James Brown and Wilson Pickett In a Cold Sweat

James Brown once performed "Cold Sweat" with Wilson Pickett also known as the Wicked Pickett. The video shows the performance along with a rendition of one of the songs that made Pickett famous in the 60’s, “In the Midnight Hour.” The rendition is almost iconic because it depicts maybe not an oedipal rivalry, but an Oedipal triumph though it is unclear who is Oedipus and who the unfortunate Laius in this case. Brown is giving one of his concerts and he calls Pickett up from the audience. Pickett is dressed in black tie and tails and the King of Soul sports a more heterodox attire, a glitzy regal looking jumpsuit which enables him to bare his chest both physically and metaphysically. If you notice any video of James Brown, he is a commanding figure. His diminutive but muscle bound form is a Napoleonic presence on stage. However the minute Wilson Pickett take the mic, he overshadows Brown. In fact his rendition of “Cold Sweat" is not only compelling, but aficionados might even think better. Brown seems to slink away and you can detect an unmistakable envy even jealousy in his body language. He is bobbing and weaving, but he is like a fighter who isn’t punching back as Pickett totally overshadows him. The battle might have been won when Brown offers him an encore, but once Pickett unleashes “In the Midnight Hour" it’s like a team experiencing home field advantage. The war was lost. Neither Pickett nor Brown are alive so we’ll never know what either was really feeling, but like the "Thrilla in Manila" or the "Rumble in the Jungle,” or Monty Python’s famous, Mr. Creosote projectile vomiting scene, this is one video you don’t want to miss.

Lives of Our Leaders: Obama vs. Romney #1

It wasn’t the Thrilla in Manila or the The Rumble in the Jungle. The first debate was primarily defensive like one of those 12 round fights in which cautious styles create a kind of depersonalization. The problem with the debate was homogenization. The hurtle  for Obamacare as a political fact is that it was introduced and worked in the state where Romney was governor, though it was plain that health care is an issue about which the president is impassioned and one which he can outpoint the challenger. If health care is Obama’s forte, then the 700,000 jobs that would be lost due to tax increases became Romney’s mantra. Why was the president spending two years working on heath care, when the country was dogged by unemployment? Still, if Romney was strong on the economy he was still haunted by his non-existent loopholes and the fact that his criticisms of Dodd-Frank were not backed up with specific proposals about the open wound of banking deregulation. In a prize fight, the challenger has to be more than the equal of the title holder. He has to take the belt away and that comes from not merely ducking and slipping, not merely avoiding the champion’s power. He has to take control of the ring. He has to stop his opponent at his own game. You box a fighter and fight a boxer. In the first bout Romney might be given some extra points for style, but Obama and Romney both kept their distance and boxed the first debate. Hopefully in Obama/Romney #2, they’ll come out fighting.