WEBVTT - Stories That Got a Brand New Bag (With Noel Brown!) 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:24.360 Hello, and welcome to Hashtag Storytime, the podcast where I 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:26.720 bring you everyday stories from everyday people, brought to you 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.720 by I Heart Radio and Curativity. I'm your host, Will 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:35.599 the hardest working man in show business mc fadden. Guys, 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:39.839 it's episode six. What is this? Episode six? And I 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:44.080 am exhausted. Making a podcast is hard. It's a feat. 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:47.960 I don't think you guys understand how much goes into 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:50.600 this thing that only a few of you are listening 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:54.120 to and generates little to no income. So I'm going 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.880 to peel back the curtain and show you how the 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:00.960 sausage is made. Okay, I'm gonna fighte you and bring 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:04.680 you in to my sausage party. Suck on that seth Rogan, 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:09.760 so that you may have a taste of my podcast sausage. Okay, So, 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.600 first order of business when creating an episode of Hashtag 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:16.520 Storytime is we have to find a guest, because absolutely 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:19.200 nobody wants to listen to an episode that's just me 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:22.280 talking for thirty minutes. And the challenge in finding a 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:27.839 guest is we have to find somebody who doesn't like money, 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:31.600 because uh, we don't pay them. So that's always challenging 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:34.560 and somebody who has free time on their hand and 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:38.200 most importantly has a good story to tell. But luckily, 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:40.840 I have an amazing producer named Jason who does all 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:43.120 of that for me. And then second, we've got to 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:45.360 record with the guests, and you know that takes equipment 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:50.360 that someone graciously purchased and set up for me. And 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.120 then we got to write a script, and we got 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:55.960 to write jokes if you can call them that, you know, 0:01:56.240 --> 0:02:00.400 I'm that was one right there. Thankfully, Jason also does 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:04.200 this for me. Um note to Jason if in the 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:08.360 future episodes, if the jokes could be funnier, that would 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:12.240 be preferable. Then I get into the studio and by 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:17.000 studio I mean closet, and I record these quote unquote 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.400 jokes and I send all of this crazy crap off 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:24.000 to my editor Tony, who literally does everything, and Tony 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:25.760 sends it back with a nice shiny bow on it. 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:28.400 It sounds all pretty and crisp, and that's the final 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:33.160 product that gets delivered directly to your little earbuds. And 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:35.760 then you think we'd be done right, but wrong, because 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.280 we also have to promote the show, and we have 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.640 to make social media content to do that, and that's 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:43.320 I mean, I don't know how to do that, So 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:45.839 thankfully I have two more producers, Danielle and Jordan, who 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:49.359 make really awesome, engaging content for our Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:51.320 If you're not following us there, you should go do that. 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:55.880 You're missing out. Oh god, I mean it is a 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.360 lot of work. I mean, I'm ready for a nap 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:02.040 just talking about it. Wait. Also shout out to Jessica Ron. 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:04.000 They do a lot of stuff too, So I mean, 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:06.040 as you can see, I'm pretty much the hardest working 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:10.519 man show business, kind of like the James Brown of 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:13.799 this podcast, which leads me to our story today from 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:17.520 Noel Brown. You might know Noel from Ridiculous History and 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:19.600 a ton of other I heard podcast, but Nolan I 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:21.680 sat down and he told me a story that involved 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:30.040 his first job, James Brown and possessed microphone stand. When 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:34.519 I was in late high school early college. For probably 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.600 span about four years, five years maybe, I worked at 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:42.160 Jay's Music, which was a music store in my hometown 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:43.920 of August And it's the kind of job where when 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:46.560 you're like a teenager, you know, you get to go 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.080 to the music store. You're into guitars, and drums and things. 