Marva's book

[rrussi]

Bankhouse Dave:

Have the books been mailed out? My brother Tony ordered two copies
and paid for them about 2 or more years ago.
Do you have his information?

[phil]

Same for me, it was three years ago. Dave ?

[motony]

I did order one from amazon & got it.I hope to get the other 2 as they are gifts. Too bad Marva didn't live long enuff to see it released.

[bankhousedave]

Sorry guys:

Somebody decided to go legal and cause the media company to cease trading, so I don't have access to monies or orders. But I'm here, and will honour them. Can you confirm delivery addresses to me at daverandlemcij@aol.com please?

BHD

[phil]

Thanks Dave, I just sent you a message.

[rrussi]

Yes, Dave, I will email you!

[rrussi]

Dave, did you get my email with Tony's address? Let me know.

[rrussi]

Phil, did u receive your book?

[phil]

Not yet Randy. In his latest message [[06/06) Dave told me it would take about two weeks.

Nobody else has ordered/bought this book ?

[phil]

Hi Randy, I got them ! :cool:

[rrussi]

Just wanted to say we did receive the books. I have enjoyed it so much! Marva tells it like it was. My brother and I spent quite a bit of time around the James Brown organization while on tour in Florida. I know from my own observations that she is exact on her accounts. In fact my brother even visited with Bobby Byrd and Vicki Anderson for a week in Houston, TX, where they lived at the time. Marva's book is a great read and any JB fan should enjoy it as well. I am saddened she didn't get to see the final product. Thanks, Bankhouse Dave, for getting the books to us.

[timmyfunk]

I'm about to get my copy soon enough. A friend of mine who read the book said that it was almost impossible to read that book and not think that JB was [[outside of the studio and the stage) one of the most despicable human beings that ever walked the earth. Gotta get Patrice Banks book as well.

[Soul Sister]

timmyfunk,
I was hanging out at the Brown family home in St. Albans and going to all the shows during this period. I remember one time Marva leaving the stage in tears as the Apollo audiences was pretty hard on her when she sang "People". JB was a tyrant, let's just say I witnessed some things first hand and he could be one cold son of a biatch. Bobby Byrd confided something to me as well regarding JB. Maybe I should read Marva's book, lol.

S.S.
***

[rrussi]

Hey S.S., I know u were there. This book reminds me of some things I kind of forgot. I wish I could find Ann Norman. She was the dancer and I had the biggest crush on her. She knew it but just as sweet as ever.

[Kamasu_Jr]

Why was Mr. Brown so nasty? I was never a huge fan of his, but I realize he changed music and he performed like a demon. But I can't listen to his music anymore without thinking of how terrible he was when the camera's weren't rolling. He was an SOB. Everyone who spent time with him that I know has these stories about how egotistical and mean he could be. Did the man have a complex because he was short?

[timmyfunk]

timmyfunk,
I was hanging out at the Brown family home in St. Albans and going to all the shows during this period. I remember one time Marva leaving the stage in tears as the Apollo audiences was pretty hard on her when she sang "People". JB was a tyrant, let's just say I witnessed some things first hand and he could be one cold son of a biatch. Bobby Byrd confided something to me as well regarding JB. Maybe I should read Marva's book, lol.

S.S.
***

Believe me, there's a reason for why the book was entitled "God, The Devil, and James Brown". Trust and believe.

[timmyfunk]

Why was Mr. Brown so nasty? I can't listen to his music anymore without thinking how terrible he was when the camera's weren't rolling. He was an SOB. Everyone who spent time with him has these stories about how egotistical and mean he could be. Did the man have a complex because he was short?

Kam, I understand where you are coming from, but there comes a time when you just have to separate the art from the artist. If you get into the personal lives of many of your favorite performers/artists, you are going to encounter some major a**holes. People that engaged in some truly deviant shit during their personal careers.

