I remember in '67-'68, a kid strutting down our street singing 'I'm black and I'm proud'

[bigtree]

at the top of his lungs . . .

I was pretty young and naive, and I thought he was saying, 'I'm black and I'm brown'. I thought, "Yeah, that's me." Black and brown.

James Brown had a positive vision for his community and the world. It was all about peace and love. It was about being gentle with ourselves when we're able, like he was with us. I just happened to be playing the hell out of his 'Funky Christmas' cd this weekend when I heard the news of his death. Pick it up, if you can. One track from the '70 talked about the millions of peace signs . . . another spoke of uniting the world. It's about time.

Thanks for caring James.


from a Rolling Stone interview November 5, 1998:

"I want to be remembered as a man that loves so hard, loved people so hard, some times it looked like in the early days it was madness. It was just concern. I've never seen a person I didn't love. I've seen a lot of people I don't like their ways, but if they're human beings people will make mistakes. I've been there."

(Rolling Stone Interview November 5, 1998)


. . . when he was least happy:

"Least happy? Well. After Dr King's death. After Robert Kennedy's death. With the wars that we've got going on, with people losing their life. I don't want to defend the politics but I'd like to defend their lives. Their lives are beyond politics. Young kids are getting destroyed through the bombs and shrapnel and actual fatalities that don't have to be. Afghanistan, Iraq and right on our street. Because our kids don't have no place to go. I made a song, Killing is Out and School is In, and they wouldn't put the record out. Wouldn't put it out, and we needed it."


(Guardian interview) http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1229299,00.html


. . . other reflections:

"I would like to pass on the want to do something. The need is there. Good lyrics are good things, but I would like to pass on that drive, that invigorous undying determination."

"'Funky' is about the injustices, the things that go wrong, the hungry kids going to school trying to learn. 'Funky' is about what it takes to make people move - take it from the gospel, from the jazz."

"Thank God that I had the ability to understand that I had a different beat and that I was a drummer."

Do your hair in different styles, make people notice"

"Die on your feet, don't live on your knees."

"I'll never forget who I am, where I came from, where I am today, and who put me here: YOU."

"Killing's out and school's in and we're in bad shape."

"We need to protect the kids by giving them something to do. (It's about) making them interested, making them love mom and dad more, love the family more, love themselves more and love their school. So there won't have to be killing in school."

"We need (people) to come forward to save our country and our kids. I could care less about the record. If you say you're already into that, you can throw the record away. But we've got to save these children. That's what's important"

http://oldies.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=oldies&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.godfatherofsoul.com%2F



http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Rest in peace

Godfather of Soul, and so much else.

[wryter2000]

2. I was lucky enough to see him perform a few years ago

What an awesome sound.

My favorite band, Tower of Power, opened for him. One of their most popular songs is "I still be digging on James Brown." He was obviously a huge influence on them and many, many other musicians. His music gave us so much.

:cry:

[bigtree]

5. I've got this one single, "Funky President" (People it's Bad)

People people, we gotta get over before we go under

Hey country, didn't say what you meant
Just changed -- brand new funky president

Stock market going up, jobs going down
And ain't no funking jobs to be found

Taxes keep going up
I changed from a glass -- now I drink out of a paper cup
It's gettin' bad

People people, we gotta get over before we go under

Listen to me:

Let's get together and get some land
Raise our food like the man
Save our money like the Mob
Put up a fight down on the job

People people, we gotta get over before we go under

Turn up your funk motor, get down and praise the Lord
Get sexy sexy, get funky and dance
Love me baby, love me nice
Don't make it once, can you make it twice
I like it

Turn on your funk motor, I know it's tough
Turn on your funk motor, until you get enough
Hey, give yourself a chance to come through
Tell yourself, "I can do what you can do"

People people, we gotta get over before we go under

Got to get together and buy some land
Raise our food just like the man
Save our money, do like the Mob
Put up a fight down on the job

People people, we gotta get over before we go under

Time in the joint
Country do you know just what I meant
We just changed
Got a brand new funky president

I need to be the mayor
So I can change some things around here
I need to be the governor
I need to be the governor...

timeless

[Warpy]

3. Rest in peace

I remember being in a southern city when King was assassinated. There was a James Brown concert that night, and a lot of people in that city credited him with helping to keep a lid on things there. He knew how to speak to people almost as well as Dr. King did, especially when the chips were down.

His personal life may have been deeply flawed, but his public life more than made up for it. He was an artist and a hero.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. I saw James Brown in Wichita

back in '61, I believe. Amazing performer. Rest in peace, James.

[BrotherBuzz]

6. James Brown helped it gel in the nation while it was playing live in California

Sisters from the Sacramento Black Panther Party. A beautiful photograph taken by Pirkel Jones. It's just so energetic and it gives you the sense of enthusiasm. They're all probably singing "Free Huey! Off the pigs!" outside the Alameda County Courthouse. Teenagers. It's very important, because all those teenagers who were in the Black Panther Party for the most part are still here. Now they're parents — some of them grandparents — and they're imbuing their families and their communities with that energy and that spirit and that commitment and that sacrifice — those abilities that were nurtured in the Black Panther Party.


That's the window of the office on Shattuck of the Black Panther National Headquarters. It was taken on September 10, 1968, after Huey Newton's trial. He'd been convicted of voluntary manslaughter. He was accused of murdering an Oakland policeman, but was not convicted of murder. A couple of Oakland policeman were so distraught at the verdict that they shot his poster. They also shot Eldridge Cleaver's poster. They also shot the "Newton for Congress" bumper sticker. This was the opinion of the Oakland police officers who disagreed with the verdict.




Eldridge was invited to give a course at Berkeley (UCB). It was called Sociology 139X. It was about racism. Graduate students created the course. When the head of the Regents, Ronald Reagan, found out that Eldridge Cleaver had been invited to give a course, he said something to the effect of, "That Marxist racist will never be allowed to teach at this university!" So he prohibited it and the faculty protested the Regent's decision. The students protested. The whole campus was in an uproar over the heavy-handed way the governor and the Regents treated this. This was a rally in which Eldridge was speaking on this campus.





Bobby Seale - Today, he's a college professor and a world judge of fine Bar-B-Que




Disenfranchised citizens? FBI dude in background shooting film?

All this was before the MSM and the powers that be effectively killed the movement. Business as usual.