This sucks

R.I.P Catfish

Thanks for the memories.

May the Force Be With You

Another on gone...........ur contribution will be sadly missed Catfish. Funk, Funk ON!!

RIP Phelps "Catfish" Collins

One of my first cratedigs was when this caught my attention :

With not too much cash in my pocket i had to make a choice which records to buy. I had to leave this one

in the crates until a later dig. But i remember that backleeve and Catfish his smile staying in my memory.

Have a peaceful journey to the land of funk Phelps, and much hugs to your family and friends

[Edited 8/7/10 12:51pm]

Singingboy said:

No way. He played guitar on 'Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine' as well as numerous Parliament-Funkadelic songs ('Flashlight' anyone?) songs. In my mind that makes him among the great rhythm guitarists on those songs alone.

Along with the passing of Garry Schider, this is making for a bad year for awesome guitarists.

Wow....I loved the guitar on Flashlight.

[Edited 8/7/10 21:15pm]

Nice tribute.

That man was a master at the rhythm guitar.

God bless him. They just don't make 'em any funkier than Catfish.

His passing is a tremendous loss to funkaholics worldwide.

Timmy84 said:

Nice tribute.

That man was a master at the rhythm guitar.

RIP

Timmy84 said:

Dude wilded out on the end of this one.

R.I.P.

Oh my goodness

Looks like heaven just got a little funkier.... R.I.P.

[img:$uid]http://i36.tinypic.com/2uhxo3k.jpg[/img:$uid]

"Catfish" performing with James Brown in 1971.

Pic: RS

[Edited 8/9/10 23:52pm]

Identity said:

[img:$uid]http://imgur.com/k2lnG.jpg[/img:$uid]

"Catfish" performing with James Brown in 1971.

Pic: RS

Picture ain't showed up.

[img:$uid]http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/85365319.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF8789215ABF3343C02EA5486A72F9BFD1BEE49C86539D751637A24B61F130C2805A66C5[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xc/85365320.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF8789215ABF3343C02EA548054A100E2C9D688F86539D751637A24BEA67689E4AB7E5EA[/img:$uid]

[Edited 8/9/10 23:50pm]

From RollingStone.com:

Phelps "Catfish" Collins, the legendary funk guitarist who played with James Brown and Parliament/Funkadelic, died Saturday in Cincinnati after a battle with cancer. He was 66. "My world will never be the same without him," said his brother Bootsy Collins in a statement. "Be happy for him, he certainly is now and always has been the happiest young fellow I ever met on this planet."

Growing up in Cincinnati, Catfish inspired Bootsy to outfit an old guitar with bass strings, helping to define Bootsy’s signature funk sound. Catfish also introduced his brother to the music of Indiana blues guitarist Lonnie Mack.

The siblings first played together in the Pacemakers, a funk act, in 1968. One year later, James Brown recruited them to join the original lineup of the J.B.'s, Brown's touring band. Catfish's clean, funky strumming was integral to Brown classics like "Super Bad," "Get Up," "Soul Power," and "Give It Up." "It was like playing a big school with James [as the teacher], like psychotic bump school, only deeper," Bootsy told Rolling Stone in 1978.

When the original J.B.'s split from Brown in 1971, the Collins brothers joined Parliament-Funkadelic, playing on albums like 1972's classic America Eats Its Young. (Catfish also played in Bootsy's side project, Bootsy's Rubber Band.) In 1983, Catfish split from Funkadelic, remaining mostly quiet until 2007, when he contributed guitar to the Superbad soundtrack.

Collins' death comes just one month after fellow Parliament-Funkadelic guitarist Garry Shider.

[Edited 8/10/10 0:20am]

Timmy84 said:

Identity said:

[img:$uid]http://imgur.com/k2lnG.jpg[/img:$uid]

"Catfish" performing with James Brown in 1971.

Pic: RS

Picture ain't showed up.

RIP "Catfish"

Man this aint been a good year for the Funk pioneers.

But they're in a much better place.

The following obituary was written by Bootsy Collins for his brother......

"Thank you all for your thoughts and prayer's,

Catfish was a different kind of human being, he only wanted love and peace in every situation. He never wanted people to feel sorry for him, he believed in people working and paying there own way in life. Catfish was a party man all the way to his passing.

Catfish was nothing but love in the flesh, he never believed in religion, but he would give you the shirt off his back if it would help save your life.

As for his life on this earth, he lived it the way he wanted to and I can say I truly respect him for that, he was a true brother and he loved in a very peculiar way. He fought hard for me to make it and that is a true full blooded brother. He did not consider himself a Christian, Muslim, Buddhaist, or whatever name you placed on God, Catfish was just simply all of himself.

The Catfish was no joke, he severed himself and people with all that he had never taking what did not belong to him. He could never fake the funk, he always told you what and how he felt about anything, his life was in his hands and nobody else's.

Catfish, was the only one on this planet that knew me inside out, he was my brother, my father and most of all my best friend. My world will never be the same without him, he was as close to me as my mother and you would think no one could ever be that close.

The Catfish was so amazing with his out look on life, to me he will always be bigger than life, and because life to him was only a means to connect physically with people and he was the best at this as if he Created himself, that is how different he was to me than anybody I have ever known.

He made everybody feel good, but then he would strike you down if you got out of line or tried to slick or trick somebody in his presence, he did not like that.

We saw so much of that growing up, that he hated people playing games and those kinds of tricks on people that affected their life and lively hood.

He hated the trickery, the lies and the over all set up of how the system was set up to keep the real workers struggling and never able to make ends meet.

He knew that we as the biggest and the best Nation on earth that we could very easily make things much better in healthcare and the educational systems for the good of it's people. Why and how does greed become more important than life itself.
He would say why would I want to be a Christian or any other religion when all we do is stab each other in the back while the rich keep getting richer and the poor continue to get poorer by turning on themselves to get peanuts.

It was a few different characters that would show up with the Catfish and depending on the situation you may get:
Catfish the Joker, Catfish the Clown, or Catfish the Player/Lover.
The ladies really liked all three until they started to get too serious with the Catfish and then that is when he turned into:

{The Wrath of the Catfish.}

Catfish would always say, when I go I don't want anybody preaching or saying a prayer over me and crying, just celebrate my life the way I celebrated my life, having fun and bringing the joy.

I want to have a live band, Comedians, Dancers, Singers, Poets, and people that don't get a chance to be heard or seen on stage, I want to be roasted, toasted and people drinking and having a good time in my name no other name but " The Catfish".

That is what we are going to do on Sept 4th. 8pm. at the Madison theater 730 Madison Ave Covington Ky 859-491-2444, this was the last place that Catfish played live here in the Cincinnati area for the James Brown tribute and this is where we will party like rock star's for {The Catfish}.

Right now this is all the information I can give you, but go to www.bootsycollins.com in a week from 8-7-10 and we will have up more details.

You can also email: Kim Seay at: kseayable@gmail.com or call her at: 513-293-3805 for more details.

The Catfish says be happy for him, he did with life what most of us could only dream about, he said the American Dream ain't got nothing on "The Un-domesticated Catfish Dream", he truly had fun with it.

We will also be introducing (The Catfish Musicians fund) which is a part of Bootsy Collins Foundation which receives donations for musician's that fall on hard times and can not afford a decent burial, Catfish had a love for his fellow musicians so we want to start this for him as well.

More details on this in the days to come, contact Lori Sanfilippo at lori.sanfilippo@gmail.com

Again be happy for him, he certainly is now and always has been the happiest young fella I ever met on this planet. Thank you all for your love and support, but for now I have got to get my party on for the Catfish and the people!

Bootsy baby!!!"

HuMpThAnG said:

The following obituary was written by Bootsy Collins for his brother......

What a nice tribute. I guess no one knew {The Catfish} like Bootsy.

That was a beautiful, honest, funny, heartfelt eulogy for The Catfish by Bootsy.

In honor tonight I will be playing selected tracks from

Funkadelic- America It's Eat's Young- for Starchild and The Catfish!

Bootsy's Rubber Band- various cuts

Superbad soundtrack- original tracks- i believe this was one of the last things he recorded

For those that love The Catfish, let's highlight some key tracks or albums for those who want to know more...I've mentioned a few...continue