NEW ORLEANS–Funk pioneer George Clinton appeared tonight at the House of Blues, but before the show, he stopped by the Twist stage to chat about his career and memories of NOLA.
LBJ: You know sometimes the stars align and you get a chance to talk to your musical heroes. And today it doesn’t get much bigger than Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Grammy Lifetime recipient coming up.
George Clinton: Woof. How you doing.
LBJ: My man, Mr. George Clinton. It’s so good to see you.
George: It’s good to be here. How you doing.
LBJ: I’m doing fine. And you know word on the street is that you are talking about retiring George.
George: Well, I got till next November.
LBJ: So you put a date on this thing!
George: Yeah. You know, the band is doing great. I’ve been just directing them for the last three years. They all out there doing it to death. I just represent and be the hype man.
LBJ: I understand that.
George: I spend my time making new records for the new way they are doing it now a days. All my grand kids and kids are in the band. So they keep me up on what’s happening.
LBJ: Well, that’s good. Parliament-Funkadelic made such an imprint. But you’ve made such an imprint over the years with so many artists. You and I were talking earlier and you are playing at the House of Blues tonight. How do you pick the songs for the set? There are so many songs?
George: That I think is probably one of my best talents because we don’t have a set list until I get on the stage and see who’s out there. See, because our fans stretch over the years. So, I got them from 13, 14 all the way until now to my age. So I have to see who’s in the audience.
LBJ: I saw the Mothership land in the Municipal Auditorium and if you ask half a million people they would tell you they were there to see it. You know what I’m saying.
George: The first time we played here was the first time we used the Mothership.
LBJ: Really?
George: Yep. And the second time around was when everybody saw it. First time we came in they didn’t even know.
LBJ: The Mothership existed.
George: And we did it wrong. We came out and opened the show with the Mothership. And brought me into the stage. And nothing can follow that. So we learned from that first show not to do that no more.
LBJ: At the beginning.
George: Let the spaceship come out last.