Funky Friday – Episode 52: First Anniversary
- Noah McDonough
- Jan 29
- 6 min read
Updated: Feb 2
🎧 Quick Links:
🎧 Listen live on KDOG 9 AM Pacific Time→ Here
🎧 Listen live on KCSM HD2 9 PM Pacific Time→ Here (On mobile, scroll down to the KCSM HD2 player)
📆 Add to Calendar — Funky Friday (Weekly):
• 9 AM KDOG
Add to Google Calendar
• 9 PM KCSM HD2
Add to Google Calendar
🎶 Catch the Replay → Here
📖 Full Episode Recaps + Setlists → Here
📂 Renegade Radio Site → Here
Airdate: 2.30.26 - 9 AM Pacific Time on KDOG & 9 PM Pacific Time on KCSM HD2
Happy Funky Friday, Renegades of Funk!
Funky Friday – Episode 52: First Anniversary
Funky Friday – Episode 52 marks one full year on the air.
One year of consistency.
One year of trust in the groove.
One year of letting funk carry meaning without explanation.
This episode doesn’t look backward. It stands where it is.
Resistance Without Posture
Resistance in funk has never depended on volume.
It lives in:
stance
discipline
refusal to drift
Funk doesn’t shout slogans.
It holds the line.
Episode 52 was built around that idea; resistance as continuity, not disruption. Music that doesn’t react. Music that remains.
That matters on an anniversary.
It matters on the doorstep of Black History Month.
Standing the Year
The spine of this set isn’t nostalgia.
It’s readiness.
Some grooves confront.
Some endure.
Some prepare the room for what comes next.
Funky Friday – Episode 52: First Anniversary
🔥 SETLIST + RENEGADE NOTES
Rage Against the Machine — “Renegades of Funk” (2000)
Personnel: Zack de la Rocha (vocals), Tom Morello (guitar), Tim Commerford (bass), Brad Wilk (drums).
Renegade Note: Lineage, not crossover. Funk survives translation by keeping the groove intact while the delivery system changes.
Sly & The Family Stone — “Stand!” (1969)
Personnel: Sly Stone (vocals, keyboards, guitar), Freddie Stone (guitar), Larry Graham (bass), Cynthia Robinson (trumpet), Jerry Martini (saxophone), Greg Errico (drums), Rose Stone (vocals, keyboards).
Renegade Note: Position before motion. Funk asserts presence without needing escalation.
The Undisputed Truth — “Smiling Faces Sometimes” (1971)
Personnel: Joe Harris (vocals), Billie Rae Calvin (vocals), Brenda Joyce Evans (vocals), produced by Norman Whitfield.
Renegade Note: Psychological resistance. Funk learns discernment before it learns survival.
Marvin Gaye — “What’s Going On” (1971)
Personnel: Marvin Gaye (vocals, keyboards), James Jamerson (bass), Chet Forest (drums), Eli Fontaine (alto saxophone), David Van De Pitte (arrangement).
Renegade Note: Moral accounting without accusation. The question stands even when answers don’t.
Myra Barnes — “The Message from the Soul Sister” (1970s)
Personnel: Myra Barnes (vocals), James Brown Productions backing ensemble.
Renegade Note: Lived experience carried by groove. No sermon required.
The Isley Brothers — “Fight the Power (Pt. 1 & 2)” (1975)
Personnel: Ronald Isley (vocals), Ernie Isley (guitar), Marvin Isley (bass), Chris Jasper (keyboards), Rudolph Isley (background vocals).
Renegade Note: Authority without panic. Resistance that holds its ground.
The Temptations — “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)” (1970)
Personnel: Dennis Edwards (lead vocals), Eddie Kendricks (background vocals), Melvin Franklin (bass vocals), Otis Williams (background vocals), produced by Norman Whitfield.
Renegade Note: Disorder observed, not dramatized. Funk catalogs chaos without surrendering to it.
James Brown — “Cold Sweat” (1967)
Personnel: James Brown (vocals), Clyde Stubblefield (drums), Jimmy Nolen (guitar), Bernard Odum (bass), Maceo Parker (saxophone).
Renegade Note: Discipline under pressure. Funk reduces chaos to control.
Herbie Hancock — “Chameleon” (1973)
Personnel: Herbie Hancock (keyboards), Bennie Maupin (bass clarinet, saxophone), Paul Jackson (bass), Harvey Mason (drums), Bill Summers (percussion).
Renegade Note: Space without retreat. Resistance expands instead of reacting.
The Chi-Lites — “(For God’s Sake) Give More Power to the People” (1971)
Personnel: Eugene Record (lead vocals, production), Robert “Squirrel” Lester (vocals), Marshall Thompson (vocals).
Renegade Note: Collective persuasion. Funk invites unity rather than demanding compliance.
Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes — “Expansions” (1975)
Personnel: Lonnie Liston Smith (keyboards), Donald Smith (vocals), Cecil McBee (bass), James Mtume (percussion), David Lee Jr. (drums).
Renegade Note: Forward motion without force. Groove as uplift.
Sounds of Blackness — “Optimistic” (1991)
Personnel: Gary Hines (musical director), Ann Nesby (vocals), Sounds of Blackness ensemble.
Renegade Note: Community endurance. Minneapolis speaks in harmony, not isolation.
Curtis Mayfield — “People Get Ready” (Berlin Sessions, 1990)
Personnel: Curtis Mayfield (vocals, guitar), Berlin Sessions studio ensemble.
Renegade Note: Preparation without spectacle. The year doesn’t end — it continues.
Why This Anniversary Matters?
One year isn’t a milestone because of time passed.
It matters because nothing broke.
The signal held.
The groove stayed honest.
The music carried weight without explanation.
Episode 52 isn’t a celebration of arrival.
It’s confirmation of readiness.
Funk doesn’t mark time.
It keeps it.
🔗 Quick Links:
🎧 Listen live on KDOG 9 AM Pacific Time→ Here
🎧 Listen live on KCSM HD2 9 PM Pacific Time→ Here (On mobile, scroll down to the KCSM HD2 player)
📆 Add to Calendar — Funky Friday (Weekly):
• 9 AM KDOG
Add to Google Calendar
• 9 PM KCSM HD2
Add to Google Calendar
🎶 Catch the Replay → Here
📖 Full Episode Recaps + Setlists → Here
📂 Renegade Radio Site → Here
Funk Facts
🔥 Rage Against the Machine — Funk as Ancestry “Renegades of Funk” was originally written and recorded by Afrika Bambaataa in 1983. Rage’s 2000 cover explicitly connects hip-hop, funk, and political resistance, reinforcing Bambaataa’s role in positioning funk as a foundational language of modern protest music.
✊ Sly and the Family Stone — Integrated Funk “Stand!” (1969) came from one of the first major American bands to be racially integrated and gender-mixed. Sly & The Family Stone’s lineup itself challenged industry norms, making their music inseparable from its social context.
🪞 The Undisputed Truth — Norman Whitfield’s Experiment “Smiling Faces Sometimes” was produced by Norman Whitfield, who used The Undisputed Truth to push Motown toward darker, more psychological themes during the early 1970s. The song became one of Motown’s clearest warnings about deception and mistrust.
🕊 Marvin Gaye — Creative Control“What’s Going On” (1971) marked a turning point where Marvin Gaye gained full creative control at Motown. The album addressed war, police brutality, and environmental concerns, fundamentally expanding what mainstream soul music was allowed to discuss.
🗣 Myra Barnes — James Brown’s Studio Network Myra Barnes recorded “The Message from the Soul Sister” within the orbit of James Brown’s production ecosystem. Brown frequently developed and released solo female vocalists through his band and studio infrastructure in the early 1970s.
⚖️ The Isley Brothers — Family Band Evolution “Fight the Power (Pt. 1 & 2)” (1975) reflects the Isleys’ transition from vocal group to full self-contained funk band, driven by younger members Ernie and Marvin Isley and keyboardist Chris Jasper. This shift allowed them greater musical and political autonomy.
🌪 The Temptations — Psychedelic Soul Era “Ball of Confusion” was part of The Temptations’ Norman Whitfield–led psychedelic soul period, where traditional love-song formats were replaced with social commentary and dense, experimental arrangements.
🔩 James Brown — The One “Cold Sweat” (1967) is widely cited as one of the first true funk recordings, built around rhythmic emphasis on the one (the first beat of the measure). This structural shift redefined popular music rhythm across genres.
🧬 Herbie Hancock — Jazz Goes Funk “Chameleon” appears on Head Hunters (1973), one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time. The record marked Hancock’s deliberate move toward funk and electronic instrumentation, bringing jazz improvisation into popular groove structures.
🤲 The Chi-Lites — Chicago Soul Perspective “(For God’s Sake) Give More Power to the People” reflects Chicago soul’s emphasis on community dialogue and moral persuasion, distinguishing it from the harder edges of contemporaneous funk coming out of New York and Los Angeles.
🌌 Lonnie Liston Smith — Cosmic Jazz Roots "Expansions” (1975) blends jazz, funk, and spiritual themes. Smith previously played with Pharoah Sanders, bringing elements of spiritual jazz into a groove-oriented context.
🏙 Sounds of Blackness — Minneapolis Legacy Sounds of Blackness originated as a community choir in Minneapolis and later became associated with the city’s broader Black musical lineage, which also includes Prince, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, and the Minneapolis Sound.
🚆 Curtis Mayfield — Civil Rights Anthem “People Get Ready” (1965) became an unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights Movement and was later inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry for its cultural and historical significance.
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