James Brown Olympia 1966

Enjoy an early backstage view of Mr. Brown transition from a Motown-style presentation to the "densely syncopated" funk-style that became his signature and his gift to the world.

James "Godfather of Soul" Brown: R. I. P.

James Brown has thrown off his cape for the last time. Last Friday, a private funeral at Carpentersville Baptist Church in North Augusta, South Carolina clothed James Brown, instead, in the loving memories of 8000 or more. Their memories, and ours, will carry Mr. Brown's spirit home.

The Rev. Al Sharpton (whose connections to the Godfather of Soul went much further back than most of us know) eulogized, "Nobody started lower and went higher than James Brown did." For James Brown had a 'rags to riches'-story that needs to be told; particularly to those young people who look out on the horizon and see only all that limits them.

Imagine that...James Brown, "born in a one-room shack in Barnwell, S.C. and raised in Augusta by an aunt who ran a brothel,...went on to sell millions of records, transforming popular music with a densely syncopated funk style widely credited as being part of the foundation of hip-hop" (Ben Sasario, "Augusta's Turn to Say Goodbye," New York Times, 31 December 2006).

In fact, Mr. Brown should be credited as well, with the strong entrepreneurial spirit that infuses the world of black entertainment today. Here was, perhaps, the first African-American musical talent who decided to form an independent record label and produce his own concerts.

Think about it. We owe to him more than we know.

I'm also struck by how the 'private" ceremony just outside of Augusta, GA stands in stark contrast to the wake the Apollo Theatre staged so the public would have an opportunity to pay 'final respects.'

There, on a theatrically-lit stage, lay the cold, dead body of James Brown; the neon-red sign, marking the Apollo, trimmed in gold, situated to-the-right-of center--precisely where men like to remember all that they have erected. Let's just say, it left a clear impression that, even in death, Mr. Brown remains a potent force indeed.

There's only one thing that continues to confuse me, however: Why, in both cases, was Al Sharpton so prominently on display?

Q: How did "Old Willy Dinger"--the three-year old, ordained minister who toured with Mahalia Jackson and otherwise lived "a comfortable life in Queens"--come to know a poor kid from skids in Augusta, GA?

Look for future vids to explore this question.

Ruby Dee Introduces Daniel Beaty

Be Heard: Tupac Changed My Life

Change life by engaging it!

Charlie Brown Kwanzaa

Here we go again.... Laugh? or Cry?

Just another "inconvenient truth?" Or a "useful fiction?"

Whazzup with Dat?

Elsewhere

I posed,

as a questION;

a chALLenge

to distinguish be/twEEn

raCisM

cH Au V A Nism

cynicism.

Here A N D noW, all i ask is that you listen

to as much of the minstrelsy

embedded in "Charlie Brown Kwanzaa"

(courtesy of ebaumsworld and mostoffensivevideo, by way of YouTube)

as YOu can stAnD;

& U might BEgin 2 see,

and reCOGnize just how much of

this kind of 'enter/tainment'

(deconstruct Dat, why don't ya?)

is MARK/ETed 2 us.

a n d YOU kNOw w h a t ?

wE

BUY

i t !

So now, whazzup with DAT?