Review: Get up offa your feet for James Brown

Yes, it's true: Ordinary human beings cannot understand a single word James Brown is saying. His Sunday night show at Buffalo Bill's was ripe with speech, overripe, even. The Godfather of Soul had a whole lot to say to Primm, very little of which his audience understood.

I distinctly heard him say "This next song's gonna entertain you" at one point. Later he demanded his trumpet player "make love to that horn." Aside from those moments of relative clarity, he sounded like a Volkswagen with a mangled clutch.

Which is not to say that he wasn't as thoroughly enjoyable as ever. I've seen Brown before - at the Hard Rock Joint in 1995 - and he didn't make sense then, either, but he certainly could entertain. It's good to know that in our ongoing state of entropy, some things remain constant - and it's still star time for the 70-year-old Soul Brother Number One, Mr. More-More-More, Mr. Please-Please-Please.

Yes, seventy. Try to picture your dad doing those jumps and shimmys, howling like a teenager and belting out the smart funk of "Get Up Offa That Thing," and you will begin to get a slight inkling of the awe this man continues to instill in audiences. Through most of Brown's performance the Buffalo Bill's crowd seemed stunned that the soul pioneer was even there in the flesh. Everything Brown did on top of merely being there was a plus, which is a good thing, because he's doing considerably less hoofin' these days.

The Hardest Working Man in Show Business usually appears with a large compliment of players. This time out he had upwards of 20 bodies filling the stage, between his horn section, four female backing singers, two dancers, three percussionists and the guy who puts the cape on him. Brown is very generous with his players, handing out solos left and right, and several times during his performance he turned his back on the audience completely to conduct his "orchestra."

Ultimately it comes down to this: Brown has moved beyond any and all criticism. He's earned the right to do whatever he wants. Even if he blew the entire set I would never guess it and neither would anyone else - save James himself. Anything I could say about the man's work would be insignificant next to the journey that got him to that stage.

"Living in America," "Try Me," "Cold Sweat" and "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" were recognizable. That's all I asked of him and he obliged. The man got on the good foot and even if he had sang the entire set in Esperanto (he might have), he would still be James Brown, and will continue to be until his feet finally fail him.

Which, hopefully, won't happen for at least another 70 years.

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