Oh No! Thrust into a Herbie Hancock P-Funk Frank Zappa Cosmic Groove!

The Skipperdome (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) was packed Saturday night (August 27) for the Christian Ryan Fest (my name for it), featuring three projects with Ryan at the heart of each: Christian Ryan’s Garage: A Tribute to Frank Zappa, Holey Miss Moley’s tribute to P-Funk, and Joose covering Herbie Hancock’s 1974 gem Thrust.

In my preview for this show, I pointed out that I had been fortunate enough to see all three bands being honored, so I knew this was going to be a very special night.

That turned out to be an enormous understatement.

christian aug 27 poster

I confess I was equally excited about all three, perhaps even more for the Joose set. The Zappa and P-Funk tributes were reprises of sets performed at Little Econ Love Fest last February, both mind-blowingly superb. I had not seen Joose yet.

What did the Joose set and Herbie Hancock’s July 4, 1974, show at the Bayfront (now the Mahaffey) have in common? There were too many people talking through the entire set. WHEW! Got THAT outta my system (no, I didn’t)! I’ll never understand.

The Joose set was absolutely stunning. Mark Mayea (Ajeva) was brilliant on keyboards. He nailed every song and added flourishes of his own. electric piano, clavinet, synthesizers — it was all there. The rhythm section of Taylor Gilchrist (Ajeva), bass, and Yral ‘datdudeondrums’ Morris (Come Back Alice, Holey Miss Moley), drums, was just remarkable handling the trick time signatures, joined by Jimmy Rector adding great percussion.

And what of the ringleader, Christian Ryan? His flute and tenor and alto saxophone work were incredibly heart-felt. It was so good I didn’t even miss the bass clarinet and soprano saxophone Benny Maupin made famous on the original album.

Morris kicked off “Palm Grease,” followed by Mayea’s clavinet. The synthesizer overtones were great, followed by Ryan on tenor. “Actual Proof” bumped the tempo up a bit, Morris and Rector pushing the pace. Ryan’s flute was perfect here, and Mayea had a field day on electric piano.

ryan joose

Ryan then addressed the crowd for the first time, thanking all in attendance. He talked about Thrust before introducing the gorgeous “Butterfly” (and I certainly hope somebody recorded this stuff, seriously). Gilchrist’s bass steered this track, and Morris got in some great flourishes as well.

The album’s last tune, “Spank-A-Lee,” was a funky synthesizer romp. Ryan really got to blow on this one. The place lit up as the quintet drove to the finish. Did we want to hear one more? HELL, YES! And leave it to Ryan to ignore low-hanging fruit (for all three sets) and look to some lesser-known gems. There were calls for “Chameleon,” naturally, but instead the band played “Sly” from the same album (Head Hunters).

“Sly” is a very complex tune, and the band absolutely soared. The song begins slowly, then suddenly shoots to the stratosphere, and Gilchrist, Morris and Rector made sure it had enough boost, with Ryan and Mayea in overdrive. And Vernon Suber jumped in on percussion as well!

BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO.

Here is a video link to the Joose set! — https://www.facebook.com/Jimmyccpdrums/videos/10154564695153945/

Set changes were quick; this was an extremely well-planned event from start to finish. And, looking just at the first set, it is impossible to grasp fully just how much rehearsal went into the preparation for all three performances. Again, as someone fortunate enough to have seen all three original bands, these three tributes were absolutely the real deal. “Cover band” does a gross injustice to how spectacularly these musicians honored the originals.

It was time to get DOWN! Let’s get this out of the way first: Holey Miss Moley’s Little Econ set was excellent, a great time. Saturday’s set was “light years in time ahead of its time.” There were sloppy cracked-out George Clinton-led P-Funk shows that weren’t this good. Period.

With one exception, Ryan and the band chose material from 1971 to 1976, with funk classics and lesser-known sparklers all mixed in. It was logical to bow to Mothership Connection to begin with “P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)” and “Mothership Connection (Star Child).” Danny Clemmons was handling the Garry Shider role (Shider and Bernie Worrell, both now returned to the Mothership, were the glue that held P-Funk together). He was joined onstage by Parlet, or perhaps the Brides of Funkenstein, in the form of Miss Robyn Alleman, Angela Mongiovi, Bam Forza, and Loe Sanz, and they sounded awesome.

Photograph courtesy of Matt Hillman Photography
Photograph courtesy of Matt Hillman Photography

As photographs will evidence, the band was also properly attired for the occasion! After the two openers, HMM dug back for “Get Up for the Downstroke,” which was excellent, followed by Clemmons emoting on “Good to Your Earhole” (“Put your hands together, come on and stomp your feet!”).

There are few songs that get a party going like “(Shit! Goddamn!) Get Off Your Ass and Jam!” Somehow, everybody seems to know the words! I am blessed to say they dedicated the next song, my favorite, to me: “Standing On the Verge of Getting It On.” Ryan used an effects pedal to alter his vocal to do the cartoon-voice intro (“A luscious bitch she is, true…”). It was a riot watch a dude in my age bracket singing the song to a much younger man on the dance floor who clearly had no idea what was going down.

