Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Edith Funker Fun Facts

filed under: ?uestlove, ahmir thompson, edith funker, erykah badu

Spoke to Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson last Thursday via cellphone, and asked him all about Rising Down, the next record from the almighty Roots crew. And but so before we got into that, I made sure to bleed dry all info on the Edith Funker project first. (For the one person out there who’s never seen the trailblazing All in the Family sitcom from the 70s (when sitcoms were sitcoms), the matriarch of the family was named Edith Bunker). I didn’t get much, but here’s what I got:

The name Edith Funker comes, obviously, from Edith Bunker (like Gnarls Barkley/Charles Barkley), but it was coined by actress Rashida Jones, daughter of Quincy and Peggy Lipton. The group was originally named Funk Sway. (As in feng shui.)
The Roots’ live shows are booked all the way up till November, so an Edith Funker album coming in the fourth quarter is unlikely/ impossible.
Erykah Badu has been talking to Starbucks about the possibility of a couple of things, one of which might could be releasing an Edith Funker album.
The band performed just last month at the SXSW festival in Austin, and according to Ahmir, that live show could stand as an album as far as he’s concerned.

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Comments

Mark Mays at 11:49 PM on 04/08/08:

I’d read somewhere that an Edith Funker record would be a Starbucks thing. I don’t really care where it gets released, just do it.

MML at 12:30 AM on 04/09/08:

there’s some live stuff already floating around on the internet from the ‘shaking the blues’ benefit last november in LA. it’s got tracks like ‘funkier than a mosquito’s tweeter,’ ‘evil,’ ‘rosie’ and ‘annie.’

shawn taylor at 7:05 PM on 04/09/08:

Could it be that good (black) new music is making a comeback? The black music scene has been so awful lately that I’ve been listening to old Orange 9mm, 247-Spyz, Fishbone, Stiffed…oh, yeah, Portishead (I know they’re not black music but they sure speak to my sensibilities) btw my baby daughter likes mf doom. out of all the music i play for her, she stops crying when i play doom.

MML at 9:57 PM on 04/09/08:

the breeders have a pretty great new album to add to erykah badu & gnarls barkley, my favorite others of 2008 yet, shawn. i’m checking for the new portishead record too. the roots is OK; martina topley-bird too.

Mark Mays at 11:03 PM on 04/09/08:

Hopefully we’ll be able to have a sit down when Erykah and The Roots come to our city in May. I will def ask abt Edith Funker.

MML at 9:42 AM on 04/10/08:

find out what you can, mark, good luck. erykah comes here to paris on June 28.

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