One thing that was apparent at Tuesday night's Howard Theatre VIP Grand Opening Concert and Celebration was that singer George Clinton didn't really get the whole historic preservation thing.
"It's so good to be in the Howard Theatre again, boy do I have memories in this joint, but that's another thing," the founder of p-funk told the crowd. "They turned this place up, now let's funk it up — tear the roof off this mother f---er." Later he played a funky version of "The Roof is on Fire." But after a $29 million dollar renovation of the theater, which at one point had its roof physically sagging toward the floor, we're pretty sure that most of the party's attendees would like to leave the roof right where it is.
But that didn't mean they didn't want to party. Clinton was joined by New Orleans jazz singer, trumpeter and trombonist (and guest star on HBO's "Treme") Trombone Shorty to put on a raucous opening show, complete with a conga line, and at one point, one woman attempting to do "the Jersey Turnpike."
The Howard Theatre, located in D.C.'s Shaw neighborhood, reopened Monday with a ribbon cutting with city officials and will host a star-studded gala Thursday night as well.
