watch) Magnolia's is a nice place. It is a long narrow building (maybe 25 feet wide by 200 feet???? long) (2 floors). Bottom floor had 5 or 6 fixed booths with tables, a bar, 2 video poker machines, 3 or 4 video games, 6 pool tables, and a few TV's here and there. Top floor had stage on one end, bar and dressing room, rest rooms on the other end. First place that I have been that the band members have to go through the crowd to get to and from the stage. The building was pretty old. (Guessing 1920's or 30's maybe) Looked like some old historic drug stores that I have been in by the ceiling and moldings, wood floors, etc. You know the kind that had food/ice cream bar, etc. It was also next to the train station. So years ago, that was probably the center of town business district. I think that the usual O.P. crowd was there. Missing one of the women. They were on the ONE and tore the ROOF OFF. Everyone had a great time. However, it looked to be a fairly small crowd to me. I was outside putting my pic back in the car and saw probably 10 people leaving because GC wasn't there :-(. I told them that they should give O.P. a try because O.P. puts on an excellent show too. Oh well :-(. Set list: Night of the Thump. People Standing on the Verge Sing it Fuzzy :) O.P. chant Funk is in the house. O.P. chant say F-U-N-K sounded like a little JB beat behind it "Sex Machine" beat maybe???? Pumpin it up. Sing it Ray, making it funky. :) Get up for the Down stroke Tear the Roof Off the Sucker Ray getting down and funky again :) rolling in to Ray singing few lines of Papa was a Rolling Stone Fuzzy getting the crowd to say Sing it Ray Ray back to Tear the Roof finishing it off Totally Awesome :) Testify Make My Funk the O.P. Funk W E F U N K Cosmic Slop Atomic Dawg Party Down People I like this one too :) short version of Do That Stuff Maggot Brain Gene getting funky :) Funkentelecky I know I never can spell it right :( Knee Deep 35 Years Like this one also :) WE love you too O.P. and WE thank you too. 1 Nation Feet don't fail me now!!!! What dat Shakin Good stuffffff :) Flashlight To sum it up, it was a whole lot of F-U-N and a special K as Fuzzy says. FUNK I had a great time. Best wishes and good luck to all the O.P. I really enjoyed meeting Fuzzy, Grady, Gene, and Ray. Next time I want to meet the rest. See you in Atlanta. Thanks again to Ray for everything. Thanks again to Bill also, without your post, I would not have been there. jack "FUN and a special K"Fuzzy