Last night my girlfriend and I saw George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic live in Buffalo. I brought along the rare limited edition Osmium 180g picture disc which I posted to this blog on June 28th. You can re-visit the post for details here.
To sum it up, it’s a re-issue of Parliament’s first record, 750 copies were produced in Argentina in 2003, and all quickly disappeared. The copy I found was in Thessaloniki, Greece and in mint unplayed condition.
There were several setbacks looming over us during my mission to get the album signed by the captain of the Mothership. The weather man had predicted thunderstorms just as George was set to take the stage, potentially raining out the show. Also, being new to the area, we got lost on our way to the concert. Good fortune was with me because I jumped out of the car and stopped the only person I could find on the street… who then generously led us right to the show!
The rain never came, and the set was incredible. During the concert I found three other audience members with albums to get signed. We teamed up and talked to security, agreeing to meet beside the tour bus after the performance. It paid off. After the park quieted down and everyone left, Joe “Foley” McCreary stepped out of the bus and signed my disc. (He played bass with Miles Davis all through the late 80s and now plays drums for George.)
Next out of the bus was Carlos McMurray who gave an amazing performance as Sir Nose D’Voidoffunk. He signed the disc with a smile.
And just before George hopped into his van he approached me, took the album in his hands, removed his sunglasses to check out what I’d given him, and happily added his autograph.
The challenges of the night weren’t over just yet – the concert was over by 9:30 we wandered aimlessly until 11pm unable to find our car. We were still disoriented from the confusing journey into the show. Thankfully, friends came to our rescue and we stopped into a local bar only to find that luck was with us again – the woman who gave us our parking pass was sitting at the bar. She remembered us and told us right where we parked! (Honestly, what are the odds of that?!)
It was a fitting end to an exciting night. Huge thanks to Nacy for the record, which is now my favorite disc for the love and memories attached.
The Innerspace Connection 
