Bootsy Collins Launching Funk University

May 24, 2010— -- "The state of funk today is kind of funked up."

Such a dire musical proclamation comes from no less a groove guru than William Earl Collins. Better known as Bootsy, the trailblazing bassist for James Brown in the early '70s and then George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic through 1980, Collins fears for the future of the music he helped pioneer.

The problem? Young people today, he lamented, just don't know their history.

"If you say anything about those old musicians to youngsters today, most of them don't have a clue," Collins said. "All they know is who their favorite bass player or guitarist is now. They have no idea how to connect those dots, where this style or this music comes from."

So, as one of the universe's foremost funkmasters, Collins has decided to do something about it. Starting July 1, aspiring funkateers can enroll at Funk University, an online bass guitar school he is co-creating and curating with actor-entrepreneur Cory Danziger.

Collins himself will spread the gospel of groove through exclusive lectures on funk and the bass. Guest professors will include a who's who of bassology: John B. Williams, Flea, Les Claypool and Victor Wooten will lead their own classes. Funk U. students will also be provided with online lessons and periodic staff reviews of student performances. In time, he said, the curriculum will expand to include other instruments and styles.

"It's about music," Collins, 58, said. "Because I play bass, we have to start there. Because I'm known for funk, we have to start with that. But it's really about the whole adventure of music. We want to embrace everything that has something to do with music and creating."

When discussing Funk U., Collins dropped his comic funk exuberance (there was no talk of "Casper, the holy ghost," no paeons to the almighty downstroke, baby baba) and came across more as an earnest, elder statesman of the Mothership.

It was not always thus.

In 1970, when he was 19, Collins' band, the Pacemakers, was tapped to back James Brown after the Godfather's own group split in a payment dispute. In the 11 months that followed, Collins laid down vampy, propulsive bass lines for such classic tracks as "(Get Up I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine," "Soul Power" and "Talking Loud and Saying Nothing."