Fill It Up With Funk Please Or, Rock 'n Roll Soul Slurpee

Tell Ev'rybody ya know'ooo...
You got some Rock 'n Roll Soul...in your SLURPEE CUP!

Yep,the 70's were COOL...
Does not get much cooler than a Grand Funk Slurpee from the 7-11 Carry Out

FILL IT WITH FUNK PLEASE!

Don Brewer and Mel Schacher

"FUNKY STUFF" FLAVOR!

Mark Farner

"Oh Thank Heaven For 7-11"

Pics courtesy of the Sensational Allee Willis blog on:
www.alleewillis.com/blog/category/famous/

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The Hunk-Of-Funk Now Appearing On Billboards In Hometown

What's Mark Farner UP to these days you ask? Well, IN and Around Flint, Michigan, we'd say he's up to maybe 12 feet or more off The ground! It's Flint's finest marketing Mark with multiple Banners, Lighted Displays, Handbills and Billboards:

Flint's Farmer's Market Banner
Farner Tickets Sold Every Saturday



Raffle Poster
Proceeds To Benefit "Mission Of Hope"Homeless Shelter, Win An Autographed Guitar!
Contact: http://flintrevival.com/



Lighted Displays



Billboards




Photo credits:Terry Blankert



Forty Years Funkin' Collectors T-Shirts available at: MARKFARNER.COM

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Farner Show's Us~Summer Kind Of Wonderful In Port Huron

July 17th, Friday FARNER SHOW IS; SUMMER KIND OF WONDERFUL~PORT HURON

Guest Blogger; Cruizinsuezin;

Ah Summer concerts...And another great trip to see my favorite musing-musician, soulful singin', guitar slingin', Shaman-showman, Fit as a finely tuned fiddle...the man Ringo Star calls: "Mr. Grand Funk Railroad himself"...Mark Farner!"

Seriously, the crowd goes wild and I am in the front rearing and whinnying like a filly of fifteen again! And since it's the third time around for fifteen, I'm much better at it and enjoying it so much more! Yeah, Mark can make ya feel like that.

But the getting there is always worth the effort and fun too. So I'll start with the multi-tasking I did during the two hour cruise up to Port Huron... I let the time spent driving benefit my concert psych-up ritual. Remember those? I day-dreamed about how my friends and I used to always do concert psych-ups in the 70's man. We'd listen to the artist for days before the concert. We'd play ALL their albums the day of the show. We'd save all the best uh, stuff for this show then,We'd let the build up explode once we'd get in the great groove that only Grand Funk Railroad got us in to. The Funk band would be gettin' down with us as one big communing party as we'd all inhale "that funky stuff" and blew it their way...togetha Forever!

So, with these fond memories to tickle my fancy, I slid "On Time" [Funk's first] into the player and let the music move me as I traveled at 70 Miles Per Hour forward with the 70's retrospection in the rear view mirror. Psychedelia, and music that can never be reproduced in the same righteous spirit. Sadly to me, the innocence before media manipulation is history. The daze of days gone by. Back when peace was our collective agenda...it lives here in the magic sound that Messenger has...What depth of lyrics...What a great voice... And, then the melancholic mist lifted and I realized I'm about to make it to the meet & greet through Mark's "Closer To Home" Fan club! You guessed it...That thought drove my foot to hit 80 MPH as I'm thinkin': "I gotta get there [On Time]" Next thing I know I'm meeting Mark's kind concert concierge "Liz" who hands me a cool "40 Years Funkin'" patch and a VIP ticket! What happens next is not for the squeamish, I know it's not bear baiting season yet but, next was a "howdy do" bear hug from Mark himself! I was still in "shock and awe" when a camera flash went off... Shocked that he'd do that and, "awe it was worth the two hour drive for that! "

Mark Farner concerts are many things if your there to receive.The music has so many timeless and new ideas. It creates this time portal and I adore dancing through it. I always end up grinning like I'm crazy about classic rock 'n roll but, if you sit on your gluteus maximus and watch Mark on the venue's LED screen..it is, and shall always be, your choice which set of cheeks are sore a little later! Let's make a pact to always show this charismatic artist the ut most respect by getting up and shakin' what God gave us while we still can! I wasn't sure I should mention this and the thought that I almost didn't kinda bothers me...Hope you "get it" and I hope I get it right... Mark in announcing he's a Christian from the stage, told us one day he asked, something like this: "God should I cuss?" and the answer was: "I don't give a shit" It was really funny! Thank God for humor, that's where we got it!

At this show and the many I've been to in the past, the guitar playing was seemingly effortless. The Funk tunes flourish with that Parker guitar in Farner's strong hands. It's something I'm so used to I might forget to appreciate it. This night the vocals were behind me and the guitar is most of what I heard....Three guitar lessons and forty-five year's experience flowing through those fingers! And "We The People" are the benefactors of this Grand Funk-straight shootin' guitar'd government. And why does he do it? For the People..for the passion...It's The Same Ol' Feelin' from the Rock Patriot.