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:51.880 You think, that's where, that's what you want in your life, 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:55.120 that that could be like the best possible job opportunities 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:57.080 to work in that place that you like to hang 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:59.520 out in. UM. But as happens with with a lot 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.040 of job, you know, when you kind of part the 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:05.440 curtain and realize how the sausages made, uh, it sort 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:07.160 of sucks some of the magic out of it. And 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.280 it definitely did that. It wasn't wasn't quite the Empire 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:14.840 Records experience that you were. One of the owners had 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:19.800 the worst case of obsessive compulsive disorder that I've ever 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:24.560 experienced in my entire life. And for whatever reason, for 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:27.920 a time I was her go to person to help 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:31.800 her check in merchandise. Um. The store was always a wreck. 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:34.120 It was always just kind of like stacks of boxes. 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:38.080 She was always quote unquote uh catching up um. But 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:41.000 this was a permanent state of affairs, just catching up 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:45.560 everything exactly. And my job was to sit with her 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:48.640 while she you know, went through these invoices and checked 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:51.840 off the items that were in the boxes of the shipments, 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:53.480 and then you know, I would take them and put 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:56.240 them on the shelf, tag them, et cetera. UM, just 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.280 just to show you how deep her O C D extended. 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:04.320 A drum set typically comes shipped in two very large boxes, 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:07.400 very very large. One of them has like the kick drum, 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:10.159 and within that has nested like the snare drum and 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.040 some other hardware and things, and the other one has 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:13.919 all of the tom tom drums like kind of nested 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:18.200 within each other. She would like count them one, two, Okay, 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:20.719 count it back to me. And I'd go one two, 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:24.719 and she go okay, ok count of back to me too. 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.680 I'd be like one, okay, one more time and then 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:30.000 we're good. And this is you know, obviously this is 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.680 a serious condition. And she um wasn't medicated for I 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:36.720 don't believe, and if she was, it definitely wasn't working. UM. 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:39.680 She was also very unpleasant person. So it was just 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.799 kind of one thing UM adding on to the other. UM. 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:48.440 But there was one kind of magical UM thing that 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:50.840 happened every year, UM that I always looked forward to. 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:52.400 There are a couple of things actually, so one of 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:55.200 them was UM. This was in Augusta, Georgia, which is 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:59.200 the home of two things, James Brown and the Master's 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:03.039 Golf Tournaments. James Brown was born there and he lived 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:05.719 there up until he passed away. Actually, uh and the 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:08.560 Master's Golf tournament to this day continues to to be 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.800 held there, right next to where Jay's music was. It 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:16.280 is no longer there because the Augusta National Um basically 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:18.640 has been buying up every piece of property around the 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:21.840 golf course for many many years. Jay's was the loan 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:24.240 holdout for a long time, and I guess they finally 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:26.440 offered him enough money. Um. So now it's just like 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:29.880 bulldozed and it doesn't exist anymore. Um. You know, if 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.560 if Augusta was cool, if the Masters was cool, they 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:36.800 would have had James Brown play there every year. Yeah. 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:39.160 But I mean, if I'm sure you know that the 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.679 history of the Masters, and probably of golf in general, 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:47.039 as a pretty checkered racial uh you know, bias kind 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:50.200 of pass it was. You know, they only let Tiger 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:52.599 Woods play because he was like super awesome and wasn't 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:56.680 like that black. Um So. In fact, Dave Chappelle when 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:59.560 he did a stand up bit um when he played 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:02.239 in august stuff, and he walked on stage and said, 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:07.120 welcome to Augusta, Georgia. The whitest and blackest city in America, UM, 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:11.000 which I thought was was very funny. UM. So the 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.680 Masters was fun because we'd closed the store essentially and 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:16.720 then us kids would just would park cars, you know, 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.480 and um, we'd sometimes get tips and things like that, 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:21.720 and it was just like an excuse to not have 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:23.640 to really work and just kind of hang out and 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:25.920 chat and you know, smoke weed and stuff, and it 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:29.040 was pretty awesome. Um. The other favorite part of the 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:34.239 year was James Brown related. Um. Every year, James Brown 