Music legend James Brown was interviewed by a British television network about his upcoming induction into the new UK Music Hall of Fame. Kevin Martin/Staff

British TV comes to honor Brown

On Wednesday, James Brown brought the British to Broad Street.

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Mr. Brown, who recently returned from a successful European tour, will be among the first inductees to the new UK Music Hall of Fame. A crew from the British Channel 4 network traveled to Augusta to interview him about his life and contributions to music. The program is slated to air in November.

The common thread running through the 71-year-old soul singer's comments were that despite the years behind him, he still had music left in him.

"You're never too old," he said. "You can be too young. You need to know what's going on. But you can't be too old."

Mr. Brown also used the interview as an opportunity to talk about the pet project of another prominent Augustan, Bonnie Ruben. Ms. Ruben would like to transform the old Kress building, in the 800 block of Broad Street, into a James Brown museum and caf.

"We see this with the statue out front on Broad and the Common stretched out like a front lawn," she said, motioning toward a speculative model of the attraction. "Then we can fill it with neat things - the museum, a restaurant, a recording studio - that will get people to come down here. It's the sort of thing that could do well all over the country. But what I'm interested in is using it to get people down on Broad Street. That's my goal."

Mr. Brown, an outspoken proponent of downtown development, said making the attraction the flagship for a national chain could only help Augusta.

"Aside from the fact that it's going to be great for the people, it's going to be a money-maker," he said. "This is the kind of thing that can be a franchise."

Reach Steven Uhles at (706) 823-3626 or steven.uhles@augustachronicle.com.

--From the Thursday, July 29, 2004 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle