Bands big and small will have Olympia grooving this week at new Funk Fest
The organizers of Olympia’s new music festival have a message: “Funk OFF.”
The musicians and music lovers at the helm aren’t being rude: “OFF” stands for Olympia Funk Festival, and the people who put together the festival, happening Friday through Sunday, Feb. 2-4, are simply fans of funk.
“I love the deep groove of the music and the horn lines,” said organizer Danielle Westbrook, who plays trumpet and sings with Olympia funk outfit Luna Melt. “I just love it. There’s so much deep history with the music.”
“I like to say that funk is not mine to define,” she said. “It’s rooted in African-American culture. It’s soul, rhythm and blues, and jazz, and what I want to do is honor the history and tradition of the music through this festival.”
Funk legend George Porter Jr. and his band the Runnin’ Pardners are headlining the festival, sponsored by the PARC (Parks, Arts, Recreation and Culture) Foundation of Thurston County. Bassist/singer/songwriter Porter was a founding member of the seminal New Orleans band The Meters, which won a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement.
The OFF lineup, about 20 bands strong, also includes New Orleans-based The Rumble, which is up for a Grammy Award, and popular Seattle bands Eldridge Gravy & The Court Supreme and the Polyrhythmics.
Spontaneity is part of the plan for the festival, too. Single-named sax player Skerik and organist Joe Doria will serve as “roaming musicians,” sitting in with the bands, whose sets have been scheduled so that festivalgoers can walk back and forth the two blocks from the Capitol Theater to the Olympia Ballroom to catch at least part of most shows.
The whole thing wraps up with the Sunday afternoon All-Star Jam.
The lineup is attracting funk fans from afar.
“We are going to infuse downtown Olympia with people,” Westbrook said. “We have somebody coming from Oakland, California. We have tons of people from Seattle and Tacoma and Portland.
“It’s going to be a great boon for local businesses,” she said. Among those involved are Nineveh, Northwest Beerwerks, Three Magnets Brewing Co. and Octapas Café, which is hosting the Sunday soul brunch. These businesses aren’t donating, she said; they’re being paid, as are the musicians.
Westbrook had long thought of starting a music festival and talked about it with friend and fellow organizer Alan Rose. “When I proposed the idea of a music festival to Alan, he said, ‘Funk,’ and I said, ‘Yes,’ ” Westbrook said. The other organizers, Melt’s Betsy Perkins and Richard Williams, Westbrook’s partner, are funk fans, too.
That band, Luna Melt, is not only performing at the festival but also helping to make it run: Perkins and bandmates Daniel Landin and James Schneider are stage managing the festival.
The fact that the PARC Foundation is hosting a music festival as a fundraiser might sound surprising, as the foundation is best known for its work with parks, including funding scholarships for recreation programs. But its mission goes well beyond that.
“I joined two years ago, and I’m all about music,” Westbrook said. “One of the things we’re trying to focus on is the music scene.”
Olympia Funk Festival
What: The new festival, sponsored by the PARC Foundation of Thurston County and planned as an annual fundraiser, features three days of music at two venues with a lineup of local, regional and nationally acclaimed bands. There’ll be food trucks and beer, too.
When: Friday through Sunday, Feb. 2-4
Where: Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia, and Olympia Ballroom, 116 Legion Way SE, Olympia
Tickets: $149 for a full pass, with single-day passes and an add-on Sunday soul brunch available, too. Children 12 and younger are admitted free.
More information: http://olyfunkfest.com
