The annual Summer And Music series, funded by the Downtown Long Beach Associates and organized by a crack team led by local music booster Justin Hectus and Fingerprints Music owner Rand Foster, has slimmed down a bit this year, with just four main events. Tomorrow they’re presenting what has become the most successful free music event in downtown history: The 4th Annual Long Beach Funk Fest.
Bobby Easton, guitarist for the ever popular local band Delta Nove, has managed to consistently bring amazing talent to the two main stages. This year is no exception. The show opens at noon with performances by the Sea Funk Brass Band and Guitar Sallye and Tamah (aka Bootsy Girls), followed by Monophonics, Zootzilla, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, and Dennis Coffey. The Brides of Funkenstein and The Family Stone close the show.
Jerry Martini is credited by Sly Stone as being the impetus behind the formation of the seminal band, Sly and the Family Stone. He, along with original members Cynthia Robinson and Greg Errico form the core of the group, which has been touring ceaselessly, and playing to huge crowds all over the world. One place the original band never played was Australia.
“I’ve always wanted to go there,” Jerry says, “and we did all three of the Harvest Festivals this last November. It was wonderful. The young people were really receptive. There were thousands of them that weren’t really familiar with the songs of Sly and the Family Stone, but they really embraced it. A lot of the indie bands, and all the young bands right now, are really soulful. So they treated us wonderfully, and it was a great experience.”
The band also recently played clubs and festivals in England, Ireland, and the U.S. He’s not convinced, though, that the success of the band is due to a resurgence in Funk’s popularity.
“I don’t really feel like it ever went out,” says Jerry. “Maybe it did in the eighties and nineties but I was in Hawaii then, so I didn’t really feel that. And when I came back from Hawaii, it was already on. And Cynthia Robinson and myself went on the road with Larry Graham and Prince for three years, and that was a great experience. Larry is a founding member of Sly and the Family Stone. Also, I played on all of Larry’s albums. I did all the horns, so it was a pretty natural thing. Larry and I go back to 1960.”
Sly Stone credits Jerry for getting Sly and the Family Stone started, but Jerry hesitates to go that far.
“Sly and I go way back to the 50s,” Jerry explains. “You know, I played on ‘The Swim‘ with him in 1962. I think I was what you would call ‘the noodge.’ [laughter] I just kept bugging him until we started the band. You know, even at the time, we had done a lot of stuff. We were playing locally, but I just saw so much more in him, even though he was a fantastic DJ. I said, ‘You know, your songs are incredible.’ I never heard anybody that had the vision that he had, and the lyrics that he wrote just blew my mind. So I just kept [at it.]
“I used to go over to the station all the time and he’d talk to me over the air. I’d be on my way down to the Hilton out at the airport. I played at a place called the Tiger A Go-Go. He said, ‘As soon as I get in touch with you, I want you to give your two-week notice.’ And so I did. And the next thing I know, we were rehearsing at 700 Urbano Drive in San Francisco, at his parents’ house. It was a house that he had bought for his parents with the money from his first gold records with Bobby Freeman, who was with ‘The Swim.’ That’s how it started.”
Sly and the Family Stone were ground breaking in a number of ways.
“There weren’t too many [racially] mixed bands. There weren’t any successful American pop groups that had a Caucasian, an African-American, and women. A girl trumpet player? My partner, Cynthia Robinson, is an icon in the business. There’s never been a girl trumpet player in pop music, well, back then, ever. And she was it. But she just had that signature voice, you know? Everybody recognized her when she said, ‘Get up and dance to the music.’ I mean, people went nuts. It was just unbelievable.”
In addition to racial and gender diversity, the music drew on lots of influences, including Jazz.
“Miles Davis used to come to our gigs. Herbie Hancock played with us. Miles just loved Sly, you know. They were very close. In fact, Miles recorded “In Time,” one of our songs, exactly backwards. There are a million stories in the naked city.”
Jerry has been working on a book, what he calls ‘a work in progress,’ about the life and times of Sly and the Family Stone.
“It’s something I’ve been working on since the 70s,” Jerry explains. “I just keep on remembering stories and events that happened. Funny stories, sad stories. You don’t want to have it all be a bed of roses, but it’s also not a tell-all book either.
