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I don't feel good
Post #927 • December 27, 2006, 11:47 AM • 12 Comments
I tell you, Boston has verily perfected the cold virus, a nasty piece of business that comes down like a baby sledge and sticks around like epoxy. Expect quietude until the Friday Roundup.
In the meantime, check out how the Godfather of Soul brought peace to Beantown. Also, James Brown on Gerald Ford.
2.
December 27, 2006, 1:03 PM
I've seen alternating reports of pneumonia and congestive heart failure. The former can sometimes lead to the latter.
Speaking of soul, I've got my eye on this.
3.
December 27, 2006, 1:24 PM
I've been sick for a couple of weeks now... every time I think I make it out, my cold keeps pulling me back in. I break out.... in a cold sweat!
But seriously folks... my tribute to JB was listening to his sad and sweet "It's Christmastime", followed by the peppier "Santa Claus, go straight to the ghetto" to cheer up.
Like the man says, get up offa that thing, and dance 'til you feel better...
4.
December 27, 2006, 1:46 PM
Opie, re:Pneumonia?
It's a big killer, the stats are scarey, the death rate is something like 1 out of ## (a two digit number I can't remember)
I had what I thought was a bad case of the flue two years ago, when I spoke with a doctor later while getting a flue shot, she suggested that I probably had pneumonia. There is a vaccination available for it now which is supposed to be effective against a group of the strains (evidently there is more than one) Check with your doctor, with older people you need to get re-vaccinated every 5 years.
5.
December 27, 2006, 1:52 PM
And in more health news, I had it wrong in #2 - the latter can lead to the former.
6.
December 27, 2006, 1:55 PM
Thanks, George. Yes, Pneumonia is still a big killer. My question was about the speed it happened.
Sorry, the obsessive editor can't help himself: a "flue" is a pipe.
7.
December 27, 2006, 2:02 PM
I new that, flue was a typo.
8.
December 27, 2006, 3:13 PM
Opie,
You may have heard better blues and soul artists, and he may have been referred to as the Godfather of Soul....but he was really the True MASTER of FUNK and no one even comes close to matching his showmanship and skills as a songwriter and bandleader.
He is one of the most important musical artists of the twentieth century.
Blues, Soul, Rock and Roll, Funk and Soul and Hip-Hop too all owe him a big debt.
I read that it was congestive heart failure that brought him down and perhaps a bit of Pneumonia.
9.
December 27, 2006, 5:18 PM
Right you are, Curious; the skills and showmanship were extraordinary and I liked much of his music a lot. Generally speaking, I felt that funk was a comedown from soul and led to disco, which for me was pretty awful. But, as I said, this is speaking generally, in categories, which I don't like to indulge in much.
As for his "importance" and the "debt" other forms owe him I really don't judge in those terms. I either like the music or not.
10.
December 27, 2006, 9:06 PM
Opie,
James Brown admitted to Emory Crawford Long Hospital in
Atlanta with pneumonia on December 24th. He died at 01:45 am on December 25th.
(Pneumonia is the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S. The mortality rate
with outpatients is only 1% compared to 25% mortality rate with
hospital patients. Normally, a person’s defense mechanisms keep the
lungs sterile, but if a person has influenza, the normal defenses are compromised,
thus, bacteria can penetrate, resulting in pneumonia. The majority of pneumonias
respond well to treatment, however, if the patient is immune-compromised,
elderly, medically ill, or very young, mortality rates increase.)
James Brown had been to the dentist earlier that week, and his dentist
urged him to seek medical attention. Apparently, he had an upper respiratory
Infection. He went to the hospital a few days later, and he was dead the next day.
At this point, the actual cause of death has not been determined.
What is known is that it happened fast—he had been to a toy benefit several days prior to
his death, and he was planning two shows on New Year’s Eve.
I shall miss him. I painted myself black when I was a teenager in an all girls’
Catholic High School, and pretended to be James Brown. I mimicked the
words, “Please, please, please… “ and threw myself on stage with
abandon, dancing to his music. A tribute to him: I won the talent show.
Gigi
11.
December 28, 2006, 12:55 AM
Opie....it can kill a person very fast........it took someone very close to me two weeks and then he passed. It was shocking how fast because he was perfectly fine just days before....within 3 days he was in hospital and after two weeks ...........very terrible, most frightening, very heartbreaking
12.
December 28, 2006, 9:06 AM
Thanks Gigi. I was surprised how little actual information about the cause of death the newspaper stories carried despite their length, and I am always somewhat surprised to see "pneumonia" as a cause of death - I think I unconsciously class it with old-fashioned maladies which we have overcome with modern medicine. Obviously this is a misconception.
1.
opie
December 27, 2006, 12:41 PM
I had a nasty one too, down here in the warm place, which is unusual because I hardly ever get colds, maybe every 5 years or so.
Brown was a genius showman, and got the headlines, for better or worse, but I think there were many blues & soul artists whose music was better. I could not understand from the obits how he died. It seems that he was doing stuff one day and the next he was dead of pneumonia. Pneumonia? Does that kill you that fast? Maybe someone can enlighten me.