Something you probably didn’t know about me- counting all the live albums, the JB’s and some Bootsy and Maceo albums, I easily have three dozen James Brown related cd’s/lp’s/recordings. Why do I tell you this?
Because I never figured out why that was not one of his most famous tracks.
And, because I can, this:
This is well worth the money. Have at it.
DougJ
I am not worthy.
That really, really kicks ass.
Blow me some ‘Trane, brother.
Punchy
For once, I thank the youtube webfilter blocker work thing blank-space-of-nothing for sparing me an obvious RickRoll.
Favorite James tune: Get on the Good Foot
Quaker in a Basement
I can tell you why that’s not one of his famous ones: it doesn’t have an easy-to-remember hook to it like "I Feel Good" or even "Sex Machine."
Still, it’s awesome–the horn section couldn’t be any tighter and Bootsy rocks.
John Cain
I still can’t figure out why "Funky President" wasn’t a bigger player this campaign season.
Vince
Funky Good Time Vol. 2 is one of the greatest funk albums ever. I still buy it as a gift. Thank you for recognizing!
I was lucky enough to see JB live a few times, Maceo about a dozen times, and I’m still pining to see Bootsy.
The layered syncopation of JB’s funk can make anyone dance.
In fact, I used "Pass the Peas" to teach a childrens music class about syncopation.
MikeJ
Just watch the rerun of last night’s Daily Show. They used the white cat joke I made yesterday re: Cheney. TDS writers are as lazy when it comes to jokewriting as I am!
DougJ
You know, not to get all corny here, but to me, the thing that makes me feel most American, and most proud to be an American, is old James Brown and Tina Turner and Mavis Staples and such. I couldn’t tell you why, but it does.
Vince
i hear ya dougj. i feel the same way
Funk is pure American music. Mixing Jazz, Blues, and Rock-n-Roll – All American contributions to music.
Montysano
I’ve been on a Fela binge lately, and it’s obvious that he was influenced by JB. So: the music was born in Africa, traveled to the USA, then back to Africa. What a world.
Laura W
I missed TDS/Colbert last night. Can’t recall why exactly…something to do with massive amounts of champagne, Mariah Carey, and chenille bedspreads.
Eager to catch them on replay tonight, especially after seeing Colbert Cries Over Obama Family Beauty.
Good laughs.
MikeJ
No one could keep death in his pouch like James Brown.
Saw him with Black Oak Arkansas opening (really, James brown Black Oak Arkansas double bill). One of the best shows evar.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Oh, my, Colbert and his mascara last night. Priceless!
I’ll actually be looking out for a new tv show on Fox at 9 tonight? Why? Tim fucking Roth, that’s why. I could use another gorgeous, cranky, eccentric Brit, and this one gets to keep his accent. Bonus!
Gus
I’m sorry I never saw JB, but I have seen Maceo a couple times, Bootsy’s Rubber Band w/Bernie Worrell, and P-Funk w/Bootsy. Some of my all-time favorite shows.
John Cole
I’ll throw this nugget out there, too: although I love horns and especially sax, my favorite instrument is, hands down, the Hammond B3.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
And here’s a little something for all the Jill Biden admirers here.
harlana pepper
I’m a huuuuge James Brown fan and got to see him in concert not too long before he died. It wasn’t the same James Brown we see in the old clips, but it was still great to see him in the flesh and be able to say that I did. There may be a handful of musical artists I feel that way about. That’s how much I love James Brown. I highly recommend the DVD, The Night James Brown Saved Boston (night of MLK assassination) which I have as part of a set, "James Brown in the 60’s." I couldn’t download the video.
Vince
your killin’ me Gus- Bootsy with Bernie! Bernie is one of the baddest men to play keys I’ve ever seen.
Laura W
@Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse: I look at that gorgeous dress and put it on Michelle in my mind’s eye. How I wish she’d worn color. (I might have said that once before.)
Paulie Chestnuts
I thought owning that stuff was a jailable offense in WV.
Bubblegum Tate
@John Cain:
I’ve been playing it nonstop in my DJ sets. And I know I’m not the only DJ to be doing so.
We’re gonna talk about James Brown stuff now? Let’s get up, get into it, get involved! I’ve easily got more than 50 JB and JB-related records–probably over 100 if you start counting doubles and triples (and, in some cases, quadruples) of things. I think my favorite JB-offshoot cut is the Hank Ballard version of "From the Love Side." That horn riff is incredible. Either that or "Hang Out and Hustle" by Sweet Charles (that bassline…ridiculous).
My favorite name for a JB-related band? The Above Average Black Band.
