James Brown

Ain't no drag, Papa's got a brand new bridge.So if you want to cross the new bridge in Steamboat Springs, Colo., you'd better get on the good foot, because after seven months of wrangling, the town has named it the James Brown Soul Center of the Universe Bridge.And how does the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, feel about all this:"It's one of the things that makes me feel good." You knew that it would, now."Well, that's so good, so good, so good, so good," Mr. Brown said from Augusta, Ga.Mr.

Dennis H.L. Sherman, a retired tailor who was also known as "The Tie Man," died Dec. 14 of pneumonia at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 87. "I first met him when I was in middle school. Back then I used to wear ascots, and he thought that was so cool," said Matthew "Bay Bay" Williams, a Baltimore portrait artist. "He was a most interesting fellow. " Dennis Howard Lee Sherman was born in Norfolk, Va., and raised in Petersburg, Va., where he graduated from high school. During World War II, he served in the Army as a private.

It was a legendary introduction, utterly predictable yet invariably electrifying. "Are you really ready for some super-dynamite soul?" MC Danny Ray would ask. "Because now, it's Star Time!"And as the band hummed behind him, Ray would run through the familiar incantation: "Introducing the World's Greatest Entertainer, Mr. Dynamite, the Amazing Mr. Please Please himself, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business. . . . Ladies and gentlemen, the star of the show --"JAMES BROWN!"That's the way Brown used to be introduced in concert.

Interesting that The Sun posts all Baltimore County Public Schools salaries. I feel you have every right to dig into our monetary lives for all to view, yet as quid pro quo, why don't you feel the pain of posting all of your employees' salaries? I'm sure you'd gain serious media attention, especially due to the growing lack of support for newspapers. Thanks again for reminding me why I do not spend my hard-earned money to read your newspaper. Talk about a teachable moment, yes?

THE TIMES, the surroundings and certainly the circumstances are so different from what they used to be for James Brown.But even now, from behind a desk at a Community Action Commission office in South Carolina, where he is engaged in a work-release program as a part of his jail sentence, Brown remembers the good times when the world was his play toy."I have good memories of Baltimore," said Brown by phone. "I remember when I used to play the Regal Theater on Pennsylvania [Ave.] I remember making the people happy."

One of the worst-kept secrets in the industry has become public knowledge, as Fox yesterday tapped James Brown, the hardest-working man in sports broadcasting, as studio host for its NHL coverage, which begins April 2.Ok, so maybe that James Brown isn't as prolific as the other James Brown, but he has certainly been at least as visible in the past year, making appearances on three networks in a number of different roles, from calling freestyle skiing at...

WASHINGTON -- Can James Brown really be gone? Are we sure? After all, no one could stage a false exit better than the "Godfather of Soul." He'd be singing "Please, Please, Please," down on one knee at the foot of the stage, his face gleaming with sweat, his pompadour gleaming with pomade, after two hours of sweet, pulse-pounding soul stirrings. Then his dapper assistant would appear and drape a bright satin cape over Mr. Brown's shoulders, and Soul Brother No. 1 would slowly stand up and turn around and step rhythmically offstage as the band and backup singers moaned, "Please, please don't go-oh-oh ..."

NEW YORK -- Thousands jammed 125th Street and waited in line for hours yesterday to pay their respects to James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, whose body lay inside Harlem's Apollo Theater. On the stage of the historic building, the Rev. Al Sharpton, a longtime friend, stood near the head of the casket, speaking occasionally to people passing by in a slow, deliberate procession. Some took pictures; others simply looked and moved on. Brown's music blared through the air. Later, at an evening program for family and close friends, Sharpton said it was difficult to believe that a man who was "so much alive" was dead.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- A simple white trellis made of plastic and metal, with a red bow on top and gold treble clefs at the sides, surrounded James Brown's statue on Broad Street here in his hometown. Christmas lights were threaded through the frame, which was anchored by steel wires and sandbags. A cocked Santa hat sat on Brown's head, and a backstage pass from the Imperial Theatre's "12 Bands of Christmas" concert hung around his neck. It was kind of sad, really, like a front-yard decoration people drive by and never notice.

James Brown was more than a soul-music giant. He was a visionary. The world dances today to the sound of his drum, and in James Brown's universe every instrument was a drum. Mr. Brown died yesterday at 73 of heart failure in Atlanta after being taken to Emory Crawford Long Hospital with pneumonia. Whereas legendary peers such as the Beatles, Elvis Presley and even Bob Dylan have been transformed from counterculture rebels into cuddly icons, Mr. Brown leaves a pricklier legacy. "Said to be singularly `raw,' `uninhibited,' `possessed,' he became the mysterious, exotic black Other of colonialist fantasy," wrote Bruce Tucker in his introduction to the singer's autobiography, James Brown: The Godfather of Soul.

