“This is a legitimate organization that’s doing good,” Webb said. “The only downside is new owners came in and bought the building. There was nothing we could do about that but we’re still out there....
“The City of Dayton and local businesses need to understand the impact funk music has had,” Webb continued. “I’m doing everything I can to promote it but we need help. We need financial support. I used my retirement and invested in this. Now, I don’t have a retirement, period, but I keep pushing this forward.”
While the Funk Center was open, it had become a destination spot for funk fans.
“We had people coming from all over the world,” Webb said. “We had a white family come in from Alaska and they brought 16 people with them. They wanted to come to Dayton first, then they were going to Prince’s place and then to Motown. People would make the museum a part of their trip just like Stax or some other place.
“I went to museums around the country to get display cases,” he continued. “The Funk Center staff and myself put them together. When people came down to the brick and mortar, they saw all the work we had done. I’ve heard people say The Funk Center is very unique because of what we were able to do with no money. They said, ‘Just think if you had millions of dollars to do things.’ Then, we lost the space.”
Multi-media approach
The absence of a proper museum forced Webb to push Dayton’s musical history through a variety of ventures. The Funk Center’s flagship media project, the cable access series, “The Funk Chronicles,” launched in 2015. It is hosted by former Dayton mayor Rhine McLin.
“We’ve interviewed a lot of great musicians on ‘The Funk Chronicles’ over the years,” Webb said. “We’ve been winning awards for that show. We’re doing things and making it happen. We’re the number one show on DATV. They brag about us to everyone.”
“The Dayton Scene Radio Show” began in August 2020. Webb and Trent Darby co-host the syndicated program, which is heard in more than 60 markets.
“Really, ‘The Funk Chronicles’ and ‘The Dayton Scene Radio Show’ mirror each other with my staff and what they’re doing,” Webb said. “We chronicle Dayton’s history and the national history of funk music and that’s very important. The radio show is growing and growing. It just got picked up by iHeart Radio because they understand what we’re doing.”
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
The Funk Box
The newest offering from Dayton Funk Center is The Funk Box Experience. It was created with the help of Akron-native Joseph Karadin from Tessellate Studio Group. Karadin, who splits his time between Dayton and New York, is the architect and designer of the custom hardware inside the unit.
“Our educational component, The Funk Box Experience, is a traveling musical exhibit that we take to schools and colleges,” Webb said. “We want to make sure we’re still out in the community and this is a great, interactive way for students to learn about the history of Dayton funk.
“We’re talking to some different local schools about bringing the program in there,” Webb continued. “There is also some interest in what we’re doing from some other schools across the country. It has been a great, great thing.”
Webb and Tessellate partnered with well-known funk scholars like Rickey Vincent and Dr. Scot Brown to create the content for The Funk Box Experience.
“We spent three or four years creating this traveling exhibit,” Webb said. “We wanted something we could take out and have fun with the kids, the parents and other adults. It’s very interactive but it was created during the COVID-era so people can use their hands to control it without touching anything. That’s very important because we want to keep it clean and sanitized.”
Webb has partnered with DaytonLive to present an on-site presentation of The Funk Box Experience at PNC Arts Annex in Dayton in February. This program is targeted toward grades four through 12, or ages 9 and older.
Funk Center film
“The Flight of the Funk Music Hall of Fame,” a documentary about the past, present and future of the museum, was uploaded to The Funk Center’s website in May.
“We made the documentary so we could clear up the misunderstanding over The Funk Center,” Webb said. “We lost the building but people were making up stuff that wasn’t true. We don’t have the brick and mortar but we didn’t go away. We’re still viable in the community as an active nonprofit organization.
“The documentary also shows what the Funk Center could be in 10 years,” he continued. “It lays out the whole mission and what it would look like. There were some great people behind the documentary. They saw what we were doing and wanted to help out.”
Future of funk
While the heyday of funk was the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, the music is still a part of modern pop culture. Songs from the Ohio Players, Lakeside and other funk groups with Dayton ties still appear in commercials, television programs and films. The Gem City’s connection to that enduring legacy should be celebrated. Webb envisions a state-of-the-art Dayton Funk Music Hall of Fame that would be an international tourist attraction that honors the Gem City’s connection to that musical history.
“Funk music is still vital in the Dayton community and the world but we need a lot of support to keep this going,” he said. “As a nonprofit, we take donations. We’re always looking for people to get in there and help. We’re also looking for volunteers, grant writers and board members who want to get out and support the Funk Center.
“It’s a grassroots movement and we’re hoping more people get behind us,” Webb added. “We’re headed forward. We’re not going to fail but we really need help getting over that hump.”
More info: thefunkcenter.org.
Contact this contributing writer at 937-287-6139 or e-mail at donthrasher100@gmail.com.
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