WAGRadio HOST AND GENERAL MANAGER DJZigZag TALKED TO JAMES BROWN LAST NITE. THE VIVID DREAM BEGAN WITH ZigZag BUYING FOUR TICKETS OVER THE INTERNET FOR HIMSELF AND OLD PALS TERRY W., GERRY S., AND ALAN S. THE TICKETS WERE FOR AN APPEARANCE BY THE "GOD FATHER OF SOUL" AT A SMALL UN-KNOWN, UN-NAMED MONTREAL, QUEBEC VENUE (YA' CAN'T SWEAT THE DETAILS IN DREAMS).
JUST LIKE BACK IN THE DAY WHEN HE RELIED ON PALS FOR RIDES, DJZZ DIDN'T HAVE GROUND TRANSPORTATION IN THE BELLE CITE. HE HOOKED UP WITH THREE OF HIS OLD PALS AND HIS FORMER BRO'-IN-LAW ONLY TO FIND HIMSELF QUICKLY SEPERATED FROM THEM, THEIR TAILPIPE SMOKE DISAPPEARING INTO THE CHILLED MONTREAL EARLY WINTER LATE AFTERNOON. NOT KNOWING WHERE THE DANCEHALL WAS HE STOPPED AND ASKED FOUR THIRTY-SOMETHING MALES WHOM HE THOUGHT MIGHT KNOW. "OH YEAH, THAT CONCERT HAS RUN INTO TROUBLE", CAME THEIR REPLY. "SEEMS THERE WAS A STIPULATION WRITTEN ON THE TICKETS, THE STRANGER CONTINUED, "CONCERNING A RELATED-TO-ADMISSION CONTEST." (THE MINUTIA RELATED TO THIS DREAM WAS AMAZING). "SUPPOSEDLY THE FACTS-OF-PURCHASE REGARDING THE JAMES BROWN CONCERT WERE SUBJECT TO A CLAUSE ON THE TICKET." SURE ENUFF WRITTEN UPSIDE DOWN AT THE END OF THE TICKET WERE THE WORDS THIS TICKET ONLY VALID WHEN . . . DJZZ STOPPED READING. HE THANKED THE MONTREALERS AND THOUGHT, "WHAT THE HELL DO I DO NOW? AND THEN, MORE POSITIVELY, "HEY, IT'S A BEAUTIFUL CRISP MONTREAL AFTERNOON SO I'LL WALK". THE FOUR GUYS HAD INDICATIED THAT THE VENUE WAS JUST A FEW BLOCKS AWAY. A BRISK MONTREAL PRE-WINTER WALK TO SEE JAMES WAS A GIFT. A PANG OF REMORSE MADE HIM LOOK AT HIS CEL PHONE WITH THE EMPTY REALIZATION IT HELD NONE OF HIS OLD FRIENDS' CEL NUMBERS. OH WELL, THE FACT THAT HE WAS ALONE AND COULD NOW ACT ON HIS OWN, MEANT HE NOW HAD THE POWER OF THE "ZIGZAG WAY" TO SECURE ADMISSION.
HE EASILY FOUND THE BUILDING (DREAMS ARE LIKE THAT) AND JUST AS EASILY ENTERED AN OPEN SIDE DOOR ('CUZ DREAMS ARE LIKE THAT). UNIMPEDED, HE SAT DOWN IN THE NEAR-EMPTY AUDITORIUM. REMEMBER NOW, DJZZ DIDN'T KNOW WHETHER OR NOT HIS TICKET WAS STILL VALID. YES, AN OPEN SIDE DOOR MEANT HE DIDN'T HAVE TO TALK HIS WAY INTO THE BUILDING. SO, SO FAR - SO GOOD. BUT DID IT MEAN HE'D GET TO SEE HIS NEW WORLD AFRICAN MUSIC HERO?
THE ROOM WAS A MODEST WOOD-PANELLED SPACE WITH A HIGH-SCHOOL AUDITORIUM-LIKE STAGE. IT LOOKED TO ZigZag KINDA LIKE A CROSS BETWEEN AN EAST VANCOUVER DANCEHALL FROM HIS YOUTH (CLINTON HALL, COMMERCIAL [STREET] YMCA, PENDER [CHINATOWN] YMCA), AND A LABOUR UNION AUDITORIUM. ZIGZAG SEZ HE MENTIONED THAT TO US TO POINT OUT HOW VIVID HIS J.B. DREAM WAS.
