Ron Bykowski RIP?

When I see the face paint it makes me wonder was it Ron who “informed” KISS of this concept. Or was he influenced by them. Or maybe, that energy was in the air for both?

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I saw Ron with his face painted in 1973. Tiki Fulwood also painted his face. Kiss was not well known in 1973. We have to research Kiss’s history to find the real truth. Good question.

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Crazy world of Arthur Brown, seemingly. He was doing face paint in the 60s. I wondered if it was Bowie but the lightning bolt doesn’t arrive til 73.

I had to google Arthur Brown. But damn, this 7" is from 1969!

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It all starts with Screaming Jay Hawkins, apparently.

George in the cosmic slop video is channeling his inner Screaming Jay.

Ron probably wandered into a face painting tent at a festival. It happens. Took me days to get that butterfly off me face when I got caught out the once. Never again though.

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Here’s another image of Ron.

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Here’s some more info on Ron and why he departed from p.funk; originally posted via da classic “One Nation P.Funk Page” Q/A section:

Question:

“Whatever happened to Ron Bykowski? I can’t seem to locate him in any old photos of Funkadelic, either.” --J.E. Pugh

Answer:

Ron Bykowski, “the Gibson-equipped token white devil with a flair for blacknotic trippacautionary vibrations,” apparently departed from the music scene after leaving Funkadelic in 1975 due to a girlfriend who wanted him at home. Unfortunately, not much is know about Ron, Funkadelic’s sole Caucasian guitarist throughout its entire history.

Source:

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Found some more info on Ron Bykowski via old newsgroups… according to ‘Rob Clough’ (Motherpage creator… :sparkles::man_mage::sparkles:) & ‘T-Mad’ Ron was a member of 100Proof (aged in Soul)


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Ron isn’t featured at discogs but some sites mention him in the 2nd line-up (1971-73)


https://www.musicstack.com/records-cds/100+proof+aged+in+soul
https://jazzrocksoul.com/artists/100-proof-aged-in-soul/
https://www.groovecollector.com/100-proof-aged-in-soul-somebody-s-been-sleeping-in-my-bed/release/234/
https://alchetron.com/100-Proof-(Aged-in-Soul)


User271120 mentioned that he is featured at ‘Shes not just another woman’ - I haven’t found any other info on that… but since the single is from 1971, it matches with the 2nd line up I talked above…
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At the Soulful Detroit Forum ‘LG Nilson’ goes deeper into the 2nd Line Up, according to him Anderson and Hunter were replaced with Don Hatcher and Ron Bykowski…

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https://soulfuldetroit.com/archives/3838/4122.html?1056352492

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That’s some great sleuthing there, homes. :metal:

Somebody’s been funkin’ with my funk…I wonder if that’s where Bootsy etc stole that line from?

Man I love Clyde Wilson’s voice.

Hagen and Hatcher were also part of Copeland’s band.

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As the silentboatman says further up

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Yes, the guy in the cape is a very young Michael Hampton. And the promo photo was taken within the first six months of him joining Parliament-Funkadelic.

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This is by far the greatest pic of Parliament-Funkadelic EVER TAKEN!

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Wanted to add to this, as my search brought me here. This lovely guitar came across my bench.
It’s just the dog in me!

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Amazing!! As a P-Funk nerd and a guitar nerd that’s some serious history right there!

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Damn! Thank you for sharing this. As soon as I saw that guit, I thought of this classic. :metal:t4::metal:t4:

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That is so cool! Thanks for sharing!

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Red hot mama and vital.juices is Eddie all the way you can hear Eddie play similar licks on the parliament version years earlier

Think blackbyrd was playing mindgames

He personally knew Eddie and Byrd admitted he tried to copy Eddie’s style