Funkatopia Live

We sit down with Rick James' Stone City Band including Levi Ruffin, Tom McDermott, Nathaniel Hughes, and Lanise Hughes. We debunk the rumors about Prince and Rick James working together including stolen keyboards, forced drinking, and so much more. It's a funk filled fiesta. Note: There were some audio issues with Levi's connection that caused echoes and we worked with it as best as possible.

We sit down with two music legends Sonny Thompson and Michael Bland. Both of them have shared the stage with Prince's New Power Generation, but they have plenty of stories of their own becoming legends in their own right. We talk about musical history in Minneapolis before Prince became a household name, Michael's work with Soul Asylum, dispelling vault myths, and so much more.

We dish about great funk events happening around the world and entertainment news covering Sinead O'Connor's Estate vs. Trump, P Diddy vs. Everyone, Rihanna's $6 million show, purple news, and so much more.

We interview Timex Social Club's Marcus Thompson as we discuss the rise and fall of their success, the Club Noveau controversy, the identities of the characters named in Rumors, touring with Run DMC, and much more.

We interview artist, photographer Steve Parke as we dive into his incredible work with Prince from album covers, photo shoots, wall murals, t-shirts and the stories behind them. Note: This was a very visual show, but there were dozens of stories to warrant the audio. Watch the video on youtube.com/funkatopia.

Mr. Christopher discusses public feedback (and Jill Jones) about the Purple Rain Broadway and how it's being altered to be more "woke". Then he goes into deep detail about the court case filed by Londell McMillan and Charles Spicer against Prince's heirs as they hire attorneys in an attempt to oust the duo and take control of the Prince Estate.

We interview Danny A Thomas of Con Funk Shun to discuss the beginnings of legendary funk band Con Funk Shun, its roots as Project Soul, playing to 100,000 people at Wattstax with Rufus Thomas and so much more. We also welcome special guest Mark Anthony of the Upscale Band who is playing the backing band for Danny's Con Funk Shun Revue.

We sit down with The Wooten Brothers (Victor, Roy, Joseph, and Regi) to discuss their work with Steve Miller Band, Dave Matthews Band, Prince, Chick Corea, and many others. While Rgi was not there for the majority of the interview, stay tuned at the end when Regi drops in to answer questions about his career, share more Prince stories, and how it was teaching his brothers how to play earning him t...

We celebrate the upcoming release of Prince's Diamonds & Pearls Super Deluxe with Tony M (NPG), Robia Scott (Pearl), Scott McCullough Director of many Diamonds and Pearl videos), and Damon D (New Power Generation). It's nothing but wall to wall stories of the days of the creation of this epic album.

We sit down with Mayte Garcia to discuss the new movie, more Prince questions, and the Live 4 Love charity where we also welcome Gilbert Davison (Prince and Paisley Park Management), and Kirk Johnson (Prince and NPG drummer, producer, choreographer, and dancer) into the mix.

Mr. Christopher sits down for a short interview with the legendary Macy Gray to discuss her past work, her brand new album The Reset and tour, and the best advice she ever received from Prince.

We sit down with rapper, actor, producer David "TC" Ellis to discuss his time with Prince, his family (including sister Sue Ann Carwell), and how he found his calling with the High School for Recording Arts (HSRA).

We welcome Scott McCullough who worked on dozens of videos with Prince in the era of Diamonds and Pearls and beyond including Violet the Organ Grinder, Sexy MF, Gangsta Glam, Call the Law, Daddy Pop. My Name is Prince and many others including the upcoming Glam Slam concert that will be included in the Diamonds and Pearls Super Deluxe. We talk about that history along with his commercial work with...

We interview bassist phenom Nik West who shares stories about working with everyone from Prince to John Mayer. Stories of her tour, her journey and much more.

We talk about lots of purple news including more details on the release of Diamonds and Pearls Super Deluxe, Prince auctions, the 40th anniversary of Purple Rain and what we should expect or wish for, scenes deleted from Purple Rain, and much more purple amazingness.

Mr, Christopher and Jeff Paige discuss many topics including Cardi B, Sinead O'Connor, Paul Reubens (aka Pee Wee Herman), Travis Scott, and much more including crazy commercials and conflicting events in the purple world.

We talk with Mark Webster that has known Prince since 1978 and was instrumental in getting the Symbol in front of Paisley Park and also for getting a 7-mile stretch of the highway running in front of Paisley Park to be renamed Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway. We discuss the challenges, the wins, and the journey with Prince.

Interview with Liv Warfield to discuss everything from working with Prince to her brand new album Edge and we listen to an exclusive world premiere of her new song Maybe They'll Take Ya Picture. Plus we are also joined by her guitarist Ryan Waters who has also performed and even toured with many acts including CeeLo Green, India Arie, Sade, and Fishbone. You can't miss this show.

Mr Christophers sits down with The Fixx guitarist Jamie West-Oram to discuss four decades of his tenure with the pop rock band and his brand new first-ever solo album.

I was able to get the legendary actor Steven Berkoff to agree to redo the answering machine scene for the FUNKEDUP app. I then edited it into the original scene audio for fun. Steven is now 85 years old, so his voice has changed, but it was an honor that he agreed to do this for me.

Prince wrote this song for the band Three O'Clock for their album Vermillion. An interesting twist to the story is that Prince also gave the band the songs Girl O’ My Dreams, We Can Funk, Teacher, Teacher, and Can’t Stop This Feeling I Got, but the band rejected all of the tracks except for Neon Telephone. Had they accepted all of the proposed songs, their album would have been legendary. That goe...

She has been the voice behind massive artists like Sly and the Family Stone, Sheila E, Parliament Funkadelic, Brides of Funkenstein, Fleetwood Mac, Don Henley, Mick Jagger, George Michael, and tons more. Hear the stories from the woman with a career that is a story of legends.

A look back at the muses and lovers that inspired Prince's music, and his life, and changed his direction in various ways. A Funkatopia Live Valentine's Day special.

Actress, model, dancer Robin Power Royal sits with Funkatopia Live to discuss her intimate relationship with Prince, her adult past, audio erotica, sex, threesomes, strip pool, and a whole lot of shocking revelations.

Funkatopia's Mr. Christopher sits down with Prince's In-House engineer Hans-Martin Buff to discuss his work on Crystal ball, Emancipation, Rave Un2 the Joy fantastic, and more including work with The Scorpions, Peter Gabriel, and others. Let the stories begin!