One Nation Under a Groove
May 19, 2011 10:36 AM Subscribe
The Smithsonian's forthcoming National Museum of African American History and Culture won't open until 2015, but it has already made a number of important acquisitions, including most recently, the Parliament-Funkadelic Mothership.
Also, if the Smithsonian doesn't advertise this exhibit with a big banner outside the museum that reads "Put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on up to the Mothership," I will never forgive it.
posted by .kobayashi. at 10:41 AM on May 19, 2011 [13 favorites]
posted by .kobayashi. at 10:41 AM on May 19, 2011 [13 favorites]
!
Part of me was hoping the Smithsonian had been able to locate the original 70's ship that had somehow miraculously survived to this day in some secret room.
The other part of me is thrilled regardless of its origin that Chocolate City is going to have that beautiful monument.
Now, everyone, let's get up on that down stroke. Everybody, get up.
posted by cavalier at 10:43 AM on May 19, 2011
Part of me was hoping the Smithsonian had been able to locate the original 70's ship that had somehow miraculously survived to this day in some secret room.
The other part of me is thrilled regardless of its origin that Chocolate City is going to have that beautiful monument.
Now, everyone, let's get up on that down stroke. Everybody, get up.
posted by cavalier at 10:43 AM on May 19, 2011
I hope the museum has a large budget for maintenance, what with them always tearing the roof off the sucka.
posted by entropicamericana at 10:43 AM on May 19, 2011 [15 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 10:43 AM on May 19, 2011 [15 favorites]
Doesn't it belong in the Air & Space Museum?
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:45 AM on May 19, 2011 [12 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:45 AM on May 19, 2011 [12 favorites]
This I will have to see.
Why must I feel like that? Oh, why must I chase the cat?
posted by three blind mice at 10:53 AM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
Why must I feel like that? Oh, why must I chase the cat?
posted by three blind mice at 10:53 AM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
Thanks for this. I hadn't realized I needed to hear Maggot Brain again.
posted by maggieb at 10:56 AM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by maggieb at 10:56 AM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
So this is the Mothership I saw in Central Park at the 20th Anniversary show for the band, aka the coolest thing I've ever been to in my life.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:00 AM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Bookhouse at 11:00 AM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
I can't believe the teabaggers and Fox News haven't gone batshit about the very existence of this museum.
How long until Glen Beck says he was abducted and probed by the P-Funk Mothership?
posted by PlusDistance at 11:00 AM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
How long until Glen Beck says he was abducted and probed by the P-Funk Mothership?
posted by PlusDistance at 11:00 AM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
This is the most awesome thing ever!!!
*dances*
Did I mention that I love me some George Clinton?
*does the Hustle*
*does the Bump*
*backs that thing up*
*gets down with her bad self*
*in general, gets funky*
posted by magstheaxe at 11:16 AM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
*dances*
Did I mention that I love me some George Clinton?
*does the Hustle*
*does the Bump*
*backs that thing up*
*gets down with her bad self*
*in general, gets funky*
posted by magstheaxe at 11:16 AM on May 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
It's not an exhibit but an entire new building on the Mall.
posted by stbalbach at 11:21 AM on May 19, 2011
posted by stbalbach at 11:21 AM on May 19, 2011
An image of the mothership herself
I M Pei'n myself.
posted by hal9k at 11:27 AM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
I M Pei'n myself.
posted by hal9k at 11:27 AM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
President Lovetron salutes this acquisition.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:29 AM on May 19, 2011
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:29 AM on May 19, 2011
The Smithsonian is taking all the credit, but we all know that the move to acquire the Mothership was spearheaded by Secretary of Fine Arts Stevie Wonder, over the vociferous objections of Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk.
posted by Dr. Wu at 11:34 AM on May 19, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by Dr. Wu at 11:34 AM on May 19, 2011 [3 favorites]
ADMISSION: FREE your mind and your ass will follow
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 11:47 AM on May 19, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 11:47 AM on May 19, 2011 [4 favorites]
If you haven't seen Clinton / P-Funk (in some incarnation) perform live... it's something you simply must do before you or he/they die. There is simply nothing like it.
Never saw them in actual I'm-in-the-same-room reality, but I did see them on the Grammys one year -- they teamed up with Red Hot Chili Peppers to do "Give It Away Now." It was like P-funk Squared. I sat there watching the whole thing, jaw slightly slack.
When they finished, they cut to the host, Garry Shandling -- who was standing at the podium staring at them with the same slack jaw. After ten awestruck seconds, he said, "....I have no idea what to say." Then he blinked a few times and said, "....i really need to get out more," and I just sat there thinking, you and me both, Garry, because Lord I have been MISSING OUT.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:54 AM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
Never saw them in actual I'm-in-the-same-room reality, but I did see them on the Grammys one year -- they teamed up with Red Hot Chili Peppers to do "Give It Away Now." It was like P-funk Squared. I sat there watching the whole thing, jaw slightly slack.
