"BOW WOW WOW YIPPIE YO YIPPIE YAY," A REGISTERED TRADEMARK

George Clinton sued the band Public Announcement for their use of the phrase "Bow wow wow, yippie yo yippie yay" along with frequent usage of "dog" in thier song "D.O.G. In Me." I'm not a lawsuits fan, but come on, Public Announcement, are you gonna pretend you didn't rip that off from George?

George Clinton's finances are so mired in bad contracts, someone from the music industry tried to explain it to me once, and I have to admit, I didn't follow most of it.

Anyway, George won $89,000 in damages, according to The Tennessean. "Atomic Dog" is probably George's best solo track, I'm sure it is his biggest solo hit. It is from the 1982 album Computer Games. The artwork, at the right, was done by Pedro Bell, who also did the art for a ton of other Clinton albums, including albums by Parliment and Funkadelic. His artwork is as synonomous with the band as Roger Dean's is to Yes. And sadly, Mr. Bell is nearly broke, along with being nearly blind and diabetic. He also has a bunch of other problems too. You can read about it at The Chicago Sun-Times. I'm not a lawyer, and I would have no idea how to write a contract that would ensure that someone who is an important part of a work of art gets paid as long as that art keeps selling.

GEORGE CLINTON'S NEXT ALBUM

I'm a big George Clinton fan. I got into the whole Parliment-Funkadelic thing I guess in the late '80s and early '90s, mainly through hip-hop groups who sampled them (notably Public Enemy - I still remember a special issue of Rolling Stone where then-current artists posed with their influences, and there was a cool picture of Chuck D and Flavor Flav with George), but also The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who cited him as a huge influence, and who used him as a producer on their Freaky Styley album.

Things really took off for him again when Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg started sampling his music in the early '90s, and it was great to see so many younger people showing up at his shows. At the same time, he was starting to get a Deadhead/hippie crowd. The thing about George is, he's done too many albums that were billed as his "comeback," and done too many tours where people thought that Bootsy Collins and Bernie Worrell were back in the band. And his shows are a bit too Deadheady these days, the last few times I went, it was very jammy. I mean, Funkadelic always jammed, as did Parliment, but I felt it was getting a bit unfocused, and I stopped going.

So, Billboard reports that George's next album will have a big guest list, including the Chili Peppers, The RZA and Sly Stone, among others. I wonder if that will do anything for him - if the public will pay attention. I'll check it out for sure

I don't mean to sound down on George. If I was going to describe myself with a mixtape, it would have to include Funkadelic's "Who Says A Funk Band Can't Play Rock?" and "One Nation Under A Groove." The early Funkadelic and Parliment records can improve your life. I hope this new record is good; maybe it will get me to go to George's shows again.