QLS Classic: Bootsy Collins (Part 1)

In part 1 of 2, the legendary master of funk Bootsy Collins talks about finding his voice, the madness of working with James Brown and how a life-changing visit with Fela Kuti set him on a new path.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Of Course Love Supreme is a production of I Heart Radio.
This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora.
Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to QLs Classic Episode fifty seven
Bootsy Colleagues from November two thousand and seventeen. One of
the most colorful creative forces in music, Bootie Collins came

(00:21):
into James Brown's life in the nick of time and
gave him a burst of energy. He would later take
all that energy and helped George Clinton build the almighty
p Funk Empire. The stories are outrageous, y'all, so please
enjoy QLs Classic with the Baby Bubba Ball Baby Bubba
Boots Zilla. Yo, all right, enjoy some Prima roll call

(01:03):
Suma road subprimo roll call names quilla. Yeah, and I
am shy ye, don't play him cheek Yeah, don't let
him frown some Prima road calla Prima rogue. My name

(01:25):
is Fonte, Yeah, and I must confess. Yeah. The answer
to the question yeah is very yes. Oh God, Prima
roll Brima, Prima roll call. Her name is sugar Baby. Yeah.
That ain't no joke, yo. Yeah, I got a theory baby,

(01:46):
Yeah about Pinocchio. Roll call Prima Prima rogue, hallelujah. Yeah,
they call me boss, but yeah, not the friendly ghost. Yeah,
but the holy ghost rod sign roll call frima Prima

(02:12):
roll that's my ear. Yeah, so ready for Booty. Yeah,
I got my monkey's and my sweet love. Yeah, Prima rogue. Yeah,

(02:33):
the name is boots. Yeah, and I got a request.
Roll call some prima roll on. Roll call frima prima,
roll call Frema. That's roll call that That that Charlie Wilson, Yeah,

(03:00):
Trump Charlie Wilson. So, ladies and gentlemen, our guest today. Uh,
in my honest opinion, is the spiritual epicenter of postmodern
black music. H No, but listen listen. I mean Bootsy Collins,
in my opinion, is a bridge like he he ushered

(03:22):
James Brown. Alright, alright people, His his young blood energy
gave James Brown new life for the seventies and basically
for that much, you know, because of sample and technology eighties, nineties,
two and so forth. Not to mention him. Uh co
piloting the co pilot, yes, cool as as co pilot

(03:49):
of the the Mothership. Uh with George Clinton. Um, you know,
expanding our our, our, our minds and pushing the boundaries
of funk music and uh dare I said, uh afro
futurist ideas, uh and and and creativity into two millions

(04:12):
and uh not to mention. I mean he's pretty much
on the mount Rushmore of funcology. Absolutely, there's no there's
not much more to say than that. Welcome the one
and only Bootsy Collins to Quest Loves Again. Like I
said before, I got one request, request Love. You're gonna

(04:39):
add that to the show. I think I might change
that to to you know, request Loves to pre Yeah,
you know what. Okay, so I know most of our
guests that come here, and of course that you know,
we've known each other for a long time. But there's
one question I never asked you. Yeah, who how did

(05:01):
you get your name? Oh that's easy, man. Um Mama
looked at me and she told me that I look
like a boots. Yeah, and I you know, I'll start
to say, wha, can you tell me what a boots?
He looked like, you know, and then something stopped me
and said, well you see how deep she is, So

(05:23):
leave that alone. I just left it alone. It's boots
on your birth certificate. Uh no, Um, well, actually it
was added, but she just called me boots and just
stuck stuck. Everybody started calling me Bootsy. That was it. Yeah,

(05:45):
I assume that you're Cincinnati resident. Correct, Yeah, you're born
in Cincinnati, Born in Cincinnati. Um, you know, uh didn't actually, well,
at first, we did a lot of work in Cincinnati
and the King you know, King Wrecks. That's where we
actually got started with um all the different groups and

(06:05):
stuff that would recording there, and then finally with James Brown.
So what what was your your childhood like in that city? Like,
did your parents migreat to Cincinnati or the entire from Yeah,
well I didn't get to know my dad, but um,
my mother, she was from Tennessee, Pulaski, Tennessee, and uh

(06:30):
then she came to Cincinnati, her and her a couple
of her sisters, and I kind of grew up with
my cousins. We all lived in one house and it
was pretty much ladies you know, um and so um,
you know, ladies with the kids and and so you know,
I kind of grew up. We was just having a blast.

(06:53):
I mean it was just fun time, you know, um,
not having nothing. Um, you know, everybody's used to that.
Funk is making something out of nothing. So you know,
it's like whatever we had, we dealt with it well.
Assuming that you were a child in the in the fifties, Yeah,

(07:13):
you're so timeless. I don't even know what your ages, Like,
you still might be twenty four years old as far
as i'm but uh, growing up in still aged. So

(07:33):
I know that for a lot of the h the
pioneers of of funking soul that we're from down south, Um,
their stories are definitely much more harsh. You know James
brown story of course, like that's typically that's typical pretty
much of anyone that lived below the Mason Dixon line. Um.

(07:56):
But because you're kind of part of the Baby Boom
generation and that had you know that that grew up
in the in the Midwest, and there were factories and
jobs and all those things. Like was your childhood as similar,
Like was there still danger elements? Oh? Man, I mean
it was. It was all around us. Ohio was always

(08:17):
still Ohio. Yeah, I mean yeah, I mean, you know,
it was all around us. You know. But um, we
kind of came with, I guess a new twist, the
same twist he was talking about when we bought that
new energy to James Brown. I think that's kind of
the way we came up. We refused to go with
how deep it actually was, so at that particular time

(08:40):
we would go on with it was deep. We was
in the riots. I was actually a part of all
that the Black Panthers used to come down on the
corner about a block from us. I mean, we was
into all of that. But at the same time, uh,
it was it kind of just like George Clinton an
idea with Parliament funkadelic. All of that deep stuff was

(09:03):
going on. But we refused to react like that, you know.
In other words, we made a little humor about it
where it was it was humorous enough not to be
like taking like were they laughing about it? You know?
I mean so it was a kind of silly, serious

(09:25):
kind of thing sometimes. Yeah, And that's kind of the
way we came up with our situation as deep as
the situation as was. So, how was music introduced to you? Oh?
My brother, my brother, how much he was eight years older?

(09:46):
I was like, yeah, Oh, he's my big Yeah, he's definitely.
That's the only man figure I had in the house
that I looked up to that you know that I
kind of to be like, you know, we're not even
kind of I wanted to be like, describe catfish. How
did he get the name catfish? Oh? I WoT him out, man,

(10:09):
I mean, you know, I mean he looked like a catfish.
I mean, you know, you look at it. You know,
you had these what's, you know, these little what's good
things going on, and he had these big guys, you know,
and he just looked like a catfish. Man. I'm having
because because most of these characters were introduced to me

(10:31):
via James Brown, right right right, I'm thinking, like, yo,
they got some funky nicknames, like I thought you had
catfish something like that looked like well, you know, now
I'm finally realizing I understand what my mother said when
she said I look like a boot to whatever that was.

