Oh for pity sake...this is a crook, wife beater and other things, and he's 'laying in state'????? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!!!!
Beethoven was a well-documented abusive a**hole too.
I'm not comparing James Brown with Beethoven, but Brown left a great musical legacy that should be revered and celebrated (even if some of its offspring went bad).
Conservatives gots to have some soul too, ya know. Wouldn't kill ya.
He's not really "laying in state." I mean, this is the Apollo Theatre we're talking about. Since it wasn't his idea, I hope he doesn't mind.
The way you feel about Brown is the way I feel about Mahatma Gandhi. Nothing there to revere. Gandhi was a certified, habitual wife beater.. he brutalized his wife both physically and emotionally. He was a mean, cruel little man but most have not done much reading about him and don't know it. What's worse about Gandhi is the pretensions to holiness and sainthood. He was a thorough Hypocrite.
James Brown was no hypocrite. He was what he was. He entertained and when the did the crime, he did the time. I'm not totally defending him, but I'll say he was NOT a hypocrite.
Youre exactly right.
I'm not judging his contribution to music history or his "talent", Im remembering him, as a person...and it wasnt pretty. As long as people KNOW what he was, which was a low life woman beater, than Im good with that.
He is spit in the universe as far as Im concerned.
MM