THE JB REMEMBERANCE THREAD!

ariel_calmerariel_calmer 3,762 Posts
edited April 2016 in Music Talk
Post your fave James Brown pics, memories, & albums here. We could all use some good stories to uplift the mood. Okay gotta go snap some beans for xmas supper..... Or wait I am.
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  • bthavbthav 1,538 Posts



    it hasnt hit me yet. so sad.

  • I'm speechless.

  • mandrewmandrew 2,720 Posts
    BEWILDERED

  • I'm gonna kick off the rememberin', 'cause that's all I CAN do...

    I was in college when JB got in trouble for outrunning those cop cars, and that's when I realized the world ain't round, it's square. I'd be talking with friends about my love for JB, and all they could think about was "oh, you listen to the music of that criminal, ho ho ho."

    There was a generational subset of people who ONLY knew JB for his scrap with the law - that was pretty damn sad.

    The ultimate low came during the summer of '89 at the Chicago Blues Festival when some guy was selling these homemade "PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - FREE JAMES BROWN" tees.

    Some girl, white, preppy-ish and probably in her early twenties, asked her boyfriend: "who's James Brown?"

    Her boyfriend, the vendor, and just about everybody else around (including yours truly) fell back about 20 feet, we couldn't believe it. The man was not an underrated cult hero by the late eighties - we couldn't believe that someone as massive as JB could escape her radar screen. You don't have to be a crate-digger or a baby-boom-aged African-American to know who he was. Wherever that girl is now, hopefully she's been educated.

  • p_gunnp_gunn 2,284 Posts

  • I just recorded a 60 minute mix of JB (related) songs. It's very difficult to capture this legend's entire repertoire in a one hour mix, so this is definitely not a 'best of' nor a collection of my favourite JB songs, neither is it mixed supergreat. It's just one hour of great music to remember a man who created modern music.

    Playlist:
    think (live)
    make it funky
    ain't it a groove
    Fred Wesley interlude
    funky president
    fever
    the soul of J.B. (instrumental)
    the J.B.'s - you can have watergate, but gimme some bucks and i'll be straight
    Coldblooded
    Maceo & James Brown - The Soul of a black man
    J.B. interlude
    i refuse to lose
    papa don't take no mess
    reality
    Otis Redding - papa's got a brand new bag
    Fred Wesley and the J.B.'s - damn right i am somebody
    get on the good foot


    Anyway, feel free to post other JB mixes, I'm curious about your selections.

    Rest in peace!!

  • NateBizzoNateBizzo 2,328 Posts
    My Memory: 1996 at the Ho-Chunch casino and bingo hall. James Brown in Concert. Me on acid.

    Great times.

  • dayday 9,612 Posts


  • It would be nice if Dec. 25th became known as James Brown Remembrance Day.


    2037
    "I'm sorry-- 'Christmas?'"

  • CosmoCosmo 9,768 Posts

  • I just saw him on September 19th. It was great.

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    G.O.A.T.

  • Anyone every notice that a young J.B. looks alot like 50 cent? Same facial structure.




  • DJBombjackDJBombjack Miami 1,665 Posts
    Probably the best megamix type thing of JBs stuff ever.



  • bthavbthav 1,538 Posts
    makes white babies dance



    still hasnt hit me.

  • Damn. RIP. When I first started diggin' for funk 45s years ago, that King label and the "A James Brown Production" thingy on the label was a guiding light for me with the Hank Ballards, Vicki Andersons, Bobby Byrds, Marva Whitneys, Bill Doggetts, etc....I didnt know about those artists at the time, but with that seal of approval on the records, I knew they were gonna be heat!

  • desert island pick. no doubt.




  • Probably the best megamix type thing of JBs stuff ever.



    dope isht. is this the one by coldcut?

  • ...I'll always remember walking back from my teaching job down 5th Ave in Harlem and passing a barbershop just up from 125th Street.
    There were a few people standing outside, talking and joking.
    I looked inside and there was JB in a bright red suit, standing and talking to Al Sharpton and some of the barbers.
    Must have been around '92 or '93.



  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,896 Posts
    Probably the best megamix type thing of JBs stuff ever.



    dope isht. is this the one by coldcut?

    Yeah it is.

    And theres always the Froggy/simon harris ones.

  • I remember the first time I heard James. Being raised in a white suburban bubble I was deprived of exposure to soul music for most of my childhood. I was proud of my knowledge of classic rock by the time I was 13, though. Then a muffler commercial came on tv that used "I Got You (I Feel Good)". I had no clue who or what it was, but I was positive it was the best song I'd ever heard.

    He was a truly self-actualized man who worked his way to the top by believing in himself and continuously proving himself. His unmatched collection of material ensures he will never be forgotten.

    May The Hardest Working Man In Showbusiness finally rest, in peace.

  • ayresayres 1,452 Posts
    Salaam Remi - James Brown 40th Anniversary mix



  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    my introduction to james brown was listening to oldies radio and -- probably most importantly--the snl 'celebrity hot tub' with eddie murphy. i was like 4 or 5 at the time--but it became my fave eddie murphy segment--and what i always thought of when i heard james brown songs--until i got older.

