Local Anchor Almost Bagged James Brown

James Brown — I don’t really need to explain who he is, I hope — passed away Christmas morning. The Godfather of Soul was 73.

All the TV stations, even on Christmas, were naturally covering his death extensively. That extended to Action News‘ Matt O’Donnell, who blogged (!) this morning about his meeting with Brown:

I went to shake James Brown’s hand. I guess I got a pretty good grip on it. He winced.

“Ooooh! You’re a strong young man!”

“You’re not so bad yourself.” And then I threw out one of my typical complementary one-liners:

“In fact, you don’t look a day older than 25.”

In his typical James Brown soul-infused voice, he replied “Oh, you make me feel goooooodddddd!”

It was a wonderful moment. I was jive-talking with James Brown!

Oh, I’m sorry. I meant to write that Matt O’Donnell blogged about the time he and Brown flirted with each other.

Remembering Our Day with James Brown [6 ABC]
Brown had been suffering from cold, cough [CNN]