Local musicians and festival organizers Parry Casto and Joe Troubetaris are again teaming up with the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District to put on the second annual Funktafest, which is set to flow with 10 free hours of continuous funk on two stages on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017 at the Ritter Park Amphitheater in Huntington, WV.
Free and open to the public, Funktafest will run noon to 10 p.m. Sept. 30 and will be headlined by Bootsy Collins’ protégé, the globe-trotting Cincinnati beast of the bass, Fre3KBasS and his powerhouse funk trio The Bump Assembly, that includes funk legend Razor Sharp Johnson on keys/synths and George Clinton & P-Funk alumni Rico Lewis on drums.
Other bands on the bill include Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based smooth neo-funk unit, Charles Walker Band, Echo Mecca, a genre-blending EDM duo from near Athens, Ohio, Lima, Ohio-based drum and bass duo, Hellnaw, as well as a pack of well-respected regionally traveling units including Morgantown’s Fletcher’s Grove, the reggae-funk unit, Beggars Clan (Charleston), the Charleston all-star funk unit, John Inghram’s Slugfest (featuring John Inghram and guitar slinger extraordinaire Ryan Kennedy from Bob Thompson’s jazz band), Colten Settle’s rock-funk-fusion unit, The Settlement, and last but not least, Casto’s Huntington-based, regionally traveling and highly entertaining funk band, The M.F.B., which features keyboard phenom, Randy Gilkey (of the Boatmen). Two veteran DJs, DJ Charlie Blac, of Huntington, and DJ Tim Hoover, of Charleston, will both be spinning funky sets throughout the day to get the groove bouncing and flowing.
The event will also include inflatables for the kids, local food trucks and a craft beer tent.
Funktafest is also announcing its first after party concert, from 10 p.m. to 2:45 am., Saturday, Sept. 30 at the V Club with Cleveland-based touring electro-funk unit, Broccoli Samurai, local R&B legends Stratus, from Charleston, and after the headliners, a late night set with local hip hop duo Dinosaur Burps, featuring emcee B Rude and DJ Squeazle from Charleston and their self-described “Intergalactic Snack Rap,” as well as local veteran DJ, Charlie Brown Superstar. Opening the night will be Colten Settle’s (of The Settlement) side project and improvisational “free funk” group Ultraviolent, from Huntington.
The event includes three pre-parties with bands that are featured on the Funktafest festival or after-party bill. The first pre-party will be held at The Empty Glass in Charleston, West Virginia on Saturday, July 29 with DJs Tim Hoover and Charlie Brown Superstar, as well as Dinosaur Burps with two of B-Rude’s rapper friends, Cody Jones and Ialive rolling in from Pennsylvania. The second pre-party will be held at The V Club on Friday, Aug.18, with Echo Mecca, The Settlement and DJ Charlie Brown Superstar. The third pre-party will be held at The Boulevard Tavern in Charleston, Saturday, Sept. 9, with The M.F.B., Beggars Clan and DJ Tim Hoover.
