Take me with you, Godfather


1965
barely alive
see the T.A.M.I. Show
at the El Monte Drive-In

Marvin, Smokey, Jan & Dean,
Chuck Berry, Beach Boys, Billy J, the Supremes,
all great and all brushed aside
by James Brown’s one legged power glide
across the stage into “Out of Sight”
pegged pantsed panic
Famous Flames flare furiously
10,000 megawatt grin
blazing ancestral light
primal plasticene pompadour
joltin jellied ankle dance
checked sport coat and double breasted vest
solid colored pants
Prisoner of Love/Please Please Please
Danny Ray with the cape
James repeatedly falling hard on his knees
begging his love
his face broken by misery
a man driven insane by pain
then it’s time to get aboard
the Night Train
people around me shriek/whistle
and cheer in their cars
electricity sparks off James
like the night sky’s stars
hyper-kinetic dance machine moves
the band roars out light speed grooves
then stops
NIGHT! NIGHT! NIGHT! NIGHT!
he screams
band slams back into ecstatic turbo gear
as the Jerk/Boogaloo/Mashed Potatoes/Skate
Camel Walk, too
possess the Babaloawo along with Shango and Oshun
James slides us up the Nile to the Moon
our shared origins binding our future
as people spill out their vehicles
beating their hoods and roofs
howling/honking/flashing car lights
a riot response
on rolling asphalt between orderly speaker poles
James Brown
drop down
quick splits
up laughs bows
and he’s gone
–Rex Butters

Posted: Mon - January 1, 2007 at 07:06 PM          


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