Morris Day (at left) and the Time, one of many founders of the so-called “Minneapolis sound” within the Nineteen Eighties, mixing soul and dance music with funk and rock ‘n’ roll and recognized for such hits at “The Bird,” “Cool” and “Jungle Love,” high the Mare Island Dock of Bay’s Old School Funk Fest Sept. 9 alongside the Vallejo waterfront. Other acts embrace Con Funk Shun, Average White Band, and Cold Blood. (Contributed photograph/ ftpresents)

For die-hard funk and soul followers, your Bay Area present of exhibits will arrive in pageant type in September — if you happen to’re prepared so as to add some dips in your hips and put some pep in your step alongside the Vallejo shoreline.

By all accounts — however particularly contemplating the roster of performers — the Mare Island Dock of Bay Festival guarantees to be a showcase of main artists, old-school veterans and a brand new era. Their careers have been outlined by, respectively, a extremely danceable mixture of funk, soul, psychedelic rock and R&B, and songs exemplified by the appealingly rhythmic and uptempo sound captured in Arthur Conley’s 1967 hit “Sweet Soul Music” and the seminal artists he talked about within the tune: James Brown, “The king of them all, y’all,” he sang, and Wilson Pickett, “That wicked Mr. Pickett.”

Organized by Mare Island Company and Frazier Trager presents, Day 1, Sept. 9, is billed because the Old School Funk Fest and options Morris Day and the Time, Con Funk Shun, Average White Band, and Cold Blood. Day 2, Sept.10, is billed because the Spectacular Soul Fest and options The California Honeydrops, Fantastic Negrito, Monophonics, and The Altons.

IN BRIEF, IF YOU GO:

Doors open at 12:30 p.m. and the enjoyable lasts till 9 p.m. each days on Mare Island, the longtime deactivated naval base, 850 Nimitz Ave., Vallejo. Daily tickets vary from $95 basic admission to $150 VIP to $250 Premium VIP. Two-day tickets can be found. For extra info and tickets, go to dockofbayfest.com or ftpresents.com.

Of course, the tiered ticket pricing past basic admission contains a number of perks. They embrace VIP parking, bypassing general-admission strains, a VIP lounge with full-service cocktails, microbrews and wine-tasting, non-public restrooms, front-row seating, chef-prepared meals, and 25% reductions on pageant merchandise.

From San Francisco, to keep away from weekend site visitors, there might be round-trip, high-speed ferry service from the Embarcadero in The City to Mare Island — $36.50 for adults, $27 for teens (5 to 17) and seniors (65 and older). Kids below 5 trip free. For extra info, go to sanfranciscobayferry.com.

SATURDAY’S LINEUP:

Morris Day and the Time, based in Minneapolis in 1981, blends soul and dance music with funk, and rock ‘n’ roll. They helped to create the so-called “Minneapolis sound” within the Nineteen Eighties and are additionally related to Prince. Led by singer-songwriter Morris Day, 65, the band members achieved vital reputation over the a long time with R&B followers, recording tracks comparable to “The Walk,” “Get It Up,” “The Bird,” “Cool,” “Jungle Love,” and “Girl.” Day introduced in September 2022 that may retire after his 2023 tour.

Vallejo’s personal Con Funk Shun, whose reputation started within the Nineteen Seventies, lays down a R&B and funk basis influenced by James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone, the latter one other high-energy, rocking funk band with Vallejo connections. Founded by highschool classmates Louis A. McCall Sr. and Michael Cooper, Con Funk Shun has launched 11 chart-topping albums, and quite a few hit singles, from “Love’s Train” and “Got to be Enough” to “Ffun” and “Baby, I’m Hooked.”

A Scottish funk and R&B band, Average White Band, who compiled a collection of soul and disco hits within the ’70’s and ’80s, is greatest recognized for a million-selling instrumental observe “Pick Up the Pieces”, and their albums “AWB” and “Cut the Cake,” which featured such tunes as “Work to Do,” “A Love of Your Own,” “Person to Person,” “School Boy Crush,” and plenty of others. They rank amongst one probably the most sampled acts in historical past, sampled by the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, TLC, Too Short, Ice Cube, Eric B. & Rakim, Nas, and A Tribe Called Quest.

Cold Blood, that includes Lydia Pense, initially primarily based within the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area, is a long-standing R&B horn funk band that now performs and data below the title Lydia Pense and Cold Blood, as a result of Pense’s reputation because the lead singer. A San Francisco native, Pense, 75, has been in comparison with highly effective belters comparable to Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin.

SUNDAY’S LINEUP:

An R&B soul band, The California Honeydrops fashioned in November 2007, taking part in within the subway stations of Oakland. They have since grow to be a Northern California favourite,  crossing genres from roots and blues to R&B and soul. Led by frontman Lech Wierzynski, their sound is linked by their instrumentation, vocal harmonies, funky New Orleans rhythms on tunes comparable to “When It Was Wrong,” “Don’t Let the Green Grass Fool You,” “All Day, All Night,” and “In My Baby’s Arms,” usually sweetly sung with an air of innocence.

Multiple Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Fantastic Negrito, 55, delivers music that spans blues, R&B, and American roots music. His 2016 album, “The Last Days of Oakland,” gained a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album. In 2019, his album “Please Don’t Be Dead” earned a second Grammy in the identical class. His 2020 album, “Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?” notched a 3rd consecutive Grammy additionally in the identical class. A Great Barrington, Massachusetts, native-born Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, Fantastic Negrito launched one other album final 12 months, “White Jesus Black Problems,” which is being showered with extra favorable opinions. On his tune listing are “An Honest Man,” “Plastic Hamburgers,” “Chocolate Samurai,” and “Night Has Turned To Day.”

Based in San Francisco, The Monophonics are a psychedelic soul band that has launched fashionable singles that embrace “Bang Bang,” “Goliath,” “Promises,” and “Warpaint.” With a basic sound that mixes heavy soul and psych-rock, they’ve constructed a popularity over the previous decade as among the finest reside bands within the nation. Led by singer Kelly Finnigan, the band attracts on their expertise as veteran touring performers and as people rising up within the Bay Area. The band’s most up-to-date launch is “Sage Motel,” the ensemble’s fifth studio album since 2012.

The Altons are a soul-rock group infused with Latin-inspired flavors and rhythms, pushed by danceable grooves and soulful leads. Their albums embrace “In the Meantime,” “Los Altons,” and “The Altons.” Among their singles are “When You Go,” “Tangled Up in You,” and “Soon Enough.”