[Kamasu_Jr]

Kam, I understand where you are coming from, but there comes a time when you just have to separate the art from the artist. If you get into the personal lives of many of your favorite performers/artists, you are going to encounter some major a**holes. People that engaged in some truly deviant shit during their personal careers.
SO right, Timmyfunk. But what bothers me are people [entertainers and otherwise] who do rotten shit to other people just because they can or they feel like it. A person hasn't done anything to them, but these scoundrels do evil shit like lie on 'em, kick their dogs, treat people like dirt, sleep with someone else's wife or husband, etc. I can see it IF someone has done something to you personally, then a little war and nastiness is understandable and can sometimes be fun. But to be an a--hole just because...
Such bastards and bastardettes are the kind that makes some people want to "do sumthin' to em," as we say here in Memphis. And that ain't nothing nice.

[motony]

Mr. Brown was always nice to me, one time he asked Ms. Sanders "are these the fellas that are always helpin you in Fla." she said yes & he came over & hugged me & thanked me.I told him tht he & Mary Wells were my faves & he said "oh, you like the real deal"LOL!

[no_place_like_motown]

Kam, I understand where you are coming from, but there comes a time when you just have to separate the art from the artist. If you get into the personal lives of many of your favorite performers/artists, you are going to encounter some major a**holes. People that engaged in some truly deviant shit during their personal careers.

I agree with Timmy. I finished reading Marva's book a couple of weeks ago and it was a hard read for me because I've always admired and loved James Brown as an artist. The man was awesome and the ultimate entertainer and I will continue to enjoy his music. Marva was a truly gifted artist who should have risen to greater heights after her tenure with James. Sadly it never happened for her. I'm glad she was able to write about her life experiences and let out what she felt had to be said. RIP Marva.

[rrussi]

He had it rough as a kid. Although I heard from some reliable sources his mother didn't really abandon him. She couldn't take his daddy's beatings anymore and had to leave, but the daddy wouldn't let him take the boy. All entertainers have egos and rivalry with other entertainers. Vicki Anderson told me he used to tell his people, "If you all think I'm tough, go walk through the offices at Motown". Vicki was the only one who wouldn't date him and didn't want to be with him. Why? She said, "He treats his women mean!".

[Soul Sister]

Randi,
I know you have some great memories. WOW, a major crush on Ann, she must of been very flattered. You must have been only in your teens at the time.

Yes Randi, but when your mother leaves at 3 years old, it must have felt like abandonment to him, he definately resented her when she first came back onto the picture that night at the Apollo. Well, you can see he got his ideas of beating women from his own Daddy's example. Growing up in a whore house was no good example either.

Vicki was wise. But that didn't stop James from going behind his best friend's back coming onto his wife and trying to get with her on the trip to Paris. Bobby told me that himself, he was furious, as he should have been especially since he gave James his break living with his family when he got out of reform school and singing in his family's gospel group. Bobby really got James into singing.

There is so much more too!!

S.S.
***

[Soul Sister]

Most of these singers were ego-maniacs, sooo full of themselves but as humans in real life they were low-life characters. That being said it doesn't take away from their talent as singers or performers.

Very few are as kind, honorable, gracious, generous, and sweet natured as my husband, that's the truth! He 's a rare gem in the entertainment field in more ways than one.
I am so lucky at the later years of my life to meet him whether he was a entertainer or not, he's such a good man, good human being.

S.S.
***

[Soul Sister]

The problem with idolization is most fans can't hear the truth about the celebrities they worship. They put them on a pedistal and get mad as hell when someone writes a book telling the ugly real life truths.

This is why I'll never write a book. People are always asking me about that, but the truth is ugly and the truth is what it is. But the public wants to kill the messenger who saw first hand the things people don't want to believe. So I leave it at that! :rolleyes:

:cool:,
S.S.
***

[Soul Sister]

Funny we are talking about this today because Marva's book just arrived at my door - 1 click from Amazon, they are super fast!

S.S.
***

[rrussi]

Enjoy the book! I am sure you will. You KNOW what you are talking about as I began being around entertainers from a very early age. Yes, I was a teenager when I first knew Ann Norman. She was adorable and a great dancer.

[rrussi]

By the way, Bobby and Vicki were always dear friends. I spoke with them not long before Bobby passed. However, I am not sure where Vicki is at this time. They were living near Stone Mountain, GA the last time we spoke. Someone told me Vicki is now in Nashville. Anyone know???

[Soul Sister]

I last spoke to Bobby on the phone when Harry Weinger visited our house with David Ritz some years ago, and Harry phoned him up to speak with me. Bobby told me he & Vickie were living near Stone Mountain.

