No James Brown Museum in Augusta? Get up Offa That Thing!

I rolled into Augusta, Georgia last week admittedly unprepared. I hadn’t done any research, hadn’t checked out the city’s Web site—I had simply assumed that James Brown’s hometown would have a museum dedicated to the hardest working man in show business. Silly me. Turns out there’s a statue in a plaza, and a street was re-named for him in 1993. But a museum?

Nowhere to be found.

I’m not asking for a lot. I know that not long after Brown’s death, the family was considering a Graceland-style re-making of his home in Beech Island, South Carolina. But Augusta—allow me to address you directly for a moment—you wouldn’t need to do anything on that scale. All I ask is for a small, kitschy homage in the town where the Godfather of Soul got his start, shining shoes and dancing for pennies. How hard could it be to round up a few capes and some old concert footage, and of course the “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” handbag to hawk in the gift shop?

C’mon, Augusta. Get up offa that thing and let’s make this happen.

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