By Charlie Amter

SAN FRANCISCO USED to be one of the epicenters of funk. The city's lineage runs deep: with groups as different as Sly and the Family Stone, Sylvester, and Alphabet Soup, the city was once teeming with original bands schooled in funk music. Today, the biggest funk draw in the city may be the cover band Superbooty.

Stymie and the Pimp Jones Luv Orchestra and their San Francisco Funk Alliance are trying to change that. The Wall Street Journal's now infamous article slagging the San Francisco music scene as a hell ruled by cover bands has angered more than a few musicians; despite the success of several cover acts in multiple genres, including funk, there are funk bands in the city fighting for true, original funk music.

Stymie's charismatic lead singer and ringleader Sean "Shiza" Sharp is upset at the proliferation of backward-looking funk. "Those people in the day made their statement – and I think it's time that this generation makes our own statement," the optimistic Sharp says. "I don't do retro songs simply because people need to be updated that funk is still alive today. You don't need to wear bell-bottoms to be funky."

Naturally, Stymie and the Pimp Jones Luv Orchestra grew up with funk. All the members are dead serious about respecting the true pioneering and uplifting sprit of the music. San Francisco Funk Alliance founder and Stymie rapper-bass vocalist Bradley Reeves explains the difference between funk cover bands and true funk music: to Reeves, the cover acts are "people who are jokingly re-creating a period that existed in their minds as something kind of clownish."

Funk is no joke to Reeves and Stymie. The eclectic 13-member powerhouse has been winning over crowds slowly but surely all over San Francisco in clubs like Storyville, the 7th Note, and the Paradise Lounge. A full horn section and backup singers give Stymie a truly authentic party vibe. Much of the band includes accomplished musicians from L.A., where real funk has all but vanished from the club scene. Of Los Angeles, Sharp has this to say: "The whole head in L.A. is basically that the industry is right in your face. I wasn't down for that."

According to Sharp, San Francisco is an oasis for real funk music. "There is something funky about this town. S.F., to me, even after Sly, seems like the most receptive place for funk in America. There are a lot of people here who are just down to express themselves through their music."

Indeed there are more and more people gravitating toward San Francisco's burgeoning funk scene. Local hip-hop has garnered success on a much larger scale, and the Bay Area is now being recognized as one of the new centers for forward-thinking hip-hop in America – could the funk scene be the next to blow up? Matador Records may help things along with the second volume of the popular CD series The Funky Precedent (due out in early 2001). Stymie and the Pimp Jones Luv Orchestra are slated to appear on the compilation, along with other Bay Area hip-hop heads and funk freaks.

Not everyone in the funk scene shares Stymie's satisfaction with the status quo of funk in San Francisco. "I feel like it's getting worse," says a despondent Chris McGee of local jazz-funk band 008. "I think that there has been a serious demographic shift, and people just don't have the attention span for soulful music anymore."

Indeed, 008 and Stymie perform longer, original songs that can prove challenging to the casual music fan. "Superbooty pack houses with all covers," McGee says. "There is not enough of a desire to see something new, unfortunately, which makes cover bands thrive." Stymie member Reeves knows McGee's pain: he's determined to fight the ennui among club owners and audiences alike with the newly formed San Francisco Funk Alliance.

Frustrated with club owners and audiences that don't understand bands like Stymie and the Pimp Jones Luv Orchestra, 008, the Funkonauts, and others, Reeves started the San Francisco Funk Alliance in late 1999. "Basically," Reeves says, "the Funk Alliance is a loose network of cats who all play together and all play original funk or funky music." Other bands in the Funk Alliance are Butterball, the Funkonauts, Rhythm Baptism, and the Jethro Jeremiah Band.

Clearly, Reeves's Funk Alliance has had a positive effect on the scene. The alliance has used its clout to book shows together at clubs and to help explain to fearful and uneducated club owners what funk is about. "Club owners in S.F. are afraid of two things," Reeves says. "They are afraid of not making money, and they are afraid of the police. When they even smell that any band has some hip-hop elements – like we do – they get scared." The Funk Alliance ensures that clubs understand just what the scene is about: good times, good people, and most importantly, great original funk music.

Maybe San Francisco will never be as funky as it was in 1969 or 1979 – or even 1989. But at least Stymie and the Funk Alliance are looking forward to the future of funk.

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