Goodbye James
Except that I live about 5 miles from his home. You may or may not have heard of James’ run-ins with the law here, but let me tell you that isn’t representative of the man as a whole. He did much more good than bad.
He donated a great deal of time and money to charities in and around the CSRA. As much as you can hear his influence on music, you can see his influence on the world around him everyday here.
I’m not for minute saying that his spousal and substance abuse issues weren’t bad things. They were very bad. But I am trying to convey the fact that it is very complex. As was he.
Whether you love him or hate him, you can’t ignore him.
Goodbye, sir. You will be missed.
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December 27th, 2006 at 1:02 am
He’s not really a …
How can I possibly compare the two?
Regardless, I agree with the musical influences.
RIP James Brown.
December 28th, 2006 at 8:38 am
Let me clarify my thoughts a little better. This was actually a quickie post after a much longer comment on another site. So in my mind it was bit of a continuation of a much more complete thought.
Yes, he was a drug abuser. No doubt. So was his wife (the now deceased one, not the chick that he was sorta kinda married to now).
And he was a spouse abuser, too. And so was she. When they were both high, you never knew who was going to do the hitting or shooting. So it was a two way street. A quid pro quo, if you will. And they both spent time in jail for their transgressions. As they should.
He and his wife also were very generous people. Every Thanksgiving they gave away hundreds of Turkeys to famlies that couldn’t get their own. Every Christmas they gave away toys for kids that wouldnt have got one otherwise. There are very few charities in the CSRA that didn’t benefit either directly or indirectly from their giving.
So I’m not dismissing their bad behavior. They did things wrong and they paid for them. And in the final analysis, more good came than bad. And that completely discounts his life as a performer. His life as a performer is a whole ‘nother matter in which there is little to which you could compare. In my opinion he had no peers in that regard.
So I’m not saying he isn’t really…. I’m saying he was. But in the end, he had way more credits than debits in the karma column.
Now if you can find me a similar set of credits in a now-disgraced comedian’s life, I will take back everything I said about him.
December 28th, 2006 at 10:41 pm
As usual James, your thoughts were clear, at least to me. I understood exactly what you were implying in the first place. Actually, I was being a bit sarcastic and/or facetious. Hooray for the internet!
Thanks for the clarification though, I did not know that the abuse was from both sides ‘not that there’s anything RIGHT with that…’ (Seinfeld twist)
Hopefully one day I will be remembered as doing more good than bad.