In Memoriam: Chuck Brown, 1936-2012

Chuck Brown in a free public performance, Woodrow Wilson Plaza, September 24, 2010/Patricia Leslie

With weary steps I loiter on,
Tho' always under alter'd skies
The purple from the distance dies,
My prospect and horizon gone.

Chuck Brown in a free public performance, Woodrow Wilson Plaza, September 24, 2010 with Mayor-Elect Vincent Gray/Patricia Leslie

 No joy the blowing season gives,
The herald melodies of spring,
But in the songs I love to sing
A doubtful gleam of solace lives.


Chuck Brown in a free public performance, Woodrow Wilson Plaza, September 24, 2010/Patricia Leslie

 If any care for what is here

Survive in spirits render'd free,
Then are these songs I sing of thee
Not all ungrateful to thine ear.

by Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) , no title, 1849, from In Memoriam A. H. H. obiit MDCCCXXXIII, no. 38, published 1850

Chuck Brown in a free public performance, Woodrow Wilson Plaza, September 24, 2010/Patricia Leslie

Chuck Brown in a free public performance, Woodrow Wilson Plaza, September 24, 2010/Patricia Leslie

Chuck Brown had this effect at Woodrow Wilson Plaza and everywhere/Patricia Leslie

Put your hands in the air for Chuck Brown/Patricia Leslie

From examiner.com September 24, 2010 by Patricia Leslie

Chuck! You made me feel good!

With Mayor-Elect Vincent Gray on stage, who was jivin' and movin' with the rest of us, Chuck Brown put on an energetic, fantastic two-hour show for D.C. on the Woodrow Wilson Plaza at the Ronald Reagan Building Friday evening, and he didn't want to stop and neither did we.
It was impossible to listen and see Chuck without bobbing up and down, and movin' your feet over the concrete, and there were plenty of seats available (if you could get to them) for none were occupied. Everybody danced since no one could sit down.
Partners? Not necessary!
We were a'movin' and a'groovin' and a'boppin' and a'hoppin' and singing the songs with Chuck. (Or at least, most of the crowd was; I didn't know any of the words.) Wind it up, Chuck!
Near the end he cried to us over and over again: "I love you! I love you! I love you!" I think he meant it.
Just feel the action and the moves and the music straight from website of the Godfather of Go-Go, and you'll know what you missed. But you still have a chance this weekend since Chuck's got a big CD release party Saturday night at the Kellogg Conference Hotel at Gallaudet University to celebrate his newest album, "We Got This."
Chuck baby: You is the man!