MC for the day Rickey Vincent introduces the band Katdelic featuring Ronkat Spearman and gives a 100% guarantee to all that the Mothership will Indeed land (metaphorically speaking of Course, not physically!) during the course of their set. At this point I must say that THE act I MOST wanted to see on this day was KATDELIC! I left a wonderful family reunion picnic early to ensure that I was ‘on time’ to catch them at 5:45pm sharp. My anxiousness just increased infinitely after hearing Mr. Vincent give them such an awesome mc intro. Next, folks in white plastic suits suddenly creep onto stage to a wicked abstract collage of free your mind and your ass will follow sounds… the rest is TRULY history… Before I had the absolute distinct honor & privilege of listening to the new and yet unreleased KATDELIC cd, I must admit that I cheated! I saw Ronkat Spearman and KATDELIC live for the first time at the Long Beach Funk Festival August 2011. I was handed the disk (mid-set) by the Uhuru Maggot who appeared out of nowhere (I swear) and after brief earth-being type greetings and placing the disk in my physical possession, disappeared again into the thick funk gravy aether that enveloped the stage and audience near the front of the stage and beyond during KATDELIC’s occupation of aforesaid. After some simultaneously blissful & disturbing modern re-tweeked version of the intro to Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow as the band filed on stage (i counted 9 members besides Ronkat), the audience was introduced to a hypnotic signature JB-like groove, the sax player (after the soundman FINALLY got his mike working) introduced an angel from the 4th dimension to the front of the stage, Ronkat Spearman! Wearing more little tiny square mirrors on his PANTS then you could ever count on even a Large Disco Mirror Ball in 1975, Mr. Ronkat proceeded to immediately demonstrate his prowess at Controlling & Commanding the/a REAL band, and the audience for that matter (I know that I was flapping my P-Funk finger sign and hollering like a kangaroo on crack in a martial arts class on the planet thumpasaurus), just like James Brown, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Duke Ellington, Prince etc… Prior to attending this huge Funk Festival, I was only familiar with a handful of KATDELIC material (notably The ONE and Funky Dance Transformer – which, to this day, only sound Better and Better with each subsequent listen!) – I confess that I was too naïve to believe that the horns on the aforementioned songs were REAL horns, until I saw them live - I assumed they were samples just because they were TIGHTER then HELL! I was also cognizant that Ronkat was a crucial touring member of the P-Funk All Stars since 2000 or so. (this is when Rickey’s predicted prophecy came true and the Mothership Landed in Long Beach), causing MadLib (standing next to me 2 ft in front of the stage to sing, scream and chant “ Play that SHIT again!” repeatedley RIGHT after Transformer ended) Thanks Katdelic and Rickey for the awesome opportunity to preview this funky Stink-BOMB…