Last night I went to the George Clinton Concert at Temperance Brewing Co. hosted by Outer Space in Evanston. At 80, George still brings the funk! Or deeper still, the p-funk, uncut funk, the bomb.
What struck me the most was the diversity of the crowd, which I estimated was about 75-80% white. The Evanston we grew up in, where a party in north Evanston blared Flashlight just as loudly as the basement parties on the south end. In the 70’s where we went to the “white sets” as frequently as parties thrown by B.A.G. or the Quent Gents.
As I watched the crowd, challenged to keep the rhythm of the funk, I realized that maybe George’s “Chocolate Cities” are the answer. In Evanston we, for that moment, One Nation Under a Groove.
Black music is the base of all music…and in Evanston we’ve always had a little Doobie in our funk.