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:38.520 would rent a bunch of equipment from Jay's to do 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:41.720 rehearsals for his upcoming tours. He was you know, he's 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:45.040 known as the hardest working man in show business, which 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:48.960 meant he was on the road constantly and well the 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:52.080 second hardest. We do share a last name in fact them, 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:54.520 but no no relation only in work ethic when it 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:58.560 comes to show business. UM. But his management or whatever 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:04.000 figured it was easier to rent equipment from Jay's, including 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:06.800 the drums down to every single thing, you know, guitars, 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:09.360 guitar amps, all of you know, the whole the whole nine, 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.240 and set it up in this local theater called the 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.560 Imperial Theater. It was cheaper to do that than it 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:16.840 was to take their stuff off of the road or 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:18.760 off of their like storage because they were they were 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.040 playing internationally, they were always all over the place. So 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:27.160 me and my co workers every year, Um, sometimes maybe 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:29.000 it happened twice a year. I'm just kind of getting 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:32.000 a little hazy, but we would take whatever they needed, 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:35.040 go to the Imperial Theater, set it all up, including 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:38.040 chairs for the horn sections and you know everything. We 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:40.040 kind of get like, you know, told where to put 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:43.600 things by H. James's road manager or Mr Brown. Excuse 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:45.280 me if you ever called him anything but Mr Brown 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:48.400 getting big trouble. Um, he was very very formal guy. 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.320 Mr Brown's road manager would tell us where to put everything. 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:54.360 We'd set everything up, um, mike everything up, including like 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:58.400 p A monitors, microphones, everything on the stage, so literally 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:00.600 on the stage of the Imperial Theater, which is this 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:04.040 really cool old theater in Augusta, where I also used 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:07.040 to work. After my Jay's days, I was a live 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.800 sound guy for a period and I worked at the 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:13.280 Imperial Theater doing sound for theater productions and live bands 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:15.439 and all of that. But this was just before that. Um, 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:19.200 so you were essentially a like a roadie for James Brown. 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.200 It was a roadie, a miniature roady, you know, for 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:24.320 a day. It was actually more than a day because 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:25.959 it was like we'd have the set up, the load in, 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:28.679 and then they'd practiced for like two or three days, 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:31.120 and then we'd come back at the end and pick 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:34.880 it all up. Um and my good friends still to 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.360 this day. A guy named j. J. Bowers Um was 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:40.080 the sort of senior member of the Jay's music staff. 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:41.400 And by that I mean at the time he was 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.679 probably like what like twenty four, you know, and I 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.120 was like he was the veteran. Yeah, totally, and I 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:49.760 guess I was. I must have been seventeen or eighteen 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:53.280 something along those lines. Isn't a weird age, like you 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:56.160 know in retrospect, you know, seniors in high school when 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:57.880 you're in fifth grade, seemed like they may as well 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:00.800 be like fifty, you know. Uh, from where you stand, 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:02.400 it was kind of like that. I looked up to J. J. 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:04.199 He was the best drummer to this day that I've 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:06.240 ever known in my life. Absolutely, he can almost rent 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:10.320 a car. He's so awesome, right in incredible. Um, that's 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:11.960 the kind of stuff we talked about, you know, But 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:15.040 I you know, it wasn't even old enough to drink yet. Um, 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:17.880 just driving barely for a for a handful of years 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:20.480 at this point. So we'd set up all the stuff. 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:22.559 Then we go back to the store, which is a 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:26.040 drag because it was like, oh man, the fun you know, 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:29.040 little diversion Um is now done, and now we have 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:31.200 to go back to having to sell Taylor guitars. And 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.920 you know, uh, I was the guy that like reach 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:36.400 strung all the guitars and did all the repairs and things, 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:38.160 which was fun. I definitely learned a lot, but it 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.560 was also like under the watchful eye of of the 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:45.480 owner of this store, whose name was Vera Um. It 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:48.840 was very stern task mistress. As as I've as I've 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:52.640 kind of made clear I think um, but we always 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:54.480 had to look forward to when we get to go 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.160 back and take everything down because then we get to 0:10:57.200 --> 0:10:58.960 hang out with j J. We kind of got to 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:00.880 take our time. It isn't like you know, it was 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:02.920 it was in the evening usually, even though that was 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:05.959 like technically we were working over time to do this. 