James Brown Festival

This Christmas-themed episode of "Late Night with David Letterman" (12/18/91) features "Dave's Record Collection" complete with James Brown's ridiculous Christmas music.  So I've decided to link some more Godfather of Soul-related material.

-"Give It Up Or Turnit Loose": not the original, but an amazing remix


-James Brown quells unrest at the Boston Garden following the assassination of Dr. King, 4/5/1968


-Brown's first appearance on "Late Night" (7/12/82), which is widely considered his final great television appearance.  Second-to-last-greatest may be his appearance on SNL, December 13, 1980, which was only rerun once (in 2005) since his portion of the episode went well over-time and throws off the edited 60-minute reruns.  Additionally, shows from season 6 were rarely rerun, since this was the first year without producer Lorne Michaels and the show was a disaster.  (Once it was quickly re-tooled, they neatly forgot the 12 episodes under producer Jean Doumanian).  Brown was originally slated to appear on 2/23/80 (season 5, with host Kirk Douglas) but was replaced for unknown reasons by a reunited (and feuding) Sam & Dave.


-Most people remember James Brown's Celebrity Hot Tub Party on SNL, but what about its predecessor, James Brown as Annie?  Not as good, but still enjoyable.