June 19, 2024
Page 7
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
Album of the Year: #1 Funkateer
Bootsy Collins
Announces
New Album
When recording the Song “Al-
bum of the Year #1 Funkateer,”
Bootsy Collins had a very specif-
ic vibe in mind. “I wanted to give
the people what they wanted back
in the Seventies: a sense of hope,
joy, and freedom,” he tells Rolling
Stone. “For the people that were
not there, it’s a first taste of what
it felt like back in the day to be
a ‘Funkateer,’ to have party peo-
ple that you can look up to, to get
down with, without shame, but
rather with a form of freedom, and
self-expression.
With Collins’ bulging low end
and the heavy rhythms he and his
band mates keep “on the one,”
the track echoes the party-starting
funk Collins recorded through-
out the Seventies with Parlia-
ment-Funkadelic and his own
Rubber Band. “I guess I better
make it clear, this is my album of
the year,” he sings matter-of-fact-
ly. “And if you wanna be the #1
Funkateer, you just put it on the
wall and then bring up the rear.”
Bootsy Collins. Photo Credit: Joseph Ross Smith
Collins’ bass just slaps back and
forth between the horns and all his
guest vocalists. The track serves as
the introduction to the funk star’s
upcoming 23rd album, also titled
Album of the Year #1 Funkateer.
The album comes out Oct.25.
“Once I keyed in on what I was
diggin’ for, the song came togeth-
er organically,” Collins says. “I
had [the band] Lettuce record a
live version of a groove we used
to open the show with [‘Ahh…
The Name is Bootsy, Baby’]. I
kept listening to it, and it felt so
good that I felt I was onstage in
the Seventies. I thought, ‘Nah,
that has to go on a Bootsy’s Rub-
ber Band album.’ So I re-recorded
it once again with the emphasis on
hip-hop and funk.
“The concept of the song was
to acknowledge that funk is uni-
versal and present day just like
people,” he continues. “The pow-
er of ‘The One’ [Collins’ term for
funk’s rhythmic thrust] gave me
the courage and honor to grant all
Funkateers this highest honor by
granting each one with the ‘Al-
bum of the Year.’ After all, what
vitamin do you have to take to be
a Funkateer? B-1.”
Like previously released track
“The Influencers,” the song sets
up the vibe of Album of the Year
#1 Funkateer. The LP’s 17 songs
feature appearances by Snoop
Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Ice Cube,
Musiq Soulchild, and former Eu-
rythmics member Dave Stewart.
“Most of these artists grew up
on my music, so they understand
what my music and my presence
means to a starving people for
great talent and guidance,” Col-
lins says. “After all, each one of
them are still present day in what
they do as well, so we not only
like each other for what we do, we
respect each other for who we are
to this world.”
That sentiment also translates
to the overarching message of the
album, on which Collins calls for
unity and hope. “I really wanted to
take people’s minds off of all the
hate and hostility towards one an-
other,” he says. “I wanted to give
them something that made them
smile if only for a moment. If we
could have more cookouts than
shootouts, that would be a part of
the ‘change is gonna come’ that
Sam Cooke was talkin’ bout.”
New Larger, Modern Library
Holgate Library to Open
An opening
celebration with
ribbon cutting,
food, music and fun
Multnomah County Library
is excited to announce the grand
opening of the brand new Hol-
gate Library on July 13, 2024.
Holgate is the first new, perma-
nent library to open in Mult-
nomah County in more than a
decade and the most energy ef-
ficient library ever built in Mult-
nomah County. It’s a bright and
modern space, built to be open,
flexible and sustainable.
Multnomah County Library
is transforming library spaces as
part of a November 2020 capital
bond. As a result, the library has
rebuilt and expanded Holgate Li-
brary as a brand new two-story
building. The new library, which
Rendering of Holgate Library teen space courtesy of Bora Architecture
cost approximately $27 million,
is triple the size of the previous
6,400 square foot space, expand-
ing to a total of 21,000 square feet
— making it one of the largest li-
braries in Multnomah County.
Recognizing Holgate’s role as
a cornerstone of the diverse com-
munity in southeast Portland, the
new Holgate Library is the result
of extensive community and staff
engagement with features for ev-
eryone in the community to enjoy.
To celebrate the opening of the
new, expanded Holgate, the library
is hosting three, fun-filled days of
activities for the community from
Saturday, July 13 to Monday, July
15. From Indigenous hoop danc-
ers to face painting and more,
there will be plenty to do while
exploring the new features of Hol-
gate Library. Patrons can stay up-
to-date on the library website.