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:08.600 In our minds, you know, our teenage minds, it was 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:10.960 like a privilege to be able to do this. So 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:16.960 I go back to um the the theater, and I 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:19.600 I realized that they're not finished yet. They're they're actually 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:23.920 not done um rehearsing, and so I'm standing outside with 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.240 you know, my my buddy at the time, who I 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:28.760 was working with, and we're listening to them like wrap 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:30.000 up their set, and you know, I mean, I don't 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:31.560 know if you ever saw James Brown live, but this 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:37.080 is like super theatrical, incredible, funky, you know horns and 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:38.959 you know, everyone in his band as the top of 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:41.680 their game. He was notorious for like if if someone 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:43.960 in the band like made a mistake, you know, while 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.280 they were playing, he would just kind of covertly say 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.600 gotcha and point at him. And you know, if if 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:51.440 you've ever listened to me James brown songs, a lot 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:53.880 of the lyrics quote unquote are really just him kind 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:56.839 of riffing and going down take it to the bride. 0:11:57.520 --> 0:11:59.000 He just live got you in there, and no one 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:01.920 would be the wiser, but a band member would know, Okay, 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:04.840 that means I'm getting my pay docs I did. I 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:08.320 heard stories about him in the studio too, if you know, 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:10.480 if they made a mistake that they would get their 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:14.760 their pay docked. That's right. He was all about efficiency. Um. 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:17.880 And you listen to him, you know, because he's he's 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:20.040 directing the chorus, you know what I mean. He's like that, 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:22.080 like you said, take you to the bridge, you know, 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:24.120 all right, here comes the chorus or whatever. You know. 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:25.679 He was a band leader, is what he was. He 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:27.880 was a very old fashioned kind of in that way. 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:31.560 He would conduct the band, um, and he was the 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:33.400 guy who you know, you would look to for the 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:35.080 changes and all of that, and if you messed up, 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:37.439 then he'd get you and and you'd get got and 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:40.560 then you'd get docked. Um. So I'm out there listening to, 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:44.600 you know, this performance, and it's like, I'm young music nerd. 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:46.560 I think this is pretty cool. I think I was 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:50.600 more at that time kind of into like incubus and like, 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.800 you know, system of a down. I don't think I 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:56.720 ever went to went down the po d road, but um, 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:59.240 I was definitely into like harder kind of radio rock. 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.480 Both of my parents were actually opera singers, so I 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:07.760 grew up without like a mentor for like popular music. 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:10.560 I kind of had to find it myself. Both of 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:12.800 my parents they looked at music as work and so 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:16.160 then they were working on um, whatever opera they were 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:18.640 singing in, or my dad was a chorl conductor they 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:21.680 were studying. You know, it wasn't like listening for for kicks. 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:23.319 So I kind of had to find my way to 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:25.560 my own musical taste, which meant that I had a 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.600 couple of embarrassing years where I was listening to you know, 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:32.840 new metal and you know, Limp Biscuit and things like that, 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:35.520 which probably way super stoked about the newlymp Biscuit record 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:39.320 that just dropped. I didn't even know. I mean last 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:43.960 olymp Biscuit news I heard was watching the Woodstock documentary. Yeah, yeah, well, um, 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:46.520 they apparently have a new album coming that just came 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:49.880 out called Limp Biscuit Still Sucks. And now Fred Durst 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:52.560 is going with this kind of like dad vibe. Look, 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:54.240 I don't know if I've seen pictures of him where 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:56.160 he's got like a fake gray wig on and like 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:59.000 a gray Mutton chop situation. And I remember when he 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:01.360 wrote he wrote a movie that John Travolta was in. 