(10:51):
You know, I still don't know what a boots to
look like. Yeah. Yeah, but but then when I look
at it, I just said, because he looked like a catfish.
And that's the truth. I mean, there's no other explanation.
He looked like a catfish. Did he appreciate this name?
He loved it. He loved I mean pretty much anybody

(11:13):
that I would nickname I mean they wind up loving it,
and so you know, um that was the thing that
I did. I always came up with when I saw
a person in it, you know, if something hit me
like oh you know, yeah he was looking at me,
I was I thought it was a name in Seamon,

(11:46):
you know. So you know, and that's the way it
all went down. You know. It was like, um, uh,
Catfish kind of brought the bands, you know to the
house and um we had like a two bit uh
to room house. But you know, my mother she was
into whatever we were into and music. You know, she

(12:10):
loved it. She loved you know that that we were
into music, and so um, Catfish would have the girls
and you know, the bands are all around the house
and I'm like nine years old. So I'm loving it.
You know. I'm like, okay, I gotta learn how to play,
you know, And so I started putting two and two together.
I don't have a guitar. I don't have no way

(12:33):
of getting anything. So when my brother leaves to go
on the paper route, I'll just steal his guitar for
a moment. He don't touch my guitar type. Oh he
was definitely a don't you ever you know, and don't
never let me catch you with it, you know. So
I always knew when I get his guitar out of

(12:55):
the you know, out of the case, to put it
back exactly. But he tests the strings. He tested me
and busted me, you know it. All it took was
one time when he busted me. One time. I knew
then that I had to get myself a guitar, you know,

(13:17):
because he wore me out. It wasn't even I was
nine years old. He wowed me out like I was
a man. So so I I said, okay, I gotta
get me a guitar. And so I started doing my
own paper route. I got me a paper route, y'all?
Was he not even at least, but curious if you
could actually play? Or you know big brothers, you know,

(13:39):
have big brothers treat a little sniping on his long
head suckers. Well that's the way I was treated, you know.
And all these people in the room, but you know,
are you are you pointing in? But you know he
you know, he first of all, he didn't think I
was serious, because you know, it's like the little younger.

(14:01):
You know, he's gonna change his mind next week, you know, Um,
but I tricked him because you know, once I got
locked in like this is what I'm want to do,
and you know, and I just started showing people that's
what I wanted to do. And and Catfish was the
last one that realized I was serious. You know. His
drummer named Raunchy uh was the baddest cat in Cincinnati, man,

(14:26):
I mean, and he embraced me, you know, he allowed
me to come into their rehearsals. Cat was like, man,
get that out of here, you know, um, but Raunchy
embraced me, man. And I used to stand there and
watch him play, you know, and while listening to the
guitars and you know, and the band thing was just

(14:47):
such a it was such a big deal back then.
You know what the time was playing like this is
like six it it's like sixty nineteen sixties, sixty one.
You know, I was born in fifty one, so nine

(15:09):
years after that is what like yeah, yeah, so it's
around in that time, right right before the British invasions,
so right right, right, So what was listening to Lonnie
mack um uh tag man? It was so so much stuff,
so much of the instrumental kind of music stuff Curtis King,

(15:32):
Curtis Miles Davis. Uh, I mean you name it. I
mean you know all of that stuff was you know,
and then you had the Motown thing, Um that was
you know, that was hot beginning to be hot? Um?
And so was he playing like sop hops in those
things like area? Like were these bands? Was your brother

(15:54):
playing in? Yeah? Every club you can think of. I
mean the Muggs was playing in because that's what time
it was then. You know, it was like everybody was
playing clubs, you know. Um, it was more about um. Um.
That's how I met as many musicians as I met

(16:15):
because I was always around. I always was watching, you know, um.
And that's how I kind of picked up on, you know,
certain things and and how to play and and all
of that because I didn't go to school for it.
So when he when how were you when he realized like, okay,
you're good enough and well what was deep was I

(16:36):
got a chance to play with him. That was my dream,
you know, even before playing with James or anybody, you know,
I wanted to play with my brother because I wanted
to prove to him that I was worth it. Yeah worthy,
you know, yeah, seriously, you know a big time. I

(16:57):
mean you know that one time I played with him
and what happened was, um, he was a call to
do a gig, a weekend gig, and the bass player
couldn't show up. So you know, I was like, yes,
this is my chance, you know, and he was like,
oh no, you know, He's like, no, not you you know.

(17:17):
I'm you know, I'm gonna get me a basse play,
but it ain't gonna be you you know. So I'm like, oh, man, man,
So he kept trying to get the bass player. You know,
you know wasn't written. It wasn't written. So um he said, okay, man,
he said, but you ain't even got no basse. And
I'm like, well, if you can get me four strings,

(17:39):
I'll turn this guitar. I had a twenty out and
all guitar silver tone. No will forget it. James Brown
lasted me out. I'll tell you about that too. But
he uh, I said, you give me four strings, I'm
gonna turn this into a base. That's gonna be my base.
He said, okay, I get I get you four a string.
It better sound good. I was like, it's gonna be

(18:01):
the bomb, you know. So he gave me four strings.
I put it on that guitar and that night played
the gig. I mean it was about the size of
this room full of people. I mean everybody was drunk
as a skunk. Okay, the Playboy Club, you got the

(18:21):
upper end Playboy right then you got the rat Hole Playboy.
Guess which one? Guess which one we play? Yeah, it
was double rat Hole. So so we're playing. I mean,
I got mugs all up in my face because I'm
the youngest mug up there. So it's like, and I

(18:42):
you know, they say I siunded pretty good, so you
know I had to go with that. They're all up
in my face and my brother standing back there, he's
playing the lead and he's watching. You know, I didn't
know he was watching me like that, But after the gig,
it was like, okay, man, you know you're gonna me
to New Basse. Yeah, I mean, I mean I didn't

(19:05):
know what I was doing, but you know, he liked it,
and that was the first time he liked anything that
I did. So I was like, yeah, So from and
from that day on we played together. From there, you know,
from then on, your your brother's UM guitar technique. UM

(19:28):
probably I mean next h uh uh Chank Nolan and
and and she's Martin and James Brown's arsenal um. His
his guitar playing is like was he always that good,
that precise with his rhythm? Always? Always? George to this

(19:49):
day will tell you that, you know, I mean, forget
the drum machine, you know, timing this boy was just
so his timing was so so so much better than mine,
you know, and both of us had pretty you know,
a pretty good time, but his was like exceptional. You know,

(20:10):
he can turn around, everything can go off that the
p a everything, and cat will still be having that
thing going, you know. And and that happened to us
a few times. Yeah, yeah, and George just turning, turnaround,
start smiling and just you know, because you got catfish
that ain't gonna stop, you know. And if you move,

(20:31):
he ain't going nowhere. You know. He don't get emotionally
upset or emotionally evolved. He's just grooving, you know, he's
doing his thing and once he gets locked. So see,
I knew his technique with timing was super important. Uh.
Catfish is probably his most iconic rhythm in my opinion,

(20:56):
is uh, get get into it and get involved, give
him his which never I mean I've I've heard a
ga jillion live versions of that and he's the anchor. Yeah,
more more than James drummer, is more than anything like,
that's the that's the driving rhythm that song. So yeah,

(21:18):
I just always like, did he practice a lot or
was it just like he practiced a lot? But he
it was just a natural thing to him. He was
chewing his gun every time he's seen that month his
gun and hitting the guitar, you know. And you know,
he first made his guitar um, you know, because he

(21:40):
was He went to Bloom Junior High and they had
a thing would a wood shop, you know, and he
made his first guitar um by hand and he put
these um fishing strings on it. You know. This was
before he knew what to do. You know. He just
the guitar, you know, and he made his own guitar

(22:04):
and put fishing strings on it and was nothing happening.
Once he found out was nothing happening, Um, then he
realized he needed a guitar, you know. And once he
got his first guitar, it was on. It was on.
He ever figure out how to make one after he
since he bought one. Did he ever go back to it?

