Originally published in The
Aquarian Weekly
January 10, 2007
Remembering the Godfather of Soul
As I write this,
thousands of people are
lining the streets of
a chance to view the
body of James Brown,
which lies in state at
the Apollo Theater.
That’s a sentence
that I never thought I would
write, because I never
thought that James
Brown would die. He
hardly seemed mortal.
Brown performed at
the Apollo many times
during his storied career.
Perhaps the most
legendary show was the 1962
appearance
that became the basis of
one of the best live
albums ever recorded.
Brown was intent on
capturing the energy of his
live show on
record, and when his
record company
refused to pay for it, he
financed the recording
himself. Now he’s making
his last appearance
at the Apollo, before
being taken home to
James Brown died on
Christmas Eve in
an
He had been admitted
a couple of days
earlier with pneumonia, but
remained
convinced that he would be
well enough to
make his scheduled New
Year’s Eve
appearance at B.B. King’s in NYC. It didn’t
work out that way, and
as Rev. Jesse Jackson
said, it was just like
James to die on
Christmas Eve, when
he knew he would be
the center of
attention.
There are fewer and
fewer giants walking
the earth. The
legendary Ahmet Ertegun
passed away recently, and
now James Brown
is gone. These are not
people who can be
replaced. I found myself
wondering who
would be the new “Godfather
of Soul” now
that James Brown is
gone. Sadly, there are
very few candidates for
the title.
There is hardly a
genre of popular music
that doesn’t count James
Brown as an
influence, and if any artist
can truly be said
to be immortal, his
music will live forever.
—Ken
Shane