My mother named me "Funk" because she said she heard trumpets when I was born. As an infant, she said I would scream and cry when she played goofy kid's music. But if she played a bit of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child", I was off to dreamland.

But that’s all about how a name is given. When do we earn our names? Catholic confirmations are all about making your baptism as a baby a conscious choice as an adult. You choose a name to signify the new era of your life. Many cultures have a similar ceremony for young men and women.

The moment when “Funk” became my chosen middle name -- as well as my given name -- came when I witnessed the revelation that is Rocky Balboa as a young adolescent. James Brown's "Living In America" was the theme song to Rocky IV -- a glorious tale of cold war politics played out in a fight between two boxing rivals. Put simply, Brown’s funk rhythms became the soundtrack for my life. Simultaneously, Rocky’s gritty determinism became the code I would live by.

It was then that the son of an Italian gigalo and an African-American sitcom star found his identity. I am the perfect cross between Rocky and James Brown. With songs like "Runnin' Blind" and "Long Live America" -- even "Flesh & Bone" -- I like to think I propel the world of funk into the 21st century and earn my mother's gracious naming. I add just a bit of "Slo" and a touch of "Pump" to my brand of "Funk". 

Super excited to light up another bookstore with the SloFunkPump experience in Boulder.

I thought it would be appropriate to craft a SloFunkPump Book List for the University of Colorado Boulder tour stop! I have many leather bound bookz + I'm kind of a big deal:

1. "Funk: The Music, The People, + The Rhythm of The One" by Rickey Vincent

Yo, this book has a foreword by George Clinton + it runs it down the funk experience like no other pub. The concept + theory of "The One" changed my effin' life + it can change yours too! :)) Will SloFunkPump one day be an addition to an edition?

2. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" by Walter Benjamin

Yeah, this is a must read to understand how the art experience has changed over time. It really shedz light on the concept of "aura" in art + how our industrial revolution (circa 20th century) stripped aura from art. Ancient art was ceremony. It was experience. As we reproduce it with the printing press (+ now the interwebz), what do we lose? The "unexpected" is key to full experiences + that's what we like to do with SloFunkPump shows! Create some SloFunk-Aura!

3. "Red Rocks: The Concert Years" by G. Brown

Wow, can SloFunkPump book Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre someday? Woooohoooo! What a magical place! Talk about a space that creates authentic artistic experience! We're gonna def do a band field trip to Red Rockz while touring Denver! This book is a great history including the 5-year ban on rock concerts after a riot in the early 70s haha.

I make many of my life decisions — both big and small — by answering the simple question: What would Rocky do?

When I was a freshman in high school and I got bullied by a kid bigger than me, I punched him in the face and made his nose bleed.

Whenever I’m about to insult somebody or give them a piece of my mind, I always lead in with a “Not for nothing…”

I even took one of the rougher looking girls in my high school to senior prom because her name was Adrian.

Naturally, I can often be seen bouncing a rubber ball or punching raw meat, but it wasn’t until a year ago that I thought to myself: How would Rocky write a song?

Now, obviously, the Rocky movies have nothing but solid anthems, but it wasn’t until I was writing the music to “Back The Funk Up” that I imagined myself as Rocky with a guitar.

Up until that point, I felt that being a musician was the one area of my life that having Rocky as a role model was not very relevant.

But, the main riff in “Back The Funk Up” is nothing more than Rocky’s punches put into a rhythm.

It’s official, Rocky now rules all things SloFunkPump.  I can’t wait to see where this leads me!