The photo above was taken at last year’s Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival here in Seattle.  The trademark star bass that funk legend, William “Bootsy” Collins is holding onto actually lights up, a feature that he showcased in his set during a brief segment where the lights were cut for that very purpose.  If you think that his glittery zebra outfit is intense, then you should have caught his sequined Wizard of Oz-style Emerald City robe and matching extra-tall, fringe-lined hat getup, which he removed to reveal a custom 12th Man Seahawks jersey with the name “BOOTSY” embroidered across the back — after walking through the full length of the parted crowd, he returned to the stage to auction it off for charity, which resulted in local celebrity/posterior girth enthusiast, Sir Mix-A-Lot coming away with it.  The whole fucking show was nuts.  As you might correctly assume of someone with Bootsy’s notoriety and status in his profession (and beyond) the frontman has been able to surround himself with a crack team of the finest musicians available to back him in his respectably sized ensemble, The Rubber Band.  At the show, the current incarnation of the group entered prior to their leader and, lining up across the front of the stage, slowly removed the helmets from the elaborate matching astronaut suits that they were each decked out in, in unison.  Even when a tech had to scramble out to fix a wire or adjust a pedal mid-show, they were maintaining the continuity by donning NASA flight suits.  They presented more than just a concert; this was a production.  There were a number of impressive acts over the labor day weekend, but not a single one was more impressive than Bootsy.

Collins comes from a background that includes working with both James Brown, as a member of the original JB’s, and shortly thereafter, as one of the most recognizable and integral players in Parliament Funkadelic — not to mention a prolific solo career and his more recent work with projects like Praxis (Buckethead, Bernie Worrell, Bill Laswell, and Brain).  Coming up in those environments, it’s clear why the showmanship, precision, and attention to detail are still such an important aspects of his shows.  Bootsy is a member of the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame whose name is synonymous with the word “funk,” itself; his influence on both the genre and the instrument that he mans cannot be overstated.

Getting my chance to see him perform live, felt as if my life was just a little bit more complete; I could finally check that one off of my list, and he actually surpassed my expectations.  This month on Monday, June 22nd, those in the Seattle area will have the opportunity to catch Bootsy’s Rubber Band up close in the fairly intimate environment of the Neptune Theatre.  Even better, thanks to our friends at STG Presents, one of you has the opportunity to win a pair of tickets to the show and attend for free.

[CLICK HERE to buy tickets]

THE CONTEST / GIVEAWAY:

*1 Winner will receive a pair of tickets to the following performance :

BOOTSY’S RUBBER BAND
Netpune Theatre – Seattle, Wa
Monday, June 22nd, 2015 @ 8pm

HOW TO ENTER

This giveaway will center around the time that Bootsy and George Clinton were allegedly visited by a UFO

https://soundcloud.com/siriusxmmusic/george-clinton-bootsy-collins-get-abducted-by-aliens

#1

I originally heard about the story of Bootsy and Parliament frontman, George Clinton’s encounter with an alien spacecraft well over a decade ago, when I was watching some sort of Behind The Music-style music documentary, where each of them recounted their collective experience in independent interviews.  While I can’t locate that original footage now, there are a number of posts addressing it across the web, including the Sirius radio interview clip with Clinton above.  The basic idea is that they were in a car together when the “light” came up on them.  The end result was about half of their day disappearing, leaving them with absolutely no recollection of what happened to that missing chunk of time.

Your job as the entrant is to speculate about what happened to George and Bootsy during those missing hours.  [Unless, of course, you already know.  In that case, just tell us.]

#2

Post your answer in the comment section below.

#3)

There is no part 3. That’s all there is to the contest. It’s pretty easy… but you should probably read the fine print.

The Fine Print:

All entries must be received by Thursday, June 18th, 2015 at 11:59pm to be eligible.

You can enter as many times as you want, but use a valid email so that we can contact you.

If you sign in with Facebook, make sure that your account can accept a message from us.

Winner will be chosen arbitrarily, based on our personal “favorite.”

If you are not sure that you will be able to attend the show, do not enter!  You’d be surprised how often that shit happens and we don’t want these going to waste.

If we are unable to contact the winner in a reasonable amount of time, a new winner will be chosen. Good luck!