The Moar You Know
@John Cole: Tone wheels and tubes. No solid-state in those fuckers – that’s why the B-3 sounds so awesome.
Bitch to move by yourself, though.
BDeevDad
For those aware of the TED Conferences, CNN was using a technology discussed at the 2007 conference as part of their iReports to get the 3D image of the inauguration.
The TED Conference video is here.
UPDATE: The TED conferences usually have some cool musician talks as well.
Montysano
@John Cole:
I recently pulled out Stephen Stills’ first solo album, which I hadn’t listened to in a long time. There’s some tasty Hammond work on it, played by Stills himself. And of course it contains "Black Queen", in which a drunken Stills beats an acoustic guitar to within an inch of its life.
Matt in HB
Well, it does show up on his 20 all time greatest hits compilation, so it’s not like it’s unknown — even to the relatively uninitiated.
When my three year old wants to dance around the living room he demands "put on James Funky." He likes Make it Funky the best.
Krista
Ditto. We saw him in Halifax in November of 2004, and you could tell that he was sick. But he played "Sex Machine", which delighted me to no end. And when he played "It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World", I had goosebumps going up and down my arms the entire time. (Similar to when we saw B.B. King and he hit the opening notes to "The Thrill is Gone".) There are some things you just never think you’ll see in your lifetime.
former capitalist
Since this is an open thread…is it just me, or is Anna Marie Cox one of the most annoying persons going? That head shaking thing she does is obnoxious. I don’t know why Rachel continues to have her on her show.
Laura W
@former capitalist: Not just you. Every time I see her, "Too cute by half" flashes in front of me.
MikeJ
Weird. Just got a robo call from costco. Turns out I bought a box of clif bars back before xmas and some of them had peanut butter, so should be destroyed because of salmonella fears. Interesting that costco can robo call every customer who’s bought something with peanut butter in the last few months.
Incertus
@BDeevDad: I love the TED videos. I used the Dan Gilbert video on synthesizing happiness in my Comp 1 class last fall, and I bought a t-shirt from the Pirate Supply Store at 826 Valencia when I was in San Francisco a month ago because of Dave Eggers’ piece.
And on an open thread note, I’ve got a new gig doing some writing about poetry for The Rumpus. This piece is on the history of the Inaugural Poem and Elizabeth Alexander’s piece in particular.
Incertus
@Krista:
Saw him in Fayetteville Arkansas about 7 year ago, and I know what you mean–never expected to see him perform live, but wouldn’t have missed it for the world when I got the chance. Still have the t-shirt I bought at that concert.
Jennifer
I dunno, JC. For me, I think the most underappreciated James Brown tune has got to be either The Big Payback, Papa Don’t Take No Mess, or Hot Pants. They’re all so funky they hurt.
Did someone say Funkadelic?
Brown Man
Oh Yeah!
America Is Finally Growing Up
Bubblegum Tate
No matter how much the Jungle Groove version of "Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose" is appreciated, it’ll still be underappreciated. Talk about a face-melter.
"Clap ya hands-uh! Stomp ya feet-uh! CLYDE!"
srv
Larison uses Bacevich to dissect Obama’s affinity to maintaining the National Security Status Quo.
Jennifer
I lucked out and got to see JB live twice – once at one of the Riverboat casinos, about 12 years ago, and again just a couple of years before he died. The casino show was great – he had the whole entourage, was still doing the funky moves and everything. We were seated about 10 rows back, centerstage. It was awesome. He had declined so much by that second time I saw him that most of the time he wasn’t even on stage, and when he was, he usually did an abbreviated version of the songs. Dude RULED.
And, also, did someone say Funkadelic? Note the diss to the Godfather near the beginning.
Michael D.
Since this is an open thread, I would like to ask the commentariat here how they feel about the secret ballot.
Should people be able to vote in private?
eric
my contribution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln6b_nBM-V8
smoke em if you got em,….Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colaiuta, Steve Gadd
Michael D.
I will work, with every fiber of my being, to make sure that employees of any company can cast a secret ballot to join or reject a union. I work for a company that treats its employees like gold. It’s a 70,000+ employee telcom. We’re happy.
It seems to me that the Employee “Free Choice” Act seems to be anything but free.
Tell me how the EFCA helps employees make a decision based on their own convictions? Tell me how it would make someone comfortable maing a decision when others would know what that decision is!
Am I missing something here?
I hope you all know that I am willing to be educated on this, and I hope you know that I am willing to be told that I have it all wrong. But from what I know, this Act will allow all your co-workers to know exactly how you vote. Is that FAIR?
The Moar You Know
@Michael D.: The Founding Fathers sure seemed to think so, so I think we’re stuck with that for government elections.
