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Broadcasting every Friday night from the SF Bay Area, "The History of Funk" cuts directly between meta-foolishness, a conscious party and serious Funk Education! With the non-commerical status of KPFA, the deejay can stretch beyond the top ten list, and with 500.000 watts of Pure Funk Power (+ the internet) the show can Rock the Bay Area and get All Around The World For The Funk!

 

Some nights of course are straight up Party Jams, but other shows get into serious treatments. Themes that range from Vietnam War music, to crazy titles like "Funky Sexual Preferences" and "Christian Funk" we get into every take on The Funk we can. Then there are musical tributes, such as "fat bass ballads" and "the Clavinet Show". Every now and then we get inspired and go for the PEE FUNK in a righteous way. One of the best example of that was the "Maggot Brain Show" and our annual ALL BOOTSY SHOW! But my favorites are the treatments of the artists themselves. Two hours UNCUT of your favorite (and not yet favorite) funky acts - with their trippy album cuts, soul ballads, extended tracks and interviews that CELEBRATE the works of these unsung Giants of music.

 

HOW IT HAPPENED

 

I had been cranking some form of 'The History of Funk' on KALX, the Cal station across town in Berkeley since 1985. It all began at KPFA when James Brown was in jail in 1991, and RV went to KPFA to demand a "Payback marathon" there. At the time, Third World Department Director Bari Scott was in charge.  She approved of the project, and engineer Jim Bennett approved me for the station use, and The Funk was on! That night I did a 12 hour James Brown blowout, with the first 5 hours on KPFA and the final 7 at KALX.

 

So I stuck around as a backup programmer and did a few funky fundraising marathons until he could get my own raggedy time slot -- I started by doing 1:30 to 4:30 am Friday nights/Sat.mornings! - but music director Chuy Varela finally gave a mug the hookup in 1997 and moved my mix to Friday evenings, and since then the show has settled into A GROOVE!  

 

 

The History of Funk Intro!

 

 

If you want a quick hit of RV's Funk, check out PARIS, Skyler Jet and Al Eaton's production of the "History of Funk" intro! It's 2 minutes of PEE FUNK! It was produced by Al Eaton, the platinum selling producer for Too $hort when he signed to Jive records in the 1990s. Skyler Jet is a veteran soul vocalist who sang with the Commodores and now is a part of the Funk Family Affair, a FANTASTIC collective of former members of SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE!! So the History of Funk is in good company, every Friday On The One!!

 

 Listen to the KPFA "HISTORY OF FUNK" intro!