Shake it! Bump it! Wiggle that Thing in the privacy of your living room — with Toni Basil

Dance · Film
COVID classes for the non-contagious contingent The last time we checked out Toni Basil, it was, ahem, a different world. Seated at her dining room table, I interviewed the high-energy, hugely eccentric dancer/choreographer about her amazing contribution to the look, feel, sound and spirit of Quentin Tarantino’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019). My ...

Eighteen minutes of dance greatness: James Brown, T.A.M.I Show (Oct 1964)

Dance · Music
Fifty years ago! James Brown’s ballistic performance at the T.A.M.I. Show, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, October 28 and 29, 1964. Even standing still, James Brown is one of the greatest-ever American  dancers. High-Heeled Sneakers Prisoner of Love Please Please Please Night Train Like this? Read more: James Brown’s rhythm ecstasy, Paris 1971 James Brown playlist, ...

James Brown’s third set in Shrevesport: “I Feel Good” before “Man’s World” 1

Music · Visual arts
Pictured above [click on it for detail], a boggling play list of a James Brown set, dating from the 1970s. Scrawled in Brown’s handwriting on Holiday Inn Shrevesport Louisiana letterhead, it’s part of the James Brown tribute exhibition now at the Grammy Museum in downtown Los Angeles. The show includes costumes, memorabilia, video of the ...