Christmas Day 2006: Saying Goodbye to The Godfather

June 5, 1997: Standing in the middle of what used to be KING RECORDS where James recorded all of his early hits. Exclusive LIGHTWEIGHT LECTERN photo (c) 1997 All Rights Reserved.

Well, Whaddaya say we finally get this blog started? For the past month there has been absolutely nothing on here except for a scant introduction and as I awoke this Christmas morning, 2006, I saw the news, staring me right smack in the face, about the passing of the legendary "Godfather of Soul" James Brown. James was taken to an Atlanta hospital the evening before and had his people telling the press they were sure he would be out very soon in time to perform for at least two previously booked concerts. Sadly, on this Christmas day, 2006, at around 1:45 am, we lost The Godfather. I could keep writing until Christmas of next year, and probably not say everything I needed to say, about how this man's influence shaped modern music everywhere. Those, who are not in the know, simply dismiss James, and his unique creation of "funk" music, as simply being black music which is only listened to by a black audience and they could not be m0re ignorant or wrong in their assessment. His influence hit the rock and roll business just as hard as it did the R & B crowd. I remember a story that actually happened many years ago where The Rolling Stones, I believe, had James on the bill as a warmup act and they were scared to death that James would have the crowd too worn out and tired for Mick Jagger to do anything with. The Rolling Stones had just been discovered in America and, quite simply, could not afford to have the Godfather upstage them and leave them with a totally limp crowd. I hear James' influence in Minneapolis, Minnesota's Prince, in the songs of Michael Jackson, in every Hip Hop artist out there today, and in countless Soul and R & B groups. I hear James in Gospel...I hear James in the Blues...I see James' dance movements in such white boy acts as Boston's J. Geils Band (Peter Wolf), Scotland's Average White Band, David Bowie, and I hear Oakland's "Tower Of Power" horns belting out James' riffs every time they perform. I have not even mentioned how modern Jazz players, especially those that play horns, show me the stylings of James Brown everytime I listen to them too. George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic owe him a debt. So does Sly and The Family Stone, Bootsy Collins and the group "Zapp" (featuring the late Roger Troutman), The Ohio Players, and countless other Soul, R & B, and Funk groups, who continue to record and tour in an effort, as Bootsy says, to "Keep The Funk Alive." James was a giant. A simple man, whose rough shod decisions in his personal life was easy meat for a blood thirsty press to expose, but he was also a consumate showman. He would be singing to the crowd, with the microphone on a mic stand in front of him, and he would allow gravity to drop the stand (with microphone still attached) toward him as he spun around full-circle. Before the stand could hit the floor, James has returned front and center to catch it--never missing a beat or a note along the way. I remember James as a young man whose dance moves were fast and sharp. I remember James as an older man who continued to dance but to a less frenzied pace. If I live to be 100, I will never forget James singing his first hit "Please Please Please" while having his valet place the now infamous cape over his shoulders, while being led offstage, as the audience is led to believe that James is too worn out to continue. Then...he busts out...cape dropping to the floor...to do what James loved to do...give the crowd some more! He once played a concert at a small 1000 seat venue in Cincinnati, Ohio that lasted three hours. He didn't want to quit. It will be impossible for me not to remember James Brown. I will never forget him. I will also never forget June 5, 1997. That was the day my dream of meeting The Godfather came true.