George Clinton has been encouraging music fans to free their minds for well over 50 years now. But even his mind is a bit blown by the prospect of this weekend’s “Symphonic PFunk: Celebrating the Music of Parliament Funkadelic.”
As the title indicates, the show on Saturday, Jan. 31, at the Detroit Opera House will set Clinton’s Parliament, Funkadelic and solo favorites in an orchestral setting, with arrangements by “Dancing With the Stars” musical director Ray Chew. LaBelle alumnus Nona Hendryx, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid and Rahsaan Patterson will make guest appearances, and Clinton, who made most of his legendary brand of funk in the Detroit area, will be in the house and might “get up there and jam with them when I feel it.”
“This was always my dream,” says Clinton, 84, “to carry on to that point of respectability and to always try to prove that we were worthy of that. It is all worthy of that. I go back to Motown itself. … All that music needs to be classical, orchestrated and cataloged, curated for the next 100 years. I think we did our part in creating something that lives up to that … and we kept it going.”
Chew — whose wife, Vivian Chew of New York-based Chew Entertainment, is producing the event — promises the two-hour show (with intermission) will feature plenty of funk classics such as “Flashlight,” “Atomic Dog” and “Cosmic Slop,” among others. “He enjoys creating arrangements that will accommodate the orchestra, but still get attendees off their you-know-what and jam,” she said…