Forgive me, as it's been quite awhile since I joined you last, and the last few posts have been more memorials than testaments to music (although they were equally as important, because they were about folks who mattered to me...and you)
In the last few months, I've been going through a few personal changes that I really needed to address. These things often take time to figure out, and in order to get through them, we must take that time...so I did.
I've gotten more than a few e-mails from you asking where I've been, and if I've lost interest in sharing my story. The answer is definitely NO. I'm even more committed to telling you about my journey to music than ever; so don't go away just yet. OK !!
Anyway, I'll be gone for just about another week, then I'll be back in business, so please, HANG IN THERE with me.
In the meantime, I want to tell you all that you matter to me more than you could ever realize. I still look forward to hearing from you, and I have every intention to continue standing in the shadows of music, but moving more into the light.
Thank you all for a wonderful year, I wish you every blessing, success, and heartfelt desire that you strive toward. Keep your light burning, and your head looking toward the sky.
Until I'm back with you here, have a very happy, and safe New Year.
Lovingly,Charlie Tee :-)
Support Live music today tomorrow and always.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
Remembering James Brown
This may very well be one of the saddest days of our life...
Along with many other people who have left us throughout this year, I was stopped dead in my tracks, when I learned of the death of the "Godfather of Soul," James Brown.
There are people who come into our lives and move us, then there are people who by the very mention of their name create images of positiveness, joy and light. James was in that group.
I was in high school, and can remember vividly where I was when I heard him for the first time, while coming through a locker room in my dormitory..."say it loud, I'm Black and I'm proud."
You have to understand, Negroes (as we were referred to back then) didn't say things like that, not openly, and most assuredly not in a public forum such as music. But you see a few years before we lost Malcolm X, then we lost Bobby Kennedy, then Dr.Martin Luther King, and Black America was reaching a boiling point that may have spilled out and scorched everyone. They were killing our leaders, and trying to hold us back, they were turning us on each other, then all of a sudden, out of seemingly nowhere comes a man from poverty, who faced the same demons we did, and who looked like us, and through 8 words changed us all forever..."SAY IT LOUD, I'M BLACK AND I'M PROUD.
Let me tell you, it changed everything from the ballot to the bullet. For many many years to come those 8 words caused mankind to see us as human beings, and not as chattel.
Throughout his life, James Brown would be an example to us all, good, bad ,and indifferent. We watched as his life unfolded before our eyes, and he didn't hide it from us...the pleasures of excess, and the pain of success, he showed it all, and told us the difference.
He entertained us true, but he also educated us, on so many levels...a debt that we'll be forever paying back.
When we think about how we feel good in our lives today, we must always remember to stop and say thanks to "Soul Brother Number One," the hardest working man in show business," Mr Dynamite," and because of people like him we are "living " in America.
James Brown 1933-2006
Good night Brother.
Get on the good foot... Support Live music today tomorrow and always, and when you do, remember that "this is a man's world, but it wouldn't be nothing without a woman or a girl."
Along with many other people who have left us throughout this year, I was stopped dead in my tracks, when I learned of the death of the "Godfather of Soul," James Brown.
There are people who come into our lives and move us, then there are people who by the very mention of their name create images of positiveness, joy and light. James was in that group.
I was in high school, and can remember vividly where I was when I heard him for the first time, while coming through a locker room in my dormitory..."say it loud, I'm Black and I'm proud."
You have to understand, Negroes (as we were referred to back then) didn't say things like that, not openly, and most assuredly not in a public forum such as music. But you see a few years before we lost Malcolm X, then we lost Bobby Kennedy, then Dr.Martin Luther King, and Black America was reaching a boiling point that may have spilled out and scorched everyone. They were killing our leaders, and trying to hold us back, they were turning us on each other, then all of a sudden, out of seemingly nowhere comes a man from poverty, who faced the same demons we did, and who looked like us, and through 8 words changed us all forever..."SAY IT LOUD, I'M BLACK AND I'M PROUD.
Let me tell you, it changed everything from the ballot to the bullet. For many many years to come those 8 words caused mankind to see us as human beings, and not as chattel.
Throughout his life, James Brown would be an example to us all, good, bad ,and indifferent. We watched as his life unfolded before our eyes, and he didn't hide it from us...the pleasures of excess, and the pain of success, he showed it all, and told us the difference.
He entertained us true, but he also educated us, on so many levels...a debt that we'll be forever paying back.
When we think about how we feel good in our lives today, we must always remember to stop and say thanks to "Soul Brother Number One," the hardest working man in show business," Mr Dynamite," and because of people like him we are "living " in America.
James Brown 1933-2006
Good night Brother.
Get on the good foot... Support Live music today tomorrow and always, and when you do, remember that "this is a man's world, but it wouldn't be nothing without a woman or a girl."
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