I can think of some really good reasons why this shouldn’t be the case, however.
AkaDad
I would prefer to have a government official there to help me vote correctly.
Krista
Hell, yes. I work for a non-profit, which depends heavily on political goodwill for its very survival. If I depend on my local rep to help grease the wheels for various grant proposals, and he or she knows I didn’t vote for him or her, that could make things rather awkward, no? There’s no way that politicians should know exactly who did and didn’t vote for them. Even if they’re generally good people and still try to treat everybody equally, it would be almost impossible for it to not colour their impressions of people.
The Moar You Know
Is it fair for someone to get paid off by management to insure that their co-workers have no voice? Is it fair for an ideologue to vote against the best interests of their co-workers and not be held accountable for depriving their fellows of income and opportunity?
I don’t know, either. But this is not a cut-and-dried issue. I’d apply the same arguments to federal and state elections as well, but the law has already been written on how we conduct those.
The Grand Panjandrum
@John Cole:
Jon Lord.
MikeJ
Is it fair to only allow on side to campaign before the election? How about if that side could fire the opposition’s campaign manager?
The Grand Panjandrum
Oh goody! Roger Simon is on Hardball.
Montysano
@The Moar You Know:
Plus, of course, the Doppler effect.
Incertus
@Michael D.: I figured you were on about this when I saw your original question, which is why I waited to see if you’d open up. It’s not that simple, really.
If all things were equal, then I’d say that the secret ballot is the best way to go, but in the labor wars, all things are not equal. Businesses have way more advantages, and for the last thirty years at least, have had the government on their side when it came to disputes. You can try to argue that that is just a correction from a time when unions had government support, but that’s irrelevant to the current situation.
If the elections were held quickly instead of being held months and sometimes years later, then maybe a secret ballot would be fair. If a company actually got smacked down hard–with jail time for offenders–for breaking the laws that protect union organizing, then a secret ballot would be fair. I mean, all union supporters really want is a fair contest, but we haven’t had one of those in a really long time. Companies have been able to flaunt labor laws with impunity for a long time, and unions have gotten hammered because of it.
Michael D.
@Incertus:
What’s not equal about going behind a curtain and casting a ballot?
Do the companies/unions get to see the votes immediately after an employee votes??
A while ago, I announced that I was for the FairTax. Many of you said that you thought the name, FairTax, was leading. I agree. I also think the Employee Free Choice Act is a name that is not only misleading, but an outright lie.
Sorry. But I want a secret vote if it ever comes up at my work.
Michael D.
@Incertus: What’s wrong with allowing employees to vote secretely?
Michael D.
I am 100% AGAINST the Employee Free Choice Act. It is 100% not about FREE CHOICE. It’s about telling everyone how an employee voted.
INTIMIDATION.
NonWonderDog
The Employee Free Choice Act wouldn’t get rid of the secret ballot, anyway. It would get rid of the right of employers to require a secret ballot for union formation. Card-check already exists, and unions have been formed by card-check (or so I’ve heard…), but employers have the right to veto card-check results and request a scheduled vote instead.
EFCA would change it so that card-check would be binding (like in Canada, AFAIK). But even if it passes, union organizers would still be able to ask for secret ballot elections if they had 30% of the workforce sign the union intent card (vs. 50% for automatic unionization). That’s why it’s named the Employee Free Choice Act–it gives the choice to the employees, rather than the employer. (In practice it would probably result in many more drives for card-check-formed unions rather than elected unions, but it doesn’t take rights away de jure.)
At least, that’s my take on it. I might be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that the mainstream reporting is wronger. It usually is.
r€nato
(comment deleted)
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Caroline Kennedy has withdrawn from consideration for the NY Senate seat.
Brick Oven Bill
The ‘doppler’ to which Montysano refers is not, in fact Doppler. It is a fancy electronic effect, but it is nothing more than signal processing, if I understand it correctly, which I think I do. The frequency of the note, although cyclic, remains constant when averaged over time.
No sir, that is not real Doppler. Real Doppler involves moving an acoustic guitar quickly past the microphone after striking a deep note. It looks cool when you do it running.
Hey Renato, is that you crouching?
sus
A bazillion different newspaper front pages of the Inauguration from around the world.
http://benwikler.com/news21all.html
Incertus
@Michael D.: Dude–you don’t think there’s intimidation now? Have you ever been at a company that’s trying to unionize? I have, and the company walked up to the line of threatening our jobs directly, took a big shit on it, and then said "do something." They managed to put off the vote for 18 months, by which time the people who had done the biggest part in getting the movement going had suddenly become "discipline issues who had to be let go," even though they’d been stellar employees before.