I'm half-way through the book, all I can say is Marva told the truth, and that's just from one of JB's people. JB was phsycotic. Aside from his craziness and mind-game playing weilding power, all the women he was married too and/or who lived in his houses as his woman were doormats.

There are many, maybe not as crazy as him, but they range from pedofiles to pimps and various criminal minded nut cases in the music business. SMH!

I'm glad Marva had the guts to tell her story. May she now R.I.P.

I had to laugh at the part he tried to get her to dump Bobby Bennett and pull her to him when he iced her out and would no longer acknowledge or speak to her. LOL...he did the exact same thing to me when he wanted me to meet him at his plane to go with him to do a show in D.C. at the Howard in 1968 but I didn't show up. He stopped speaking to me too, lol, how dare I turn down the great James Brown! His reputation already preceded him, believe me. I like being on the scene and hangin' with certain family members to chat with but wasn't going there with him. So he gave me the cold-shoulder too. It was so funny to hear her talk about the same thing.
Yes, "the hardest working man in show business" in that era, a great entertainer but that's as far as it goes.

She said he didn't allow anyone else's records in his places, but he did have a stack of albums in his livingroom in like a magazine type rack on the floor, mainly jazz artists like Jimmy, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, & Mel Torme. I went throught the stack one day. Maybe he had them because he was doing their songs in the show at the time. He did "That's Life", "I Wanna Be Around", I think two more that slips my mind. [[1967-1969) era.

S.S.
***

[rrussi]

"If I Ruled The World" was one. I remember he did some standards on the Cold Sweat lp, like "Mona Lisa". And you know is first big pop record in '63 was an old standard, "Prisoner Of Love", so I think he kind of wanted to go in that direction to generate the big spenders in places like the Copa in NYC and, of course, the showrooms in Las Vegas.

[Soul Sister]

Randi,
I loved "If I Ruled The World" live. He also did "Come Rain or Come Shine" and a few others on various albums.
"Prisoner of Love" live was fantastic. I LOVE the whole album, my favorite song & album from JB.
I remember the first time they went to Vegas, it was such a big thing for him and the band, their most important date up till then in the words of their business manager [[who by the way was also a low-life pimp).

S.S.
***

[Soul Sister]

Read a little more today....true about the the Japanese slippers at the door and the white carpet, the beauty salon off the playroom downstairs, etc... as I talked about here on SDF in November of 2004 when I posted photo's I took at JB's house [[1966-1970).

I remember when JB kicked Frances Farmer to the curb and what the reason I was told but I won't repeat that here, just a few weeks later he moved in a pregnant woman from D.C. named Deirdre [[Dee Dee) Jenkins. I thought that was quick at the time, but laugh about how naiive I was at the time. This was summer of 1968, so that meant when Marva was staying there it was in "just that few short weeks in-between" Frances & Dee Dee, lol, geez.......though I never saw Marva there but my have just missed her. James asked me in August to go on the road with him in September through one of his flunky's, I didn't do it. The newly arrived pregnant Dee Dee was living in the house, when I was visiting watching t.v. in the playroom with others, by this time.

Marva talked about Teddy being a scared little boy, I didn't see that at all, in fact he was spoiled proud, conceited, and a little arrogant at times, more of a man-child at ages 12 through 17 when I was around on and off. The security guard who absolutely hated and resented James told me that one of James common-law [[live-in) wives was having an affair with Teddy and keeping him out of school when James was on the road. That she preferred Teddy at age 13 because he was "really" well-endowed. LOL.....I don't know if the affair is true but I do know the school called James on the road and complained they were going to dismiss Teddy for missing too many days, he went to a prestigous private school upstate called Windsor Acadamy. Later was sent to another private school in Florida. He missed his real mother Velma and siblings Terry, Larry, & Lisa whom lived in Taccoa, GA.
I don't know if Marva's was confused or it was when Joe Brown was at the house visiting but Joe didn't live there Papa Dud did who was JB's Godfather, who was from Toccoa also and took James in as a teen. Papa Dud ran the household and took care of GiGi, James' Toy Poodle.