(22:24):
That's kind of fascinating. Yeah, he didn't. He didn't go
back to that, you know, Yeah, he didn't go back
to that because you know, it didn't take too long
after he started playing that, I got we got together,
and the next thing, you know, I mean, things just start, yeah,
start happening, you know. Um and you know, I like

(22:46):
people like Roger Um, Roger Trautman, uh, sugar Foot, all
of us kind of played in the same circle, you know,
in the same clubs, all of and all the bad
It was so many bands. Why were there so many? Okay,
so our listeners should know that Cincinnati is kind of

(23:07):
regarded as the the funk capital of the United States.
I mean, Ohio's regardless the funk, but Cincinnati in particular.
Why were there so many bands in Cincinnati? And is it?
Is it the effect of of King Records and James
Brown's operation being there and him recording at the time.

(23:28):
I personally think that that had a lot to do
with it, because it made young musicians want to be like,
you know, uh, these people that's recording all this stuff
in the you know, in the studio. Would he live
there or would he how often will you see James
Brown on the streets? And this is before you joined him.

(23:50):
I mean like, um, he would just random. It was
a random thing where he come in. He stayed, um,
two or three days, sometimes times a week, you know,
with the band. And you know, our thing was we
were so hyped on the band that they were our

(24:10):
heroes because James was so out of reach that we
just knew we wasn't gonna meet him, you know. So
you know, I think was if we can only meet
the band, you know Fred, you know, Macio Clyde, come
on man, Jabbo, you know, if we can meet and

(24:30):
that was our dream came true. But we first we
met Bobby Bird, who treated us like you know, we
were somebody and nobody knew us. Nobody knew us, you know. Um.
And now that was before this is like pacemakers, Yeah, yeah,
this is I mean, nobody knew what was happening. We um,

(24:54):
first we met that uh the Depps you know, um,
and so we used to all be in that same
circle and so you know, one thing kind of sparked
off of another, you know, next thing, you know, um,
after the Dafts start recording over the King, some kind

(25:14):
of way. Oh, I'll tell you exactly how. Um. Charles S.
Brolin came down to hear us playing at the club
and he was like, man the energy, y'all cast guy,
we need that over the King Records. And he was
the A and our guy and and so um he
invited us over because he wanted us to be his

(25:35):
backup band for his recordings and any production stuff that
he does over in King. And so we agree, you know,
let's do it. Because we hadn't never been in no studio,
you know, not not um not recording you know, so
um um, we got a chance to start recording with him.
Once we start recording with him, then Henry Glover and

(25:58):
Jeane Red hit on us you know about recording with
you know, Arthur Price, sod Bill Dog, Hank Ballot. So
we was all on those records. Wait, so that's dude,
is that you on? Yeah? Yeah, well build Dog and
then Soult Trees by author Price. So um, Hank Ballot,

(26:25):
we actually went on the road with a Hank Ballot.
We went on the road with him before. Yeah, of
course that's you because I have played half half notes. Yeah,
so that's who's the rhythmic section you and who's drumming. Damn,

(26:46):
that's fun. I ain't heard Are you serious? Yeah, I
don't listen to see to us because it's been sampled
like it's it's something totally different. It's the beat nuts.
Are you ready right? But it's still even in B
boy circles like that has been played millions of you

(27:08):
know times always asked me about songs that I played
on and then I said, we'll play it for me.
Because when finished that sentence, I don't listen to what
you don't listen to your music. I don't listen to myself.
I don't. I don't play with myself. Sometimes it could
be healthy, okay already, you know, you know, no, I

(27:34):
just um, you know, it was always so much coming
in that I never had time to just take a
break and listen to what I've did, what I've done,
because I was never interested in what I've done. It
was always what's coming next, because I always had something
coming in, you know, and I was I'll tell you

(27:56):
what it was. I was so full of it. Now,
whatever that it was, I was full of it. I
mean full of it, you know, because you know, we
used to hang with the brothers on the corner that
was our whole thing. Music got a chance to take
us out of that and give us a place where
we can crack on ourselves. You know. It's like looking

(28:20):
in the mirror and laughing at yourself. It's like it
gave us a chance to do that with ourselves, you know.
And I just happened to run into somebody that liked
that approach. George. You know that James was serious. That
boy was sad read us, you know, so he kind
of um helped me because he was like a father

(28:41):
figure that wanted me to be a certain way. You know. Yeah,
that this and I needed it. You know. We're just
coming off the streets with the riots, you know, the
one Molotov cocks, cocktail stealing, you know, and we was
a part of all that, and James reached in, pulled
us off the street, put us in the band. And

(29:03):
the next thing, you know, man, we were in Africa
with James Brown and then mugs over there bound down
like we somebody and we're saying to us, say down,
we just played benefits in the clubs and ain't made
no money, you know. Now we were Jane Brown, you know,
so it hit us like that and we didn't have

(29:25):
just like the songs you're talking about, do I go
back and listen? I never analyzed that part of how
it felt with James Brown at that particularly because it
was so unreal that I had no feelings. It was
just deep. Do you think it's also a danger um?

(29:47):
I You know, I tend to avoid favorites of whatever
my audience expects because maybe there's a fear that you
can't it replicate that or do it again. I mean, like, okay,
I know that in your in your job of doing concerts,

(30:08):
yes you have to do Bootsilla, you gotta do you know,
Hollywood Squares or whatever. But just in terms of sitting
back and listening to it, is it? Do you think
it's more of a psychological thing of because I a
lot of artists refused to listen to their record at work,
you know, because it just it might be too haunting

(30:32):
of an earlier time. Well, you know what, I think
that's got something to do with it now. But but
when I was coming up, I was, you know, I
was really too full of it to listen, go back
and listen, you know, because I had made up in
my mind I wasn't gonna be listening to radios. I
wasn't gonna be listening to how people do this and

(30:53):
how people do that. Once I got on a path,
it was like, I'm just listening into the universe and
what they tell me, what what they sent me, you know,
and that's actually, um, that's the way I was feeling,
and that's what was going on at that time. But
after all of that time, now it's like when I

(31:16):
put stuff on, it's like dag, you start feeling those feelings.
You know. It took all of that time though, for
me to get to this point, you know, to where
it's like, if I put it rather beyond with you on,
that's that's gonna take me all the way back two
not only what we were doing on stage, but where

(31:39):
that actually came from in the first place, and who
I was talking to, you know, And then all of
those feelings start coming up, and it's like, wow, I
don't want to feel that, you know. So that's understandable
because to us, you know, I think of a barbecue
if I hear you know, your uncle barbecue. Yeah, But

(32:02):
for you, you could have been in a car accident
a week before you recorded. I'm gonna tell you exactly
what what where that came from. I was on the
way to the studio and what happened a traffic jam.
I'm called up this traffic jam. I was on the

(32:22):
way to the studio to record that, and I was like,
you know, and I was still coming up with you know, okay,
what's the you know, I'll still come. So I kind
of had to leave my mind. I'll always have my
mind open because sometimes you don't get it until you
right there on the mic and then bam, there it is,

(32:43):
you know. Um But I was on the way to
the studio to record Body Slam, and I had I
got the lyrics. You know. I didn't know I was
gonna get the lyrics that quick because you know, I
had still had to record the song, you know, But
then the lyrics can say that I'm called up. I mean,
the whole the whole way I did, and everything came,

(33:03):
you know, and I was like, I got it, you know.
And and then when you get to the studio, so
you didn't have the luxury of um, yeah, you didn't
have that luxury, you know. So it was like you
have to remember, I mean, that's why we used our brains.
Now you don't have to use your brain like that.
You got smartphones to do it all for you, you know.