For a documentary about a music festival, "Soul Power" doesn't include nearly enough music. That's a shame, because what's here is wonderful - exuberant, high-wattage performances from the likes of B.B. King, the Spinners, Bill Withers and, especially, James Brown, performing in Zaire as a backdrop to the 1974 Muhammad Ali-George Foreman heavyweight fight. But by including only one song from each performer - except for Brown, who gets two - director Jeffrey Levy-Hinte seriously shortchanges them and his audience.

CBS News said there were no conditions placed on the interview with ex-NFL star and admitted dog killer Michael Vick that will air Sunday. A spokesman also said that even though CBS Sports host James Brown has never done a report for "60 Minutes," he earned the right to do the Vick piece by getting the interview on his own. In my first post about the interview, I raised questions about the choice of Brown rather than one of the CBS News correspondents who...

On April 10, 2009, FLORENCE MARIE BROWN; devoted wife of James Brown. On Friday, friends may call at the VAUGHN C. GREENE FUNERAL SERVICES, 5151 Baltimore National Pike from 4:30 to 8 P.M. On Saturday, Mrs. Brown will lie instate at St. John Pentecostal, 1900 W. North Avenue, where the family will receive friends from 9 to 9:30 A.M with services to follow. Inquiries to

Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings ESSENTIALS: With a 50-something leading lady and a soul and R&B backdrop straight out of the '60s, it's hard to believe that Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings are a relatively new band. The Dap-Kings' sound may be familiar - they played on Amy Winehouse's album Back to Black. But Jones brings out their best. WHAT TO EXPECT: A James Brown in high-heels, Jones unleashes some electric dance moves on stage. Her live presence has been compared to Tina Turner and even Aretha Franklin, and rightfully so. She often calls fans up to dance and sing backup.

LEON RHODES AUSTIN, 74 James Brown's hair stylist Leon Rhodes Austin, a musician and associate of James Brown who once styled the singer's famous hair, died Thursday at his home in Atlanta, according to C.A. Reid Memorial Funeral Home. A cause of death was not given. Mr. Austin maintained the hair of the "Godfather of Soul" off and on before stage and media appearances for 20 years. Mr. Brown died in Atlanta on Christmas Day 2006. Mr. Austin, a professional stylist, also owned Leon's DeSoto Club in Augusta DANNY DAVIS, 83 Band leader Danny Davis, a Grammy-winning band leader and record producer who blended swing music with a country style, died Thursday at a hospital in Nashville, Tenn.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- A simple white trellis made of plastic and metal, with a red bow on top and gold treble clefs at the sides, surrounded James Brown's statue on Broad Street here in his hometown. Christmas lights were threaded through the frame, which was anchored by steel wires and sandbags. A cocked Santa hat sat on Brown's head, and a backstage pass from the Imperial Theatre's "12 Bands of Christmas" concert hung around his neck. It was kind of sad, really, like a front-yard decoration people drive by and never notice.

Spike Lee is a happy guy and not because he is in those ready-made-ingredient food commercials where the delivery guy mistakes him for a Chinese cook. Spike and Paramount have nabbed Wesley Snipes to play the movie role of the late great James Brown. Noonan's report Here's a strictly personal report from my pal Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal about a social burst of true philanthropy. Peggy usually writes about politics but in this case she was telling of the wonderful Lily Safra, and all she has done for the National Institutes of Health.

Anytime a show biz superstar takes part in a story-of-my-life TV documentary, the immediate assumption is that there's some sort of spin control involved. Particularly when the legend in question has recently been involved in some sort of scandal; what we get, in the guise of "the inside story," is usually just whitewash and equivocation as the star tells his side of the story.Not James Brown, though. Ask him why he agreed to make "James Brown: The Man, the Music & the Message," and his answer has nothing to do with excuses or self-justification.

Angela Jackson strides down Pennsylvania Avenue with pamphlets under her arm, unfazed by the line of dealers hawking drugs beneath blinking police cameras. "James Brown, James Brown!" cries one young man, applying the late soul star's name to his heroin capsules. "Ray Charles, Ray Charles!" cries another. Places like this are utterly familiar to Jackson, who once supported a heroin addiction by selling sex to men eager to step into an alley or vacant building. Today, she spots someone who's trolling for customers as she once did. "Hey, miss, you have a minute?"

Spike Lee is a happy guy and not because he is in those ready-made-ingredient food commercials where the delivery guy mistakes him for a Chinese cook. Spike and Paramount have nabbed Wesley Snipes to play the movie role of the late great James Brown. Noonan's report Here's a strictly personal report from my pal Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal about a social burst of true philanthropy. Peggy usually writes about politics but in this case she was telling of the wonderful Lily Safra, and all she has done for the National Institutes of Health.