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Article: An ode to pop icon James Brown
- Article from:
- Charleston Gazette
- Article date:
- January 6, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2007 Charleston Gazette. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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James Brown story: The Godfather required razor's-edge perfection
from his bands. Anything less, and you had to pay a fine. So when a
musician missed a cue or flubbed a note, James Brown, his hand held
behind him where the audience could not see, would splay his fingers -
two fingers, four fingers or, heaven help you, all five - as a code
to tell the offending player how much his mistake would cost.
This particular night, for whatever reason, the band was off its
game and the hand was busy flashing increasingly angry signals. So
distracted was Brown with toting up fines that he accidentally danced
right off the edge of the stage. It is said that the last thing band
members saw as he went ...