If you saw me these days you might notice a George Jefferson-like strut in my walk, or that I high-five people 10 different ways in greeting. This is because I've spent the past week stewing in the funky grooves of Mr. James Brown.

I first heard his name when Eddie Murphy did his "James Brown's Celebrity Hot Tub" skit on Saturday Night Live. I had no idea who Murphy was mocking, but this James Brown sure must've been a funny-acting dude ("Will it make me wet? Will it make me sweat?"). Then the song "Living in America" was spawned by one of the Rocky sequels, and I was interested to see the real James Brown, but unimpressed with the tune. Next I read that Led Zeppelin's "The Crunge" was supposed to be a James Brown tribute/parody. A friend in the music department at school told me I had to check out The CD of JB, which I couldn't find so I got 20 All-time Greatest Hits, which I loved. Then I saw a 1982 appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, and that sealed the deal. I loved this guy!

The greatest hits worked for me but last week at the used CD store I saw The CD of JB that the music school guy had urged me to get, and also a CD of JB II. I got both, and the new heavy funk has been coming out of my car stereo ever since.

As well as listening to the Godfather of Soul I've been reading about him on the Internet. I often find that the most musically-interesting people are just interesting people period (see David Lee Roth). James Brown grew up at his aunt's brothel and dropped out of school in the 7th grade. By 16 he was in a state juvenile detention center for robbery, which he curiously cites as the best thing that ever happened to him. There he rediscovered music in the chapel and met a man with a gospel band that needed a lead singer named Bobby Byrd. The two went secular and created several hit singles in the `50's before crystallizing funk music in the late `60's and riding the wave into the mid `70's.

James Brown became a particularly important star of his time because he embodied the civil rights movement that blossomed alongside his career. Here was a guy who had no fear of failure because during his youth the bottom had been the norm. He had a strong sense of the life he wanted, though, and followed a self-made, self-owned philosophy to success by bankrolling some of his own albums and singles and paying for his own lavish stage shows and negotiating his own contracts. He also put these ideas to song in tunes like "I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open the Door I'll Get It Myself)," "Don't Be a Dropout" and "Killing is Out, School is In." He said black people should be striving to own their own businesses and opened a chain of restaurants called The Golden Platter in ghettos to set an example. Really I think his story can inspire anyone of any color.

I've also bought his 1986 autobiography, The Godfather of Soul, and snagged the Star Time boxed set on E-Bay. The thing with James is that even if you get two compilations with the same songs, they can be very different. A lot of the songs have Parts I & II because the lengthy jams took up two sides of a single, but on some compilations you only get Part I due to CD space. Then there are stereo versions and mono versions (the mono "Make it Funky" on 20 Greatest Hits sounds like pooh next to the stereo one on CD of JB). Then he has about 10 live albums to pick through.

Popcorn! Leg bone! Grits and gravy! YEEEOOOW!