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Blue Note crowd sees the downside of James Brown.
Legendary soul man James Brown provided a New Year's Eve fireworks show of
his own.
His bizarre behavior stunned a highbrow crowd at the Blue Note jazz club with
actions that included: an on-stage rant in a bathrobe; going into the crowd
to confiscate a front-row showgoer's camcorder, angrily throwing a patron's
chair ala Bobby Knight and saying he had been communicating with the pope.
Dozens of showgoers, including a local TV reporter, were seen lining up for
refunds during the show.
"Never seen anything like it in my life," said one perturbed reveler who
clearly did not share the spirit demonstrated by The Godfather of Soul in his
signature hit "I Feel Good."
Things started going badly early. Revelers were told to arrive at 6 p.m., but
the doors didn't open until 7:15. At 9:15, Brown in a bathrobe was spotted
engaging in a heated debate with management off to the side of the stage.
A few minutes later, Brown was seen having words with two women at a table
near the front of the stage. When the two women got up and left, Brown went
to their table, tossed one chair and kicked the other. Then, with his arm, he
swept everything off their table: beverage glasses, party favors, etc.
At 10:15, he returned to the stage in his bathrobe, demanded management turn
down the sound and told the crowd that they had probably noticed he was
"pretty agitated because these people are trying to take advantage of me." He
mentioned that he had been paid $30 million for the performance but that he
had given back "all the money."
When he eventually came on stage in a suit, he dressed down his drummer at
one point, and raised more eyebrows when he said the pope had contacted him
and said he -- the pope -- was no longer going to hold audiences with people
because he couldn't attract the number of people "that James Brown could."
Calls to the Blue Note's local and New York corporate offices for a response
were not returned.
Wednesday, January 03, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
COLUMN: NORM!
"Music is far older than our species."
What is it about "form following function" that architect Frank Gehry doesn't get !? All those Titanium tiles used for Bilboa's external skin required silicon based fire-proofing ! Some got spilled, now it looks like hell. What an asshole and how defensive can you get ! It takes a design this problematic to fuck up a Titanium sheathing system ! Brings to mind the Statue of Liberty incident wherein restoration workers pee'd right on her shoulder and it wound up making an oxide statement Warhol could die for.