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Papa Grows Funk performed at the Boom Boom Room on Saturday, July 14, for a surprise third show with openers Netwerk: Electric and the heat was on. I walked in to Netwerk's opening set to see the tabled far wall of the Boom Boom Room loaded, all seats and tables packed in anticipation for the evenings sounds. A friend told me that a minute before I walked in, so did Jason Concepcion, lead guitarist for Netwerk: Electric, in a rush. So there he was, letting out Santana-esque, screaming guitar riffs with no warm up at all. Netwerk was on fire and as the crowd filed into the Room to see and hear some funky beats, they were forced into the dancing groove of Netwerk: Electric's powerful musical trance. They finished their opening set with a fantastic cover of a Toots and the Maytals reggae tune.
Twenty minutes later the curtain rose to a packed and super hot Boom Boom Room to reveal Papa Grows Funk: John Gros sitting comfortably and preparing to slam on the keyboards and belt out the vocals, Marc Pero standing tall with the bass, with Russell Batiste J.R. holding the stix above the drums and Makuni Fukado on the corner of the stage with guitar in hand. The sounds began and the crowd moved. And so was the story for the evening as Papa Grows Funk played straight to 1:45am... straight past the time to meet for the late night Particle boat party on the Bay that was promoted so heavily throughout the night. I don't know how many made it to the boat show, but there was a group of would-be's that never made it as they couldn't justify missing the final moments of the funkiest New Orlean's Funk band's funk.
Towards the end of the first set a friend spotted an open table on the wall and we jumped at the opportunity for a seat. The high pitched screams of the electric piano shot me out of my seat only to reveal an unforgetable musical moment for myself. Merl Saunders, decked out in black beret and a black Grammy Awards jacket, came out to jam on the keyboards with John Gros, both with huge smiles. I would not sit down again and for good reason... After the second set began, Zigaboo Modeliste came out and proved his title as the King of Funky Drums.
The Boom Boom Room stayed packed full and the funk that Papa grows was hotter than the hot temps generated by so many people in one room. The set ended with John Gros announcing that "...this tune is the last one on our album, so go buy it and find out what it's called." The funky dance groove was on, the curtain fell and for a small price I learned that "DOIN' IT" was the name of the game.
J. Horn
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