James Brown Saves Boston (or the DoF Gets Serious for a Moment)

by Blaine Fridley, Editor-in-Chief

"SOUL POWER, ACTIVATE!!"

In the days after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, America's major cities were ablaze with violent rage.

But over in Beantown, it was a different story.

They had Soul Brother Number 1 on the scene.

An already-scheduled appearance was set for April 5th, the day after the person Tavis Smiley calls the greatest American ever produced was silenced by gunfire in Memphis.

Boston's mayor wanted to cancel it, fearing the racially-charged worst.

Council member Tom Atkins urged him not to. If the show went on AND they televised it live, it might be enough to keep people - and their Molotov cocktails - off the streets.

For Mr. Brown, it took A LOT of convincing and A LOT of money ($60,000 to cover fines he would incur from another TV show for appearing on air before its broadcast), but the show did go on -- at the Boston Garden and over the air waves.

And by all accounts, Brown didn't perform on a stage that night, but a tightrope.

Tensions were high. Brown made several pleas for calm and respect as the balance started to tip the way of chaos.

Brilliantly, Brown made the pleas for peace about him. With an unruly audience openly defying police, and on the brink of mobocracy, the Godfather scolded his fans for lack of respect:

"Now I asked the police to step back because I figured I could get some respect from my own people. Now are we together or we ain't?"

He wasn't playing a show so much as he was attempting to defuse a bomb, which he did.

James Brown. The Soul Brother Super Hero Saves A City.

There's a reason he wore a cape, you know.

Here's footage from the actual show:

And as for Dr. King, take a moment to go waaaay deeper than "I Have A Dream." His legacy is SO much more than the fight for racial equality.

He was the booming voice of justice for everybody: The poor. The war-torn. The neglected.

And he served them all fearlessly.

Thanks, Dr. King. The world misses you.