Talkin’ Music with Jack – Burnin’ Down the Country

 Talkin’ Music with Jack

By Jack Coll

1-15-14

 

Burnin’ Down The Country

It was one of the darkest moments in American history, April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. What followed was a very ugly moment in American history, more than 100 cities across the United States seemly went up in flames in what became known as the King assassination riots.  Some of the biggest riots took place in Washington D. C., Chicago, Kansas City, Baltimore, Louisville and Wilmington, Delaware.

     In Indianapolis, Robert F. Kennedy delivered a speech on the assassination of King and was credited with preventing riots there.  Concerns surrounded New York but Mayor John Lindsey traveled directly into the heart of Harlem and delivered a similar speech to Kennedy’s calling for calm and was crediting for averting riots throughout the city.  Another concern was Los Angeles, the L. A. Police Department and community activists pulled together with a number of memorials held in tribute to King and their efforts helped avert rioting.

     On the night of April 4, 1968 the rioting and the glow of flames could be seen for miles in every direction, a number of the 110 cities burning called out the National Guard in an effort to protect life and property.  Bigger concerns came on Friday April 5, the nation’s cities braced for the worst of the rioting, looting, property destruction and perhaps the loss of life.

     In Boston, there was a long running race problem, and city officials knew of the danger that awaited the city on the night of April 5.  The city was cut in half, not officially, but everyone knew the rules and laws of the street.  The street laws were simple, white people stayed in South Boston, Black people stayed in their own neighborhood known as Roxbury.  If you were black and found on the streets of Southie, there was a price to be paid for that mistake.  A white person traveling through Roxbury had the same chance of making it out as the black guy in Southie.

     And all of this brings us to the night James Brown, the “Godfather of Soul” saved Boston.  A sold out show for a James Brown concert had been scheduled at the Boston Garden.  Officials were concerned that the 14,000 ticket holders, (about 13,998 of the ticket holders were black) would riot following the show and it would spill over into downtown Boston, and the white neighborhoods.

     Mayor Kevin White, who according to Boston DJ James “Early” Byrd, Mayor White didn’t know “James Brown from Jamestown,” Mayor White was concerned the concert would bring more than 14,000 black residents into the downtown area and decided to cancel the concert.  James “Early” Byrd stated that if the Mayor had canceled the concert we would have seen the biggest problem in Boston since the tea party.

     It was just hours before the concert and Mayor White’s decision to cancel the show was averted by Boston’s first black city council member Thomas Atkins, Atkins noted that if 14,000 ticket holders show up to a closed Garden, violence was sure to follow, burning down the city of Boston would forever change the face of the city.  With just hours before the show the city needed a compromise, and Mayor White had the solution.

     Mayor White ordered television station WGBH to get camera’s to the Garden and declared that the James Brown concert would be broadcast live on television and encouraged everyone to stay home and watch the concert live on TV, he further reached out and offered and encouraged concert ticket holders to return their tickets for a full refund and sit home.  The Mayor’s idea was brilliant, no-one at the concert, so Downtown Boston was safe from rioting, and all the African American residents would stay home and watch the concert on TV, there-by keeping the streets empty.  It was a brilliant idea, except for one thing, nobody told James Brown any of this.

     James Brown landed at the airport just after 6:00 PM just hours before the show and was met by councilman Thomas Atkins, the councilman was the chosen one to inform James Brown that “A” his concert would be broadcast live throughout the city of Boston, “B” they refunded all the money from the ticket sales, and “C” not only would James not make any money but the event would in fact cost him money.  James responded with a big FU.  The show was scheduled to start at 8:00, and the Mayor, councilman, and Brown were in heavy negotiations backstage. 

     James Brown was running a business with more than 60 employees and told the mayor he wanted 60,000 dollars to cover his expenses.  The mayor flat out said Brown wasn’t getting a dime, to which Brown replied fine, let your city burn.  The mayor stated over and over that he or the city didn’t have the $60,000, (keep in mind that this was 1968) now it was after 9:00 pm, more than an hour past the starting time of the concert. The city was getting restless and the mayor said fine, I’ll give you your $60,000, Brown, who did most of his own managing said he wanted the money before he took the stage, that didn’t happen but the mayor promised him his money.

     James Brown, Council Atkins and Mayor White took the stage together, looking like old friends and called for calm in the city.  Keep in mind that by this time the rest of the country was burning.  In Washington D. C. crowds of 20,000 people were rioting, looting, and burning down the city.  President Lyndon B. Johnson dispatched nearly 14,000 federal troops, including nearly 2,000 federalized D. C. National Guard troops to assist them.  Marines mounted machine guns on the steps of the Capitol and Army troops from the 3^rd Infantry guarded the White House. It should be noted that at one point the rioting came within two blocks of the White House.  The occupation of Washington was the largest of any American city since the Civil War.  By the time the rioting stopped in Washington D. C. on April 8, twelve people had been killed, more than 1,000 injured, and more than 6,000 arrests had been made.  Add to that 12,000 buildings in D. C. had been burned to the ground including 900 stores.  Damages reached $27 million, today’s equivalent of $160 million.

