The Godfather of Soul

James Brown is the epitome of a man's man and a performer's performer. I've been digging him for as long as I can remember and have been lucky enough to see him do his act twice in my lifetime. I hope to see him again, too! He's tough, cool, influential, the hardest working man in show business, the Godfather of Soul. There's no one else quite like him, that's for certain, and today is his 73rd birthday.

He's got a kick ass website, too: http://www.godfatherofsoul.com/

Have you ever seen The T.A.M.I. Show? I once had the VHS tape and ran it into the ground; more recently I borrowed what was apparently an underground DVD copy of it, because it's never been commercially available in that format to my knoweldge. Legal issues? Who knows? Whatever the case, James Brown basically blows away everybody else who performed for it way back in the early 1960s -- including my beloved Rolling Stones, and they are good, too, along with many other acts. James is just that awe-inspiring with his full dance machine and cape routine.

I love it all -- the incendiary Live at the Apollo albums, the proto-funk, the funk, everything. And what could be cooler than "The [Big] Payback"? (Which is probably why it's the lead-in for his website). For anyone who likes what they've heard and want more but don't have any of his albums, there's the powerful compilation The CD of JB, which includes a range of killer tracks from various stages in his career. I love "Sex Machine" and "The Payback," but there are earlier incarnations that mix the tempo nicely. "Maybe the Last Time" even lays out some existential wisdom for everybody to ponder.

There's nothing like seeing him live, though seeing him recorded live is a treat, too. In person, he's surrounded by all manner of dancers, backup singers, sizzling musicians. Though relatively short by concert standards, both the shows I experienced still reverberate like the nights I was there. They are shows! Thank you, James Brown, for making the world a more tolerable place to live in.

Happy Birthday, James, and to everybody else who shares it! And a salute to the Goya painting that bears this date. Speedy recovery to the incomparable Keith Richards, too, who recently fell out of a palm tree and also crashed his water skis in Fiji, or so it's been reported recently. And here's to John Lee Hooker, whose "I'm Mad Again/Gonna Use My Rod" is a close second to "The Payback" for appropriately macho payback songs.