Fantastic Voyage to the Land of Funk Tour
By Dr. Will Patterson and Sharon Irish
Our title is inspired by the band Lakeside. A group of 24 folks from Champaign-Urbana went on a Fantastic Voyage to the Land of Funk in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday, October 26, 2019. We left Champaign, IL, at 7am in three vans, in rainy weather, and returned about 10:30pm in rainy, windy weather! The dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts (Kevin Hamilton) paid for the University van that transported 9 students and staff from the University of Illinois. (Thanks!) Private donations supported the rental of the other vehicles, which carried 13 youth from Boyz2Men Mentoring Program, which also included three girls in addition to three adults. The drivers who tackled the freeways in the rain were champions! Some of us tweeted with #hiphopxpresstourdayton.
Last August, founder of Ghetto Genius Universe, Dr. Will Patterson (seen at left), met Mr. Deron Bell of Restorative Justice Arts, LLC, when his band Dayton Funk All-Stars played at Taste of Champaign. Mr. Bell is an entrepreneur, music director for the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and a musician. The facility that houses Mr. Bell’s work in Dayton has music production capacities as well as serving as the home for the dance company, the Zoot Theatre Company, and other cultural organizations.
Other Dayton connections for Dr. P go back to 2016 when he attended the Regional Neighborhood Network Conference in Champaign. That year he met the proprietor of the Third Perk Coffeehouse, Juanita Darden-Jones. Dr. P also intersected with other groups and individuals in Dayton who are involved in youth development, cultural production, and local histories, including David Webb of the Funk Center, and Stephon Ross of Spirit4Racing, Gary “Mudbone” Cooper (Parliament-Funkadelic), George Gee, and Dayton Audio.
Upon our arrival in Dayton, we began with a tour guided by artist Morris T. Howard of the 21 murals he created with about 20 youth in 2018 recognizing Dayton-affiliated funk bands: The Ohio Players; Faze-O; Heatwave; Zapp & Roger; Lakeside; Sun and Slave. Mr. Howard grew up in Dayton, then left, but returned a few years ago. He still knows a lot of cultural history! To create the murals he teamed up with Helping Adolescents Achieve Long-term Objectives (HAALO), funded by a grant from the county. From the mural site along Stone Street, we went to the Third Perk Coffeehouse for a welcome break from the cold rain. Ms. Darden-Jones welcomed us with her specialty coffees and food. By naming her drinks after funk songs and bands, she underscores the importance of this history in Dayton.
Then we returned to Mr. Bell’s facility, starting with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, founded by Jeraldyne Blunden in 1968, rooted in the African American experience. Two DCDC dancers — Qarrianne Blayr and Quentin Apollovaughn Sledge — led us in a class for about an hour! It felt good to move after all that time in vehicles. Even better, though, was the post-class reflection when Q and Quentin shared their stories about how they became dancers and asked us to breathe with them to center ourselves.
The Dayton facility has a lot of space, over three floors; it is managed by the Central State University Foundation, which owns the building. After dancing, we visited a music studio, the gallery of the African American Visual Artists Guild, the work space of the Zoot Theatre, and shared reflections about life goals and questions about the music business and technology on our last stop, which included a demonstration of Roland Corporation equipment.
Mr. Bell’s mentor and colleague, Tony “Silky T” Allen noted that recent technologies allow a musician to create complex compositions alone and share them readily. You need to get to know your instrument like you know your neighborhood. We discussed the MIDI system (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and how different that is from heavy reel to reel tapes of years past. Trombonist and sound engineer, Gary King, another colleague of Mr. Bell’s, told about how it’s possible to digitally correct sounds now without having to redo the track. One of the youth in the previous music session got to play the drums (above, left), accompanying Mr. Bell.
There’s lots more to say about this voyage, but this sketch describes the basics about what we saw and experienced. One hope is that by leaving our own town, we can better see opportunities in Champaign-Urbana after visiting and viewing what artists and go-getters are doing in a different place: for example, where is a Black-owned coffee shop in Champaign? Where are murals celebrating C-U’s musical history? How can the University of Illinois leverage talents in town to spotlight Black cultural wealth? We certainly hope that the Hip Hop Xpress, and the iteration known as the “Double Dutch Boom Bus” (in homage to Frankie Smith), will contribute to this uplift.
