So James Brown and Gerald Ford are dead.
I'm sorry to hear it, but I have ambivalent feelings.

There were plenty of people who disliked, or even
hated, both of them. Ford... was a politician, so
it comes with the territory. You can't take those
feelings personally. Brown... that's different.
He was in and out of jail, women, and favor
with almost anyone who encountered him.

I didn't know either of these men, but
I have some fond memories long held
from a distance.

Ford fell into a presidency at the end of a
terrible era. I think of him in a similar but
lesser way as I do President Eisenhower.
The country was ready for a whole big lot
of NOTHING for awhile. Breathing space.
Let's just rest, and get a little perspective
on what we've been through. Take a break. Sit in neutral.
The most anyone seemed to try turning
into comedy during his tenure was on
Saturday Night Live & Chevy Chase
... being clumsy. It was a pathetic
period for Chase. If you were
world famous, like a U.S.
President, and had
cameras on YOU
every moment of
every day, chances
are YOU too would be
caught tripping or falling
sometime, somewhere, in
those years. How LAME and
DESPERATE were comedians
who could find nothing more. I
felt embarrassed for Chevy Chase.
I do not wax poetic over the first years
of SNL.

Ford allowed us to sit in neutral for a little
while post-Viet Nam. Frankly, I welcomed it.

James Brown... no, he was never neutral for me.

At about the age of 11, and receiving a weekly
allowance of 25 cents (not a typo), I saved up for
nearly a month so I could bicycle miles from home,
through my town of South Bend Indiana, to the down
-town music store that offered a decent range of music
(not just Top 40)... & I bought my very first 45 rpm record:

"Prisoner of Love" by James Brown.

(On the flip side was a R&B instrumental, "Night Train" -
an old strip tease tune). I still have that 45, and it still
kicks ass. Full Tilt Soul. No namby pamby Frankie
& Annette beach Twist tunes. Not for me. Not for
Tom Sawyer growing up in the 1950's Midwest.
I was ready to GET DOWN !!!!!!

Rest in Peace James.

Rest in Peace Gerald.

You are not taken for granted or forgotten,
for better and worse.