Today is the big Christian birthday bash (except for old school Orthodox versions, celebrated in January), so on the one hand I want to say a big Merry Christmas to everybody.
On the other hand, I want to salute Mr, Please, Please, Please himself, James Brown the mortal man, for giving the world so much entertainment and artistry. He even had at least two Christmas albums that I know of; the latter version icludes "Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto." How can you beat that? Team it up with Elvis' "In the Ghetto" and you're all set for real time in 2007.
N.B. The word "ghetto" isn't used much anymore in "polite" conversation. It's still used, but mostly as slang. Maybe because poverty rates have shifted in the USA so much that the suburbs have even more poor people than the inner cities and that race/ethnicity/culture has never been the sole qualifying distinction anyway?
In any case, I'm blogging away with at least a shadow of the disciplined spirit of James Brown. A friend of mine noted from day one that if this blog writing thing is really going to work, you have to stay at it consistently, regardless of what else is going on and even more faithfully than the U.S. Postal Service. No Sundays and holidays and occasional mental health days off. As a relatively free man, I have come to see this as not only correct, but also a good development. And I am thankful for lots of friendly feedback and good wishes from all around, plus an interesting bunch of new friends in the blogosphere.
Now, even though I tend not to like the word "funky," today if it's good enough for James Brown, it's good enough for me. So Merry Funky Christmas, y'all, and to all a good night!
Today's Rune: Journey.
4 comments:
I'm pretty bummed about James Brown, may he rest in peace.
I took a holiday break from blogging, and now I feel naked for some reason. I won't be doing that again.
Although James Brown did some time in the pen, he was still the hard working man in show biz. God rest his soul.
Hello Erik,
Thanks for the tip of "One Dimensional Man." Will seek it out - hadn't heard of it.
You are right about taking a James Brown approach to work to blogging - the more you put in, the more you get out....
Cheers!
I'm not too crazy about James Brown. It's not so much the time in jail as the lots and lots of drug abuse. Rumor is that he died of the flu or pnemonia. I'm waiting for the cops to find ten tons of crack in his house.
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