Proper Utensils
The Best Kept Secret
By Kevin Hammond (Kato)
 
 
 

      When the entertainer Jas. Funk said that Proper Utensils was one of the "best kept secrets in town" and that "the only way you can know where we play is basically by knowing somebody in the band" he was not just making idol conversation. Proper Utensils is one of the best kept secrets in the city--if not the best kept.

       I, myself, can vouch for this fact, since I was one of the members who started with the group back when they took their second stake into the community in 1992. Even then, nobody had any idea that PU had been in the workshop for almost a year accumulating their musical game plan for the industry. Jas. Funk and the Godfava were still "locking-it" with Rare Essence. Little Benny, Michael Muse and I were still "Cat-N and Hat-N" it with The Masters. Roy Battle and Jimmy Jam were still wiggling the bodies over on the Hot-Cold-Sweat part of town. Scott was still "Bedrocking-it" with the Pump Blenders. And, Mike Hughes and Big Al were still tightening their sounds with Chuck Brown and Backyard.

       Even when radio disc jockey Gary Drew slipped PU's go-go version of Teddy Railey's "Rump Shaker" during one of his programs, the masses actually thought they were listening to Little Benny & The Masters. This tape slip would forever change the course of PU's road, not to mention the pleasure it brought people to see Funk and Benny back together on the same stage.

       Now, in the year of Ninety-eight, the only things that have changed in that camp are some of the players. At any given time, these cats can be found any and every where in the city, yet Proper Utensils still remains one of the best kept secrets in town. One minute they are "letting the dogs loose" at the Crossroads. But don't blink too long, because you just may have missed them at Rolands. And just when you think you've gotten their schedule down, they're sneaking right behind you tearing the roof at The Club.

       As their proclaim to fame continues to linger on, Proper Utensils remains in the driver's seat with their go-go flavored rendition of Toto's "Georgy-Porgy." This tune not only expresses the progressive definition created by Toto, but also captivates that go-go ear with a string of horn melodies and strong percussion interludes.

       Also, be on the lookout for these brothers to be slipping more grooves your way under the name of Legends. But shhh...don't tell anybody. It's another one of those secrets I mentioned earlier.