Songs that soul soothing voice graced us with are in no particular order here as I tend to live in the moment at these things, blissed out, singing along, ....Oh, I can't relay how Fun these shows are but, here's a few jams that lit me up with that "perma-grin" I like to wear on the weekends; Are You Ready, Aimless Lady, Creepin', The Railroad, Sin's A Good Man's Brother, Badtime, We're An American Band, Some Kinda Wonderful, Locomotion, Same Ol' Feelin', Closer To Home!

It was beautiful man...the voice of Grand Funk Railroad, with the same dynamics the past power trio possessed. When the songs were recorded with the original GFR as a three piece, Mark performs them with just the bass, guitar and drums! True to the sound...True to the way we want to hear it...Loud, proud and powerful...melodic, patriotic and hard rockin'! Any promoters that put Mark on their stage and his great entourage in the side lights will never be sorry...Nicest professionals you'll ever love meeting...For Summer Festivals...Mark Farner is the group we've been waiting to see...Only the original is Summer Kind Of Wonderful

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Farner Music Is Born In The USA...Forty Year's Funkin'

High Noon and High Temperatures saturated sound and souls back in '69 as Mark, Don and Mel stepped onto the stage and into history on that July fourth at International Speedway in Georgia! With a full head of steam...Grand Funk Railroad moved their audience to a gutsy groove most remember to this day...forty years later!

It was 1969, and Alex Cooley's Festival brain child was born on the same day three guys from the garage band circuit in Flint would choose to make history. The birth of America, July 4th, the birth of festivals in the Southern regions, and the birth of Grand Funk Railroad from this day and forevermore! This was one great and groovy celebration of peace during the Vietnam War trauma. Over 100,000 people witnessed this prelude to the 70's era of epic Rock and Roll. After record execs saw the hold that the "power trio" had over their audience the Funkers were signed to their first record deal...and, the Hard Rock Railroad rolls out; "On Time."

The poster depicts today's Super-Stars that were then upstarts;
[courtesy of; alexcooley.com

]

Indeed a "ticket to paradise"




A festival of Music, Love and Peace
From the Grand Funk album titled:"Survival" Liner notes;
(Even if this story is a bit contrived, it's true to the spirit of the tremendous event)

" I don't think I'll ever forget those expressions as they wiped the sweat from their eyes in disbelief and watched that giant sea of faces,more than 180,000 strong,rise in unison and roar out a thunder of approval so loud that,to this day,they still talk about hearing it down on Peachtree St.,a full ten miles from the site. And I'll remember the look in their eyes when the hush fell over the crowd as Mark asked for quiet,and room for the young mother to give birth to her child on the blanket by the bales of hay near the front row. The next day they saw their first reviews in print- all damning critical prophecies that decreed,along with New Life that hot July day in Atlanta, had somehow come what would surely prove to be the most grotesque of all of Rock's children. Two infants had been born that day,they wrote,and one was named GRAND FUNK RAILROAD. The press gave odds that neither would survive the catastrophe.This album is joyfully dedicated to that child, their Brother, from Mark, Don, and Mel." [TK~~RIP]

[Mark Farner's signature solo move]

Jul 4, 2009 4:59 AM
"OMG !!! I was there!!!!!! I had run away from home and we all rode to Atlanta in an old bread truck. That was my first concert of any kind and my gosh, it was awesome. Well, what I remember of it anyway....if you know what I mean...lol. Thousands of people just wandering...music everywhere....people yelling for "medic" all the time....dirt, mud, jumping in the close by river with nothing on but a smile. When we first got there of course you were supposed to present your ticket and go thru the gate...yeah, like that happened. It was "down with the gate" and some bikers were supposed to be controlling the masses but that didn't work out very well for them. CHARGE !! We were thru and the days began. Unfortunately, I don't recall many of the music acts that played. My mind was just a tad bit on the messed up side. I was there for the whole thing but only remember Jimi Hendrix (barely)...I think it was him anyway. I was pretty out of it and someone kept telling me to get up and listen to him...but I was just laying on the ground as happy as could be. Theres alot more fuzzy memories that I have but won't go into all of those. I just know it was a blast....wish I could go back there one more time. Loved it." [from Kim Z.]



Peace and Love reign in Hampton's International Speedway;

For show info, "Forty Year's Funkin'" merchandise, fan club memberships, music, etc., Visit; MARKFARNER.COM

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Farner and Anderson On The Hunt For "Shorty" But, "Shorty's Long Gone"

Country Star John Anderson and Mark Farner in a Hunting & Song writing Session:

John Anderson’s excitement about the release of his newest CD [Bigger Hand's] was contagious as he shared that “Hawaii in Hawaii” is his favorite song! A rocking “Shorty’s Long Gone,” which he co-wrote with Mark Farner, lead singer and songwriting guitarist of the original Grand Funk Railroad, ranks a close second.

“It’s a bit different than the honky tonk stuff. It says what it needs to say. Mark’s a dear friend and we have written many songs together, hunted together, and he’s a great, great rock ‘n’ roller,’’ said Anderson.

Mark Farner and John Anderson on the hunt for "Shorty" but, "Shorty's Long Gone"




Photo credits L.Farner

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