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:04.120 There was a lot going on there, a lot going 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:07.920 on there. Um it's called The Fanatic or something like that. 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:13.520 It's about like a mentally disturbed, stalkery fan of an actor, 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:16.160 and John Travolta really gives it as all you can't, 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.800 you can't, you can't do that. Um. But anyway, so 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:23.880 I wasn't like I didn't fully appreciate. I don't think 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.160 what I was witnessing, Like I sort of maybe took 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:27.440 it for granted a little bit and just looked at 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:29.720 as an as an excuse to kind of get away 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:31.720 from work and kind of like you know, not be 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:34.400 you know, bust around or whatever. And it's kind of 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:36.400 like it was just more of like an escape. But 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:38.480 I was hearing them play and it was definitely cool. 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:41.120 And then I think I walked away because the thing 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:43.160 that I'm the scene that I'm about to describe, I 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:46.520 did not hear firsthand. I I what I'm about to 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.680 describe I heard describes to me when I went in, 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:51.920 So I couldn't have been standing out there listening the 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:54.080 whole time because I didn't hear any of this that 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:56.200 I'm about to tell you. So I'm assuming that I 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:58.760 walked away for whatever reason. And I came back a 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:02.040 little while later and they were done, and the backstage 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:03.960 door was open. There's like a big loading duck kind 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:05.600 of situation in the back of the Imperial with like 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:07.480 a you know, one of those garage doors that kind 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:09.520 of roll up and then like a ramp. And I 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:11.600 walked out on the stage and you know, a handful 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:14.480 of musicians are still there, um packing up their stuff, 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:18.320 and in the spot where where James Brown would have 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:21.000 been singing. You know, he he always used a straight 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:23.240 microphone stand, and he was he was known for like 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:26.120 manipulating the mic stand and like, you know, kicking it 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:27.920 down and popping it back up with his foot or 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:29.960 like doing little you know things that like Prince would 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:31.680 have kind of learned from him, these kind of moves, 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:34.720 you know. And everyone has gathered around, not everyone, but 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.880 like a handful of people are gathered around this mic stand, 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:40.840 just like staring in awe and I'm kind of like, 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:42.720 I don't understand what's going on. I get a little 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.840 closer and I kind of peeked through the crowd and 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:48.920 I see that the mic stand. It's a straight mic stand. 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:52.000 It's not sitting straight though, it's sitting at this weird 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:56.000 canted angle, like like like it's tilted to the side. 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:59.960 It's it's resting on the edge of the round microphone 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:03.240 and stand base, and it's sort of like a magic trick. 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.120 It's like, what is keeping this thing from falling over? 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:08.560 I don't understand, And and clearly a lot of other 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:10.960 people didn't understand either, because everyone's looking at this thing, 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:13.240 you know, with like wonder in their eyes. And and 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:15.880 I'm I look a little closer, and I realized that 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:19.840 the cord, the mic cord, had kind of wrapped itself 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:23.400 around the base of the stand just such a way 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:26.640 that it was like holding it up and and and 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:29.960 and at this like canton angle. And this is weird, 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:31.840 all right. So I go to my friend j J. 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:34.320 I'm like, what the hell is going on? What's what's 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:37.160 going on with this mice? He's like, dude, it was insane. 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:40.840 So they're like doing their big finale and it's like, 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:43.600 you know, probably the beginning of which I had heard. 