After having recurring dreams about Klaus's coffins, Bonnie realizes her dreams are trying to show her how to kill him. They also lead her to find her estranged mother, Abby. Speaking of awful parents, Bill Forbes returns to town to force Tyler to turn into a wolf to break his sire bond with Klaus. Meanwhile, Damon is focused on proving Alaric's ne…

Caroline is in no mood to celebrate her 18th birthday, so Elena, Bonnie, and Matt try to cheer her up by turning the celebration into the funeral she never got to have. Meanwhile, Damon and Stefan unsurprisingly can't agree on how to deal with Klaus, so Stefan goes rogue and nearly drives Elena off of Wickery Bridge. Elsewhere, Alaric gets closer t…

Now that Stefan has Klaus’s one weakness, his daggered family, he recruits Bonnie to hide the coffins in the haunted witch house. Klaus turns to his usual tactics of stalking, threatening, and murdering to get what he wants. As usual, the Gilbert family is on the receiving end of this and Stefan isn’t willing to help. After witnessing a literal beh…

Stefan, Elena, and Damon scheme to lure Klaus back to Mystic Falls, and there’s no better way than to tell him Mikael is dead. While they wait for Klaus to return, everyone decides to attend homecoming, but the dance is relocated at the last minute to the Lockwood mansion. The teens quickly realize the huge party with a live band was not pulled tog…

Down in the caves, Alaric works on deciphering the runes and figures out that the drawings tell the story of the Originals. Elena decides to go right to the source: Rebekah. After a mean girl power struggle, Rebekah invites Elena over for a fashion show, some snooping, and eventually a bit of storytelling. Through flashbacks, Rebekah tells Elena ho…

We sit down with the legendary guitarist Jesse Johnsons to discuss his time with Prince, Morris Day and The Time, D'Angelo, and new music. Tons of stories and guitar riffs.By Funkatopia

You can't make this shit up. We have a President who is Schrödinger's cat. Is he alive or is he dead? Depends on who you ask. His fate is linked to a random event that may (or may not) occur.

It is official. Demented Joe passes the torch to Cacklin Kamala and so the Lunatic Left has conceded the 2024 Presidential election. The Democrat Party is exploding before your very eyes. Get your popcorn. It is going to be great.

It’s the Night of Illumination and the ghosts are back to celebrate. Damon gets a visit from our absolute fave, Mason Lockwood, or so he assumes, even though the ghosts aren’t visible. So he immediately goes to Bonnie to get her to fix the problem, and her first step is to do a spell that reveals “veiled matter.” As the spell is cast, we see it rea…

They think we are idiots. You are seeing a coverup taking place before your very eyes. In 1963 evil forces were able to pull a fast one. We as a nation were very naive. Today everyone has a high quality camera and recording device and independent journalists are all of us. It is harder to pull off an assassination today. Too many eyes on the crime.…

Special announcements and music news (purple and otherwise)By Funkatopia

The man is hard a coffin nail.

It’s the first day of senior year for the Mystic Falls teens, which means they finally have to go to class and Rebekah gets a chance to show off crazy stunts at cheerleading practice. While the girls are dealing with an assortment of boyfriend problems, Matt is talking to Vicki on the other side, and Tyler is enjoying his new hybrid lifestyle. It a…

We sit down with St. Paul Peterson and Jerry Hubbard to discuss the 40th anniversary of The Time's Ice Cream Castle and share TONS of stories. We discuss how they were brought in to replace Monte Moir, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis who had just been fired from The Time by Prince. We reflect on the insanity of it all as Paul Peterson, Jerry Hubbard …

We sit down with 15 year old guitar phenom Taj Farrant to discuss his journey from his viral worldwide appearance on Australia's Got Talent performing rock melodies and Prince's Purple Rain to sharing the stage with Kingfish, Buddy Guy, Carlos Santana, Orianthe, Kiss, and so many more. Here's his travels so far and what we can expect in the future …

Mr. Christopher sits down with Mark Cardenas from the Ice Cream Castle era of Morris Day and The Time. Mark was brought in with Paul Peterson, and Rocky Harris (who would be replaced by Jerry Hubbard) to take the place of Monte Moir, and also Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis who got trapped in an Atlanta snow storm and missed a show. The new members found…

Mr. Christopher and Jeff Paige discuss the 2024 Prince Celebration at Paisley Park in Minnesota. A coverage of each day, the events, the music, the challenges, and more.By Funkatopia

To pretend like everything is normal, Caroline forces everyone to participate in senior prank night, but the night immediately takes a turn when Klaus arrives. Desperate to make a hybrid, Klaus feeds Tyler his blood, snaps his neck, gives Bonnie twenty minutes to figure out how to save him, and compels Stefan to feed on Elena when the clock runs ou…