RE: Jimmy Smith.....I am not surprised he ripped-off Marva's money, he was a nasty dude who made money ripping off James and peddling women.

And YES, St. Clair Pickney, Jimmy Nolen. & Pee Wee Ellis were the nicest in the band as compared to some of the others who were at the low end of the spectrum.
Rap on, Marva! The truth is what it is.

More reading to do to compare notes...lol.........................

S.S.
***

[rrussi]

I remember meeting Teddy one time down here as he was going to school in Tampa. In fact, he was the same age as me. When James bought him a dune buggy for his 16th birthday it was brought here to Orlando to show James. He told us to go check it out and see what we thought. Of course, being 16, I was hoping he'd tell me to test drive it, but he didn't. You do have some stories to tell I am certain, but like you, why should we write books telling all these tales because they allowed us in the domain and wouldn't have been themselves, good or bad or both, in front of us if they thought we were reporters. Anyway, keep reading; posting. I love reading your assessments.

[Soul Sister]

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL......................

What I am reading now is past my era on the JB scene.
I saw him one time after that in the late 90's at Lincoln Center backstage,
I had photo's with me, Lyn Collins told me I had a gold mine in those personal photo's I took in the later 60's. I left James with the ones of Teddy.

He went to see Jimmy's show around 1999 in San Francisco with Bobbett whom I heard also claimed to be a avid Jimmy Scott fan.

When Jimmy's docu "If You Only Knew" was screened in Augusta we went and Jimmy got some honors from Paine College & Augusta, he sang a couple songs. James invited us to come to his house but he didn't get back from the Bahamas gig until late so wanted us to come to the house the next afternoon at 4:00 pm [[James didn't get up till late afternoon :rolleyes:) where he lived in Beech Island, S.C. but we had to skip it because we had an early flight. This was February 2004. Too bad, it would have been interesting, lol, lol!!!

S.S.
***

[Soul Sister]

Randi,
How did you & Tony get into soul music and start going to live shows at such an early age, you must have been about 11 or 12?

S.S.
***

[blastofunk]

Hi Randi,
In the past I've read your post [[July 29, 2010), you said:
"Daryl, I saw James Brown Show & Revue mostly in
Orlando,Florida. However, sometimes I went
with them to Tampa. Bobby Byrd & Vicki Anderson
were friends. Yes, of course, I remember
Fred Wesley, Maceo, St. Clair, Bootsy Collins,
etc. In fact, the first show Fred played was
in Orlando.
They weren't called the JBs until the early
70s, some time after Maceo Parker and several
others left. They left at the same time as
Marva Whitney, which she will talk about in
her new book "God, the Devil and James Brown".
For a while, they worked together--Marva
Whitney and Maceo Parker & All The King's Men,
as his group was called. I remember Continental
Artists ]were booking them and every where they
played in the beginning, James would do a radio
spot to say the band performing with Marva
Whitney and Maceo Parker is not the James Brown
Band.
But the band always played the opening--what
ever instrumental hits were big at the time,
such as "Soul Finger" [[BarKays), "Hip Hug Her"
[[Booker T. & MGs), "The Popcorn" which was a
hit by the James Brown Band, & "The Horse", etc.
Fred was great! I've been in touch with him
since he wrote his book, "Hit Me, Fred!"
I've read Marva's book and I talked with Charles Waring and neither Marva or Charles remembered the fact Marva and Maceo worked together... so please tell us again this story.
I'm also working about a James Brown's band members book and I would be happy to stay in touch with you and Soul Sister. I've been involved in the Bobby Byrd & The JB's Allstars reunion at Town And Country [[London) in 1988.

[rrussi]

It was right after they left. They left at the same time it seems and Continental Artists was booking them and booked them somewhere together at a club. James went on the radio saying it was not the James Brown band although most of the band WAS from his band, including Maceo. That was in a huge article in SOUL Magazine, which was titled, I think, "Why have Marva Whitney and Maceo Parker left the James Brown Show?".

[rrussi]

S. S. we were younger than that! Still in elementary school. We basically got involved because we loved the music.

[blastofunk]

Hi Randy,
can you help me to find this SOUL mag. article ?! Thanx...

[rrussi]

Wow! I don't know if they have an on line archive. It may, however, show up somewhere.