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Happy New Year!
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‘City of Roses’
Established in 1970
Committed to Culturjl Diversity
Volume XXXVI, Number 52
.W eek in
The Review
2,978 U.S. Soldiers Dead
The U.S. m ilitary on Tuesday
announced the d ea th so f six more
Am erican soldiers, pushing the
U.S. m ilitary death toll since the
beginning o f the Iraq w ar in
March 2003 toat least 2,978 - five
more than the num ber killed in the
Sept. 11 attacks in New York,
W ashington and P ennsybania.
Arrest Made for Shooting
Portland police charged Lai Ngoc
Thach, 21, with m urder in con
nection with T uesday’s shoot
ing at W etlands Public House.
East Precinct officers discovered
the body o f 28-year-old Robert
Carl Pfeifer early T uesday when
they arrived to deal with a bar
fight. D etectives say that Thach
pulled out a gun and shot Pfeifer
at least once.
Hundreds Dead in Nigeria
A ruptured gasol i ne pi pe I ine burst
into flam es in Lagos, Nigeria on
T uesday, k illing at least 260
people and injuring dozens o f
others, the Red Cross said.
No Apology fromAnti-Muslim
R ep .
V irg il
G oode (R-V A )
has reportedly
r e fu s e d
to
a p o lo g iz e fo r
the a n ti-M u s
lim rem arks he
made in a letter
to c o n s titu
ents. Labeled "Islam ophobic" by
the Council on A m erican-Islam ic
Relations, the letter was in re
sponse to use o f the Q uran for the
sw earing-in cerem ony o f Keith
Ellison, a M innesota Dem ocrat
and the first M uslim elected to
C ongress.
www.portlandobserver.coni
Wednesday • December 27. 2006
‘Godfather of
Soul’ Dies at 73
James Brown succumbs to fatal case
of pneumonia on Christmas day
A P — Jam es Brown, the undeni
able “G odfath er o f S o u l,” told
friends from his hospital bed that
he was looking forw ard to perform
ing on New Y ear’s Eve,even though
he was ill with pneum onia. His heart
gave out a few hours later, on Christ
mas morning.
T h e p o m p a d o u re d d y n a m o
w h o se c la ssic sin g le s in c lu d e
“ P apa's G ot A Brand New Bag"
and "I G ot You (I Feel G ood)" died
M onday o f heart failure, said his
agent, Frank C opsidas o f Intrigue
M usic. He was 73.
“People already know his his
tory, but I would like for them to
know he was a man w ho preached
love from the stage,” said friend
C harles Bobbit, w ho w as w ith
Brown at the hospital. “ His thing
w as ‘1 never saw a person that I
d idn’t love.' He w as a true hum ani
tarian w ho loved his country."
T he entertainer with the rough-
edged voice and flashy footwork
also had diabetes and prostate can
cer that was in rem ission. Bobbit
said. Brown initially seem ed fine at
the hospital, C opsidas said. Three
days before his death, he had par
ticipated in his annual toy give
aw ay in A ugusta, and he was look
ing forward to his New Y ear’s Eve
show .
“Last night, he said T m g o in g to
be there. I’m the hardest w orking
s I ’m going to
be there. Cm the
hardest working
man in show
business.
-Jam es Brown
man in show business,’ ” Copsidas
sa id M o n d ay . H e said B row n
planned to perform during a two-
week tour in C anada after hitting
Tim es Square.
B rown w as hi m self to the end, at
one point saying, " I ’m going aw ay
tonight," Bobbit said at a
new s co n fe re n c e later
M onday.
“ I d id n ’t w ant to be
lieve him ," he said.
A sh o rt tim e la te r,
B ro w n sig h e d q u ie tly
three tim es, clo sed his
eyes and died, Bobbit
said.
O ne o f the m ajor m u
sical influences o f the
past 50 years, Brown was
to rhythm and dance
music what Bob Dylan
was to lyrics. From M ick
Jagger to M ichael Jack-
son, D avid B ow ie to
Public Enemy, his rapid
James Brown, 1933 - 2006.
footed d ancing, hard-
charging beats and heartfelt yet em ancipator, he w as an originator.
o f te n u n in te llig ib le v o c a ls Rap m usic, all that stu ffcam e from
changed the musical landscape.
Jam es B row n," entertainer Little
He was one o f the First artists R ich ard , a lo n g tim e frien d o f
inducted into the Rock and Roll B row n's, told M SNBC.
Hall o f Fame, along with Elvis
“Jam es Brown changed m usic,”
Presley, C huck Berry and other said Rev. Al Sharpton, who toured
founding fathers.
with Brown in the 1970s and im i
“He was an i nnovator, he w as an tates his hairstyle to this day.
continued
yf
on page B4
Kwanzaa
at IFCC
Sekai Edwards, 8, lights a
candle at a setting represent
ing Imani (Faith), at a Kwanzaa
Celebration hosted by the
Interstate Firehouse Cultural
Center. IFCC will feature other
table settings through Jan. 1,
representing the seven days
and seven principles of
Kwanzaa, with hosts Joyce
Harris and artist Adrienne
Cruz, plus traditional tales
from storyteller Habiba.
Wikipedia Challenges Google
Search engine giants Y ahoo and
G oogle are about to face a little
more competition, said W ikipedia
founder Jim m y W ales. W ales
plans to launch his ow n search
engine “W ikisari” in early 2007,
basing findings on human ju d g
ment rather than com puter results.
Obama and Clinton Tied
i
"H e made soul music a world mu
sic,” Sharpton said. "What James
Brown was to music in terms of soul
and hip-hop. rap, all of that, is what
Bach was to classical music. This is
a guy who literally changed the music
industry. He put everybody on a
ah ° ut lev*
Celebrating Kwanzaa
« Barack O bam a
cal tie in a hypo
thetical contest with Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton o f N ew York
among likely Democratic primary
voters in New H am pshire, tradi
tional site o f the first presidential
prim ary elections.
M ark W ashington f
T hf . P ortland O bserver
T he c e 'e ^rat'on ° f K w anzaa is the focus o f Jan. I, to em brace these values.
photos by
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seven traditional A frican values - unity, self-
In Portland, m any A frican A m ericans celebrate
determ ination, collective w ork and responsibility, this cultural holiday, w hile others are sim ply curi-
cooperative econom ics, purpose, creativity and ous or have a relative w ho celebrates.
faith. Millions of observers throughout the world
The Observer asked, what divs kw an/aa mean
com e together for seven days. Dec. 26 through to you?
__A
Yvonne O ’Gara - 1 celebrate the season
because we are celebrating the return o f the
lights, t love the values o f Kwanzaa. We get to
renew who we are and who we stand for. From
what I understand anyone can participate in
the jo y we share.
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Penny Jack - / don't know
anything about Kwanzaa
e xcept that it’s a traditional
African holiday. My ex-hus
band celebrates.
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Joe Hoover - Z don t
know how I really
feel about it. / am a
little curious and I
have a relative who
celebrates.
Vitalis Ogbeama -I've
been celebrating 10 or
15 years. I used to work
at the Urban League as
a volunteer, and /
learned about it there.
Mildred Carr We
missed it fo r the past two
years because o f our
health, but we generally
celebrate at the senior
citizens center.