We celebrate 40 years of Purple Rain on the day it was officially released. We're joined by Andrea Swensson (Prince and Purple Rain: 40 Years) and Duane Tudahl (Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions, 1983-1984) to discuss all things Purple Rain including talking about each track on Prince's masterpiece.…

While looking for the Original witch’s necklace for Klaus, Gloria gets glimpses of Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie getting ready for the Founder’s Cookout. She of course has no idea who the girls are, but unfortunately, the images are enough for her to realize that Stefan is hiding something, so she decides to use some “old school voodoo” (torture) to …

We welcome a TREASURE TROVE of purple professionals for the ultimate Purple Rain Round Table with Jerome Benton, Craig Rice, Gilbert Davison, Hucky Austin, Damon Dickson, and surprise guest Alan Leeds. It's a wealth of purple stories on Purple Rain including deleted rape scenes, insanity at the Purple Rain premiere, money splurging, and tons of lau…

We discuss Prince birthday events in Texas and Minnesota welcoming guests Gilbert Davison, Damon Dickson, Craig Alexander, and a video from BrownMark. PLUS, we welcome DuJuan Elliott of the Blackshires to share his brand new single No Grease and reminisce a bit with Mr. Christopher.By Funkatopia

To get in touch with a witch that can help with the hybrid plan, Klaus brings Stefan to Chicago, which also happens to be where Stefan spent most of his ripper days. At the witch’s bar, Gloria’s, Stefan finds a photograph of him and his bestie from the 1920s. Through 20s flashbacks, we see why Klaus wanted Stefan to come along with him in the first…

With Klaus and his partner-in-crime off to the Smoky Mountains to create more hybrids, Elena, Alaric, and Damon go on a road trip to try to bring Stefan home. Meanwhile, in Mystic Falls, Jeremy asks Matt to help him with a seance to contact Vicki. Tyler spends his day looking for Caroline after she snuck out right after their hookup but eventually …

We discuss more purple news including new Celebration details, and a visit from Mayte. PLUS we unbox Andrea Swensson's new book (which doesn't make for great audio, but we did it!).By Funkatopia

Months have passed since Stefan went off with Klaus, and it’s now Elena’s 18th birthday. That of course means Caroline is going to throw her a party, even though all Elena wants is to know that Stefan is alive. And while Elena has spent all summer trying to figure out how to get Stefan to come home, Caroline and Tyler have become besties, Jeremy is…

Because we love you guys so much and wish we could make you all cohosts, we decided to turn the mic over to you and answer all of your questions about The Vampire Diaries! Your questions covered everything from whether we think Damon and Liz would have been a good ship to what we would change about the ending of the show to what we think of Bonnie’…

Your latest dose of purple news. Construction near Paisley Park, the demolition of Chanhassen Cinema, Prince's birthday weekend, bowling with Mayte, and more!By Funkatopia

We sit down with a beautiful vocalist and muse, Marva King. Her voice has supported renowned artists including Prince, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, George Howard, Phil Collins, Chaka Khan, Prince, Whitney Houston, Yolanda Adams, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Michael McDonald, Gap Band, Anita Baker, Ron…

As promised, we’re finally devoting an entire episode to the humanity switch. We look at all of the reasons why characters like Stefan, Damon, and Enzo turn their emotions off and how they eventually get them back on. We also realized that so many iconic moments come from a vampire’s no humanity arc, like Damon killing Matt to get Elena to turn it …

For every character there is to love on The Vampire Diaries, there are a few to hate. While the list mostly includes annoying villains, useless supernaturals, and guest stars there are two characters in the main cast that are well known for annoying the fan base. You already know we’re talking about Matt Donovan and Elena Gilbert. But is Matt hated…

Before we get into Season 3 in a few weeks, we of course have to recap Season 2! This week, we’re looking back at the main characters, the villains, and all of the great Season 2 side characters. We’re also going to talk about all of the highs of the season, like best performances, favorite songs, best three episode run, and favorite Delena and Ste…

Clueless young elites are chanting for the destruction of the United States and no one bats an eye. Lets discuss how this is strategic and planned. Nothing happens by accident. How about we deport everyone who is here on a visa that is caught protesting the very sponsor of their free ride? Where is Gavin and when is he going to make his move? Barry…

Put on your PJs, grab your Brothers Bond Bourbon or your Fresh Vine Wine, and get ready to slumber it with the Rippah Girls! This week, we're having a girls night and playing TVD Trivia hosted by Producer Shea. With 90 questions created by Shea and 10 listener-submitted questions, we'll see who really knows The Vampire Diaries the best. You can eve…