(33:24):
But you know, we had to put stuff in there
and rely on that instant recall. Now, what was I
thinking about about this? You know, this song I was
gonna do, you know, and you had to recall that,
you know, And that was a that was the thing
that musicians had back in there in those days that

(33:47):
I think it's a lost art, you know. And you
won't even be thinking about that. Um, well, you don't
think about it too much now, no way, But five
or ten more years, that's gonna be you know, brain
is gonna be useful as far as at all. Before

(34:10):
I get to James Brown chapter, I just have to know,
um just in the battle of the band situation and
all those local bands, who what band unit scared you? Like,
we're the Ohio Players players. Them boys was the baddest
boys in the world as far as I was concerned,

(34:33):
and as far as a lot of musicians, because any
time they would play anywhere, you know, it was like
the whole front line of seats would be nothing but
musicians and they'd be there, you know, and and everybody

(34:54):
knew it wasn't like everybody's trying to hide. You know,
everybody knew. I mean, these are the baddest boys. And
I'm gonna tell you something else. When they started making records,
that wasn't. That wasn't when they were really the bomb.
The bomb was one. They didn't have no records and
they just played in them clubs. That's when they was killers.

(35:20):
I mean them boys. I mean, you ain't never seen
no show like this. You know how old at the
time they had to be, like in their uh I say,
late teens, early twenties. Always had that voice always well,

(35:41):
he always had that voice, but he never used it
like he used it on the records, you know, because
it was always um uh. They always had a singer
that would do you know, the singing part, so sugar.
You know, he had that voice, but he never used
it like because they always had someone else's. Yeah, somebody

(36:03):
else sing it, you know, speaking of voice. All right,
So we were working on a project like two thousand three.
I forget the project, but you played me a demo.
Uh you told me He's like, yeah, of course, I
had a dream about Jimmie Hendricks and I want to
play it for you and you played me the song,

(36:25):
and then I had one of those those bootsy kind
of the thinking black man means memed to me. Pointing
to Temple, I was like, hey, you know what, you
kind of sound like Jimmy Hendricks. Not totally going over
my head that your whole voice is embodied Jimmy, and

(36:51):
so out what even gave you that thought too? To
take on his well, you know, continue to take the away. Well,
you know, he was my hero anyway. I mean, um,
and you know I used to have this room where
it was about okay, say half of that half of

(37:16):
the say half of this room from there to year.
And we're in a very small room, right, yeah, very
small and then pull the rest of the room all
the way up to here. Okay. So in that little
box was my room, and I had a black light,
I had a bed and instant we l and and

(37:44):
I ate track. Okay, um, and that's you know, that's
what I played. I played Jimmy Hendrix. Jimmy's poster was
up over the bed, okay, and all you could see
when you walked in my own when you walked in
my room, all you can see was that poster. You

(38:05):
smelled the incense and you smelled the weed and that's
what I did. You know, this is why I'm confused though,
boot seat the weed LSD. But your memory is remarkable,
like just help stoners. What don't well, it's just like
I was saying, how you retain stuff? And that was

(38:27):
some kind of gift, I mean, because you really don't
supposed to remember that kind But I actually the important
stuff that to me was the most important memory pretty
much of all, was to be able to remember that.

(38:48):
And I won't let that go. I won't let that
go because, um, it was one of the best times
in my life. You know, I was finding myself. I
didn't know what the heck was on. You know, I'm
sitting at listen to Howland Wolf, Santana, Jimmy, Um, I mean,
Miles Davis, I mean, you name it. And I'm sitting

(39:10):
there were not just sitting. I'm you know, doing something,
you know, and it's usually you know me, uh my
guitar on my base and I'm just sitting there and
I'm listening and I'm freaking out, you know. Um. And
it was always a good freak out, you know, it
was always a good besides yeah, besides Ernie Einsley. I

(39:33):
just don't know another figure in black music that was
young at the time that really absorbed Jimmy's essence. And
you know, I guess in the beginning, I was just
led to think that he was so freakish and out
there that the black community really didn't embrace it. Understand
they didn't understand what what How did you're in the

(39:56):
inner city? How did it speak to you? It was
my year two not go with you know. It's it's
just like we were talking about the um, the serious
part of the blackness, and we took that and made
not fun of it, but made it, you know where

(40:20):
you could kind of laugh about us partying on the
Mothership and you know, acting a fool and having a
good time. So we had to kind of take the
seriousness and show people that we can actually have fun
with this with ourselves. You know, we can actually laugh
with ourselves instead of you know, because we was making

(40:41):
it through this deepness. You know, was so much deepness
going on. It's like, if we keep going this deeper,
everybody's gonna be dead in a minute. I mean, because
they're killing everybody. So we gotta figure out a new approach.
And it wasn't like we were sitting there analyzing, uh
the next approach, you know, the one gave us certain

(41:03):
talents and we just brought it to the people. You know. Um,
it's just like we took the street drug rap and
made it funny, you know, p funk the bomb. I mean,
that's drug rap, you know. Now it's uncut, uncut, that's

(41:27):
our street drug rap. So can you describe I'm glad
your memories there. Yeah, I want you because I have
so many questions about the day that Bobby Bird came
to get you guys to play with James Brown, which
is essentially you're your your moment, you know what quest

(41:50):
Let me let me let me I didn't finish on Jimmy.
Let me let me just let me just tell you
how that came about. Um, what happened was we was
in the studio, George and I was in the studio
recording be my Beach, and and I was in that

(42:11):
clowning around you know, um you know, and I said, yeah,
be my Beach, and George said, oh that's it, man,
that's it. And I was just clowning around, you know.
And next thing I know, George just like go ahead
do that. That's that's the voice, and that is where

(42:33):
it started. I was doing my invitation of Jimmy. Okay,
so um, I'm sorry. So well, yeah, I'm explained to
you that that because of of of of financial reasons, uh,

(42:54):
the team of James Brown his band decided that they
were gonna will uh strike out mutiny the morning of
a gig. I think it's around eleven in the morning,
that we are not gonna go on stage until you
get the money straight that you owe us. He was

(43:16):
a real Republican. There you go. So James decided to
call their bluff and he told his h his A
spoon coom, Bobby Birt, his his his AJ two, his
O J may see sports, I'm bad with sports. Uh,

(43:41):
to get on the leridge at the private plane and
go to Cincinnati and go grab them kids and put
them on the plane and bring him down here. So
come showtime now. So they broke the line, y'all. Broke
the strike line, y'all. So tell me I got My
question was what parents in their right mind would just

(44:03):
let their teenage kids like go with James? Right? All right,
I'm how teenage? He was nine? You were so first
of all, who is it and how old were you guys?
I assume that your brother was the oldest, right. And
if he said, okay, so give me everything. What time

