Funkatopia Live

Mr. Christopher and Funkatopia co-host Michael Bland discuss Prince, the Prince Celebration. Joni Mitchell, Meshell Ndegeocello, and tons of New Power Generation questions for Michael.

Prince and the Revolution keyboardist Dr. Fink joins Mr. Christopher and NPG drummer Michael Bland in an extremely loose and rare interview discussing Rick James, drugs in the 80's, working with P. Diddy, Revolution memories, arrests, touring, the future, and so much more.

Michael Bland returns to Funkatopia Live to discuss more on the cancelled Netflix Prince documentary, the 2025 nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, plus other highly notable bands that still haven't been nominated. PLUS. we also discuss the new list for Record Store Day 2025 and much more.

Jesse Johnson returns to Funkatopia to help Mr. Christopher celebrate the 40th anniversary of Jesse Johnson's Revue. Jesse breaks down the history, the stories behind each track, instruments being used, and so much more including his take on the Netflix Prince documentary cancellation.

Mr. Christopher sits down with Patavian and Danny Bedrosian of George Clinton Parliament Funkadelic as they release Patavian's new album The Red Balloon. Patavian is the granddaughter of funk icon George Clinton and is married to long time Parliament Funkadelic keyboardist Danny Bedrosian. We discuss her family history, her poetry used for this album, and also dissect the new music track by track.

NPG drummer Michael Bland returns to Funkatopia to discuss the cancellation of the Netflix Prince documentary, Kendrick Lamar's Superbowl performance and more.

Mr. Christopher sits down with Funkatopians to chat about the 2025 Grammys including the highlights and lowlifes. Prince's Lifetime Achievement Award, Quincy Jones tribute, Grammy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. announcement regarding the inclusivity changes and overhaul of the Grammy electorate, the big winners and losers, and much more. Also, upcoming events in Minnesota.

Mr. Christopher sits down with Deshawn D'Vibes Alexander of Watermelon Funk to discuss his beginnings, his work with Kingfish, the origin of Watermelon Funk, their journey, and the DNA they share with George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic.

Mr. Christopher sits down with Lettuce guitarist Adam Smirnoff aka Shmeeans. We discuss the origins of Lettuce, their creation process, Live in Tokyo, Prince, bootleggers, and so much more.

Mr. Christopher and special guests ring in 2025 with the longest Funkatopia Live show on record at 5 hours. We talk about what was wrought in 2024, upcoming Prince events, and we also welcome Eric Rogers (Paisley 5 and Dime), Eric Leeds, Greg Boyer, Damon Dickson, Sheila from the Brides of Funkenstein, DuJuan Elliot of the Blackshires, and TC Ellis.

Mr. Christopher sits down with Prince's sister Sharon L Nelson to discuss her childhood, the lineage, being Prince's sister, and her new book When It Rains, It's Purple. Note: Sharon had to join via a 3rd party bluetooth connection, so her audio is hot. Apologies that we couldn't resolve her technical issues beforehand.

Mr. Christopher interviews legendary drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie who is the most recorded drummer in history being on over 4000 albums including Miles Davis, Steely Dan, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and many others. We talk about his career, his style, and book.

Mr. Christopher celebrates his birthday with a BUNCH of special guests including St. Paul Peterson, Duane Tudahl, Ashley Tamar Davis, Gilbert Davison, Atlanta Bliss, Sheila Horne, Mayte Garcia, Dawn Silva and Sheila Brody-Head Amuka (Brides of Funkenstein), Mic Murphy (The System), Mychael Gabriel (Sheila E), and Tori Ruffin (The Time, Freakjuice).

Mr. Christopher sits down with funk bass legend George Porter Jr., co-founder of The Meters to discuss his lifetime of work and a brand new album with his band The Running Pardners.

We sit down with Matt Blistan aka Atlanta Bliss where we discuss his work starting as Prince's first trumpet player and performing on Parade, Sign O' the Times, Lovesexy, and many more. Plus the release of his brand new book Mind, Body, Trumpet.

NPG drummer Michael Bland joins Mr. Christopher to break down Prince's Love Symbol album track by track. But as always, we have MANY stories and funky rabbit holes including a discussion on Questlove, Canadian funk nights, and much more.

We chat about the passing of the iconic dancer Cat Glover and her work with Prince on Sign O' the Times and Lovesexy and welcome special guest Michael Dean from Podcast Juice who extensively interviewed her twice. Then we share 7 tracks of new funk music artists that we feel should be added to your playlist. NOTE: There is an 8 minute tribute video for Cat that has been removed from the audio vers...

We interview Sheila Brody-Head aka Amuka and Sheila Horne from the Brides of Funkenstein, P-Funk All Stars, Public Enemy, and more. She shares deep stories of George Clinton, the Brides, Chuck D and Public Enemy, Bootsy Collins, and so much more.

Mr. Christopher breaks down the Ezra Edelman Netflix Prince documentary The Book of Prince. We discuss what we know so far about the 9 hour documentary including the content, the objections of the Prince Estate, the potential damage it could cause the Prince legacy, the stories of abuse and neglect, and so much more.

We finally do episode 2 of Soundstage where we showcase new funk music that's out now. This episode we welcome Andre Cymone who describes his new funk album and sits in while we listen to a new track called Hot Funk in the Summertime. We also take a listen to Judith Hill, St. Vincent, Nikka Costa, Electro Deluxe, The Rumble (formerly Cha Wa), and Lenny Kravitz. Tune in for new funk.

We sit down with Minneapolis legend Andre' Cymone to discuss his history, his family, a street renaming in honor of his mother, and a brand new album about to drop called The Resurrection of Funk.

We sit down with the Queen of Funk, Dawn Silva whose illustrious career has spanned from Sly and the Family Stone and through George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, to the Brides of Funkenstein to the Gap Band to her own solo journey that still funks to this day. Tune in for unbelievable stories of funk.

We sit down with the legendary guitarist Jesse Johnsons to discuss his time with Prince, Morris Day and The Time, D'Angelo, and new music. Tons of stories and guitar riffs.

Special announcements and music news (purple and otherwise)

We sit down with St. Paul Peterson and Jerry Hubbard to discuss the 40th anniversary of The Time's Ice Cream Castle and share TONS of stories. We discuss how they were brought in to replace Monte Moir, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis who had just been fired from The Time by Prince. We reflect on the insanity of it all as Paul Peterson, Jerry Hubbard and Mark Cardenas were thrust into the spotlight t...