David Byrne appeared at the Bernie Worrell tribute, put out a remix & more
The benefit for the legendary P-Funk keyboardist Bernie Worrell, who has lung cancer and needs help with his medical bills, went down at Webster Hall on Monday, April 4. The event ended up being even more star-studded than initially anticipated, with appearances by bandmates Bootsy Collins, and George Clinton, plus filmmaker Jonathan Demme, Meryl Streep, Rick Springfield, Mudbone, Nelson George, Questlove, Buckethead, Living Color, Paul Shaffer and many more. The evening was topped off by an appearance from Worrell collaborator David Byrne.
To further help Worrell, Byrne also remixed of the song “How Does the Brain Wave,” which Byrne and Worrell co-wrote. Byrne wrote about Bernie:
Bernie is classically trained (as well as having perfect pitch—I’ve heard him improvise with the sounds of traffic), so he brought those skills to the Afro-Futurism of the P Funk universe… a bit of keyboard cosmos into the funk chants and beats of that world that made it what it was. I learned a lot from that music, and of course from the time spent travelling and playing with Bernie—wordplay, musical attitude and lot more. He informed the musician and composer I was to become.
There’s also a “How Does the Brain Wave” remix by Jamie Lidell and both of those are available to purchase and stream with all proceeds going to the Bernie Worrell branch of Sweet Relief. You can also bid on dub acetates of the song/remix with the cover art you see above.
Check out a bunch of instagrams and videos from last night’s Worrell tribute below.
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#bernieworrell #georgeclinton #georgeclintonandparliamentfunkadelic #bootsycollins #pfunk #leonocentelli #billdickens A video posted by Mark Rechler (@chilldragon) on
@questlove @jonbatiste slayin in to help #bernieworrell beat cancer! What a moment!!! Just wish @questlove had a @spinbal!!! A video posted by Spinbal (@spinbal) on
Meyl and Bernie (Webstern Hall, 4/4/2016) #merylstreep #bernieworrell #websterhall A photo posted by Meryl’s girl 💫 (@streepworld) on
We Want the Funk. #pfunk #georgeclinton #funkadelic #bernieworrell A video posted by Rika (@rikakayoconnor) on