(44:24):
did Bobby Bird come to the club and tell you guys,
stop what you're doing, come with me. We'll actually called
he called first, and uh we was playing a benefit,
um and you know we we would get whatever coming
the door. And did nobody know us? I mean, you know,
so it was pretty much you know, um the fam
you know um, and so uh we wasn't really getting

(44:49):
no benefit, I mean as far as no money. So um.
When Bobby called, you know, I thought he was I
thought it was he was joking, you know, like, yeah,
what do you say? He said, Mr Brown want y'all
to come down here, and you know and uh play
on the show. You know. So it wasn't like he

(45:11):
wants y'all, y'all to come down here and play with him.
It's like he wants y'all to come down here and
play on the show. So it was like, oh, man,
come on man, you know, yeah, man, I'm coming to
get you. I'm coming to get you. In forty five
minutes on James Lerige and so y'all just be ready,

(45:31):
you know. And I'm like, okay, So I go back,
hang up because I'm still thinking he's joking. But I
go back and tell the boys, you know, I tell Cat,
you know, like Bobby, I just got off the phone
with Bird and he um, he said, James want us
to come down and play on the show. And so
everybody's eyes lit up. You know, It's like, oh man,

(45:53):
he gotta be joking. It's like, no, man, I say.
He said, well, you better go tell mama, you know,
because you know Mama. You know, Mama ain't going for that,
you know. And I said, well, if you go, I
know she won't have a problem with it, you know.
So UM called Mama, and you know, I asked her.

(46:14):
I said, Mama, you know, um uh, we got an
offer to go down here play, you know on James Show.
Where oh where it was Columbus, Georgia and you're in Cinati.
I'm in Cincinnati. How far is that flight wise? Like
you probably make that move like two hours maybe. I mean, now,

(46:37):
so what time is it when you get He had
a lear yet, I mean to go fast. I never
understood the leader part that means faster private, but no, no, no,
they don't fool around. Them boys go straight up into
the egg. They don't, you know, they don't. James Brown
was that famous. Oh yeah, like I just got to

(46:57):
maybe private jet status, like yeah, no, he was that famous,
you know, and I got you know, that was the
first time we ever got on the plane. You know.
So he actually came, Bobby Bird and you know, let's

(47:18):
see what time was it. Now, See that's what my
memory forgotten. I wasn't I wasn't clocking it in, so
it had to be it had to be around I

(47:38):
would say at least six seven somewhere around in there.
And when he when he actually came and got us,
we game. We went straight into the limo, straight to
the plane, straight up in the air. It wasn't no
you know what, no fooling around. What about luggage? And

(48:00):
oh we just took our instruments. You know that that
green base. I was telling that twenty nine dollars, that's
what I had. And I'll tell you about Remind me
to tell you about what James thought about that base.
All right, So so we um we get there, Okay,
we land, we get there, We go to the auditorium,

(48:22):
UM and then we hear all this ruckus going on
riding kind of vibe which we were used to. But
it's like we didn't realize it was directed at us,
you know, and you know because the band is late,
well that the band is and they're pointing at us,

(48:43):
and we like, we didn't know. We didn't even know
he was walking into that into the front door where
we was getting ready to walk in the front door
into James Brown's famous enough to be in a theater. Yeah,
they didn't think, hey, let's not first. They was just
gonna you know, they wanted to show the people that

(49:05):
the band had a rack called They didn't want to
put it on James. It's the band's fault, you know.
And see we ain'tn't even have to tell you the
band's fault because they didn't shume. He didn't come through
the front door, you know. And we fools, I mean,
we we don't know what's that. We don't even know
that we're actually playing with James Brown. He didn't tell

(49:28):
you that. They told us that we were coming to
play on James show. But wait a minute, you meaning
that two hour during that Bird's not going to Bird.
James told Bird this is what I'm guessing that he
bet not say nothing about they coming, you know, coming

(49:50):
down here to play with me. Just go get him.
That was that was, you know, that's what That was
my take, okay. And then then I found out my
take was the truth when I got down there and
we walked through start walking through the band once we
once we went around because we couldn't come through the front.
They was too deep. They was gonna start some some

(50:12):
serious you know. So Bird took us around to the
stage door. We went in the stage door, and the
next thing, you know, we started looking around and the vibe.
As soon as we got in the door, the vibe changed,
you know, it like jumped on us, like okay, something
is wrong. We didn't know what it was, but it's

(50:34):
like something is wrong. And then I looked over and
I saw Fred and good, look at you. No, no, no,
I'm looking at it. They still arguing at James, at James,
you know, and you know at short you know what, James,

(50:56):
They're looking down at it and it's like, you know,
to me, it looked like they was getting ready to
choking or do something, you know, and I was like,
what is that all about? He's like, oh, oh, yeah,
I was gonna tell y'all. I was gonna tell you

(51:16):
that's why I wanted to get y'all back in here.
And then come on, we need to go into Jade
Brown dressing room because we need to talk. So he
takes us back in James Brown dressing room. Next thing
you know, James comes in you know Fellers Fellers. Yeah, yeah, glad,

(51:38):
y'all made it. Uh, you know, I need y'all live
to play my set tonight, and we like, huh, you know,
we ain't rehearsed. I thought we was gonna open it now, sir,
y'all playing on the James Brown Show. Y'all playing tonight, Andy,

(52:00):
And I said, well, how are we how are we
gonna know what to play? You know? He said, well,
when I do like this in, I'm gonna call out
the song Cold Sweat. And that's the way we did it.

(52:24):
Two questions. Was his music so inescapable that you guys
as a unit, I just knew it, like you knew
Mary had a little lamb, Like yeah, what it was
was at that time you got to realize that James
was the hottest mug, you know, black performer. It was

(52:44):
I mean and all the bands, every band knew his stuff.
You know, at least that's something that would never happen again.
You're not that is like I knew they know my materials?
Like who is that up today? No one that that
can never happen, that that will never happen again. It's
not only will it never happen again, but when I

(53:07):
get with these artists like Stevie Wonder, don't know half
his songs now, like it's the opposite. We gotta remind them,
don't remember you know what I mean? Like it's the
opposite song right now. Nah, I'll fake it till I'll
make it so okay. And my second question is that

(53:33):
funk wasn't invented yet. You guys have yet to do.
Sex Machine is a week later, so like literally a
week later. And so the thing is is that the
transformation of his music from the sudent tie soul thing
and to the gritty How first of all did the

(54:01):
audience by it? They've freaking loved it, they love And
how did you interpret those songs? Like did you just
approximated as his band would have done it? Well? You
gotta understand too that we needed to be polished, you know.
I mean we came in with what we came in with,

(54:22):
and that's raw energy, raw talent which needed to be
put on the one, as James would call it. And
you know, me not being a like a talkt bass player,
I really didn't know, um the the purpose of the

(54:42):
base other than you know, just play these low notes,
you know. But I played them like it was a
guitar because that's what I learned on And James was
responsible for telling me that. All right, son, look yeah, yeah,
I love all that stuff you're doing that, Son, I

(55:03):
love it. I love it. But the only thing you
gotta do, if you're gonna play with the Jane round, yo,
you got to give me the one. That's what I need, Son,
I need the one. You can play all that other stuff,
but I need the one. Can you hit me with
the one? That's where the one comes from? So I

(55:24):
learned the one. The one was birth. One was birth
every member of the roots. I want you to listen
to this again because there is there. Can we explain
to the list of what the one is like. It's
it's it's an establishing pulse in music. You gotta have

