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In: BLOG POSTS, FESTIVALS, The New Mastersounds, Whippersnap Music and Arts Festival

Whippersnap Music and Arts Festival is back in 2025 for its second year at Florida Sands Music Ranch (FSMR) and FunkCity.net will be there to celebrate. I didn’t really know what to expect at the 2024 edition since it was my first time and it turned out to be one of the best events of the year! You get big-time, world-class music, a fabulous location and a really cozy, intimate setting with some of the coolest people around! It’s set in a great ranch campground and has two stages of music at alternating times so you never have to missContinue Reading

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In: BANDS, BLOG POSTS, FESTIVALS, Lotus, Suwannee Hulaween, The New Mastersounds

String Cheese Incident + Umphrey’s McGee Relay Marathon is the headline for Saturday and maybe the entire festival. SCI is up for their traditional three-set Saturday with the third set being the ‘theme’ set which is always spectacular. I’ve been coming to Hula since 2017 and they’ve put on some amazing shows incluidng 70s, 80s, and 90s events and they always have monster sit-ins with special guests that are not elsewhere on the program. Sandwiched between the Cheese sets are two Umphrey’s McGee sets. UM is a jamband powerhouse, and a headliner and many festivals and major venues like RedContinue Reading

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In: BLOG POSTS, Snarky Puppy

Shaun Martin, the vibrant, entertaining keyboardist passed away last week after a long illness. He was renowned for his work with Snarky Puppy and Kirk Franklin as well as his fantastic solo albums. Shaun was a very special talent but an even more special person and I’m proud to say, a friend of mine. One of his superpowers was making everyone around him feel special. The evidence is all over social media, as news spread of his passing, hundreds of people posted pictures with Shaun, always smiling and always ready to chat (like the main picture, taken just prior toContinue Reading

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In: ALBUMS, BLOG POSTS, The New Mastersounds

Galáctico is the second studio album from the Joe Tatton Trio and it’s top notch. Joe’s made his bones as the keyboard player for The New Mastersounds for 18 years teams up here with guitarist Lucas De Mulder who released his first album on Color Red last year. This album is an excellent mix of uptempo funk and jazz as well as more dramatic cinematic pieces. It also comes full circle back to some of NMS’ roots, bringing in the Haggis Horns who played on early NMS albums. I’ve seen Joe’s impact on the NMS sound increase over the years,Continue Reading

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In: BANDS

Last week, I covered the annual GroundUP Music Festival in Miami Beach coming up February 2-4. It’s the greatest adventure for musical exploration in the U.S.  Since its inception in 2017, in addition to the main festival performances, there have been artist workshops during the day, pre-festival brunches with artist performances and late night parties after the festival closes. This year’s brunches and late nights are as spectacular as ever with extra-special performances including individual artists and late-night performances. Here’s the rundown of each – I plan to attend as many sets as my body will allow. BRUNCHES Bill LauranceContinue Reading

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In: BANDS

The annual GroundUP Music Festival in Miami Beach coming up February 2-4 is the preeminent event in the realm of world-class funk, jazz, fusion and world music. This year’s event is shaping up to be the most spectacular of all. I can say that having attended all prior events going back to 2017, considering the totality of the regular festival programming, the late night sets and the brunches just announced this past week. Each year, Michael League, Snarky Puppy’s leader, bassist and festival artistic director and Paul Lehr, head of GroundUP Music put together a lineup that has many unfamiliarContinue Reading

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In: BLOG POSTS, The Motet

It’s time to close the book on 2023 with my annual Best Albums coverage of a whopping 27 recordings. The list includes many from my Track-by-Track reviews and several on top of that from which the FunkCity.net album of the year will be selected. The selections are not in any special order so dig in anywhere you’d like. Links to  each album on YouTube are included in the writeup and links to my full album reviews are included where available (and will be updated as time permits). These albums were my most listened to and include selections in jazz, funk,Continue Reading

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In: BANDS, BLOG POSTS, FESTIVALS

Suwannee Hulaween is just a few weeks away from its 10th-year anniversary edition and it will be my eighth consecutive year. There’s a super buzz about the even particlarly since the organizers added a second night of Pretty Lights headlining to replace Rainbow Kitten Surprise. It will also undoubtedly serve as a tribute the the recently departed James Casey, an extraodinary sax player  and touring member of the Trey Anastasio Band. I expect TAB and Jennifer Hartswick Band to pay respects to James, and he’ll be missed. Also, the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak was hit byContinue Reading

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In: BANDS, BLOG POSTS, Lettuce

Hulaween has become one of the best, most popular multi-genre festivals in the East since it’s inception in 2013. I’ve now attended seven in a row since 2015 (no event in 2020) and somehow it keeps getting bigger and better.  It’s a split of live bands and electronic music, five stages from very large to intimate-sized, spread out among a tree-canopied campground for four days, Thursday to Sunday. String Cheese Incident is the headliner always — it’s their festival — and they typically perform six sets, two each day, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Back in 2015, I didn’t know muchContinue Reading

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In: ALBUMS, BLOG POSTS, Lettuce

BTTRLY Quintet is a great band arising out of the pandemic and Coast is an epic debut. The band played a few shows live at Cervantes and has compiled some great stuff here from the combination of members of Lettuce (Eric “Benny” Bloom, Adam Deitch), Break Science (Borahm Lee, Hunter Roberts and Deicth) and Big Gigantic (Dominic Lalli). Its got some thick jazz roots with some funk jams and electronic cruises. This is not a melding of the industry veterans sounds but the forging of a new sound in the vein of great funk fusion bands like The Crusaders. NowContinue Reading