I’m also writing to express sadness at last week’s passing of Bobby Byrd. For me, James and Bobby will live on eternally in “Talkin’ Loud and Sayin’ Nothing”. “Bobby – the groove is so great”.

Indeed it is.

Your article on James Brown says little about his stage moves, yet these were as innovative and influential as his music. Michael Jackson is only one of the many artists who’ve ripped off elements of Brown’s stage show.

it does seem hard today for the general population to digest artists/musicians who truly break ground or have a talent for influencing others but end up becoming subject of controversy for one reason or another.

is it because we hold people more accountable these days, or do citizens think they know everything and “jump” on every oppurtunity to belittle those in the spotlight??

when people are quick to showing indifference in these situations, they demonstrate one part longing for the ideal which is ok, but two parts ignorance and hypocrisy, not ok.

had james brown’s time ended perhaps at the time when elvis left us much too soon, brown would have had a shinier legacy in the minds of more. had his personal ups and downs still happened, but happened decades ago, he, unlike so many artists in the public eye today, would not have had the same quick-draw, quick-from-the-hip judgement that goes out from every armchair “know-it-all,” more often uniformed and uneducated about the facts, but so happily and eagerly ready to spread the misinformation as Gospel truth.

i was never a huge james brown fan, simply cause i never took the time to
listen to him, except for two of his early outstanding songs, “Try Me” and “Please Please Please (Don’t Go).”

so when he wailed “Try Me,” I did just that, and anyone who understands talent and hard work, even when personal problems still exist as with every person on Earth, should realize that, that young man would go one to be a very influential artist and to give him credit, or props, regardless of anything else.