Yesterday, Cincinnati celebrated “Les Claypool Day,” a new honor that was bestowed upon the eccentric and beloved bassist, Les Claypool. Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley declared that June 12th would serve as Les Claypool Day, with the announcement coming ahead of Primus’ show with Mastodon and Jjuujjuu at the nearby PNC Pavilion at Riverbend later in the evening.

A number of official music ambassadors from Cincinnati’s government came out during Claypool’s performance at the PNC Pavilion, bestowing him with the Mayor’s official proclamation for Les Claypool Day. One of the members read it aloud to the crowd before passing it to Les, with highlights noting that

Les Claypool has demonstrated an incredible range of creative and musical output working with a wonderfully diverse range of musicians including Larry LaLonde, Tim Alexander, Trey Anastasio, Bernie Worrell, Sean Lennon, Stewart Copeland, Brian “Brain” Mantia, Jay Lane, Todd Huth, Tim Wright, Jeff Chimenti, Tom Waits, Fishbone, Hank III, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Alex Lifeson and Gov’t Mule, just to name a few.

With another famed bassist, Bootsy Collins, on hand for the special ceremony during the show, after naming additional collaborations, including that he “jammed with Metallica on Isley Brothers tunes,” the speaker went onto explain that Claypool “even served as a guest lecturer and professor for Bootsy Collins’ Funk University.” The proclamation continued,

The City of Cincinnati encourages Mr. Claypool to further engage with Cincinnati artists like Bootsy Collins to help us celebrate our rich musical heritage in King Records, and to make new music in sacred music locations. … The City of Cincinnati is proud to welcome Les Claypool back to the city as he performs as Riverbend with his band Primus, and leaves a standing invitation to always come back.

You can check out a video of Les Claypool receiving his Les Claypool Day honor below, plus check out an Instagram post from Les, which shows him and Bootsy hanging out plus a full picture of the proclamation.

 

[Video: Coy Combs]