SUPPOSEDLY, THERE'S BEEN A QUIRK OF HIS PERSONALITY THROUGH THE YEARS TO EASE OFF WORRYING 'BOUT NEGATIVE THINGS HAPPENING. USUALLY HE ONLY DEALS WITH NEGATIVES WHEN THOSE BAD THINGS CAME TO FRUITION (THIS IS WAGRadio MANAGEMENT'S UNDERSTANDING). OVER THE NEXT FEW MINUTES THE HALL BEGAN TO FILL.
ZigZag RECOUNTED HOW HE HAD TO MOVE HIS COAT TO ACCOMADATE A YOUNG COUPLE ATTEMPTING TO SIT IN THE SEATS TO HIS RIGHT. HE STRUCK UP A CONVERSATION WITH THE PAIR WHO RE-STATED THAT THERE WERE A LOT OF OUT-OF-TOWN JAMES BROWN FANS WHO HAD LOST THEIR TICKETS' VALIDITY 'CUZ THEY HADN'T THOROUGLY READ THE INFO ATTACHED.
THIS IS WHERE OUR DREAMER MUST HAVE FALLEN DEEPER INTO REM SLEEP 'CUZ IT'S AT THIS POINT IT OCCURED TO HIM THAT JAMES MUST ALREADY BE IN THE BUILDING AND HE SHOULD EXPLORE THE PLACE FURTHER.
THANKING THE COUPLE FOR THEIR CONCERN DJZZ WENT ON A HUNT FOR "MR. DYNAMITE". HE WANDERED DOWN THE LEFT ISLE OF THE HALL WHICH LED TO A BACK RECEPTION ROOM. THERE, LEANING UP AGAINST A WALL TALKING TO GUESTS AND DIGNATARIES, WAS JAMES BROWN'S REED PLAYER MR. ST. CLAIR PINCKNEY OF THE WHITE SHOCK OF HAIR. TO ZigZag'S DELIGHT ST. CLAIR LOOKED UP AND THREW A WELCOMING WAVE AT HIM AND MOTIONED HIM OVER. MR. P. ASKED, "YOU HAVE A RADIO SHOW DON'T YOU?" OUR LAD SAID, "YES, ON WAGRadio http://wagradioonline.blogspot.com WHICH HE PRODUCED AND HOSTED CALLED GROOVIN' BLUE." IT WAS THEN THAT THE CLASSY SAXOPHONIST OFFERED THAT HE WAS SURE JAMES WOULD LOVE TO SEE HIM . . .
NOW, DJZZ HAD ONLY MET MR. BROWN IN PASSING A COUPLA TIMES IN THE NON-DREAM WORLD. THE FIRST AND MOST DRAMATIC TIME WAS IN 1960. THAT'S WHEN HE AND A YOUNGER PAL RONNIE "FLORIDA" JORDAN CLIMBED ONTO THE VANCOUVER, CANADA, P.N.E. GARDEN AUDITORIUM STAGE IN FRONT OF THE JAMES BROWN BAND TO PERFORM THE "MASHED POTATOES" ALONG WITH THEIR BEST JAMES BROWN DANCE INTERPRETATIONS. THE BOYS WERE SHOCKED AS THEY TURNED TO LEAVE THE STAGE TO SEE "THE HARDEST WORKING MAN IN SHOW BUSINESS" LEANING AN ELBOW ON FATS GONDER'S B3. JAMES, WITH A HUGE SMILE ON HIS BOXER'S FACE, THEN CAME OUT FRONT AND SHOWED THE BOYS HOW JAMES BROWN DANCING WAS REALLY DONE. THE CROWD WENT WILD!
AH YES, THE NIGHT HE DANCED WITH JAMES BROWN. EAST VAN PEEPS MENTIONED THAT NIGHT TO DJZigZag FOR YEARS AFTERWARD. EVEN WHEN THOSE TWO SCOFF-LAW BOYS' (NOW MEN) MET, AFTER YEARS OF NOT SEEING EACH OTHER, THEY BEGAN, AFTER AN INITIAL WARM GREETING, WITH RONNIE SAYING, "HEY, REMEMBER THAT NIGHT AT THE GARDENS WHEN YOU AND I DANCED ON STAGE WITH JAMES BROWN!?" YES, RONALD. THAT IS A MEMORY OF A LIFETIME!