We discuss all of the details we have for the Prince Celebration in June 20-24, 2024 including events, hotels, flights, and more. PLUS we welcome Mayte Garcia (1:20:25) to chat about the Live4Love Charities Bowling event on June 6, and also Michael Bland (1:52:30) with a post 2gether concert review and feedback on their historic concert where he jo…

It’s officially been one year of The Rippah Diaries, or at least it will be on April 20th. Close enough for us. This week, we’re talking about the past year of the pod, what inspired us to get started, and some of our opinions that have changed with this rewatch of Season One and Two. We’re also going to turn the mic over to you guys and read some …

We interview the legendary Jill Jones to not only discuss her times with Prince, but also visit stories of Teena Marie, being a member of the Gordy family, her new album The London Sessions, the memories it stirred up, and so much more. We've waited forever for this special guest. Enjoy.By Funkatopia

We sit down with sound engineer Scottie Baldwin that has run sound for Prince, Lady Gaga, Madonna, and so many more. Listen to the stories and challenges of working with some of the greatest artists of our timeBy Funkatopia

With the werewolf bite getting worse, Damon is ready to give up, but of course, Stefan can’t help but try to save him. The spirits in the old witch house reveal that Klaus will have the cure, so Stefan goes to strike a bargain while Alaric watches a sickly Damon. All goes well until Sheriff Forbes shows up with absolutely no plan and lets Damon out…

Well, we are still here. Eclipse be damned. The MSM tried desperately to make us all believe that the end was near. I even heard someone on "The View" blame the eclipse on climate change. You can’t make this shite up. I am on the road and making a podcast from the seat of an automobile…. An internal combustion driven vehicle. I know, I am so 20th c…

Now that Jenna has woken up, Elena explains to her that she’s in transition and Jenna realizes that she’s the vampire Klaus plans to sacrifice with the doppelgänger. With the addition of Jules as the werewolf, Klaus has all three goddesses needed to begin the ritual. With the sacrifice underway, Bonnie and Jeremy spend most of the night looking for…

We sit down with Lawrence L*A*W Worrell (Amy Winehouse, Rick James, Chaka Khan) and Martin Kember (AZ-1, Color Me Badd) to talk about their Prince-centric performances and their undeniable music resumes.By Funkatopia

It’s finally the full moon, which means Klaus is planning to break the sun and moon curse tonight. Elena and Stefan are willing to go along with the sacrifice and hope that Elijah’s magical elixir will bring Elena back to life, but Damon is not on board with that plan. In classic Damon fashion, he lashes out and feeds Elena his blood, almost guaran…

The early bird sale was released for Celebration 2024 at Prince's Paisley Park and the date and talent was also announced which include The Revolution, New Power Generation, and Morris Day with special guests. We talk about the pricing, the acts playing, and all that we know so far.By Funkatopia

On the iconic date of 3/19, we get the blessing of a 2nd visit from Michael Bland and Sonny T to answer more deep probing questions. And we also welcome special guest BrownMark as he checks in to let us know about his special Houston event with Prince Day Houston and Craig Alexander.By Funkatopia

We sit down with Rick James' Stone City Band including Levi Ruffin, Tom McDermott, Nathaniel Hughes, and Lanise Hughes. We debunk the rumors about Prince and Rick James working together including stolen keyboards, forced drinking, and so much more. It's a funk filled fiesta.Note: There were some audio issues with Levi's connection that caused echoe…

Elena and the newly undaggered Elijah spend the day together so Elena can prove she’s trustworthy and so Elijah can tell her about the last time Klaus tried to break the sun and moon curse in the 1400s. Through flashbacks, Elijah tells the story of how he and Klaus met Katherine, and he makes three huge reveals about Klaus and the curse. We also se…

What is going on? Am I missing something? Why do I feel I am living in a dream? Do you ever ask yourself these questions? Because I do every single day. I want to know why people do not do what is right. Why do the powers that be seem to do the exact opposite of what you and I would do? Is it all due to the corruption that exists in the world today…

It’s time for another decade dance: the 60s. Klaus continues to possess Alaric’s body, and with help from Katherine, he is ready to act as our favorite history teacher and taunt Elena. As always, Elena tries to pretend everything is normal, which of course means she and Bonnie and Stefan are finally going to school. Klaus, teaching history as Alari…

After stopping by the Gilbert house to ruin Jenna and Alaric’s relationship, Isobel convinces John that she’s trying to help Elena. John is blinded by love and believes her, but Elena and Stefan are skeptical. Rightfully so, because Isobel immediately meets up with Katherine to tell her that she made a deal with Klaus to save Katherine’s life in ex…