When they finished, they cut to the host, Garry Shandling -- who was standing at the podium staring at them with the same slack jaw. After ten awestruck seconds, he said, "....I have no idea what to say." Then he blinked a few times and said, "....i really need to get out more," and I just sat there thinking, you and me both, Garry, because Lord I have been MISSING OUT.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:54 AM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
If you haven't seen Clinton / P-Funk (in some incarnation) perform live... it's something you simply must do before you or he/they die
I saw Clinton in the late 90s, probably one of the top 3 gigs I've ever seen, and I went in not even knowing his music. The man was incredible. The crowd reaction fantastic...the girls dancing on stage...the guys in front of me who spontaneously jumped up and high-fived, then hugged...everyone spontaneously singing 'we want the fuck/give up the funk' instead of clapping for an encore....can't even imagine what the awesome power of a fully operational mothership would have been like.
(Also, some kind of 'Paint the White House Black' reference).
posted by Infinite Jest at 12:05 PM on May 19, 2011
I saw Clinton in the late 90s, probably one of the top 3 gigs I've ever seen, and I went in not even knowing his music. The man was incredible. The crowd reaction fantastic...the girls dancing on stage...the guys in front of me who spontaneously jumped up and high-fived, then hugged...everyone spontaneously singing 'we want the fuck/give up the funk' instead of clapping for an encore....can't even imagine what the awesome power of a fully operational mothership would have been like.
(Also, some kind of 'Paint the White House Black' reference).
posted by Infinite Jest at 12:05 PM on May 19, 2011
The Funkadelic Mothership? So this is the African-American equivalent of Fonzie's jacket, or Archie Bunker's chair?
posted by Pastabagel at 12:17 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by Pastabagel at 12:17 PM on May 19, 2011
"We wanted to be treated as men."
I'm on this page and I can get some of the Storycore Griot clips to play, but I can't get the ones from the sanitation strike to play!
Also, listen to "100-year-old Arthur Winston tells his great-grandnephew, Eric Givens, about working for 72 years." I love old people. You could listen to that guy chatter on for hours.
posted by cashman at 12:31 PM on May 19, 2011
I'm on this page and I can get some of the Storycore Griot clips to play, but I can't get the ones from the sanitation strike to play!
The StoryCorps Griot Project is a year-long initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to gather and preserve the life stories of African American families.Are those working for anybody else? (Elmore Nickelberry and Taylor Rogers, George Turks or Ella Annette Owens). I'm also not sure if this is something that already appeared in the cities noted, or if it's upcoming.
The StoryCorps Griot Initiative will help ensure that the voices, experiences and life stories of African Americans will be preserved and presented with dignity. It also builds bonds between citizens and broadcast media by celebrating our shared humanity and collective identity.
StoryCorps Griot builds on the success of StoryCorps, created in 2003 by award-winning radio documentary producer and MacArthur Fellow Dave Isay. For the Griot Initiative, a StoryCorps MobileBooth — a mobile recording studio — will make stops of up to six weeks in: Atlanta; Newark; Detroit; Chicago; Oakland; Clarksdale, MS; Memphis; Selma and Montgomery. Griot will partner with local public radio stations, historically black colleges and universities and other cultural institutions and membership organizations to record and distribute the stories of African American families.
At the Griot StoryBooth, participants record their stories in pairs — oftentimes friends or loved ones — where one person interviews the other. A trained facilitator guides the participants through the interview process and handles the technical aspects of the recording. At the end of a forty-minute session, the participants are presented with a CD of their interview. The unprecedented effort to capture the recordings of African Americans will help ensure that their voices, experiences and life stories will be preserved and presented with dignity. The stories will be archived for future generations at the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress and at the NMAAHC.
Also, listen to "100-year-old Arthur Winston tells his great-grandnephew, Eric Givens, about working for 72 years." I love old people. You could listen to that guy chatter on for hours.
posted by cashman at 12:31 PM on May 19, 2011
Do youtube searches for P-Funk from the 70s if you want to learn that every concert you've ever been to sucked. There's some footage that used to be on Youtube that I can't find now of Sly Stone on stage with them back in the day. It would make your jaw drop.
posted by Bookhouse at 12:45 PM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Bookhouse at 12:45 PM on May 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
Cashman, those particular ones don't work for me either. I'll drop them an email.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 12:46 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by Horace Rumpole at 12:46 PM on May 19, 2011
Note to self: plan trip back to DC (where we honeymooned and went for our 10th anniversary) for the 15th as well. Tear the roof off the sucka indeed!
posted by immlass at 12:47 PM on May 19, 2011
posted by immlass at 12:47 PM on May 19, 2011
full disclosure: I work at a Smithsonian facility...... I'm thinking I'm gonna be REAL popular if they have any kind of 'employee & guest' preview of the place.
get down and get funky!
posted by easily confused at 1:32 PM on May 19, 2011
get down and get funky!
posted by easily confused at 1:32 PM on May 19, 2011
If you haven't seen Clinton / P-Funk (in some incarnation) perform live... it's something you simply must do before you or he/they die
Yes! And all of you DC-area folks should come out their free show in Rockville on the 29th.
posted by amarynth at 2:31 PM on May 19, 2011
Yes! And all of you DC-area folks should come out their free show in Rockville on the 29th.
posted by amarynth at 2:31 PM on May 19, 2011
There's rare bi-partisan support for this effort from both the Getuplicans and the Downocrats.
posted by Rarebit Fiend at 12:07 AM on May 20, 2011
posted by Rarebit Fiend at 12:07 AM on May 20, 2011
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posted by .kobayashi. at 10:39 AM on May 19, 2011 [7 favorites]