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.Av Funkatopia

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.Av Funkatopia

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.Av Funkatopia

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.Av Funkatopia

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…

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.Av Funkatopia

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 L…

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.Av Funkatopia

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.Av Funkatopia

Special announcements and music news (purple and otherwise)Av Funkatopia

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 …

We sit down with 15 year old guitar phenom Taj Farrant to discuss his journey from his viral worldwide appearance on Australia's Got Talent performing rock melodies and Prince's Purple Rain to sharing the stage with Kingfish, Buddy Guy, Carlos Santana, Orianthe, Kiss, and so many more. Here's his travels so far and what we can expect in the future …

Mr. Christopher sits down with Mark Cardenas from the Ice Cream Castle era of Morris Day and The Time. Mark was brought in with Paul Peterson, and Rocky Harris (who would be replaced by Jerry Hubbard) to take the place of Monte Moir, and also Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis who got trapped in an Atlanta snow storm and missed a show. The new members found…

Mr. Christopher and Jeff Paige discuss the 2024 Prince Celebration at Paisley Park in Minnesota. A coverage of each day, the events, the music, the challenges, and more.Av Funkatopia

We celebrate 40 years of Purple Rain on the day it was officially released. We're joined by Andrea Swensson (Prince and Purple Rain: 40 Years) and Duane Tudahl (Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions, 1983-1984) to discuss all things Purple Rain including talking about each track on Prince's masterpiece.…

We welcome a TREASURE TROVE of purple professionals for the ultimate Purple Rain Round Table with Jerome Benton, Craig Rice, Gilbert Davison, Hucky Austin, Damon Dickson, and surprise guest Alan Leeds. It's a wealth of purple stories on Purple Rain including deleted rape scenes, insanity at the Purple Rain premiere, money splurging, and tons of lau…

We discuss Prince birthday events in Texas and Minnesota welcoming guests Gilbert Davison, Damon Dickson, Craig Alexander, and a video from BrownMark. PLUS, we welcome DuJuan Elliott of the Blackshires to share his brand new single No Grease and reminisce a bit with Mr. Christopher.Av Funkatopia

We discuss more purple news including new Celebration details, and a visit from Mayte. PLUS we unbox Andrea Swensson's new book (which doesn't make for great audio, but we did it!).Av Funkatopia

Your latest dose of purple news. Construction near Paisley Park, the demolition of Chanhassen Cinema, Prince's birthday weekend, bowling with Mayte, and more!Av Funkatopia

We sit down with a beautiful vocalist and muse, Marva King. Her voice has supported renowned artists including Prince, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, George Howard, Phil Collins, Chaka Khan, Prince, Whitney Houston, Yolanda Adams, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Michael McDonald, Gap Band, Anita Baker, Ron…

We discuss all of the details we have for the Prince Celebration in June 20-24, 2024 including events, hotels, flights, and more. PLUS we welcome Mayte Garcia (1:20:25) to chat about the Live4Love Charities Bowling event on June 6, and also Michael Bland (1:52:30) with a post 2gether concert review and feedback on their historic concert where he jo…

We interview the legendary Jill Jones to not only discuss her times with Prince, but also visit stories of Teena Marie, being a member of the Gordy family, her new album The London Sessions, the memories it stirred up, and so much more. We've waited forever for this special guest. Enjoy.Av Funkatopia

We sit down with sound engineer Scottie Baldwin that has run sound for Prince, Lady Gaga, Madonna, and so many more. Listen to the stories and challenges of working with some of the greatest artists of our timeAv Funkatopia

We sit down with Lawrence L*A*W Worrell (Amy Winehouse, Rick James, Chaka Khan) and Martin Kember (AZ-1, Color Me Badd) to talk about their Prince-centric performances and their undeniable music resumes.Av Funkatopia

The early bird sale was released for Celebration 2024 at Prince's Paisley Park and the date and talent was also announced which include The Revolution, New Power Generation, and Morris Day with special guests. We talk about the pricing, the acts playing, and all that we know so far.Av Funkatopia

On the iconic date of 3/19, we get the blessing of a 2nd visit from Michael Bland and Sonny T to answer more deep probing questions. And we also welcome special guest BrownMark as he checks in to let us know about his special Houston event with Prince Day Houston and Craig Alexander.Av Funkatopia

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 echoe…

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 …

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.Av Funkatopia

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.Av Funkatopia

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 w…

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.Av Funkatopia

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.Av Funkatopia

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.Av Funkatopia

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).Av Funkatopia

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 abou…

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.Av Funkatopia

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.Av Funkatopia

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.Av Funkatopia

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 Fis…

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.Av Funkatopia

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.Av Funkatopia