     Now James Brown took the stage in Boston after 9:00 P.M. with a small but hostile crowd in the audience. (Only 2,000 people attended out of the 14,000 tickets sold)  The Godfather of Soul pleaded for calm in the city along with twenty nine year old city councilman Thomas Atkins and Mayor Kevin White.  Brown went into an up-beat version of “That’s Life” and finished the show with “I Got You”, (I Feel Good), “Please, Please, Please” and “I Can’t Stand Myself” (When You Touch Me).  The show lasted about an hour and a half with some very tense moments. 

     There was a moment when a number of black youths jumped up on stage with Brown, Boston police rushed the stage and started throwing the black youths off the stage.  It was at this moment, with the show being broadcast throughout the city, that Boston became a tinderbox, and the fuse was lit.  It was the worst possible situation, white cops, who were not trusted among the black community aggressively confronting black youths on live TV.  James Brown jumped in ordering the police to back-off and asking the audience to respect them as a black community.

     James Brown was cast into the National spot-light, when the mayor of Washington D. C.  Walter Washington looked out over a smoldering city on the morning of April 6, he said “Find James Brown where ever he is, and ask him to come, he can get through to these people.”  Washington D. C. was 80 percent Black.  James Brown spent the next week touring the country calming the Black community.

     The following month Brown was invited to a Washington State Dinner for the prime minster of Thailand.  When he took his seat the Godfather of Soul found a note in front of him at the table, “Thanks much for what you are doing for your country,” signed by Lyndon Johnson.  A funny side note at the dinner was two Secret Service Agents approached Brown and said “the Vice President of the United States would like to see you,” (Hubert Humphrey) to which Brown replied, “you tell the vice president if he wants to see me to come on over here, I’m not getting up out of my seat and reporting to him like a little school boy.”  Brown watched the agents report back to Humphrey and Humphrey laughed, both men got up and met in the middle of the room.

    

     April 5, 1968, the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated was one of the darkest and most catastrophic moments not only in the history of the Civil Rights Movement, but in the history of the country.  It was James Brown’s willingness to work with Boston Mayor Kevin White, and City Councilman Thomas Atkins and together they saved the city of Boston from what was known as the “King Assassination Riots.”

     A footnote to this story is Mayor Kevin White, as earlier stated didn’t know James Brown from Jamestown, four years later in 1972 would save a concert in the city of Boston.

     In 1972, Mayor White persuaded the Rhode Island Police to release into his custody, a rock band, and members of their entourage who had been involved in an altercation with a photographer and were subsequently arrested and put in jail.  Mayor White realized the potential for violence to break out all over the city if the show did not go on and even helped arrange a police escort up Interstate 95.

         The concert was rated as one of Boston’s greatest concerts ever in the city’s history, just before The Rolling Stones took the stage in Boston back in 1972, Mayor White boasted on stage, “The Stones have been busted, but I have sprung them!”

     Kevin White passed away a year ago in January 2012 at the age of 82, there is a statue of White, who served Boston for four terms as Mayor, outside Faneuil Hall in Boston.

      Although James Brown had only met Kevin White about an hour before the April 5, concert, and the two sparred over finances, when James Brown introduced White onstage he said, “And look, this is a swingin’ cat.  Okay, yea, give him a big round of applause, ladies and gentleman.  The man is together.”

     One report stated that James Brown never got a dime of the lost revenue, and yet another report stated that James only received $10,000 of the $60,000 needed to break even.  Brown Later publicly stated that the money didn’t matter, we did the right thing, we saved a city.  In the end, with riots swirling around the country, the city of Boston remained calm.

     Nearly 25 years later Donna and I traveled to Atlantic City to see James Brown in concert, it was a marvelous event.  While waiting for the show to begin Muhammad Ali entered the room and sat down in front of the stage a table away from us.  I had worked with Ali for a short time about a year earlier and stopped by his table to reacquaint myself with him and ask about his health.  But James Brown was the show, Man was he the show.  Everything I’d ever heard about him was true, he truly was “The Hardest Working Man In Show Business.”  Dance, sing and entertain was his goal throughout the show, but the big moment for me came when my man fell to the stage, exhausted, he couldn’t go on, and the cape came out. They would help James walk to the edge of the stage, with a cape covering his body, but just before leaving, he would rip that cape off and give you another four or five minutes before repeating the cape scene.  It’s one of those things when you know it’s coming, you’ve seen it before on TV, but man is it special to see it in person.  It’s kinda like the end of a Bruce Springsteen concert, you know “Born To Run” is coming, you know the house lights are gonna be turned up, and you know everyone at the concert will be pumping their right arm, but until you’ve seen it in person, well, let’s just say seeing James Brown in person was a really special night for me.

     James Brown passed away on December 25, 2006, and has a street named after him in Augusta Georgia, I know that cause I’ve been there.

     It’s funny what you remember, some years ago I watched a documentary film on James Brown, as I recall it he was responding to the term “Black Power.”  “When I was a kid living with my relatives, I used to shine shoes on the steps of a radio station WRDW in Augusta Georgia, today I own that radio station.

That’s Black Power.”

     Brown would later travel to Viet Nam to perform for the troops at his own cost, and make good will trips to Africa.

     My hope is that in a hundred years from now, a classroom full of kids, both white and black, sitting in a history class, with their books opened to the night of April 5, 1968, when 110 cities were burning, and 40 Americans died during the King Assassination Riots, and 20,000 Americans were arrested, my hope is that on the opposite page they will see a picture of James Brown with the headline: “The Night James Brown Saved Boston.”

     Yea, that’s my hope.