Growing Up Funky

I’ve been in love with music since before I can remember. I trace this back to my dad who, while not musical, has always been a huge fan of funk music. Growing up you spend a lot of time in other people’s car, your mom dropping you off at school, your older brother picking you up at the end of the day and your dad driving you to practice. So many years spent in the passenger seat of cars suffering through Christmas carols in July (Mom), Coldplay and Jay-Z (brother) but the only car I never suffered through was Dads.

My dad loves music, he loves R&B, soul, Motown, Stax records but what he loves most of all is Funk music. Larry Graham and Graham Central Station are to my father what Michael Jackson is to me, which is to say, everything. Graham Central Station is analogous to elevator music to me. Absolutely no shade intended but it is the default sound that comes into my head when I think “music”.

My dad and I have always had a close relationship and share feelings unabashedly about everything. Like any best friend, when you disagree about things you care deeply about, it can feel like someone is personally attacking you. When the person you’re sharing your music soul with is your daughter the stakes are infinitely higher. Besides the time I switched allegiances from the Los Angeles Lakers to the Sacramento Kings (Chris Weber’s beauty would no longer be denied), I don’t think I’ve disappointed my father more than in my taste in music.

I am a Southern California girl through and through. Born in the Los Angeles Valley and raised in Orange County with Disneyland as my backdrop.  Growing up with my happy worry free background I quickly moved away from the funk and soul my dad loved and into bubblegum pop, my formative years were scored by NSync, Christina Aguilera and other teen stars that my father couldn’t stomach.

As I’ve gotten older we’ve somehow managed to meet in the middle him being more open to the music I’ve grown into. Giving artists like John Mayer, Gary Clark Jr. and Janelle Monae a chance while I still know all the words to Graham Central Station’s self-titled album by heart. We took our first adult father/daughter trip to Memphis where we bonded at the Stax museum and danced to blues musicians on the street. No matter what happens in our lives we can always come together over music. My dad would be very hesitant to call himself a nerd but in terms of funk and soul music, the term nerd definitely applies.