George Clinton, PhD

Last month George Clinton was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Berklee College of Music in Boston. It’s always been clear to me that Clinton is one of the musical giants of our time, and I am delighted to see him getting this kind of recognition. Berklee even has a P-Funk Ensemble, so Clinton spent some time there mentoring.

I thought of writing about 1977, and bussing, and culture shock to a soundtrack of Parliament. That’s all the kid on my bus were playing in 1977. Flashlight. Aqua Boogie. My little white self was baffled. Thanks, guys, I get it now.

So a large part of my set will be a celebration of Clinton and glimpses of some of his roots and some of the music that was possible because he came first.

I couldn’t help but think of Clinton’s award, and his music, in the context of the seething racism going on around us in the USA. I read about that award about half an hour after leaving a Trayvon Martin rally. The context deserves a lot of mention. And Clinton’s musical leadership makes me think about how the arts evolve ahead of the rest of the culture, which comes shuffling along behind, grumbling and throwing spitballs. Which makes me even happier to be a dj.

Before I get deeply into the Clinton theme, we’ll have some Latin stuff, and South Asian stuff, including a track from Anoushka Shankar’s new album, Traveller, and Mati Zundel’s new release, Amazonico Gravitante. (If you click on Mati's name there, you will not get a Wiki article, but an awesome video.)

When I was putting together a third hour I realized that my set was absolutely drowning in testosterone, so at least the last 45 minutes is almost all women (of color).

This week I’m partial-subbing for Ginger, so 12-3 SLT. Come listen! It will be better with you there.

P.S. For those who are interested, here is the link to the free Jasiri X download of "Trayvon". http://jasirix.bandcamp.com/track/trayvon