Farewell to Mr. Please Please Please

The hardest-working man in show business has died. I loved the music of James Brown the very first time I ever heard it, back when the Famous Flames were part of the billing, although even then in smaller letters. I loved his voice in the early days, with that sort of harmonic high overtone. Later much of the music became very abstract. People have stolen the music from the beginning; I hope there's been some recoupment for all the reuse of bass lines, beats, and other giant chunks from his recordings over the decades. I have never stopped playing his music. I listen to some at least once in every week. I'm glad to see that the newspaper of record devoted even more space to him than it did to Ahmet Ertegun and Frank Stanton, who also had much to do with the world of entertainment as we know it today. I have remaining only one poster: it's a good-sized King Records promotional item. In all caps, it says "MR. JAMES BROWN." In lower-case letters, the words "gettin' down to it" follow. The 1969 album does not display a full-length photo; the poster does.