Best moment from James Brown's 1988 interview with CNN.

tbf shakey's always pretty respectful of the dead

Most celebrities are not the massive cultural force that James Brown was. If u had to distill 20th century music down to two people imo it would be Louis Armstrong for the first half and JB for the second. So yeah seeing him make such a mess of himself later in life is more depressing than funny. To me anyway.

a grown man whose bragged about having torture fantasies about female celebs and justified it w/ 'women shouldn't go on tv if they don't want this kind of attention' trying to claim the moral high ground over ppl laughing at an old youtube clip is hilarious. to me anyway.

Slander

hey he said we can yuk it up

Never gets old

not like the two winners here are empty poignancy-free lulz

And yeah go ahead and laugh I dont care. Comedy is not universal.

exactly how important or influential does someone need to have been before it's frowned upon to laugh at them being drugged out during a tv interview?

Most celebrities are not the massive cultural force that James Brown was. If u had to distill 20th century music down to two people imo it would be Louis Armstrong for the first half and JB for the second. So yeah seeing him make such a mess of himself later in life is more depressing than funny. To me anyway.

― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, April 26, 2014 12:51 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is OTM.

Elvis isn't armstrong or JB, so fair game for mocking his rx pill-fueled goof ups, right?

I think the argument started when James Brown was lumped in with "celebrities." It's not as if that interview was the equivalent of a Lindsay Lohan interview -- unless you think JB and Lohan occupy the same cultural/historical space.

so since you worship the guy, you get to look down upon anyone who doesn't, awesome

kinda agree that it's more sad than funny but fuck playing the tsk tsk game

tarfumes you aiming to be the bianchi to shakey's buono?

I didn't say or imply that I'm looking down on anyone, nor am I admonishing anyone for laughing at this. I agree with Shakey that the interview is more depressing than anything else.

I think for a lot of people (myself included), any comic reaction to things like this is in large part a reflex/defense mechanism to the embarrassment-by-proxy initial reaction to the situation anyway

By the late 80s JB didnt have any handlers iirc. Not that he was ever one to take advice from anyone anyway, but by the late 80s he was pretty much constantly off the rails, preoccupied with a codependent self-destructive relationship w another addict, financially insolvent etc.

― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 26 April 2014 16:21 (1 hour ago) Permalink

But yeah yuk it up guys

― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 26 April 2014 16:22 (1 hour ago) Permalink

i feel bad

and here you get to feel that about both the interviewee and the interviewer, that slightly queasy fear of social awkwardness, now magnified by TV exposure

Anyone who beats their wife w a lead pipe and then goes on TV immediately after and act like this is fair game imo.

Yeah but she's not a cultural force

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7erl9k01C2M

That JB was by all accounts an awful person on a personal level is also depressing imo

Most celebrities are not the massive cultural force that James Brown was. If u had to distill 20th century music down to two people imo it would be Louis Armstrong for the first half and JB for the second. So yeah seeing him make such a mess of himself later in life is more depressing than funny. To me anyway.

― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, April 26, 2014 12:51 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is OTM.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, April 26, 2014 12:29 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, but it's also funny. in addition to JB being high, the video also shows JB being legitimately eccentric and funny, which he was/could be throughout his career.

the video is _both_ depressing and funny. that should be possible, right?

Shit, the sunglasses he was wearing were depressing and funny.

Is there a thread of bands/artists that sound great but you wouldnt want to be a part of?

Im thinking Buddy Rich, Prince, James

The Beatles, The Byrds, oh wait.

Pretty much any band except the VU or the Modern Lovers, in which cases I would actually enjoy the psychodrama.

Black Flag seemed like a pain in the arse to be a part of

lynyrd skynyrd IIRC

You gotta be able to handle life in The Shed to be in Black Flag

Nobody said Necessary?

Well this was unnecessary:
https://youtu.be/oFLPz-wp-VA

It's weird, I can't think of any other performer (certainly not of his stature) with no history of drug abuse, just becoming a crazed junkie in his old age. it's a bummer.

― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, April 22, 2014 10:46 PM (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Charlie Watts?

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, April 22, 2014 10:49 PM (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Like a closeted man beating up gay kids, teetotalism is an acknowledgment that alcoholic tendencies exist. It wouldn't surprise me if Prince became a bourbon man in his old age.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, April 22, 2014 10:50 PM (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If only it was bourbon! :(

Herbie Hancock documented his struggles with crack, which he started getting into well into his 50s. Closer to the JB camp, Fred Wesley got caught up in it too, at a similar time. Neither one of them indicated they had addiction issues prior to that point, although neither were they exactly sober. Maybe there's something about being in the game for so many years, and past your prime, so to speak, where some boredom sets in and the money is there so it just kind of happens.