Posted by Jboogie on 12/27/2006, 9:37 am
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A public funeral service for “Godfather of Soul” James Brown at an 8,500-seat US arena bearing his name in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia, has been set for Saturday. Members of the public will also be able to view him at the New York theatre in which he made his debut. Brown, who died on Monday of heart failure in Atlanta aged 73, will be buried later on Saturday in Augusta, said Brown’s agent, Frank Copsidas. Earlier that day, his body will lie in state at James Brown Arena in Augusta, where the 1pm (6pm Irish Time) public service will be held, Copsidas said. A private funeral service for Brown that will include family and friends will be held on Friday, Copsidas said, though he declined to say where it would be held. Fans will have a chance to have another look at Brown on Thursday in New York. His body will rest on stage at the Apollo Theatre, the Harlem venue where he made his debut, said the Rev. Al Sharpton, a close friend of Brown for decades. The public funeral service, which Sharpton will officiate, is expected to draw a who’s who of entertainment figures and public officials. Sharpton and some of Brown’s relatives spent yesterday afternoon at an Augusta funeral home, where they were expected to view the singer’s body and finalise funeral arrangements. “I looked at his body. I was walking in half disbelief and sadness but proud,” he said. “I couldn’t even begin to describe it, to walk around his house and he not be there.” “His greatest thrill was always the lines around the Apollo Theatre,” Sharpton said of the Harlem landmark. “I felt that James Brown in all the years we talked would have wanted one last opportunity to let the people say goodbye to him and he to the people.” Sharpton said he and Brown’s children talked about the moment after the Rev. Martin Luther King’s assassination when Brown stepped to a microphone and told gathering crowds of angry people to go home. “And they went home,” Sharpton said. “For them to riot for a man who lived a life of peace would send the wrong message. He always said he was surprised and humbled that he had that influence.” Brown’s daughter-in-law Diane Dean Rouse has said earlier she hoped the funeral would be open to the people of Augusta.