The Mothership Landed in Houston, October 31st, 1976
October 2, 2022 9:24 AM   Subscribe

"It was Halloween night and Parliament Funkadelic was about to tear the roof off the Houston Summit, ready to bless the crowd with their cosmic brew of interplanetary funk." Enjoy the concert and spend 1h22m blowing the cobwebs out of your mind, this fine fall Sunday.

As the video description continues: "...Taped on October 31, 1976, these seldom-seen performances at the Houston Summit represent Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic in their '70s prime, in the era of their Mothership Connection and The Clones Of Dr. Funkenstein LPs-a rare opportunity for everyone to get their proper dose of The P-Funk."
posted by wellifyouinsist (13 comments total) 54 users marked this as a favorite
 
“Enjoy the concert and spend 1h22m blowing the cobwebs out of your mind, this fine fall Sunday.”

Well, if you insist, wellifyouinsist *clicks play*
posted by Kattullus at 9:50 AM on October 2, 2022 [4 favorites]


One of the all time greats! This show has been released on DVD, but there are bootleg videos of subsequent P-Funk appearances at the Summit in '77, '78, and '79. The Summit had an early in-house video screen system, and recorded their camera feeds on video tape, so more than a couple of these have squeaked out as both legit and bootleg releases
posted by anazgnos at 10:36 AM on October 2, 2022 [4 favorites]


I've had this bookmarked for so many years, Goins performance is so astounding I can't not believe in The Funk.
posted by symbioid at 10:52 AM on October 2, 2022 [1 favorite]


ot to get all academic, but there is two sectiosn in this, tight building up of traditional forms, over the peroid of several miutes, which renews the vernacular in ways that are erotic, profound and full of elibulent joy---one of Swing Low, which he audiciously replaces the Lord with the Mothership, making an afrocentric argument against a European redemption (he also does this with a poentacostal inflused altar call), and one of Two White Horses, which is most likely a sex reference or a coke reference annd both and neither, an All Ameirican clarian call.
Also, Scott Taylors saxaphone playing at 57 minutes or so, is just astonishing
posted by PinkMoose at 11:01 AM on October 2, 2022 [1 favorite]


I had no idea Houston Summit bootlegs were a thing--Springsteen in 1978, Linda Ronstadt (recorded on Betamax, says the YT person), The Time, The Cure in 1989 (audio only)...
posted by box at 11:02 AM on October 2, 2022 [3 favorites]


Utterly amazing. P-Funk forever.

And don't forget this classic take from The Onion (holy shit, from 1997): "Confusion and awkwardness resulted Monday when the P-Funk Mothership, outer-space chariot of Dr. Funkenstein and the Star Child, accidentally descended upon a sold-out Hootie and the Blowfish concert at the Rosemont Horizon arena in suburban Chicago."
posted by davidmsc at 12:01 PM on October 2, 2022 [11 favorites]


I had no idea Houston Summit bootlegs were a thing--Springsteen yt in 1978, Linda Ronstadt yt (recorded on Betamax, says the YT person), The Time yt , The Cure yt in 1989

Journey, 1981
posted by fuse theorem at 12:38 PM on October 2, 2022 [2 favorites]


from the onion article

"I did not wish to get 'funked up,'" said Roger Kleist, 33. "If I did, I would have attended a Dave Matthews Band concert."

also, i understand why the bop gun didn't work on hootie - the polarity was reversed and instead of turning into a funkateer, he turned into a country star

and now you know
posted by pyramid termite at 2:46 PM on October 2, 2022 [4 favorites]


Oddly enough just before this post showed up I was reading Reddit and this comment went scrolling by:
"Short story time: I actually met [George Clinton] once and after explaining how I was a big fan to him. He hugged me and gave me some music advice, and I couldn’t help it but when he hugged me this plume of air shot out from around him and I ended up getting the biggest whiff of the most cleanest, well pressed clothing I’ve ever smelt. Dude smelt how a dry cleaner smells from the front after they just let a new batch of clothes out with their finest cleaning solutions. Dude may be full of the funk, but he ain’t full of funk. A1 10/10 would hug him again."
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:20 PM on October 2, 2022 [4 favorites]


Thanks! I'll put this on during work tomorrow.

My wife and I went to see George Clinton perform this summer. My wife didn't know who he was. The show was a mess, just cacophony. If not for my wife I would have stayed for the whole thing but we bailed within an hour.

See JoeZydeco's post I realize that I should have bummed around downtown the day of the show. Maybe I would have run into Clinton. I recall at a TMBG show John Flansburgh saying he'd spent time in my favorite bookstore.
posted by neuron at 7:41 PM on October 2, 2022


I went to the grand opening concert for the Summit (the Who) for one of my first rock concerts as a teenager. We sat behind the band to watch Keith Moon play drums. Before that, my family went to Houston Aeros games to watch Gordie Howe and his kids play hockey.

The Pfunk concerts are amazing and I wish I went to see them. The fact that the Summit is now a church makes me sad. It was a great concert arena for Houston.
posted by jabo at 10:45 PM on October 2, 2022


Never heard PFunk live but did catch BW with Steve Kimock a couple times.
posted by aiq at 12:33 PM on October 3, 2022


Love this--thanks for sharing.

My sweetie and I were delighted to find The Mothership on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
posted by Sublimity at 4:49 PM on October 5, 2022


« Older "Don't camp outdoors, or the cows will trample you...   |   Our Cancers are Filled with Fungi Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments