released August 3, 2010

The Cosmic Funk Orchestra was created in 2000 by Cee Knowledge aka Doodlebug of the Grammy Award winning Digable Planets crew. In 2001 they released their first live mixtape from a live performance they did at Stella Blue in Asheville, North Carolina called "Live From the 7th Dimension via satellite"...This mixtape featured the original CFO band; Z-Boy(drums), Mike Alicknavitch(guitars), Gizcard Xavier(keyboards), Frank May(bass), Carl Turner(horns), J-Truth(vocals), Jah-Sun(vocals), Kai Chi(vocals), Indian Black(vocals), Lauretta Gooden(vocals) and Cee Know the Doodlebug...The CFO allstars toured all over the country to enthusiastic crowds gaining a fast building fan base from their energetic live performances...They released their first studio album called " Return of the Cosmic Funk" in 2001 which sold well at the live shows and got significant college radio play...eventually the original CFO band disbanded and Cee Knowledge regrouped with the original vocalists and hired new band members to fullfill tour obligations. After years of constant membership change Cee Knowledge took a hiatus from touring with CFO in 2005 to start a reunion tour with the Digable Planets in Europe featuring the original members Ladybug Mecca, Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler along with Dj Nex Millen who held down the turntable duties on tour. The Digable Planets toured together regularly from 2005 till 2008 and at this time Ladybug Mecca left the group for personal reasons...during this time Cee Knowledge met drummer/recording engineer Gary Dann and he began to record new songs with Cee Knowledge some of which became a part of the independently released project "The Intifadah" (2009) on Japaneese boutique label Root70 Lounge Records (www.root70lounge.com/DOODLEBUGSPECIALINTERVIEW) ...Their musical friendship eventually evolved into the brand new Cosmic Funk Orchestra band after Gary Dann introduced Cee Knowledge to guitarist Adam Charlton who was renamed by Cee Know as Adam Twelve, bassist Mitch Beer and singer Shikha Shanks...along with original CFO members Kai Chi aka Flo Sama Been Rhymin, Reality aka the biographer and Indian Black the CFO Allstars were reborn...In September 2009 the CFO Allstars were invited to perform at their first major gig which was the annual Spaghetti Festival in Virginia...It was a rainy evening in Virginia at an outdoor music festival packed with thousands of hardcore music fans who braved the elements and the mud and packed the park in tents, and RV's...the energy in the air was electric and from the moment we stepped on that stage the crowd showed their appreciation by throwing their hands in the air and screaming back every drug induced chant we threw at them!!! This is the live uncensored recording of what transpired that beautiful stormy night with the good and bad parts so that you who werent lucky enough to be in that park on that September night can feel like you were there and fully experience the Cosmic Funk movement"... Cee Knowledge aka doodlebug



Photos by Laura Desantis-Olsson and Staci Baer