What Happened To The Funk?

I just got turned on to this new site, Pandora where it's super easy to create your own radio station. You tell them an artist or song that you like and they create a radio station based on that. The more you tell them, the more tailored your station is to your tastes. My station is on the right, and it's called LoJazar Radio. Check it out and tell me what you think.

In any case, as I was listening to my new radio station, I came across a new band, or project, or whatever, called Action Figure Party. And man, it was like a party erupted in my ears and slid down into my loins and made my pelvis move in a non-seductive but nonetheless rhythmic manner. It is funky. And James Brown smiled and said it was good.

And I got thinking, whatever happened to the funk? Sure, it had its birth in the 60's, arguably its peak in the 70's, a downturn in the 80's (Prince not withstanding), and a resurgence in the 90's (i.e. Greyboy Allstars, Medeski, Martin & Wood, and the whole Jam Band amorphousness of this era). So you could say with some degree of accuraccy, " that's what happened to funk."

But is it me, or has the energy gone out of it? Maybe it's just that I'm getting older, and I no longer go to a club, wide-eyed, bushy tailed and ready to boogie. Perhaps the homogeneity of the funk leads inevitably to boredom? Or, perhaps, the funk needs a new era. A pappa whose got a brand new bag.

Or maybe, just maybe, I'm just not looking in the right place for the funk.