(55:48):
a four count one two three four now for for
soul music, even though the emphasis is on you might
are the snare on the tuone of four one two
four fun too, it's that what is first, that is

(56:09):
what it hits you and oh my god, okay, okay.
And the thing is is that it's it's a certain
repetition after like African drum repetition. It there's joy and repetition,

(56:35):
avoiding saying that I was trying to think of like, um, like,
I don't want nobody to tell me nothing. I don't
want nobody to give me no, but not have a one.
I don't understand how you don't have a one, like
you gotta start somewhere. So how was this doesn't have one?
That one? Right? Right right? I'll give you a bad example. Well,

(56:56):
here's weird. This is what's weird. Technically seven seven, seven
eleven doesn't have a one. Okay, I'll even make it
easier for you. Uh, the Whisper song by the Yang
Twins doesn't have well, most snap music has no high hat.
You need a metronome. You need something that establishes the

(57:21):
pace of a song. You need a metronome. Now you know,
not every song is gonna have a like a one
to three four, but it's insinuated in your head. You
don't realize it, but you're being hypnotized every time a
loop happens. So I think James Brown's music really isn't
a linear structure of song like thinking like John Coltrane

(57:43):
or jazz. Jazz is linear. James Brown is circular. And
he has a whole bunch of people playing repeated notes
all over again. P funk is even crazier because they'll
have counter stuff, yeah, but repeating the same thing over again.
So by the seventh minute, like don't stop. Do you

(58:04):
get enough? You remember how it just breaks down today
it's just stopped, playing over and over and over again.
Shake your body down to the ground. Another example, And
that's a loop that's like a one bar. Yeah, there's
no that's it. That's the song. So the one is
just it's just it's it needs to be super obvious sometimes.

(58:27):
And you know with my band, you know, and this this,
this is the one downfall of worship Jay Dilla because
he kind of throws out the manual of of meat
and potatoes rhythm and it's causing a lot of cats
like thunder Thundercat Chris Dave a lot of a lot

(58:48):
of post Jay Diller's disciples to just kill this Bart
numbers the time, stretching drummers. It sounds almost sad, though,
I mean no, it's I mean it's like filling these
monks sort of having sub notes. I mean it's creative.
But the thing is is, I believe that you should
study the Old Testament, master it and then you expand

(59:12):
you learn the rules before you break them. Right now,
you've just got cats coming and breaking the rules. And
then Chris Dave, he still comes back to the one. Well,
Chris is the Jeanes, but he has a lot of
disciples that are just like watching his YouTube videos and
then just going from that. But you know, and it's
the one is important. The one is it's meaning potatoes.

(59:39):
There's something really cool about the sex machine, uh session
that I guess well, Boss Bill and I were alerted
to it because we have the um, the pro tools,
the master reel, and do we not occasionally teach that,

(01:00:01):
m y un, But I don't have the se Well,
you know, we share every I mean, come on now,
but my the point was that you guys did two
takes of it, and the the the kind of in

(01:00:23):
between banner. I guess there's like a two or three
minute break between take one, which was the master take,
and take two, which was like, let's just get a
second one for safety's sake. And every James Brown expert
that's ever heard that their jaw dropped because their jaw

(01:00:44):
dropped simply because of the nurturing, kind of tender father
like way that he's communicating with you guys, Whereas with
anyone else if you were run the engineer or or
you know whatever, he's just like, no, man, that was wrong.
And even you know, giving up return of loose you

(01:01:04):
you hear him like starting all over again, like in
the song you know that sort of thing, but he
actually stops this. No, no, no, you know, don't do
it again. You can make it work, you know. No,
you're doing good, You're doing good. Just they they've never
heard James Brown actually be nice. Yeah, that's the thing.
So with Sex Machine, the first time that you guys

(01:01:26):
were in the studio or like, was that your first
professional you mean with James or well, I know that
was your first. Was that your first with James? Actually? No? Um,
what was before? Um? What was um? The first time

(01:01:47):
I played with James. Of course he didn't use it,
but his band took a break while they were recording,
Um licking stick and yeah, most monks don't know nothing
about this, you know, I mean with the story, and
so um, his band went on a break and James

(01:02:11):
get this horrific idea. And you know we outside, you know,
me and my brother, you know, the band. We outside,
always outside, waiting on a chance to get in because
they didn't let nobody in. You know, it was like, um,
we don't care who you are. You know, nobody's coming
in but James and who he needs. And so his

(01:02:35):
band wait, you would just be outside outside the studio hanging.
I mean, every time James came to Cincinnati, we was there.
And so you know, he said, but I know, boots

(01:02:55):
in them out dead, go out there and get boosted in.
The next thing, I know, they opened the door, Bird said, pussy,
come on in it. And we were shocked. We was shot.
It's like we were shocked. But at the same time,
we was all waiting for that, you know, because before that,
he ain't never call us in the studio, you know,

(01:03:17):
so he called us in. I want you to play
the play this part from it. Uh. It goes something
like this. Uh uh I think uh, I said, you
mean do do do do? Do Do? Do do do do do? Yeah? None,

(01:03:38):
that's it. That's what I'm doing. That's how songs were
getting made. He would just sing something. You have to
decipher what it was like you from here America. You
go to Japan and they don't have no idea what
the are you talking about? But if you play it

(01:03:59):
in mut music, they can say, okay, so James. The
whole thing is when he's communicating with you, you don't
know what the hell he's talking about. God, he don't
being down so African I got. So that's what you're

(01:04:23):
going on? Oh you mean dude, dud DoD. Yeah, that's
what I'm talking about. That glad I thought of it
to wear work, and I was glad he thought of
it too. This being in his presence was that was

(01:04:46):
enough for me? And they then the mugs him. You
mean you didn't get paid for that? Get paid? You know,
we wasn't thinking about getting paid. You mean your name
and name on what? You know? We was just so inspired,
lifted from being in this Catt present. What nobody thinking

(01:05:06):
at that time? You know you gotta remember what time
that was. You know, that was like you know, writers
publishing all that stuff was unheard of for musicians. You know,
you'd be lucky to come in and they give you,
uh thirty dollars for a session, you know, and don't

(01:05:30):
even speak about you know, rotes a bass part or
you know, or Jabboon came up with a drum part
and clydet no that belonged to Jane Brown. You know,
couldn't nobody tell um Clyde to play that, uh play
play that, play that funking drumma likeness in let me

(01:05:53):
show your high go And James used to do that,
let me show your go and he get on that
and play some four four nothing happening, ain't nothing happening.
But see the thing is, I don't want to. I
don't want to make a sound like you know, he

(01:06:16):
was that far gone. He wasn't gone at all. He
knew what he wanted. But you had to give it
to him, you know, you had to. He knew it
when he heard it. You know. It's like you know,
if you if you didn't play it right, No no, no, son,
yet you ain't got it. No, no, no, no, that

(01:06:37):
that ain't gonna work. Not not No, he'll give it
to you like that. But if you play it, if
you play what he wants to hear. Yeah, that's it's. Uh,
that's it. So I know that you guys were wept
behind the ears, um, just being thrown in this situation,

(01:06:58):
say the least. So what were the because Alan Weeds
told me that there was a lot of rigorous hours
of rehearsing it. What were the rehearsals like? And why
why did Clyde and Jabbo cross the picket line or
oh you mean come back? Um, I don't you know what.

