Kool & the Gang still in a funky mood

• Turns out rockers David Lee Roth%2C Kid Rock grew up with their music
• Atypical lineup is working well with the fans
• Kid Rock%27s Rebel Soul Tour kicks off Friday night in D.C.

It seems everyone wants a piece of Kool & the Gang these days.

That's just fine with founder and bassist Robert "Kool" Bell. The band toured with Van Halen last year and this year they're on the road with Kid Rock in the Rebel Soul Tour that starts Friday night in Washington, D.C.

"I was speaking to David Lee Roth (Van Halen vocalist) and he said that coming up in the '70s they used to play our music in the clubs — Funky Stuff, Jungle Boogie — I didn't know that," said Bell. "When I ran into Kid Rock about six, seven years ago, he was talking 'Hey man, I was into some Funky Stuff and Jungle Boogie. I was hanging out in Detroit doing my thing.'

"I said, 'That's wonderful — we didn't know we were getting all that love.' ''

There have been two primary phases of Kool & the Gang's career: They were the funk superstars of the '70s who pumped out hits like Jungle Boogie and Hollywood Swinging, and the suave R&B popsters fronted by former lead singer James "J.T." Taylor who rolled out Top 10 smashes such as Celebration, Ladies Night, Too Hot, Joanna and Cherish.

The Jersey City-born band, whose history goes back into the '60s, used to share the same manager, Gene Redd, as George Clinton, the Plainfield, N.J., founder of Parliament-Funkadelic.

"George came into the office one day and he had a (Mohawk) in five different colors," Bell said. "George, what's happening, man? 'I'm going to the funk — Parliament-Funkadelic, man!' You know what happened after that? The Mothership connected and landed in the stadiums."

Kool & the Gang and Parliament-Funkadelic shared some of the same stages during the big funk '70s. Yet the big tours were not coming Kool & the Gang's way in recent years until Van Halen came calling.

"What happened was the promoters, Live Nation and AEG, they got a little scared," Bell said. "We always asked why we can't go out with Bon Jovi, or how about the (Rolling) Stones. They would say it's not the same market and dah dah dah. Now we went on tour with Van Halen and everybody says, 'What?' ''

It's a cause for Celebration.