James Brown remembrance

In my years of covering music in the 1960s and 1970s for The Roanoke Times, James Brown was one of the more interesting and exuberant artists I met. He was a pleasant man who gave so much to a performance that no one could go away unsatisfied.
On one of the times I covered a concert featuring Brown, I had dinner with him at the nearby Hotel Roanoke and then rode in his limo to the civic center. The excitement of just arriving with Brown was enough to make anyone feel like the star.
He met with kids that night, stressed that he wanted them to stay in school, and then gave his usual performance--a wow always.
That night, we all danced in the aisles and on the seats, but no one moved as energetically as Brown.

Getting started

I always said I wanted Edna St. Vincent Millay's "My candle burns at both ends" poem engraved on my tombstone. Now that the prospect of having a tombstone appears more real with each passing day -- and that I'm no longer certain I even want a tombstone -- I'd like to concentrate on extending the poet's "lovely light" into a blog experience.

This is not meant to trivialize Millay's beautiful work, which I have admired since childhood, but to use it as an inspiration to connect.

So, join me. I edit a publication for people 50 and older -- lively people 50 and older who know someday they might not be lively -- which means the magazine highlights the good things of life while taking into account the preparations we all need to make for the future.

I hope to make this spot an exchange for those discussions. Let's go. And, if you've forgotten Millay's words, here they are:

First Fig
My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--
It gives a lovely light!

Here's to a long-lasting light.