Paradise Valley- So Funkdafied!!

On Sunday, July 13th, I was broadcasting live from the Paradise Valley Festival at Hart Plaza, downtown Detroit! It was the first time the public saw me doing my thing, and I got rave reviews!! I want to thank Alan Day for stopping by and talking to the online viewers and mobile app listeners. I also got a chance to interview OJ, Olden Jr., who is Kimmie Horne's drummer! I got to give a shout out to his Dad, Olden Sr., who got funky with me live on the internet!!

That same day, I renamed July 13th as the official "Dayton Day" in honor of Slave, the headlining group that performed in the evening. All of the songs I played on the show was from groups that call Dayton, Ohio their hometown. I got funky with The Ohio Players, Lakeside, Zapp, Roger Troutman, Aura, and of course our honored guest, Slave. I got so "funky" on Sunday, I had to take a shower when I got home, I had to wake up in the middle of the night and take ANOTHER shower, and then I had to shower again in the morning!!! It was hot out there! In this picture, you see me in the middle of playing the "air bongos" on the song, "Fire" by the Ohio Players!

Kimmie Horne gave a great performance as usual! Toward the end of her performance, the "Queen of Smooth Jazz" came out to the audience and pulled various different people to stand up and dance with her. Kimmie was wearing her hair in an Afro, and I was sitting there, somehow knowing that she was coming for me. At first she passed me by, then when she passed me again, she grabbed my hand and said, "Come On, Twin!" We stood there together doing the "Four Corners", and then Kimmie said, "How low can you go..." so we started dancing down to the floor. At a certain point, I got stuck. I was sooo embarrassed, I tried to cover it up by bouncing straight up from my frozen position. Once she got back to the stage, she said, "Give it up for all the dancers, and my Soul Sister" then she put a fist in the air, and I replied with my fist. I had a ball!!

When Slave took the stage, we got funky all over again! They pull a lot of people on the stage to dance, and Detroit was in rare form that night! Somewhere out there on somebody's cell phone is Slave's guitarist, Danny Webster, doing a wicked solo, and me standing behind him throwing up the "P Funk" sign!

For those of you who missed the festival, you missed a great party!

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