“With Sly, I mostly have just praises for him because he just did so much for music. He did so much for African- American people. He did so much for people of all races. Songs like “Stand,” if you listen to Sly’s lyrics, they are so deep. It’s not about ‘Ooh, baby, let’s get it on tonight’ kind of thing, you know? It’s, ‘Stand, in the end you’ll still be you.’ You know what I mean? ‘Stand. There’s a midget standing tall and a giant beside him about to fall.’ Check out Sly’s lyrics. You’ll say, ‘My goodness!’”
Jerry insists that the phrase ‘tribute band’ does not apply to The Family Stone, partly because the group has three original members, but it goes beyond that.
“Alex Davis, who does Sly’s parts, naturally looks quite a bit like Sly,” Jerry says. “When we played Vallejo last year, Freddie Stone and his family were right there in the front row. Freddie said, ‘I almost walked out.’ The hair stood up on his arm. He said, ‘You look like my brother.’ And he sounds like him, his voice. Everybody in our band that’s not an original member did their homework, and they studied the person that they are emulating. The guitar player just absolutely loves Freddie. He even has the same kind of guitar, and the same kind of amplifier Freddie used. And when we did the arrangements, we didn’t try to modify them; we’re not trying to bring them into 2012, because they never went out of style. The songs that we play hold their own, right now, in 2012.”
The Family Stone is planning a new studio recording. Several members of the group are accomplished song writers, but Jerry is not sure that’s the way to go.
“After I met Sly, I stopped writing for many years,” admits Jerry. “I listened to his stuff and I said, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t do as good as that.’ He was so great it almost destroyed me, you know? He was just so far ahead of everybody else. I had a lot of songs, though. I had a band called Rubicon. I wrote songs, we played at Cal Jam II. So, I consider myself a songwriter, but I don’t have anything that’s as good as what Sly wrote. And if you can’t top it… Well, I don’t want to just put songs out. He’s one of the great songwriter geniuses of our time. There’s at least a hundred songs that Sly wrote, that we recorded, that we can do before putting something new out.”
According to Jerry, Sly’s songs continue to reach people of all ages.
“We’ve got three generations of fans and listeners that are loving the music of Sly and the Family Stone. What I’m really trying to do, along with Cynthia Robinson and Greg Errico, is to keep the torch going. We don’t want people to forget about this wonderful writer, you know? And, of course, if Sly, at any time, feels like just jumping back on board, you know, we’d love to have him. It would be his band.”
Tomorrow’s Funk Fest is special to Jerry because he’ll be sharing the stage with some long time friends.
“Cynthia and I played with Dawn and the Brides at the Long Beach Funk Festival a couple years ago,” Jerry recalls. “And also, you’ve got to remember that Ivan Neville and Dumpstaphunk is going to be there. In 2003, Greg Errico and I put together another version, it was called The Family Stone Experience, and we were experimenting. Ivan was our first Sly-guy. I know his whole family; his dad, Aaron, and everybody. When I first met Ivan, he said, ‘I’ll betcha I know more Sly songs than ya’ll do.”’ I tell you what: Ivan Neville is unbelievable. He’s going to have his band there, Dawn Silva’s going to have her group, and I’m going to have The Family Stone there. It is going to be a reunion for us, as friends and musicians, and I think it’s going to be quite a treat for the audience.”
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The Funk Fest starts at noon, and runs til 11 PM. There are two stages, one on Pine Avenue near Third Street and the other in a parking lot on the West side of the Promenade, just South of Broadway. In addition to the great music, there will be tons of other stuff to check out, including a Kid’s Zone of Funkativity, DJs, dance performances, and art vendors. A beer garden is being provided by Beachwood Brewing & BBQ. Bring comfy shoes, and be prepared to shake your groove thing.
Note: Next Saturday, August 25th, is the final SAM event, Buskerfest, featuring Beachwood Sparks, The Fling, and Wild Pack of Canaries. Competing for an opening spot on the main stage will be 10 up-and-coming bands, including one of my personal favorites, Greater California, whose leader Terry Prine, gave me one of my favorite quotes: “Quiet is the new loud.” Performances take place in and around 1st & Linden, and kick off at 5 PM.
My sincere thanks to Lee Adams for her expert transcription services.