GOD REST THE SOUL

"A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul."

--Goethe, Johann Wolfgang

I’ve heard more times than I care to recount that, change is for the better. When you think about there’s computers vs. typewriters; iPods vs. 8-Tracks; remotes vs. the closest sibling to the TV; Wal-Mart vs. the Bodega; NIKE vs. Chuck Taylors or flat screens vs. wooden floor models.  With those examples you can make a strong case for technological advancement.

My family used to own a floor model. The wide wooden phonograph had a record player (with the center piece for the 45’s), a 20” black & white TV, an AM/FM radio & a six-ring wine rack all in one. We had to move all of the family photos, slide the top back just to play a new album. Man, those 12” albums… I remember taking the thumb tacks off the wall, pulling the record out of the jacket sleeve & dropping the needle on the likes of: Crown Heights Affair, KC & the Sunshine Band, The Jackson 5, The Temptations, Phyllis Hyman, Marvin Gaye, The Salsoul Orchestra, Billy Ocean, The Bar-Kays, Parliament, Jimmy Cliff, Kool and the Gang, Shalamar, George Benson, Prince, Freddie Jackson, Donna Summer, Stevie Wonder, and the “soul” reason for this piece…, yep the late and legendary James Brown. 

Do you think they’ll ever be another James Brown? I'll bet everyone that has only owned an iPod thinks there will be (although I cannot image who). And, those who’ve owned the floor model stereo probably feels differently. Sadly, neither of the two truly appreciated him. I’ll let the soon-to-be-unleashed VH-1 bio pics chronicle his life’s work, the only thing that I’ll say is…, a portion of today’s record companies will never see the amount of hit records with James Brown’s fingerprints. I’d also be willing to bet, 5% of all rap music recorded from 1978-1988 had some sample of from James Brown's catalog in it.  Man, I miss him already.

I remember the first party that I ever attended, the D.J. played "Sex Machine" for a good part of 25 minutes. I said, wow this deejay is off the chain!! Little did I know that the deejay went to the bathroom one minute after the record started, James did the rest.

I remember there was a time when driving up or down I-95 meant you’d hear some underground rap leaving New York and when that signal faded, House and Go-Go music guided you through D.C. Of course the Sounds of Philadelphia hugged you in-between rest stops. Once the needle in the Impala was gassed up to F the soothing gospel rotations echoed through the winding road in Virginia right until Archie Bell and the Drells drove you through the south. No matter where your radio dial landed you were sure to hear some James Brown along the way. Now you will never see him live or alive again...

I'd say technology lost this round.

1 love,
Ray Lewis