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14th-Jan-2007 01:24 pm - to the bridge

've waited a while to gather my thoughts and write about the passing of James Brown. While he may not have invented soul, he was its undisputed Godfather: Soul Brother #1.

I was exposed to James Brown fairly early. James Brown was my father's favorite musical artist. My introduction though was limited, as Dad was a fan of his early 60's output: his early hits like "Please, Please, Please", "Prisoner of Love", and "Try Me". Dad would get excited anytime he was on TV, especially when performing the first two of those songs, waiting for the predictable cape trick. By that time in his career, it was a contrivance that had been tried and rung true and I would nod, watching it with him in silent bemusement. It would be years later until I saw the power and energy of that shtick as it played early in his career. My exposure to his era was somewhat limited at the time, but even now I regard a lot of Brown's early recordings as virtually indistinguishable from a lot of the early 60's R&B recordings. While he may have been a great performer in his time, and he still could get those crazy legs going in the early 80's, to me he seemed nothing more than a pop star, 20 years faded past his prime. It's worthy to note that Dad was eternally incensed that Prince copped Brown's microphone-stand/splits trick.

Thanks in part to Prince, as well as the hiphop of the late 80's that sampled him endlessly, I felt compelled to revisit Brown's music. James Brown once quipped that rap music was only as good as his last record. Granted, "I Got You (I Feel Good)" was just on that border between his run-of-the-mill R&B and the hard funk, but it's so overplayed it's almost impossible to hear it with fresh ears. You can't listen to the radio, or watch television or film without running into it. In the mid-90's I finally acquired a good anthology of his work, the James Brown 40th Anniversary Collection two disc set and had my ears fucking opened.

In the modern age, there are very few examples of truly original artists: one for which there is no precedent and very few, if any, followers. With the possible exception of George Clinton and Sly Stone, no one has even come close to understanding what James Brown was doing and everything else plays like a pale imitation. The title of this entry is a reference to one of James' more common adlibs. After the second chorus he would often command or ask his band to take him to the bridge of the song. Even leading us through it was no help. Man, James was on another planet where he took his music; using horn sections in ways no one had ever thought possible, multiple bassists and drummers, and lyrical content ranging from the socially aware to crazy-ass scats and adlibs, often in the same song. And he was a tremendous showman above it all.

James Brown cast a shadow so large that multiple generations of artists haven't even begun to step outside of it. You can't even see the boundaries from within it. You were one of a kind James and you'll be missed.

Tags:music, rip

25th-Jan-2006 07:43 pm - Ok, first things fuckin' last

R.I.P. Chris Penn

s most of you know by now, Chris Penn passed away last night at the age of 43. I chose this picture of him with Harvey Keitel and Steve Buscemi from Reservoir Dogs, because that's how I'll always remember him.

Nice Guy Eddie.

A few weeks ago I re-watched Reservoir Dogs as well as True Romance, another film I love which featured him. I'd forgotten just how awesome he was in the former, as it had been a number of years since I had seen it. The final sequence, just before the Mexican stand-off when he defends Mr. Blonde, is one of the most intensely acted portrayals of the film and he proved he can hold is own on-screen in the company of Keitel and Tim Roth. I have a fondness for character actors, they guys who never get the lead roles but bring so much to the part that it can nearly eclipse the lead performances. I've always counted Chris Penn in that category. His range was limited and he often was type-cast, particularly after Reservoir Dogs, but he brought an intensity and spirit to his performances that are, more often than not, unforgettable. So long, Nice Guy Eddie.

Tags:rip

21st-Feb-2005 10:40 am - RIP HST

I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.

Hunter S. Thompson 1937-2005

You crazy, old fuck.

Tags:rip

22nd-Jul-2004 07:37 pm - so long Brother Ray

Location: Effingham, IL

It's been cloudy and storming all day in central Illinois so I decided against the picture taking plans in Chesterville. Fret not, I go through there just about every week. I will take them, I just want some good light when I do.

Since I don't have pictures to share, I want to talk about Brother Ray. I know it's been over a month now since his passing, but I've never really been able to find the words to express what I feel. I'm still not sure I can, but in the spirit of trying to do something in a timely manner for once, I figure now is as good a time as any. Over the past few weeks I've been listening to a lot of Ray Charles. As a matter of fact, in one of the those odd, mu-psych-ic coincidences, I was listening to Ray about a month before his passing. You may or may not recall the mp3 player random lyrics craze of a month ago and that I was somehwat dismayed that no one recognized the Ray Charles lyric.

Like many people my age, my intial impressions of Ray Charles were influenced by his public persona in the later years of his life: hawking diet sodas, roast beef sandwiches, and overplayed sentimental pap like "Georgia On My Mind". His image was that of an affable, gentle man with a huge grin evidenced by his frequently used "special guest performer" status and cameos in films like The Blues Brothers or on television programs like Who's The Boss?. To be honest, the only recognizable tune I could pin on him outside of "Georgia" was "Hit the Road Jack". But as an amateur student of popular music, it was only a matter of time before I ran into his recordings for Atlantic Records from the 1950's, it just took me a while to get there.

Growing up in the modern rock era, it can be difficult to appreciate music from another era. In fact, I've found the only way you truly can appreciate it is to immerse yourself in the music of a period and read a lot. For the past 10 years or so, I have been doing just that with 40's and 50's era R&B, Soul, and Blues. The only word that begins to describe the recordings Ray made for Atlantic in the 1950's is astounding. He has been called by more than one critic "The Genius", a label which he humbly shrugged off, a word he reserved for "Bird and Dizz", his two musical idols. But genius is appropriate when talking about his music and while it would be a complex task to talk about in depth, it can be summed up neatly in three points:

1) No guitars - Ray hated them
2) Gospel music
3) Unbridled masculine sexuality

As I said it's hard to appreciate the innovation so far removed from the era, but making a recording as intense as "I Got A Woman" as early as 1955 was a remarkable feat. And they kept coming, "Greenbacks", "Hallelujah I Love Her So", "The Right Time", and of course, the monumental "What'd I Say". His blending of jazz with R&B, incorporating gospel melodic elements, and the powerful, sexual manner in which he sang made him a pioneer and many credit him (and justly so) with single handedly "inventing" soul music. Aretha may be the queen and James may be the godfather, but they just put in some of the light bulbs in the house that Ray built.

In "Hard Times", Ray once sang:

Yeah, Lord yeah one of these days
There'll be no more sorrow when I pass away

I hope so Ray and for what it's worth, you left behind a good deal of joy.

Tags:rip
Music:Ray Charles - Hard Times

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