Goodnight Godfather

Before we get down to business, I wanted to make a short statement about the passing of James Brown on Christmas Day. I normally don’t get into Hollywood that much. Quite frankly, they don’t interest me a whole lot. While there are some good people in Hollywood (a few) but a lot of them are ruthless, over-indulged, sex and drug addicts, who aren’t the greatest people to go to, to get answers on life’s toughest questions.

With this said, I know James Brown could be a great example of what you shouldn’t do in a lot of areas in life. He was known as much for controversy in his personal life as he was for his great showmanship. The “Godfather of Soul” went through messy divorces, run-ins with the law, and had a very public drug addiction that cost him a lot. He had his failings as all people do.

But there is another part of his life where he shined at, and this was not so much as to his music, as it was as him being one of the first blacks to really make it big in show business. Most blacks up till that time never really had anything to show for all their hard work and big hits. The company’s that produced their records made more money than the artists of his time did. ‘The Godfather” was one of the people who helped turn this around. In the end, he became popular enough to begin to demand more for his work, instead of letting big conglomerate decide what he was worth. His music sold well, and the people who liked his music would show up at the concerts from all over; he was a star with draw-power. He learned to harness that power and use it to demand better than what racism and treatment of black entertainers at the time usually got. This, as is usually the case, became a light for others to follow. For that, those in his business who know, should be thankful. So, while those in Hollywood thank him for his music, they have something else to thank him for. Let’s see who remembers.