The ironies are tremendous: As "Dreamgirls" opened across the country on Christmas Day, the news came that the legendary "Godfather of Soul" James Brown had died.
There are still questions about how and why Brown died, but the immediate parallel is interesting. Eddie Murphy plays James "Thunder" Early in "Dreamgirls," and no matter what anyone says, Murphy — at least for the first half of the movie — is playing a version of Brown.
Indeed, when Murphy's Early bursts out into a funky rap on a live TV show later in the film, it's Brown he's channeling. No way around it.
'Godfather of Soul' Singer James Brown Dead at 73
James Brown was imitated all through his career, but never surpassed. A song like Prince 's big hit "Kiss" is one of many derived from Brown's persona, talent and influence.
And while there will be plenty of stories in the next few days of Brown acting crazy on PCP and of time spent in jail and other salacious bits, it's important to remember his contributions to society and charity. In April 1968, he arrived in Boston for a live televised show just as news broke that Martin Luther King had been assassinated in Memphis. Brown calmed the near-riotous crowd and made sure the show went on without a hitch.
He wasn't called the "hardest working man in show business" for nothing — even thought he gave himself that nickname. I've seen him perform several times in the last few years, and he never gave less than expected at any show. He still wore his cape, did splits the best he could, yelped through his songs and spun around like a top. Not bad for a man in his late 60s and early 70s.
A couple of years ago, Mr. Brown — as he insisted on being called by everyone around him — was honored with a store window at Barneys on Madison Ave. His huge distinctive head filled the whole area, and his mouth moved to one of his songs. Later I interviewed him and Mr. Brown told me that Aretha Franklin had wanted to marry him, but he said no.
Who knows if it was true? In his mind, it was, and that's all that mattered. You had to take some of the things Mr. Brown said with a tablespoon of salt.
Mr. Brown had his share of hits, songs that everyone knows and dances too like "I Feel Good," "Sex Machine" (with the famous line "shake your moneymaker"), "It's a Man's World" (even Cher covered that one) and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag."
He launched a lot of other careers, too, like Bobby Byrd ("I Got Soul"), Fred Wesley and the JBs and Maceo Parker. They came and went, but no matter what happened, everyone knew they were part of James Brown's orbit. They couldn't escape it. He was even memorialized by the Tom Tom Club in their early funk hit "Genius of Love."
Now James Brown joins a disarming list of R&B greats who passed away in the last year like Lou Rawls, Wilson Pickett, Ruth Brown, Billy Preston, Ahmet Ertegun and Arif Mardin. Not too long before them, Eugene Record also passed.
The list of R&B originals who remain is shrinking quickly. No one can or will replace them, that much is clear already. Plenty of people will try to imitate or steal from them, but it won't work. They are the originals. Music, and our culture, will be so much less without them.
And what a tribute to all of them, and to James Brown and The Supremes' late star Florence Ballard , that audiences are lining up today to see "Dreamgirls." It's the closest we've ever gotten on the big screen to even an approximate depiction of the tough lives and sacrifices these great performers made while others lived off their successes.
There are still questions about how and why Brown died, but the immediate parallel is interesting. Eddie Murphy plays James "Thunder" Early in "Dreamgirls," and no matter what anyone says, Murphy — at least for the first half of the movie — is playing a version of Brown.
Indeed, when Murphy's Early bursts out into a funky rap on a live TV show later in the film, it's Brown he's channeling. No way around it.
'Godfather of Soul' Singer James Brown Dead at 73
James Brown was imitated all through his career, but never surpassed. A song like Prince 's big hit "Kiss" is one of many derived from Brown's persona, talent and influence.
And while there will be plenty of stories in the next few days of Brown acting crazy on PCP and of time spent in jail and other salacious bits, it's important to remember his contributions to society and charity. In April 1968, he arrived in Boston for a live televised show just as news broke that Martin Luther King had been assassinated in Memphis. Brown calmed the near-riotous crowd and made sure the show went on without a hitch.
He wasn't called the "hardest working man in show business" for nothing — even thought he gave himself that nickname. I've seen him perform several times in the last few years, and he never gave less than expected at any show. He still wore his cape, did splits the best he could, yelped through his songs and spun around like a top. Not bad for a man in his late 60s and early 70s.
A couple of years ago, Mr. Brown — as he insisted on being called by everyone around him — was honored with a store window at Barneys on Madison Ave. His huge distinctive head filled the whole area, and his mouth moved to one of his songs. Later I interviewed him and Mr. Brown told me that Aretha Franklin had wanted to marry him, but he said no.
Who knows if it was true? In his mind, it was, and that's all that mattered. You had to take some of the things Mr. Brown said with a tablespoon of salt.
Mr. Brown had his share of hits, songs that everyone knows and dances too like "I Feel Good," "Sex Machine" (with the famous line "shake your moneymaker"), "It's a Man's World" (even Cher covered that one) and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag."
He launched a lot of other careers, too, like Bobby Byrd ("I Got Soul"), Fred Wesley and the JBs and Maceo Parker. They came and went, but no matter what happened, everyone knew they were part of James Brown's orbit. They couldn't escape it. He was even memorialized by the Tom Tom Club in their early funk hit "Genius of Love."
Now James Brown joins a disarming list of R&B greats who passed away in the last year like Lou Rawls, Wilson Pickett, Ruth Brown, Billy Preston, Ahmet Ertegun and Arif Mardin. Not too long before them, Eugene Record also passed.
The list of R&B originals who remain is shrinking quickly. No one can or will replace them, that much is clear already. Plenty of people will try to imitate or steal from them, but it won't work. They are the originals. Music, and our culture, will be so much less without them.
And what a tribute to all of them, and to James Brown and The Supremes' late star Florence Ballard , that audiences are lining up today to see "Dreamgirls." It's the closest we've ever gotten on the big screen to even an approximate depiction of the tough lives and sacrifices these great performers made while others lived off their successes.
) Dang,talk about trampling on the man's grave.jeez..... 
