Parliament-Funkadelic visits Plainfield's Barack Obama Green Charter School

                                       By: Krusher Kronkite
                                                           The Black Urban Times

 PLAINFIELD — Plainfield's Barack Obama Charter Green High School was visited by the funk on Thursday.
Members of the legendary Parliament-Funkadelic stopped by the school to formally dedicate several of the mastertapes of the group's hits to the school. The visit was prompted in part as a tribute to the passing of member Garry Shider, who was diagnosed with with brain and lung cancer in late March and died June 16 at his home in Upper Marlboro, Md.
The Plainfield native was 56.
George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Billy "Bass" Nelson and Ron Ford along with Shider family members Linda Shider, his wife, and Shider brothers Kevin "K-Star" Shider and Tim Shider were among those on hand.
The gift to the school is in keeping with Shider's memory, as he was very much a teacher of the funk to the younger musicians in the band.
"Garry would come in and give the guy singing lessons and guitar lessons," said Clinton, who was wearing a white baseball cap instead of his trademark rainbow braids. "He carried on the legacy of Plainfield and this is his memory and Eddie Hazel's memory."
Hazel, a Plainfield native and band member, died in 1992.
Collins remembered Shider as a unifier.
"He always had a way of bringing people together," Collins said. "When people weren't getting along, he knew how to bring them together. I'm glad to be here to honor and serve in the P-Funk nation."
The tapes — which include "One Nation Under a Groove," "(Not Just) Knee Deep," "Mothership Connection," and "Flashlight" — will serve as inspiration to the students of the school.
"We're endorsed by P-Funk," said school co-founder Steven King. "What more can you want?"