James Brown

[Alexis Machine]

^Nope! You just know that Jet and probably Essence magazines will have pictures of the viewing, too.

[Shanmac]

jaghetersimon said:

Am I the only one who finds public viewings (i mean, REALLY public, in a theatre) totally creepy?

No, that's just disturbing. Although it's big and over-the-top, which pretty much sums JB up, so maybe that's what he wanted.

[ownlife]

I used to find funerals, viewings and the like completely creepy but I have more respect now for the rituals of life, I guess it's my advanced age. I think people just want a chance to say goodbye to family members or celebs (many people feel very close to celebs even though they have no personal association). If I were in NY, I'd probably brave the crowds to pay my final respects to JB and I certainly didn't know him. I'm not trying to put down other opinions, just giving my opinion of the reasons why people attend public viewings (of James Brown, Gerald Ford or anyone else) regardless of whether the casket is closed.

[bitca]

99.44% said:

I have no way of knowing how despicable he was as a human being but, based on the same info about him as others of you have and, in comparison, I daresay, to Elvis who wasn't the greatest human being either, or to Jerry Lee Lewis or any of the other "white" superstars of music...

I know, right? That's why I'm glad we make fun of all of them.

Autumn said:

biopic in the works.

Yeah. That was mentioned three posts above yours. Where's Dwan? I saw her in here. DWAN! Don't we have a rule?!

To piggyback off of someone else's post, I mentioned to someone that James Brown was dead, and they said, "Who?" I said, "Are you fucking serious?!" Their response, "I just wasn't sure which old singer that was." hahaha. haha. ha. Ahhh. Dammit. Then I got a little pissy, "HELLO? JAMES BROWN?" I showed them a picture. "OH. James Brown." Duh-huh.

Then we got into a debate about how, well, he was getting up in the years. I agreed, but, damn, we're going to soon be living in an age where the "great ones" are, who, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion? What the hell have they pioneered? "Crack is whack," dog whistle like singing notes and crazy anorexic chest thumping? Groan. (These examples are just based on record sales and have no thought process behind them, really. Please don't look for anything behind them. It's not that deep, y'all!)

RIP, James Brown. Send help in the form of some real singers, 'k?

[dwanollah]

Yeah. That was mentioned three posts above yours. Where's Dwan? I saw her in here. DWAN! Don't we have a rule?!

Oh! Oh yeah! BANNED!!!!

[buckdutter]

whatever said:

They're still making him go on tour when he's dead? Sheesh.

Dead entertainers need to organize a union. They've been working Tupac like a rented mule since rigor set in, had Nat King Cole's makin' videos, and Bogart can't RIP for shilling beer or whatever the hell that is.

[Sunnyhorse]

whatever said:

They're still making him go on tour when he's dead? Sheesh.

And yes, everytime I think of James Brown I think of the Smoking Gun cartoon/puppet show that aired on Court TV a year or so ago, lampooning some of his crazier arrests.

Is it James that had the soul food restaurant where it was found out that the bathroom stalls contained cameras?

That restaurant, the Southern Air, is about 5 miles from my house, and Chuck's estate isn't much farther away. (Many of the kids in my graduating class partied down with Chuck on weekends.) He shut down the restaurant after the big scandal, and now it's owned by Lindenwood University, which holds satellite-campus classes there.

Mr. Sunnyhorse is the proud owner of a slew of James Brown .wav files -- all of the Godfather's various screams and yelps -- and playing them all in quick succession is guaranteed to reduce the listener to helpless giggling.

[Inkyblott]

I saw a clip of the girlfriend on an ET preview last night and something about her just wasn't right. I understand that she's grieving James Brown's death and dealing with the further indignity of being banned from the home she lived in but she was going on about how she was supposed to receive 17% of everything and that he told her that the house and everything in it was hers until she decided to leave.

There was just something off putting about it.

And speaking of off putting, even though funerals and the like don't creep me out, there is something weird about the horse drawn carriage and viewing at The Apollo.

[Deleted]

I saw a clip of the girlfriend on an ET preview last night and something about her just wasn't right. I understand that she's grieving James Brown's death and dealing with the further indignity of being banned from the home she lived in but she was going on about how she was supposed to receive 17% of everything and that he told her that the house and everything in it was hers until she decided to leave.

ITA. But these women should know by now to make everything legal and to get in the will! I felt bad for the little boy. Will James' other children do something for him? Hopefully they won't punish him for his mother's stupidity.

[soul]

My sister told me that chick has a home right down the street from her beloved James. That chick was just trying to get in that house to steal something.

there is something weird about the horse drawn carriage and viewing at The Apollo.

Well, horse drawn carriages were how they did things back in the day. I think JFK had a horse drawn carriage. In regards to the Apollo, that's where he got his start. The man didn't even have a decent shirt to where, until someone loan him a shirt. I think it was Sam Cooke who did that.