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    My intro to James Brown was through
    my Father's copy of "Live at the Apollo"
    which wasn't even on King, but was the
    Solid Smoke late 70's issue - I think he bought
    it when it came out because he had long ago lost
    the OG copy he got when he was 20. This was around
    1980, so I had to be around 10-12 years old.
    I used to play the shit out of that thing. I knew
    every little crowd yelp and chart change by heart.
    It always blew my mind how the album side ended right
    in the middle of Lost Someone and picked up again
    when you flipped the album - and every little dropout
    and point where he is dancing and singing away from
    the microphone, made it seem that much more intimate,
    and I could honestly imagine I was there - yelling
    "YEAH, YOU!" back at James when he sang "...and I believe
    someone over heeere lost somebody..."

    When I was 18 and had my first job working at a record
    store, my immediate & most coveted buy was an early press of
    the album on King - I won't venture to call it an OG because
    there are probably more pressings of that record than anything
    outside of Elvis Presley - and I played the shit out of that one, too.
    Still own it, and still play it, and still get a chill when the
    crowd goes deathly silent under James' drama, and laugh with the
    crowd when the spell is broken by a single hysterical scream from
    a girl either mid-swoon or just playing or maybe a little of both.

    If I were to go through the thousands of records that
    I own, and separate the ones I have had for more than
    15 years, it would be a small pile of maybe 50 records -
    and 10 of them would be James Browns...beat to shit and
    ready to play again.

  • My favorite JB memory was during my freshman year in college. It was the Fall of 1980 at the University of Georgia. 1980 was a great year in Athens as the football team went undefeated and won the national title (we had a freshman named Herschel Walker), Dominique Wilkins was a sophmore and REM was playing their first gigs.
    For the homecoming parade that year (the only one I attended in five years in Athens) we filled up a cooler full of beer (the drinking age was still 18!) and set up on the sidewalk of Baxter street and waited for the parade. Can't remember if he led the parade or not but the grandmarshall that year was none other than James Brown. He rode in an open convertible with a blonde or two at his side. We made so much noise ("James my man" I believe we were yelling) that he was forced to acknowledge us with a wave and a smile.
    Later that weeekend JB showed up at the homecoming game (Herschel rushed for 283 yards and we crushed Vanderbilt 41-0) and James sang/lipsank "Dooley's Junkyard Dawgs" with the alumni cheerleaders. We were about five rows up from the field so we had a great view. Thanks JB and Go Dawgs!

  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts
    James Brown was probably the first time I heard the Funk. It was probably when I was a little kid having my mom drive to school listening to the oldies stations. Like most people that usually took the form of Papa's Got A Brand New Bag and I Got You (I Feel Good). I think Oliver said this in terms of Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing, but the same thing applies to these two tunes, no matter how many times you've heard them, and how commercialized they've become, they still hold their musical and emotional appeal.

    Later when I started collecting records in High School James Brown was one of the first artists I tracked down, both on LP and 45. Later that became a bit of an obsession, and I've been able to track down most of his records. That wasn't enough and I started going after all the artists he produced and had as part of his revue as well. I'm still looking for some of those, but it says a lot about an artist that you not only want his own material, but all of the groups that got a taste of his sound as well.

    Let's not forget the negative as well. James was a control freak who would manipulate his band, play games with them, fine them, and driven many of them away. Fred Wesley in his book documents many of these ups and downs, but in the end, he still said that James was the greatest.

  • Dude could DANCE.....



  • Damn. 12/25 is, among other things, my birthday. Talk about the worst news to hear on the morning of your birthday.

    On my last radio show I played a bunch of JB Christmas tunes. Looks like the next month or so will end up being dedicated to him.

    What a loss.

    Of course, in James' words ... "think about the good things".

  • a few years ago, a guy i know played in King James' band. JB played a New Year's gig at a major Las Vegas hotel. He gave it all he had, but the Vegas crowd was kinda wet. After giving them an encore, the audience continued to demand more. The hotel manager approached James backstage and told him he had to do another encore coz the hotel paid him $100,000. James told him, in no uncertain terms, he was done for the night and if the $100k was such a big deal to the casino, he'd give it back!

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    I've watched all the videos in both threads. Thank you everyone. I really enjoyed the early ones with the Famous Flames. Can we all agree that Bootsy was a noisy bass player? Way to many notes for me (Just talking about in these videos). All these bands are amazing. They have to watch him all the time, he calls the hits, the breaks, the bridge and the band has to follow. The band was always changing, but always tight.

    2 Of my favorite James Brown vides that I haven't seen on the Strut today; Night Train on the TAMI Show (followed by the Rolling Stones) and this famous Ed Sullivan vid where James wouldn't stop playing and they had to cut to commercial and when they came back from commercial James was still playing, the band was on 2 ramp like risers like a V and James was in the middle, about 15 minutes long I think.

    Is there video of the televised Boston show from the Night Martin Luther King was killed?

    Dan
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