Last week, we posted photos from the Japanese portion of Egon and Madlib’s 2013 Asian Tour. Here are the photos from China: where the only records to be found are in a plastic recycling plant two hours south of Shanghai; where the smog is so hazy it hurts to breathe; where – in Chengdu, in the heart of Szechuan – the chicken heart and stomach dish is so spicy hurts to eat (but the rabbit, blackened with Szechuan peppercorns, is just fine); where – in Beijing, of course – Peking Duck is better than anywhere; where – at Shelter, in Shanghai – there exists one of the current best nightclubs in the world, where hundreds of Chinese folks and a smattering of ex-pats proved they could get down with all of the psychedelic sounds that you’d expect at a Madlib Medicine Show tour stop.

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We’re sad to report the passing of Naptown funk legend Billy Ball, whose three funk masterpieces “Tighten Up Tighter,” (on King Records) “Sissy Walk” and “Popcorn ’69” (on his self-funded Apollo) were three of the first licenses that Egon brokered in the late 90s. Ball, whose tenure with his ever-changing ensemble The Upsetters lasted from the mid-60s until his death, was one of the first artists lionized in the Deep Funk scene of the early to mid 90s. But when Egon tracked him down in an Indianapolis dive bar where he was playing with long term guitarist Clint Jones (he the one behind the every present wah-wah that made Ball’s Apollo release so in demand, and also sadly deceased), a patron made it a point to question why “anyone would care about this damn Chuck E. Cheese music.”

Well, the answer is now obvious, as Ball’s music has outlasted the Deep Funk fad: his Apollo release still commands upwards of $4000 in private sales and at auction and is regarded as one of the finest 45s in the independent funk canon. Egon included “Tighten Up Tighter” on his Stones Throw anthology The Funky 16 Corners; both sides of Ball’s Apollo release can be found on our Soul 7 box set.

Thanks to Jason Yoder, who visited Ball at his home in the mid 2000s and archived the early-70s photo you see above.

Link: Billy Ball obituary in Indianapolis’s Nuvo Magazine
Download: “Sissy Walk”
More: Interviews with Billy Ball and Clint Jones by Egon and Jason Yoder

As promised last week, here are some photos from the ground in Osaka, Japan, as Egon and Madlib ready to don surgical masks and fly to polluted Beijing. Three dates: Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai.

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Egon leaves today for a two week Asian tour with Madlib: three dates in Japan and three dates in Asia. While there’s little chance of finding any of the groovy psychedelic records from the farther reaches of the old Chinese empire while in Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu, there’s a good chance of a report back of funky finds from the ground in Tokyo. You saw what happened last time.

Photos to come.

Feb. 15: Tokyo at Sound Museum Vision
Feb. 16: Nagoya at Mago “Audi”
Feb. 17: Osaka at Grand Café
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Feb. 21: Beijing at Yugongyishan, Beijing, Dongcheng district, Zhang Zizhong Road 3-2.
Feb. 22: Chengdu at Chengdu East Telecast Hall, East Music park, Jianshezhi Road, Chenghua District.
Feb. 23: Shanghai at The Shelter, 5 Yongfu Road.

Egon’s long dormant Funk Archaeology series at NPR has moved to Red Bull Music Academy’s website. This series will continue as the NPR series did: in monthly installments that focus on hard to find, hard to define and, naturally, hard to resist music from the late 60s through the present day.

First up is “From Russia, With Funk,” a journey with Madlib and J.Rocc through the Motherland in search of psychedelic funk gems amidst the hundreds of thousands of records issued by the Soviet-label Melodiya from the 50s through the 90s. With a little help from two Russian record collecting double agents, of course.

And, as usual, we’re offering an exclusive download here: Aleksandr Zatsepin’s “Volki Gonyat Olenya” (“Wolves Chase Deer”) from the OST Between Sky And Earth, circa 1977, featuring the ubiquitous Russian funk-jazz-rock ensemble Ariel.

The New Series: From Russia, With Funk – Egon’s Funk Archaeology at Red Bull Music Academy.
The Old Series: Egon’s Funk Archaeology at NPR.
Download: Aleksandr Zatsepin with Ariel: “Wolves Chase Deer.”