This is a pretty awesome idea — a group of people are trying to organize what they’re calling the DC Funk Parade, to happen May 3 on U Street, complete with a street fair, a musical parade and a night of funk performances.
I like funk, and it’s a cool reflection of DC’s place in the funk pantheon, with artists like Chuck Brown (and all go-go music), Donald Byrd and the Blackbyrds, and even Parliament/Funkadelic, who have a song about DC called “Chocolate City,” members from the area, and actually have their Mothership in the Smithsonian.
They have an Indiegogo campaign (like Kickstarter) and are hoping to raise $12,000 more. They’ve already got some corporate support from local businesses like the Brixton, Tropicalia, Right Proper, the Satellite Room and more. So if you’d like to help, or better yet, run a local business and would like to sponsor them, check it out.
It sounds like a ton of fun. Here’s a video about it, and more about the parade below. They also just announced some of the bands performing and the venues. The headliner is E.U., whose hit song was “Da Butt.”
Funk Parade IndieGoGo Launch from Funk Parade on Vimeo.
Funk Parade is a celebration of what makes U Street great, what makes Washington DC great, what makes being alive such a groove. ‘Cause everybody’s got a little light under the sun.
It’s a one-of-a-kind day fair, parade and music festival for the U Street neighborhood, on May 3, 2014, the 211th anniversary of the city’s incorporation.
The Funk Parade Day Fair (noon-5): The neighborhood teems with music and performance, artists and vendors, food and art, workshops and spontaneous acts of soul.
The Mighty Funk Parade (5-7): The main event! Imagine a gyrating horde of dancers, a marching band behind them, and a drum corps. Hear beat-boxers and junkyard drummers, see pot-bangers and clappers and kids on their parents’ shoulders. Horn players wander in and out of the crowd, neighbors come out of their homes to join the procession. A thunderous syncopated army of groove, winding its way through the neighborhood, calling the city to the funk.
The Funk Parade Music Festival (7-10): Grooves from all corners of the human soul play in venues on and around U Street. The sounds of the city’s best acts call from every doorway.
One day, one spirit, one celebration of funk: the subatomic particle of love.
The Funk Parade — free your mind and your city will follow!