There’s intimidation going on right now, but it’s generally the company doing the intimidating, and in tough economic times, most people are going to see a union organizer get the boot, see that if anything happens to the company it’s a slap on the wrist and decide it’s not worth the trouble.
I’ll make you a deal–you push for some real penalties on illegal unionbusting, including jail time for people who knowingly take part in it, and push for quicker elections, and I’ll give up card check. But until companies have to feel some real pain, then I don’t give a fuck about a secret ballot in a union battle. Don’t ask me to have both hands tied behind my back while I’m fighting a gang of armed thugs.
J. Michael Neal
Michael D clearly hasn’t paid attention to the fact that there is a lot more to the EFCA than card check. Good to know that he can take a reflexively anti-labor stance, though.
Brick Oven Bill
The ‘doppler’ to which Montysano refers is not, in fact Doppler. It is a fancy electronic effect, but it is nothing more than signal processing, if I understand it correctly, which I think I do. The frequency of the note, although cyclic, remains constant when averaged over time.
No sir, that is not real Doppler. Real Doppler involves moving an acoustic guitar quickly past the microphone after striking a deep note. It works.
J. Michael Neal
I go beyond wanting to see stiff penalties for employer intimidation. I think they should be prohibited from commenting on a unionization drive at all. It’s none of their business. To unionize or not is entirely for the employees to decide. The only role for management is to bargain with its employees, either individually or collectively as they see fit.
Incertus
@J. Michael Neal: He was for FairTax and claimed to be a Libertarian. This wasn’t much of a surprise.
Lancelot Link
You are wrong, Brick Oven Bill. It is a real doppler effect; the Leslie speaker-cabinet physically spins the speakers.
Thoughtcrime
The sweetest use of the Leslie speaker ever recorded:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoBXYXt8bt0
Brick Oven Bill
I did not know that and stand corrected. For some reason I thought it was an electric switch. Thank you. The acoustic past the microphone is a really good trick in any case.
Thoughtcrime
The sweetest sound ever through a Leslie speaker was Jimi’s guitar on LITTLE WING.
twostepcub
Hey John…
I can understand your passion for the JB. I thought I was crazy when I plunked down 20$ a few months ago in NYC to buy the vinyl 45 of his "World, Pt. 1" from 1969 which is one of my faves and scandalously not in print yet.
Ernie
2sc
Montysano
@Brick Oven Bill:
BOB: in a previous life, long ago, I was a roadie for one of the big ’70s bands. We carted a B3 and Leslie all over the world. The Leslie speaker was a cranky piece of gear, being that it involved spinning a speaker with a motor, all while maintaining signal via contactors. Many sound engineers still prefer the B3/Leslie sound. Synths can get close, but it’s not quite the same.
This little Japanese girl has the right idea.
BDeevDad
@Montysano: That rocked and brought a smile to my face. Thanks.
Comrade Kevin
There’s a show on PBS you oughta check out, called Make ’em Laugh, it is excellent.
The episode I saw tonight had clips from Mort Sahl, Shelly Berman, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, and others.
You really owe it to yourself to watch the series.
darkblack
Ah, the Godfather…Can’t Stand It "76"…‘Whip off the shoes!’
And for B-3, you can’t go wrong with Lee Michaels.
;>)
Comrade Michael "Cornrow" Brown
Good GOD, ya’ll!
Possessed by genius!
Thanks for digging that up, John!
russell
Never was and never will be another like James.
Are you saying Mother Popcorn was not one of James’ biggest tracks? I think it’s considered kind of a landmark.
Still, it’s awesome—the horn section couldn’t be any tighter and Bootsy rocks.
Bootsy is the light of my life, but that ain’t Bootsy. Bootsy did not join the band until ’70. That would be Charles Sherrell on the bass guitar.
So: the music was born in Africa, traveled to the USA, then back to Africa. What a world.
Nothing truer.
On the same tip, check out Ali Farka Toure side by side with John Lee Hooker.
If it weren’t for Africa we’d be listening to John Philip Sousa marches and calling it hip. What a sad world that would be.
I’ll throw this nugget out there, too: although I love horns and especially sax, my favorite instrument is, hands down, the Hammond B3.
Old school!
Some friends of mine play a weekly thing in Salem MA. It’s a standard B3 trio – organ, guitar, and drums – except it’s two B3’s. That is some fat shit. The guys play their asses off, too.
The thing I’ve never understood is why, in a world that includes James, Michael Jackson was ever considered a good dancer. Topic for another day, no doubt.
Keep it funky!
Buck
@Montysano:
Oh hell. Now I really have an earworm.
Quaker in a Basement
Well, he rocks then.