Next up were four tunes in a row from the landmark album Maggot Brain. “Hit It and Quit,” “Can You Get to That,” and “You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks” truly benefitted from having six vocalists on stage (guitarist Jacob Cox also sings). Then came the pièce de résistance, “Maggot Brain.”

Cox always blows this tune sky-high. The song requires a second guitar playing the repetitive figure underneath the wicked solo. Fortunately, Dennis Stadelman played the entire set. Morris was a holdover from Joose on kit, joined by Sir Nose D’Void of Funk (Vernon Suber) and Tony Morales on percussion. Kenny Harvey had a spectacular night on bass, and there aren’t enough words to praise Mayea, filling in on keyboards. And Ryan on saxophones, of course!

Ryan’s cartoon-voice intro (“Hey, lady, won’t you be my dog, and I’ll be your tree…”) gave way to a wicked “Red Hot Mama,” followed by the “new” tune, 1978’s “One Nation Under a Groove,” with Alleman and Clemmons intertwined on the vocals. The Skipperdome was most assuredly under a groove. Clemmons disappeared as the band worked its slinky way into “Cosmic Slop,” leaving the lead vocal to Angela Mongiovi, who totally owned this song, joined by her ladies in chorus.

Photograph courtesy of Matt Hillman Photography
Photograph courtesy of Matt Hillman Photography

Then who should stride onto the stage but “Diaper Man,” with Clemmons correctly attired à la Garry “Doo Wop” Shider, the original. Nobody needed any extra encouragement to sing along with “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker),” which morphed into “Do That Stuff” and then back and forth until the glorious close.

MAKE MY FUNK THE P-FUNK! We got our funk uncut!

Two down, one to go. Heads everywhere were alternately shaking and nodding, acknowledging the two amazing sets we had just heard. Time for Mr. Z.

Ryan kept the Zappa tribute band simple, more stripped down than at Little Econ. Tim Turner (Shak Nasti), guitar and vocals, Keegan Matthews (Leisure Chief), keyboards, David Vanegas (The Groove Orient), bass and vocals, and Joey Lanna, drums, were perfect for this set, which began with the jovial “Cosmik Debris.” Turner has always been a Zappa aficianado, and it showed all set long.

“Keep It Greasy” popped out next, a rockin’ version with Vanegas and Lanna in command. One of Turner’s favorites, “Magic Fingers,” then emerged, with Turner, Vanegas and Ryan having fun with the vocals at the end. After three vocal tunes, the band played an excellent version of the signature “Peaches En Regalia,” with Ryan on flute and Matthews’ keyboards sounding great.

Ryan then invited Miss Dani Jaye (Come Back Alice) to the stage. She had also guested at Little Econ; this time, she stepped into “Montana”… and killed it. Zappa worked with three violinists over the years: Jean-Luc Ponty, L. Shankar and Sugarcane Harris. Of the three, Harris was my clear favorite — blues and swing and in your face. Remarkably, Jaye had never heard Harris but absolutely channelled his sound. It was awesome.

It got better. Jaye stayed on stage for an instrumental “Oh No,” which was positively incredible (that’s what my notes say), and she was brilliant. WOW.

After a relaxing “Village of the Sun,” Ryan pulled out another amazing diamond in the form of Zappa’s 1961 lounge jazz recording of “Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance.” It was a superb choice, superbly and faithfully performed. And I was officially in orbit.

Photograph courtesy of Matt Hillman Photography
Photograph courtesy of Matt Hillman Photography

Danny Clemmons joined in the festivities for a masterful “Florentine Pogen” (I still have no idea what that song is about), with crunching guitar from Turner. Then Vanegas and Turner had a ball on the vocals for “Penguin in Bondage” with a great guitar solo from Turner.

The bewitching hour was approaching, so Ryan announced they would jump straight to the encore for a massive “Zomby Woof,” truly one of the first heavy-metal songs. Finding there was still time left, Ryan said they would fit in an abbreviated third section of the “Yellow Snow” opus titled “St. Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast.”

EVERY OTHER WRANGLER WOULD SAY IT WAS MIGHTY GRAND. Again.

This was a one-time event. I truly hope that somebody was recording this — audio, video, something — because each performance will stand up on its own. This went way beyond tributes; this was the real deal.

CHRISTIAN RYAN FOR PRESIDENT!

[JOOSE: Palm Grease, Actual Proof, Butterfly, Spank-a-Lee; E: Sly]

[HOLEY MISS MOLEY: P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up), Mothership Connection (Star Child), Get Up for the Downstroke, Good to Your Earhole, Get Off Your Ass and Jam, Standing On the Verge of Getting It On, Hit It and Quit, Can You Get to That, You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks, Maggot Brain, Red Hot Mama, One Nation Under a Groove, Cosmic Slop, Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker) > Do That Stuff medley]

[CHRISTIAN RYAN’S GARAGE: Cosmik Debris, Keep It Greasy, Magic Fingers, Peaches En Regalia, Montana, Oh No, Village of the Sun, Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance, Dirty Love, Florentine Pogen, Penguin in Bondage; E: Zomby Woof, St. Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast]

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