Parker, Clinton to play Memorial Hall tonight

Maceo Parker and George Clinton/Parliament Funkadelic will “tear the roof off” of Memorial Hall in the first Carolina Performing Arts show of the season tonight.

Parker and Clinton have been hailed as supreme innovators and forefathers of funk, said Joe Florence, CPA’s marketing manager, and this show will commence this year’s CPA program with a bang.

“I don’t think we could have a more lively show to kick off our season,” Florence said.

Marnie Karmelita, the CPA’s programming director, said it’s only appropriate that the openers are North Carolina natives.

“Bringing these masters of funk together in a huge double bill, both being from North Carolina, it just seems like the perfect way to open this particular series,” she said.

Michael “Clip” Payne, a keyboardist and vocalist for Parliament for the past 36 years, said he looks forward to this weekend’s show.

“I think this weekend will be a grander circus than normal,” Payne said.

“Where George is right now in running his band, he’s got twice as many crazies in there than he’s had in the past few years.”

The first set of the show will feature Maceo Parker and his group, with George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic playing the second set.

“We’ve been told to expect up to 30 people onstage for George Clinton, and that’s not even including Maceo Parker’s band,” Karmelita said.

Florence said Chirba Chirba dumpling truck will be outside of Memorial Hall before the concert, along with a local funk band and a pre-concert costume contest.

About 45 years have passed since the band’s first big hit “(I Wanna) Testify,” and the group takes pride in the high-energy shows it continues to bring to audiences.

“The only thing that’s changed about us is that our hair is grayer now; we still jump around as if we were 21,” Payne said.

Having been numerously sampled by famous hip-hop artists such as Dr. Dre, Outkast and Snoop Dogg, the music of Parliament continues to influence modern artists and musicians.

“People older than me are very familiar with these types of songs, but a lot of students have heard this music in hip-hop samples or in electronic samples, or in covers,” Florence said.

“If you like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I guarantee you’ll like Parliament. If you like Snoop Dogg, I guarantee you’ll like George Clinton because they’ve all fed off each other.”

This year’s program for Carolina Performing Arts features an immense spectrum of artists, including everything from Friday’s show to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

“We want to try and offer something for every taste. The arts and the broad range of artists that we present, they all have something to share and something to say,” Karmelita said.

“What we’re hoping to do with all these performances for our students here at UNC is spark some interest, or passion, or new way of thinking, and who knows whether a classical musician from Israel or a funk musician from North Carolina is going to do that, because we’re all so different.”

arts@dailytarheel.com