![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/pix-2006\/evergreen-jamesbrown-61.png\")
\nDevastated. <\/p>\n
\nDevastated. <\/p>\n
That’s the way my friend Laurel described what she felt at 12:42 am on Christmas morning when she sent me an email. James Brown is dead<\/strong> . The song of the same title finally came true today. James Brown died at the age of 73 from complications of pneumonia. What a sad event to take place on Christmas day.<\/p>\n The influence of James Brown<\/strong> on popular music was enormous. James Brown was one of the few musicians that actually defined a whole genre of music. Funk music owes an enormous debt to this man from Georgia. Like the Beatles<\/strong>, Johnny Cash<\/strong>, Ray Charles<\/strong>, Frank Sinatra<\/strong>, and Bob Dylan<\/strong>, James Brown was a giant in the entertainment industry whose works transcended beyond niche markets to achieve universal recognition worldwide.<\/p>\n I saw James Brown a couple of times, and he was always an amazing performer. I saw him at the Keystone Palo Alto, and the San Jose Saddle Rack, two great nightclubs that no longer exist. This summer, I was actually hired to shoot some video of a big festival in San Francisco that featured James Brown on the second day. Because of prior commitments, I sub-contracted a friend of mine to shoot the day that missed. It turned out to be the last time James Brown played San Francisco.<\/p>\n In my LOUIE LOUIE research, I’ve been trying to find memorabilia connected to the Evergreen Ballroom<\/strong> of Olympia, Washington<\/a>. This was the place where Richard Berry<\/strong> performed when he toured the Pacific Northwest in 1957 with Etta James<\/strong>, Bobby Bland<\/strong>, and Junior Parker<\/strong>. There’s not a lot of material I could find from this extinct nightclub, but one of the few things I did find was a jpeg of a vintage 1961 Evergreen poster featuring James Brown, Sugar Pie DeSanto<\/strong>, Nat Kendricks<\/strong>, and the Brownies<\/strong>, which you can see in this posting. If you have ANY memorabilia from the Evergreen Ballroom, drop me an email<\/a>.<\/p>\n Earlier his week, I received an iTunes gift card. Today, I used this gift card to purchase a James Brown Christmas album. With all the stores closed on Christmas Day, I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the holidays and the life of James Brown by buying the download of “James Brown’s Funky Christmas<\/strong>.” It’s an excellent addition to my audio library.<\/p>\n In the meantime, here’s a classic James Brown performance, courtesy of YouTube. This is a performance of \u201cPapa\u2019s Got A Brand New Bag \/ I Feel Good\u201d of from the Ed Sullivan Show on<\/strong> May 1, 1966.<\/p>\n