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In: BLOG POSTS, Snarky Puppy, Variety Playhouse

Snarky Puppy’s second night at the Variety Playhouse was stellar, as usual.  The enthusiastic crowd was treated to a special Ready Wednesday encore featuring a couple of special tricks.  First, Bill Laurance, who penned the tune, opened it up with a dark, gothy Shofukan intro leading into the tune.  Then, at about the seven minute point, Mark Lettieri crushes an extended bluesy, psychedelic guitar solo. Third and unbeknownst to much of the crowd Robert “Sput” Searight was on the drum.  The tune closes out with Bill’s beautiful outro which is also featured on his solo album “Live at Union Chapel”Continue Reading

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By Phillip Watson  Another Ground Up Music Festival in the books and another weekend of being blown away by the musicianship of the artists at this festival. This time I brought some friends that have NEVER BEEN TO A MUSIC FESTIVAL and they walked away saying they would buy next year’s ticket. Staying true to his word Micheal League curated a lineup of every type of music you could possibly think of.  From world music, to jazz, to bluegrass, to electronic music Micheal League’s words of “I hope you go home with some music you’ve never heard of” delivered inContinue Reading

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In: BLOG POSTS, Snarky Puppy

True to their heritage, Snarky Puppy brought a different lineup, sound and clever set list to the second night of the GroundUP Music Festival on Saturday night.  Bringing Zach Brock (violin) and Bill Laurance (keys) in together nearly guarantees that one or more of Bill’s classic tunes would be played and this time was no different with a splendid rendition of Ready Wednesday. The set was also notable for its excellent highlighting of players solos, in particular, as noted with the set list below: Set list: Flood featuring Nate percussion break GØ – Maz and Bill stretch out Beep Box –Continue Reading

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Snarky Puppy is a global phenomena – super popular overseas in Japan, Asia, Europe and Latin America – and totally on point in the U.S. with its extremely knowledgeable fan base.  FunkCity.net recently had the pleasure of attending the second GroundUP Music Festival in Miami Beach which is produced by the band and its label.  The fest brings together a eclectic mix of music that you will not hear anywhere else on the planet.  It’s a mix of Snarky Puppy sets, GroundUP label mates and bands that you may or may not have heard of but that you should knowContinue Reading

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David Crosby, Chris Thile and others performed classic protest songs at a moving, and timely, concert at Carnegie Hall on Thursday. Source: Review: David Crosby and Friends Sing Classic Protest Songs – Rolling StoneContinue Reading

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  Turkuaz is the full funk package, an authentic show full of catchy tunes, extra fat horn licks, super vocals and full on choreographed dancing.  The band is always high energy and the Saturday night Athens, GA fed off it all night as people were movin’ and groovin’ start to finish. The band has a solid repertoire and moves fast to go through a set of 19 songs: Each of the Brooklyn-based group’s songs is catchy in its own right but the live shows always raise the adrenaline level particularly by allowing each member in turn to stretch and take solos whereContinue Reading

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In: ALBUMS, BLOG POSTS, Snarky Puppy

If you have ever seen, wanna see, or wanna hear Snarky Puppy at it’s wild and craziest, funkiest, longest live track ever, then buy this live show and listen to Binky, a 30-minute show within a show.  The second half of the tune featured Shaun Martin’s Go-Go Party in a medley that makes my pulse race for the countdown to the GroundUP Music Festival when that will be one of the first night late nite sets.  The medley rides from We Want the Funk (Parliament-Funkadelic) to Party & Bullshit to Thank You Falletin Me Be Myself  to Shout! and rightContinue Reading

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SO IMPORTANT FOR MUSIC FANS TO READ AND UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT OF STREAMING SERVICES ON OUR FAVORITE BANDS AND MUSICIANS.  SUPPORT YOUR FRIENDS IN MUSIC! Artists Rights advocate Blake Morgan (#IRespectMusic) published a story in the Huffington Post this morning critical of Spotify. The story was rapidly gaining traction when it was suddenly deleted … Source: The Slippery Slope of Censorship: @HuffPost Pulls Story Critical of @Spotify Ahead of IPO | The TrichordistContinue Reading

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In: BLOG POSTS, Naughty Professor, Variety Playhouse

Naughty Professor lit up the crowd, as usual, in Atlanta opening on New Years Eve for TAUK.  The headliner also featured the Naughty Horns.  Here’s a 40 minute segment from the show: Partial set video from setlist below (*not recorded): Without a Trace* As They Say In The Biz Prune Juice* Knockwurst “Fiends”* Three Wise Men* Chef’s Revenge Psycho Switch ix Paper Joint Naughty Professor are: Ian Bowman – tenor saxophone John Culbreth – trumpet Bill Daniel – guitar Nick Ellman – alto and baritone saxophones Sam Shahin – drumsContinue Reading

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Naughty Professor lit up the crowd, as usual, in Atlanta opening on New Years Eve for TAUK.  The headliner also featured the Naughty Horns.  Here’s a 40 minute segment from the show: Naughty Professor NYE in ATL Partial set video from setlist below (*not recorded): Without a Trace* As They Say In The Biz Prune Juice* Knockwurst “Fiends”* Three Wise Men* Chef’s Revenge Psycho Switch ix Paper Joint www.http://naughtyprofessormusic.com/ Naughty Professor are: Ian Bowman – tenor saxophone John Culbreth – trumpet Bill Daniel – guitar Nick Ellman – alto and baritone saxophones Sam Shahin – drums Noah Young – bassContinue Reading