Ivan "Funkboy" Bodley
"Am I Famous Yet?"
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Book review by Roger Zee (2/28/22)
Took me a long time to finish reading "Am I Famous Yet?" by journeyman bassist and bandleader Ivan "Funkboy" Bodley. Told in a delightfully self-deprecating and humorous fashion, the autobiography depicts in painful detail all the degradations, humiliations, and sheer torture inflicted on a freelance Oldies/Broadway/Wedding musician -- the long hours, endless travel, low pay, and total lack of respect. >:O
Living through much of this myself, I found it harder and harder to understand why Bodley didn't just opt out of the business. I quit for years at a time. He didn't do it for the drugs. He doesn't do any. He didn't do it for the sex. He never pulls women from his gigs. ;)
It perplexed me so much that I finally had to reach out and call him! He proved a congenial gentlemen on the phone and pointed me to the short explanation he provides in the final chapter of the book. He grew up in a divorced family who sent him away to a very strict, Southern, Christian, former military academy where his fellow students taunted him unmercifully for his long hair and odd ways. That all changed when he performed at a pivotal Rock 'n Roll talent show there his senior year. >:O
"In a very real sense, my deciding to play music for a living was basically chasing the applause I heard at the talent show in that high school gymnasium for the rest of my life. It's a search for acceptance." :-*
But why did Bodley wait so long in the book to get to the "good times?" After all, he's performed with over fifty Rock 'n Roll Hall of Famers and twelve Broadway shows. He's played in over 29 countries to audiences of over 80,000 people. :-)
And then it came to me. While dating my future wife, she would continually complain about getting slighted by one or another of her close friends. Exasperated, I would ask her, "Why don't you just unfriend this woman?" Her answer, "I like her so much and we have so much fun." "Doesn't sound like it to me," I replied. "You never talk about any good times." ;-)
And therein lies the rub. People take the fun times for granted only to harp on the bad. And so it goes with Funkboy's tome. As he continues to climb the show business ladder to rarified heights, he still focuses more on the disses. But with his God given talent, boundless energy and persistance, he never gives up or in -- unlike me, LOL! ;-)
I follow Funkboy on Facebook where he cheerfully daily posts his current work including a long-term sub gig with "Jersey Boys" off-Broadway as well as the continuous lavish weddings. So it feels oddly appropriate to end this review with the lyrics from "I Will Survive," as sung by Gloria Gaynor, Bodley's long-time Diva employer. ^_^
"I will survive. Oh, as long as I know how to love, I know I'll stay alive. I've got all my life to live and I've
got all my love to give and I'll survive. I will survive, hey, hey!" One <3
YouTube - "I Thank You/Soul Man" -- Sam Moore Live in Tokyo
YouTube - "Crab Walk" -- Ivan "Funkboy" Bodley
©2022 Roger Zee
