James Brown on the subway

In the early to mid 90's I liked taking the subway downtown to the central public library every day. I would walk a few blocks from our home over to the Main Street line and then take a relaxing ride to work reading a book. Read lots of books on that train.

I read the James Brown autobiography/memoir sitting in the subway car during the summer of 1993. It was a particular fun read given the rants and the extremes he goes to justify his sometimes crazy behavior. Highly entertaining. It was also very interesting to learn about his childhood and growing up in the South. Of course the sections about his music and the recording industry were fascinating.

One day while sitting in the subway car reading this book an older black man struck up a conversation. He had obviously read the book when he started quoting some of the lines and referring to other incidents while laughing and asking me what I thought about it. He was very knowledgeable about James Brown and the contents of the book. It all made for a highly entertaining ride home from work that day.

In October 2012 I read another book about James Brown that was marketed as the definitive biography that explored his musical genius and inspirations. While reading it I still had the earlier Brown salacious memoir spinning around in my head.