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Brown took stage — and took control
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Labor Day 2008, Buzz thought it appropriate to recognize “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business,” who played his final Atlanta concert at Chastain Park five years ago this weekend.
Augusta’s own R&B legend, the late James Brown, is the subject of the brand new “I Got the Feelin’: James Brown in the ’60s,” a fascinating, sometimes horrifying, three-DVD set from Shout Factory.
The package contains the ultra-rare April 5, 1968, concert Brown performed at the Boston Garden, just 24 hours after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. American cities had descended into chaos as racial tensions spilled into the streets and Boston officials were desperate to keep the peace.
At the last minute, Boston Mayor Kevin White opted against canceling Brown’s scheduled show in his city. Instead, White urged Bostonians to stay home. Just hours before the show, White contacted WGBH and requested the station broadcast the show live.
WGBH producer and director Russ Morash and crew turned up. Today, Morash is best known as one of the creators of “The French Chef,” Julia Child’s ground-breaking public television cooking show. Suffice it to say, Morash didn’t know much about soul music.
Says Morash in the set’s excellent accompanying doc: “To have a madman belting it out and destroying our equipment was not something we were used to.”
Facing a mostly empty venue, an unseen TV audience and a small squadron of cops lining the stage, Brown got up on stage and performed an epic 90-minute concert. His jacket soaked through with sweat, Brown was about to launch into his encore of “I Can’t Stand Myself” when things threatened to unravel.
In the DVD’s most-difficult-to-watch sequence, a young fan gets up on stage to dance with his idol and a uniformed cop flings him off the stage.
Other fans and cops rushed the stage when the singer stopped the show.
“Wait a minute, wait a minute!” Brown tells both parties as the lights come up. “We are black, don’t make us all look bad. I asked the police to step back because I thought I could get some respect from my own people. Are we together or ain’t we?!”
The crowd and the cops did as the Godfather of Soul instructed.
Brown finished the show and promptly mash-potatoed off stage.
WGBH re-aired the concert throughout the night. Calm was maintained.
CORRESPONDENCE FROM CELEBRITY
Local jewelry designer Mickey Lynn got a star-studded surprise when she opened her mail this month and found a handwritten note from none other than A-list celeb Courteney Cox. Lynn had sent Cox a special necklace from her zodiac collection aimed at moms (Cox and her daughter are both Geminis). Considering Cox probably gets tons of swag from more well-known designers, the note was super sweet, especially the un-Courteney-like pink ink with which it was written.
1980S LIVE ON
A nearly full house at Chastain Park Amphitheatre on Friday night got a four-hour dollop of ’80s nostalgia.
The Human Regeneration tour featuring Naked Eyes, Flock of Seagulls, ABC, Belinda Carlisle and the Human League wrapped up in Atlanta with a big push by B98.5 pegged to the arrival of Steve McCoy and Vikki Locke.
Many of the acts were loose and happy. Pete Byrne, lead singer of Naked Eyes, changed the lyrics to one of his songs for a gal in the front row: “How’s your sandwich?” He then had fans in 1980s garb dance on stage to “Promises, Promises.”
Martin Fry, lead singer of ABC, had purchased Halloween masks of Barack Obama and John McCain and had his two keyboardists wear them during “Look of Love.” And he high-fived the front row, saying, “If Neil Diamond can do this, so can I!”
And Belinda Carlisle looked and sounded great at age 50, getting the crowd pumped with Go Go’s classics such as “We Got the Beat” and “Our Lips Are Sealed.” She even bounced back with a smile after tripping backward on a floor speaker during “Leave a Light On.”
“I haven’t done that in a long time!” she mused on stage.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Comedian-actress Lily Tomlin is 69. Singer Barry Gibb (above) of the Bee Gees is 62. Talk show host Dr. Phil is 58. Singer Gloria Estefan is 51. Actor Ricardo Antonio Chavira (“Desperate Housewives”) is 37. Guitarist Joe Trohman of Fall Out Boy is 24.
Contributing: Rodney Ho, Nedra Rhone and news services
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