P-Funk Trouble

If you remember this album cover you're familiar with the work of Pedro Bell, graphic artist for Funkadelic.

Starting at the age of 8 (or thereabouts), thanks to the album Maggot Brain, Funkadelic had a profound and lasting impact on my musical tastes. Part of that impact is attributable to the album covers.

Unfortunately, Pedro has fallen on tough times both physically and financially and is in need of help.

From the Chicago Sun Times...

Bell, 59, designed the cover art for more than two dozen George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic albums. Under the name Sir Lleb (Bell backward), he wrote the albums’ liner notes, peppering them with cartoonish drawings, clever puns and names like “Thumpasaurus” and “Funkapus” that remain synonymous with Clinton’s music.

“George Clinton gets a lot of credit for the conceptual dimension of P-Funk, but actually Pedro Bell was a big part of that with his texts and imagery,” said Pan Wendt, co-curator of a gallery exhibition in Toronto called “Funkaesthetics” which featured Bell’s work.

Almost totally blind, Bell can’t see the dim hallways of the Hyde Park Arms, the shabby SRO he calls home. His ankle is swollen from a wound that won’t heal. He receives dialysis three times a week because severe hypertension damaged his kidneys. He recently beat an eviction order on a court technicality.

And despite the commercial success of Clinton’s music, Bell said he didn’t profit from it. He’s broke.

We went to a Kwanzaa celebration last night where there was a great discussion about incorporating the principles of Kwanzaa into everyday life and to not just reflect on them for one week out of the year.

Today seemed like a good time to start with the principle of Ujima: (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems, and to solve them together.

The Black Rock Coalition is sponsoring a benefit show for Pedro Bell this Saturday night (January 2) at Santos Party House in downtown Manhattan. Doors open at 7 p.m. The price is $15. If you can’t attend the fundraiser but would like to help Pedro, follow this link to PayPal to donate to the Pedro Bell Benefit Fund.