(01:07:21):
I never I never even thought about that. Uh. And
I didn't ever look at it like they crossed the
picket line. It was like, you know, well the band
left and then Clyde stayed. Yeah, but he came back.
Clyde came back. He didn't actually leave when the band left.

(01:07:43):
He came back about maybe a couple of weeks after
we started getting things together. Jabbo is the one that
didn't leave. He stayed, so you know, Um, but Jabbo
was that kind of lofty guy that you know he
was gonna he was like bird, kind of like bird,

(01:08:04):
Bobby Bird. He wasn't gonna leave James, you know. Um
at that particular time, it was like, you know, Jabbo
was like, this is it, you know, and he was
the he was the foundation for us because he was
the only one with him and Bobby Bird was the
only one that was there the first couple of weeks

(01:08:29):
that we could rely on. Did you know to kept
us steady? That's another question, because your your style is
you're you're James Brown style then was pretty much James
Jamison one on steroids. I mean, you're going all over
and I know you're saying, like James just wanted that one.
You could do all that other stuff, but someone had

(01:08:54):
to be the bad guy to say you're playing too much,
Like you guys are virtual so musicians. But who's the
person that has to reel it in said you're playing
too much? Just give me James would James would be
the bad guy. You know, he didn't need no help
on that. You know. It was like but he was

(01:09:17):
liked what we was doing, you know, he just liked it. Um.
I mean, we we heard all of the stories and
we you know, we would see how he treated the
other guys, but with us, just like you were saying
about that story about how he nurtured us. You know,
that's the kind of father figure he was. Us. Finding us, No,

(01:09:40):
finding us didn't work because we didn't have no money anyway.
So it's like, yeah, take my money, I mean, you know,
to take whatever you are. I'm here with you. I'm
here here with you. You know, you know you can
have my money. It don't even matter. So he did
kind of slightly take advantage of y'all being younger with
the whole the pay cut thing I'm imagining, and you

(01:10:00):
know everybody else didn't come back. Well, I wouldn't even
say take advantage. Um, it was just a law. That
was just what he did. You know, That's what he did.
When he get to a certain point. It's like if um,
and he could be just going through a thing where
he feels like he needs to change, you know what
I'm saying, And um, if he needs to change, then

(01:10:23):
he'll start a ruckus, you know, as man funk y'all.
You know. So you know, Um, they had me going
in asking for raises when I didn't even feel like
a raise. I mean, you know, yeah, we just got here,
we're having a great time. What is wrong with you people.

(01:10:47):
But if the thing is is that, uh, it seems
amazing enough, but you guys were only there for less
than you were there for eleven months. But that everything
that you guys did, it was some life changing funk,
like next to sly Stone. I mean, you guys single
handedly like rewriting the book of of what soul music was.

(01:11:12):
What was the last gig? Like before you guys were
like like James, let you guys go, or was it
you guys said we have to go? Or you know,
it's funny, it's funny. The last gig was here in
New York at the Copa Cabana. We was we was there,

(01:11:35):
supposed to be there for two weeks. Right, We just
came back from Europe. We had did uh to three
weeks over in Europe. We had did a couple of
weeks over in Africa. We come back and the first gigs,
the first gig that we do is the Copa Cabana.
So we played for a week. We're supposed to be
you're doing two weeks. We played the first week and UM,

(01:11:59):
but the troubles started over in Africa before we got back.
The trouble started with UM. While we went to the president.
Uh what was his name? No, no, this one was
the president of Zambia. Yeah. Yeah, well we went. He

(01:12:22):
invited us to his you know, it was kind of
it was like the White House name. So, um, he
invited us there, and um what happened was there's been
some rumbling going on about we need to raise you know,
and so I'm the Mikey. You know, I'm like Mikey.

(01:12:43):
You know that commercial that let's get Mikey to do.
So I was always the Mikey character where they tell
me what they wanted because James was always kind of
soft with me, you know, he you know, okay man, okay,
yeah you okay, you can get away with it, okay, yeah,
you know yeah yeah yeah, and and remind me to

(01:13:06):
well maybe I shouldn't tell that story, okay, but anyway, no,
it's kind of personal with his you know. But um
uh so we go to dinner and they say, um, Boosey,
you're gonna tell him. You know, you need to tell
him now. You need to tell him now because we're

(01:13:27):
the president and we want to embarrass him, right, so
check it out. So check it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's what I said. You know, you need to go
tell him now because we gotta play, you know, after
we leave it dinner, we gotta go play. But you

(01:13:47):
need to tell him now so he can agree to it,
you know. So, and I ain't gonna tell the names
that told me this to do this, but um, so
I said, okay, I'll do it. So I went and
told him. And you know, actually I didn't tell him.
They wrote they wrote it down. They wrote it down,

(01:14:11):
they gave it to me. Okay, take it to it.
Take it to James. James down on this end of
the table. And then you got the president on the
other end of the table, you know, and everybody else
is sitting you know, around right, long long table. So
I gets up, I go down. I had a note

(01:14:34):
to James. Okay, he said, what's his ends? So what
do you know? Him? The band just want, you know,
just to just read it, you know, let us know
what's happening. You know, he knew I was full of it.
He knew it, you know, so, um you know, once
he read it, he jumped up from the table. Oh

(01:14:58):
ship you mother, President. I knew it. I knew it.
I knew it. Y'all coming at y'all got busy doing
all this. I know it ain't him. Good, no, it
ain't him, and y'all ain't got but one more time

(01:15:22):
to try this is he's and that's gonna be it.
That's gonna be it. So you know, well, you know,
the whole thing was, well, do we get a raised
all right, I'm gonna give it to y'all this time.
I'm gonna give it to you, but don't try it again.

(01:15:43):
And so that's stuck. That's stuck in my head. You know,
I don't try it again. So we get back from Africa.
Everything's cool. It was a blast, man. I never, I
mean never could imagine what Africa was really like unless
I had really been there. You know, I was thinking
tars and the animals and Jane Nia Lagos, Baby, did

(01:16:10):
you go? Did I go? Did I have to come home?
What was that like for you? To see him in
his prime? Then? Man? I mean, words can't even do that. Justice.
Words can't do that justice, man, because okay, I got
a story, man, But yes, oh, come on, y'all as right,

(01:16:36):
all right, So we are on the way to see failor. Right,
all right? We off one night, so we're on the
way to see failor and then at this time, you
gotta understand in Nigeria, the police was the army. It
was an army. Serious. They didn't they didn't play. They
didn't play, I mean with nobody. You know. It's like, um,

(01:16:59):
so we are car, you know, riding, you know, riding
to the gig, and I'm like, you know, we're in
the back seat. We're smoking, you know. And of course
I got the weed, right, I got the bomb. Yeah,
and Nigeria, oh, I got I got friends everyone, I

(01:17:20):
got hilf friends and high places, having a little places
and even lord than that. So so I got the weed,
you know. And what I ain't gonna call a non
other name because you already know I'm guilty. So so, um,
I'm passing around and and so all of a sudden,

(01:17:41):
this car pulls up on each side, one pulls up
on this side, one pulls up on that, and get
out the car. And you know, we're looking at each
other because we don't know what's going on. Only the
driver knows what that means. I mean, you know, get
out the car. Well he didn't say get out the
car like in English whatever whatever the liners. Yeah, we

(01:18:08):
didn't know what was that. So so you know. The
driver looked at us and said, won't you step out,
you know, step out. So and I'm looking at this
person saying what do I do with the we you know,
and she said, put it in you put it in

(01:18:29):
the boot. Put it in the boot. I was like, oh,
then I snuck it, put it in my boot. And
then the driver said, no, no, open the boot, open
the boot. Check it out, open de boot, open de boot.
I'm like, how did he see me put that in
my boot? Yeah, And so next thing I know, the

(01:18:56):
driver got out, open the trunk, and I was like,
and then this other person said, he meant the trunk. Man,
my heart, you know, you know, my heart jumped out
the one that was on the floor. I didn't know what,
you know, because the stories of what these cats would

(01:19:17):
do to you, you know, it's like, yeah, man. So
you know, when he said the boot and meant the trunk,
I was like, okay, cool. Then he checked the trunk nothing,
you know, because we had everything on us, you know.
And so after that he said, okay, y'all can go,
you know, and I right right there. I was through.

