Detroit Music Weekend, host Bootsy Collins to showcase homegrown funk – Detroit Free Press
Bootsy Collins was forced to lay down his bass a few years back. But he’ll be onstage Saturday in Detroit with his latest creative mission: encouraging anti-violence through the power of music.
The acclaimed bassist and onetime Motor City resident has been tapped to host the 2023 edition of Detroit Music Weekend, which this year is rolling a long day of funk outside Music Hall downtown. More than 10 local bands will perform at the free event, which will be capped by a set featuring an all-star ensemble of players.
Collins, 71, looms large as one of the genre’s most celebrated — and colorful — figures, having shot to prominence with George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic in the ‘70s following a stint with James Brown.
Since retiring from live performance in early 2019 because of health issues, the Cincinnati native has directed his energies to philanthropic efforts — including a project prompted by last year’s Highland Park, Illinois, mass shooting that killed seven and wounded nearly 50.
He was on a drive that day with wife and manager Patti Collins.
“He looked at me and said, ‘I’ve got to do something,’” Patti Collins recalled. “He got home and wrote a song called ‘Funk Not Fight.’”
The track — ultimately released this spring featuring Baby Triggy and Fantaazma — was the springboard for a broader initiative spearheaded by the Bootsy Collins Foundation, aiming to build Funk Not Fight “safe spaces” in cities across the U.S.
The first was announced in April in Cleveland with support from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Situated within an area community hub, it will include professional youth counselors and a recording studio. Funk Not Fight spaces are also planned for Compton, California, and Nashville.
Also in the works is a “Funk Not Fight” compilation album to be issued by the U.K.’s Syncr Music.
The Funk Not Fight message — “calm the violence with music,” as Patti Collins puts it — will figure big in Bootsy’s onstage emceeing duties Saturday in Detroit.
“It’s so beautiful what’s happening, and it’s organic,” Patti Collins said. “People want to live in peace, not with this controversy and hate. Somebody had to stand up, and that’s what my husband has done.”
Detroit Music Weekend was launched in 2017 with a tribute to Aretha Franklin — a show that turned out to be the Queen of Soul’s final hometown performance. Honorees have since included the Jacksons and the late John Lee Hooker.
Saturday’s action will kick off just before 1 p.m. with a performance by vocalist A’Tarah, singing a rendition of the anthem “Light Up Detroit,” followed by eight hours of funky grooves from an eclectic batch of Detroit acts, some of them P-Funk alums.
The afternoon acts earned their slots as winners of a juried showcase; the headlining action, starting just after 5 p.m., will feature headliners Laura Rain & the Caesars, Nadir and My Detroit Players.
The much-traveled Detroit bassist Kern Brantley — who has served as musical director for Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige and others — will lead a “D-Funk All Star Band” to close the night, with musicians including DLee, Larry Frantangelo, Valdez Brantley, Eric (Rain Man) Gaston, Gabe Gonzalez, William Wang and Terrell Williams.
Detroit Music Weekend will also include MotorCity Market, with 16 vendors offering various apparel, crafted goods, jewelry and more. https://www.detroitmusicweekend.org/2022-motorcity-market
The day will also include a funk clothing contest — fest-goers are encouraged to attend with their most eye-catching outfits — with winners to be announced onstage by Collins after he starts his emceeing duties at 5 p.m.
Saturday’s Detroit Music Weekend Funk Festival schedule
12:45 p.m.: A’Tarah Sings “Light Up Detroit”
1 p.m.: The Band Mint
1:35 p.m.: Act Casual
2:10 p.m.: Groove Fellowship
2:45 p.m.: Weebone
3:20 p.m.: David Jonathan & the Inner City Bedlam
3:55 p.m.: Hazmat Live
4:30 p.m.: Saxappeal & the Cru
5:05 p.m.: Laura Rain & the Caesars
6:05 p.m.: Nadir
7:05 p.m.: My Detroit Players
8:05 p.m.: D-Funk All-Stars
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