On April 5, 1968, less than 24 hours after Martin Luther King's assassination, tOn April 5, 1968, less than 24 hours after Martin Luther King's assassination, the city of Boston was in a state of turmoil. When James Brown arrived at the airport to play his already scheduled show he was warned that the mayor, fearing further unrest among the African American community, planned to cancel the show. Brown assured the mayor that the consequences would be much worse if the concert was called off. Not only did the show go on as planned, public television station WGBH broadcast the whole thing. It's an incredible historical document and a fantastic performance by James Brown, who dedicated the show to Dr. King’s memory and brought the raw emotions within himself and his community to a searing head. At one point the restless crowd swarms the stage and amidst the mayhem James Brown tells the cops to stay back and calmly talks the crowd back into their seats. "This isn't how black people should act."[You can read the rest of this excellent synopsis of the backstage machinations originally recounted by J. Anthony Lucas in Common Ground here. Let's just say Brother James got paid.]详情
