Performers get ready to wail

Web posted October 13, 2000

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By Clarissa J. Walker
Staff Writer

Ella Overton pressed and curled James Brown's silky mane early Thursday as she has for more than 40 years.

Tyrone Jefferson (from left), Tomi Rae Hynie and the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, rehearse with the Soul Generals at Richmond County Civic Center on Thursday in preparation for the Back to Augusta with Love performance. JENNIFER FULLER/STAFF

``She is the one who gets me right,'' Mr. Brown said, stepping off the stage where two hours of rehearsal concluded. While some of the background singers and band members seemed stressed and ruffled at times by the grueling run-through, the 66-year-old performer's signature hairdo was unfazed.

By midday, all of the components for the high-energy concert that Mr. Brown promised to bring Augustans were present; The members of the Stylistics and the Chi-Lites filed down the ramp leading into Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center, hauling extension cords and instruments zipped in nylon bags. Mr. Brown's singers, from as far away as Cleveland and Los Angeles, were accounted for. Red suits and black and gold dresses hung in the dressing rooms of the Bittersweets and the Soul Generals, the groups of musicians in Mr. Brown's band.

All of the pieces of what planners hoped would be a spectacular re-introduction to the soul singer's hometown were gathered. But a known perfectionist, Mr. Brown was still calling for more polishing at midday.

Danny Ray has been the announcer for Mr. Brown's shows since 1960. The 65-year-old was made famous after decades of swirling a cape around Mr. Brown's shoulders and collecting it from the floor when the singer ``couldn't contain himself'' at the end of Please, Please, Please. At 3 p.m., Mr. Ray delivered words of a familiar opening, but there was no need to practice the cape bit.

``That's automatic,'' Mr. Ray said. ``It's like part of your hand.''

Mr. Brown leaned into the keyboard, jerking a thigh or a knee or stamping a foot, setting a timbre that four background singers, three guitar players, a six-piece horn section and three percussionists studied and followed. And they grooved that way until a beat or tone veered from what Mr. Brown had envisioned.

``Give me a little more foot,'' he instructed a drummer.

Tameka Drayton puts numbers on chairs before the concert. Only about 3,000 tickets were sold, but James Brown Enterprises executive Roosevelt Johnson said people who love Mr. Brown's music will be there. JENNIFER FULLER/STAFF

``We want perfection. We don't want no jiving,'' he yelled across the civic center to a sound man when the microphone volume in the horn section was too low.

Mr. Brown uses all of his group's talents to offer audiences variety, band members said. Sara Raya, a Spanish rapper, slid onto the stage and broke into a hip-hop dance routine. She moved to Los Angeles from her home in Barcelona three years ago when she joined Mr. Brown's tour.

``I can't eat four hours before the show,'' she said.

Her rapping in Think - performed in Spanish - was a recent addition to the show.

``(Mr. Brown) found out a couple of months ago that I could rap. And from then on he put me on every show,'' she said. While he is faithful to the classic funk, Mr. Brown said he keeps the show varied on purpose.

``It's quite an extensive project,'' he said. He brought the show back to the Garden City after several years because the Augusta that he remembers - a hotbed of entertainment with people strolling down the sidewalks at all hours of the night - has faded. Thursday night's concert, he said, was meant to be a springboard for a kind of revitalization.

``Augusta has shut down,'' he said. ``Augusta is too beautiful a place. Too many beautiful venues. And James Brown lives here.''

Mr. Brown takes his band and a 6,000-song repertoire around the world year-round.

The tour in Augusta on Thursday has been to France, London, Germany, Morocco, Sweden and Japan this year. Its next stop is Reunion Island, off the coast of West Africa.

Opening acts are chosen carefully, said Roosevelt ``R.J.'' Johnson, executive vice president of James Brown Enterprises. Vocalist Tomi Rae Hynie, local band leader Tony Howard, the Chi-Lites and the Stylistics were among the opening performers that conducted sound checks up to 5 p.m.

``So many of the new acts aren't even really performing anymore,'' Mr. Johnson said. ``Some of these legendary bands don't have a place to play anymore.''

Mr. Johnson said Mr. Brown doesn't worry about selling the show's concept to the public - the show that drew 27,000 in Atlanta had attracted about 3,000 by showtime Thursday.

``The people who love this kind of music and know what's going on will be here.''

Reach Clarissa J. Walker at (706) 828-3851.

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