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:45.360 And then I walked away for a bit and then 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:49.440 came back. Um, and James does this move where he 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:52.160 spins around and he kicks the mic stand over and 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:54.000 then he pops it back up with his foot, like 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:56.280 when the things like almost on the floor, he takes 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:58.280 his foot and kicks it down onto the base of 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:00.280 the stand and it pops it back up straight. And 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:02.600 he was known for doing that, like several times in 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:04.200 a row. You do a spin, pop it down, kick 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:06.280 it back up, to another spin, pop it back down, 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.240 kick it back up. And apparently, um, according to my 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:12.320 friend j J, on the third um iteration of that 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:18.280 spinning kickdown and pop back up, it stops halfway, stops halfway, 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:23.160 and James Brown freaks out. He likes, he backs away 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:27.040 from the mic, stan he he stops everybody, he stops 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:29.359 the band from playing. He said, stop, you know, everybody, 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:34.760 everybody you know take five. And he is clearly just 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:38.040 like been spooked in a very real way by what 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:41.800 has happened here. Um, his road manager, I believe it 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:43.879 was his road manager might have been as manager manager, 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:46.119 but as a guy named Ronnie van Zant, which is 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:50.520 the best name for a you know, musician adjacent, you know, 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.520 kind of grizzled to her. Guy that could ever possibly 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:57.080 be um, he apparent my friend j J. Here's all 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:00.280 this transpire. He says, he leaned into Ronnie. He gets 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:07.760 Ronnie go get the flag. And so you know there's 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.159 that period of James Brown where he would do the 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:12.639 thing with the Cape, you know, and like he had 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:16.040 he had this like hype band named um Uh Donny 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:19.480 Danny Ray, who actually recently passed away. I knew Danny r. 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:20.760 I knew a lot of the people in his band. 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:22.359 They were just around. They would they were shop at 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:23.879 the music store, like it was sort of like just 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:25.680 he was just kind of a fixture, like the way 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:28.440 Michael Stipe there's a fixture in Athens, Georgia, like kind 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:30.960 of James Brown was always kind of around, Yeah, the 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:33.119 kind of way that like Andy Dick is a fixture 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:36.720 of West Hollywood, yeah exactly. Or even Um I forget 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:40.360 the guy's name, but he played Josh in the office, 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:42.680 who was kind of the boss of the UM the 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.920 Stanford branch, like carried his bike into work and Jim 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:47.640 kind of he had an affinity for him or whatever. 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:49.720 That guy whatever that actor's name is. He's also in 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:53.720 the show called Um Outer Banks that's very popular. He 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:57.840 apparently I was in Nashville for a conference recently and 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:01.760 saw him at every bar, like and and like there's 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:04.840 this really famous karaoke place in Nahville called Santa's. It's 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:06.920 like in a double wide trailer and it's really really 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:10.200 cool Um, and he was there and he's sang in 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:12.000 her sand Man and so he's like, you know, clearly. 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.520 So anyway, James Brown was like that guy UM and 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:18.480 Andy dick Uh to Augusta, Georgia. Um. He didn't live 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:20.400 in Augusta, though he lived in South Carolina. He lived 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:22.960 in a little city called Beach Island, South Carolina, which 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.680 is where he's like, you know, James Brown estate was. 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:27.480 But he all he had like a radio station that 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:31.199 he owned in Augusta, and he was always just around. 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:34.520 My A good buddy of mine named Coco had a 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:37.520 venue called the Soul Bar that was obviously named after 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:39.240 the godfather of soul, and it was full of all 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:41.960 this James Brown memorabilia, and James I think got a 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:43.879 kick out of the fem sorry, Mr Brown got a 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:45.520 kick out of the fact that someone you know had 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:49.160 made a bar in his basically hometown. UM dedicated him, 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:51.280 so he popped in every now and then. There's pictures 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:53.640 of him and my friend's daughter as she was growing 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:56.320 up in all that very very very very cool. But 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:00.880 I had never seen the man. Everybody I you had 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:03.280 seen him at some point or another where it's like 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:06.120 whether it's like in the grocery store or just somewhere 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:07.600 his beach child and there's not a lot going on, 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:09.040 so he would probably you know, it's very closely. He 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:11.879