MAYBE THAT'S WHY DJZZ SHOULD DREAM THAT ST. CLAIR PINCKNEY WAS SO QUICK TO RECOGNIZE HIM. THAT FACE HAD STARED UP AT HIM AND THE JAMES BROWN TROUPE IN THE LATE 1950'S AND EARLY '60'S AT VARIOUS DANCE AND STAGE SHOW VENUES IN SEATTLE, WA. AND CITIES NORTH AND SOUTH. WAGRadio MANAGEMENT ALSO GUESSES THAT TWO YOUNG PALS, ONE WHITE, ONE BLACK - DANCING ON STAGE AT A JAMES BROWN CONCERT WASN'T SOMETHING THAT READILY HAPPENED IN THE U.S. OF A. IN THE EARLY SIXTIES. THIS WAS A TIME WHEN DJZigZag REMEMBERS THAT ONLY HE AND A CITY COP AND FIVE SEATTLE WOMEN WERE THE ONLY PEOPLE OF EUROPEAN DESCENT IN A CROWD OF THREE THOUSAND AFRICAN-AMERICANS AT THE EMERALD CITY'S EAGLE'S AUDITORIUM. AS ANOTHER SIDE NOTE: THE OWNERS OF THE BUILDING - THE LOYAL FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES - DIDN'T ALLOW BLACK PEOPLE TO JOIN THEIR MEMBERSHIP.
FRIENDLY ST. CLAIR PINCKNEY POINTED DJZZ IN THE DIRECTION OF HIS HERO'S DRESSING ROOM SAYING, "GO AND SAY HELLO. JAMES'D LOVE TO SEE YOU!". IT WAS AS IF DJZigZag WAS IN A DREAM. (THIS IS WHERE YOU, THE READER, LAUGHS.)
OUR DREAMER NEXT FOUND HIMSELF IN A HALLWAY. IT WAS A GATHERING OF ALL THE PERFORMERS IN THE JAMES BROWN REVUE. THERE WAS A NATTY BLUE-SUITED R'N'B SINGING GROUP, CURVECIOUS FEMALES DRESSED IN STAGE GOWNS AND THE ENTIRE JAMES BROWN ORCHESTRA MILLING ABOUT TALKING TO GUESTS. AT THE BACK OF THIS LARGE MEETING AREA WAS MR. BROWN'S DRESSING ROOM. IMMEDIATELY AFTER ZigZag KNOCKED HE WAS USHERED IN TO GREET THE MAN HIMSELF. JAMES ASKED SOME STRANGE ONLY-IN-A-DREAM QUESTIONS - NONE OF WHICH WE ARE PRIVY TO REPEAT. ZigZag ANSWERED, "NO, THAT MUST BE SOMEONE ELSE" AND MADE A MENTAL NOTE TO ASK HIS FREUDIAN PSYCHIATRIST 'BOUT ALL A' THAT!". JAMES THEN WALKED WITH HIM TO THE FLOOR OF THE AUDITORIUM. THE CROWD MURMURED IN RECOGNITION OF JAMES BROWN WHEN HE AND DJZigZag ENTERED THE ROOM. AND THERE THEY STOOD, LEANING AGAINST THE HALL'S WALL WITH JAMES PUTTING AN ARM AROUND OUR MAN AND SURVEYING THE AUDIENCE.
THEN, ALMOST SUDDENLY, WITH THE 5:30 AM LIGHT OF DAY FINALLY CREEPING INTO HIS DREAM-FILLED BEDROOM, DJZigZag ALLOWED THIS MOST GLORIOUS DREAM TO END.
HE SEZ HE PURPOSELY ENDED THE DREAM 'CUZ EVEN THOUGH IT WAS A WONDERFUL ESCAPE TO A HAPPY PAST TIME, IT WAS THE PERFECT PLACE IN THE DREAM TO END IT. HE REMEMBERS HAVING THE THOUGHT, "THAT'S IT, END IT NOW! WAKE UP!". WHAT A JOYFUL EXPERIENCE.
HE ALSO THINKS THAT ON A NIGHT NOT TOO DISTANT . . . IN A PLACE NOT FAR AWAY . . . DJZigZag, THE AUDITORIUM, ST. CLAIR PINCKNEY, JAMES BROWN AND WHO KNOWS WHO OR WHAT ELSE WILL MEET AGAIN.
WAGRadio Management - January 7th, 2014
1 comment:
mercy DJZZ that is one mighty tale of the Godfather O' Soul
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