Sat. Oct. 13

     You might know him as Bootsy, Bootzilla or Casper the Funky Ghost. He’s just about always wearing star-shaped sunglasses and in the song “Bootzilla” he calls himself a “rhinestone rock star monster of a doll.” A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he’s collaborated with everyone from Snoop Doggcq to Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison to Fatboy Slimcq the late bluegrass guitarist Doc Watson.
      He’s bassist-singer William Earl “Bootsy” Collins and if anyone knows funk, it’s him. Last year, Bootsy, now 60, released a popping CD, “The Funk Capital of the World.” Where exactly, the Cincinnati-born (and still-based) Bootsy was asked, is the funk capital of the world?
     “The funk capital of the world is wherever you are,” said Bootsy, in an e-mail exchange from Tokyo. “Funk is having 40 muthas in one room with no air conditioning and enjoying every minute.”
     Or perhaps a couple of thousand muthas, which could be the case Saturday October 13 when Bootsy and company jam at the Wilbur Theatre.
     Bootsy has been funking up the nation since he was playing in James Brown’s band in 1970. A couple of years later he started doing it with George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic and then his own offshoot, Bootsy’s Rubber Band.           
    “James Brown, he was a tough enforcer,” Bootsy said. “Shoes weren't shined, that was a fine! Missed a note, that was a fine! To this day I appreciate him for what he stood for. He would say, ‘I just call out the numbers and you play them - “Cold Sweat,” Bam! “I Feel Good,” Bam!’ He motivated me to do better and to go after it harder. We parted on friendly terms. Mr. Brown was a father figure to me then and now. It was a serious type of discipline that I needed at the time but once I got with George, the sky was the limit. George and P-Funk gave me the chance to be free.“

      Bootsy is currently on the Bootsy Collins Unity Funk Tour, playing music from his vast catalog, including “I'd Rather Be With You’ to “Wind Me Up,” “Munchies for Your Love” and “Stretchin' Out.” Expect a mélange of hard funk, psychedelia, crooning ballads, sassy songs about the ladies and musings about extraterrestrials. Bootsy will play “space bass,” which he described as “what you feel between the strings, between the licks.  Wherever it may take you, it's always good, because it is your ride.”
     Bootsy’s group is a dozen people strong, including ex-P-Funk keyboardist extraordinaire Bernie Worrell, three singers and a go-go dancer.
      What makes him want to keep kicking it out live?
    “What keeps me coming back? Spreading hope, like dope!,” Bootsy said. “The reason I’m on tour now is I spent two years in the studio producing ‘The Funk Capital of the World.’ I arrived at a kind of Zen-like balance that inspired me to produce it. The secret that I learned was that you cannot tell the universe what to do.  When the universe is ready it will tell you and then you got to be ready. 
       “We went on tour to promote it and while out I realized just how much I missed my fans and seeing their love for the music.”
      Two years ago, Bootsy began curating an on-line bass study course called Funk U, with help from guest professors like Les Claypool, Stanley Clarke, Larry Graham and Victor Wooten. “Funk is more vital now than ever,” Bootsy said. “Hip-hop gave birth to a whole new generation of Funkateers.  It's fun to watch them explore and learn more and more about the funk. It motivates me, seeing other people have a blast and giving the kids a chance to do what they do without criticism.”

Tickets: $29. Doors at 7.

246 Tremont St., 617-248-9700 www.thewilbur.com