Wednesday, December 27, 2006

I was so caught up in my own life yesterday, that I forgot to mention the loss of the one James Brown had. And at this point, so much has been said about the contributions of the man, that I really don't have much to add. My first exposure to him that I remember came around 1984, when my father would play records every Saturday evening. He would always find time to put on a James Brown record, and then he and my mother would explain to me how in the 70s, no party was really a party without a few James Brown records(incidentally, both my parents told that exact same story at some point this weekend). Every time I would buy a rap cd, my father would hear a song, and let me know that a James Brown record had been sampled in the song. In fact, there are LOTS of hip hop artists who owe their career to a James Brown sample, hook or loop. I also remember James doing that corny ass Living in America song for the movie Rocky IV. Considering his vast body of work, I think I'll grant him a pass for that.

Our 38th president, Gerald Ford also passed away yesterday, but to be honest that really isn't that big of a deal. One, he was 93 years old, which is a good run for anyone. Once you reach 90, you're on borrowed time anyway, so anything passed that is like playing with house money(whatever that means). Two, Gerald had been ill over the past few years, and I'm sure he's at peace right now. I read a blog by a former employee of the Boston Globe who said that major newspaper keep something called "ready-made obituaries". These are obits that written for individuals who are either near death, sickly, or just plain old. Since these indviduals are threats to die at any time, it is advantageous from the newspaper's vantage point, to have them 90% written to cut down any hassles for the next morning's edition of the newspaper. It sounds a bit cruel, but I admire the efficiency of it. James Brown probably didn't have a ready made obit, but I bet everything that Gerald Ford did..in fact I bet the author of that obituary has been ready to hit send for a good 5 years now. And that's no disrespect to Gerald Ford..in fact Rudy Giuliani, Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, Al Gore, and whoever else is trying to run for president, needs to study Gerald Ford's presidency. Why? Ford basically has the blueprint down for how to follow a president who has left a mess, because he followed Nixon and the Watergate scandal. I know I plan on reading a bit more about my damn self.

Oh, I tried to watch the movie Clerks 2, and it was just absolute garbage. 10 years ago, I watched the first Clerks, and it seemed so different than anything I had seen. I don't know whether I'm just older, or whether this movie is just not as good as that one, but I stopped it after 30 minutes, completely wishing that I could have that 30 minutes back; however, the one bright spot to look at was Rosario Dawson. I'll never get sick of looking at her.

1 comment:

Jo said...

Yeah, it's sad about James Brown. Oh well, he had a good life . . . and this, WE KNOW!

As for Gerald Ford, maybe his death this year is forecasting the future. We will need a strong president to come in and clean up shop as he was taxed with doing back then. Maybe if others study and learn from him there is a chance.

As for me, I just hope McCaine runs. He's my first pick . . . unless of course, Clinton can run again, and I mean Bill NOT Hilary. BTW are there any rules about a president running for re-election after he served for 8 and stepped down for 8. Is it possible for Bill to run again? I wish it were . . . Are there any measures being taken to change the rules? Well, but then again, maybe not . . . if that were to happen, that would mean we could be stuck with someone like W for longer than 8 years - Whew! Imagine that . . .YIKES!