(01:19:40):
You know. The only thing to save me was the
rhythm of the drum, you know, the closer. We got
the rhythm of the drums, rhythm of the drums, because
that's what drove drove me out of the state I
was in afterwards in the boot. Oh man. So we

(01:20:03):
got down to Faylor's place. He had he had this big,
big room. Um, it's kind of like back in the
gladiator days where there was no roof so you couldn't
tear the roof off. The roof was already too off.
It wasn't no roof. And all you can hear when

(01:20:25):
you're on the way there, it's the rhythms. It's the rhythms,
you know. And actually that's where I you know, I
put in my memory bank that beat pop pop. If

(01:20:47):
you listen to stretching out, which I know you have,
that's where I got the emphasis of that. And I
saw the females there. Did you know I feels of

(01:21:09):
music ahead of time or I had no idea. So
tell us when you walked in the door, like, oh
my god, what you saw? Well, well, it was before
I walked in the door. We was already freaked out.
Like I was telling you. The rhythms, I mean, that
was like you know, and the way they was treating us,

(01:21:30):
was like we was God's and I'm like, y'all got
this twisted. You know, I'm saying to myself, you muz
got the goal, you know. And of course I told
him that, but they didn't. You know. They was like, no,
it's y'all, you know, because they all they praised James Brown.
Was he with you? He was with you guys. He

(01:21:50):
wasn't want it now. This was now you gotta remember
this was after you know we you know, so he
was mad. You know, I'm mad, so he was. He
wasn't going down that at first. He was going before that.
But no, he saw us later, you know, and I

(01:22:11):
can dig it because it wouldn't have been cool. You know,
we couldn't have did We couldn't have been smoking, you know,
no fun at all, you know. So um, it worked
out really good. Got to me faila. He was he
did the ONRN thing, he sung and the people. I mean,
it was just you know, it was something like I

(01:22:31):
never never experienced. Since I said like that, yeah, yeah,
because it was it was all natural, all raw, you know.
And then he invited us back to the room and
we had these little you know, the little joints you know,
you know, you know them, I mean seriously, you know,

(01:22:57):
and and expensive ship. I mean, it's like, what are y'all?
And it was like an insult to offer. You know,
you're a little bit of man. You know, it's like, okay,
I'm putting this away because it was you know, it

(01:23:18):
was massive, man, I mean it was massive. And we
stayed pretty much all night in that room. After they
came off stage, it was did they come to see you?
What was it like for them to see the James
Brown Show? Because it was just it was the same
kind of you know, the same kind of experience for them,

(01:23:38):
you know, because I knew that feel like Cootie worshiped
James Brown, and yeah, it was the same. It was
that same kind of vibe we had when we saw them.
That's why I couldn't understand personally myself why they was
so why I understood it, But at the same time,
it was like we had nothing compared to what y'all

(01:24:00):
are doing, you know, and they couldn't Yeah, they couldn't
find them. Because I think that just the myth of
America and what it's supposed to represent is larger. The
idea of America is larger than Yeah, it's it's by product.
So you guys flew home to the Copa after that, ye,

(01:24:21):
right after that, and what happened. We did about two
or three gigs because we had six it was six
was it six or seven? It was seven nights, I
mean seven, yes, seven shows and two on Sunday because

(01:24:41):
we had to do to Madendee. Okay. So um, James
was gonna cut the salary, okay. Uh And we were
playing seven days and twice on Sunday and he just
asked to cut the salary. And the same people came

(01:25:04):
to me like, we can't let him do this. You know,
you gotta go in there, Mikey, and you gotta get
it straight man, you know. And I'm like, what the
problem is? You know? Yeah, I'm I mean, I'm you know,
I got all these girls, and you know, I got

(01:25:26):
my weed and I got my ls. Then I'm cool. Yeah,
you know, I ain't got no responsibilities. You know. The
only responsibility I have is playing, you know, because I
love to play, you know, And so you know, these
mugs with responsibilities, you know. Um, that's what they were

(01:25:46):
really concerned about, you know. And I understood it after
I got away. But while I was there, it was like,
what the problem is? You know, and so um they
talked me into it again, you know, go in saying
tell him either he pays full sary um or else
we walk. And so I didn't feel good about it.

(01:26:09):
All the other times I felt like, you know, you
can go in and do it, you know, but this
particular time I didn't feel good about it. You know.
I was like to myself, I was saying, Okay, now,
if I do this, you know, and if it don't work,
you know, we're walking, you know, the whole you know,
the band that came with me, we're walking. You know.

(01:26:31):
It's like, oh he he give you everything by you
coach your babe, He buy you all that. You know.
I'm like, okay, So I go in there and dropping
on him. You know, he says, Son, I knew you're
gonna do it. I knew you're gonna do it. They've

(01:26:53):
been using you. They just using you. Man, did you
see that? And I'm like this this is the what
they you know, this is what they're saying. Well, Son,
you know what, I ain't gonna let you get away
with it this time. You go back then and tell him,
they all five, I ain't. I ain't going for it.

(01:27:15):
You know, he said, I know what they're doing to you,
and you you know you you should know. So if
y'all gotta walk walk, that was it. I went back
and told him, and they was like uh. They started
looking up in the air and stuff, and you know,
I'm like, I can't go back on my word. If

(01:27:35):
I told him man, I got to go. If he
can't do nothing, then I got yeah. So and then
and then in my mind it's like, okay, what are
we gonna do now, you know, because I knew that

(01:27:55):
was it. You know, it's like, we gotta go. So
we're sitting on the bus, we all the the whole
band sitting on the bus, you know, looking at each
other on trailway. I know, we're here trailway bus man,
and you know, we're looking at each other. And then

(01:28:18):
they're looking at me like, okay, well we're gonna do
now since you went in there and you know you
and and so you know, that was whin me out.
I started feeling like, dag, what are we gonna do?
So the next thing came to my mind is you're

(01:28:38):
gonna go to Cincinnati you're gonna practice, you're gonna get
in that basement, you're gonna practice, you're gonna get tight,
and you're gonna go to Detroit, you know, and see
what happens, because you know that's what we were into,
taking people's gigs. Check this out, y'all. We gotta continue
next week with more Bodzilla. Sorry, you hate to see
it done, but you gotta do it. Come back next

(01:28:59):
time for our two of our Very Strange Journey with
Bootsy Collins born q LS Classic of Course Love Supreme
is a production of my Heart Radio. This classic episode
was produced by the team at Pandora. For more podcasts
from my heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,

(01:29:19):
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.