Jalylah Burrell

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Seattle-bred, Brooklyn-based cultural critic Jalylah Burrell riffs on anything and everything.

Funk Forum: Princeton University Toasts the Godfather of Soul

Posted 11/28/2007 at 2:06 PM | Comment?

As we come up on the anniversary of the Godfather of Soul's death, Princeton University posthumously fêtes the late bandleader with Ain't That a Groove: The Genius of James Brown, a two-day symposium considering his work and influence. This Thursday and Friday, Fred Wesley, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson and a host of music critics including über scholar and VIBE blogger Mark Anthony Neal, symposium organizer Daphne A. Brooks whose Bodies in Dissent is a must read for those interested in American performance and the ever insightful rock critic Kandia Crazy Horse will engage James Brown's catalog from a variety of perspectives. This event is not to be missed so skip out on work or class Friday. If nothing else, NJ transit it to Princeton for the Friday night conversation between Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis and ?uestlove. The full schedule is after the jump.

"AIN'T THAT A GROOVE": THE GENIUS OF JAMES BROWN
A Princeton University Two-Day Symposium

Click here to register.

Thursday, November 29, 2007
Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University

6:00pm
Welcome-Valerie Smith, Director of the Center for African American Studies

6:15pm
"James Brown: Man To Man", Concert Film Footage

7pm-9pm
"On the One": A Keynote Roundtable featuring Robert Christgau, Farah J. Griffin, Alan Leeds, and Fred Moten.
Moderator: Daphne A. Brooks

Friday, November 30, 2007 Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University

9:00am Opening Remarks: "'I'm Not There': Popular Music Studies & the Godfather of Soul"
Daphne A. Brooks

9:30-11:30am "It's A Man's Man's Man's World": Black Power, Black Masculinity and the Politics of Funk
Mark Anthony Neal, "In the Rhythm of Patriarchy: 'Papa Don't Take No Mess'" Jason King, "James Brown's Sweat" Thomas F. DeFrantz, "My Brother, the Dance Master" Robert Fink, "Soul Power, 1971"
Moderator: Tera W. Hunter

1:00-3:00pm
The Funky Precedent: Revolutionizing Rock, Birthing Hip Hop--Theorizing James Brown's Musical Innovations
Kandia Crazy Horse, "The One and Only: King James' Rock Revolt" Rickey Vincent, "James Brown and the Rhythm Revolution" Ahmir ?uestlove Thompson, "The Roots of Hip Hop" Harry Weinger, "Listening to James Brown"
Moderator: Joshua B. Guild

3:30-5:30pm
"Mama Don't Take No Mess": Black Feminist Readings of James Brown
Greg Tate, "blues and the nekkid truth--the embodied she-funks of betty
davis, chaka khan, grace jones and meshell ndeocello," Imani Perry, "Telling Him About Himself: A Feminist Reading of James Brown," Mendi Obadike, "The Pleasure/Challenge of James Brown's Iconicity, "Ernest Hardy, "James Brown: Portal of Possibility"
Moderator: Tavia Nyong'o

5:30-6:00pm
Closing Remarks-Cornel West, Class of 1943 University Professor in the Center for
African American Studies

8:30-10pm-Special Evening Q&A
A Conversation with legendary James Brown band members Pee Wee Ellis, Fred Wesley and Questlove of the Roots
Moderator: Alan Leeds

Tags: James Brown

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