The James Brown "Get on Up" Movie Premiere at the Newseum in Washington DC

The Washington DC premiere of the James Brown bio-pic "Get on Up" at the Newseum on historic Pennsylvania Avenue, was attended by many in the Media and Congress. One of the photo-op places was in front of the many portraits of James Brown. Here I stand in front of the official poster for the movie. The premiere was crowded and cheered on by the audience at the standing room only Newseum theater. (photo credit: Coka Lani)


The JB Marching band played on the red carpet, and also marched the Premiere attendees into the Newseum theater to see "Get On Up". The guy on the snare drum played with the Famous Flames.

Right before the screening of the movie "Get on Up", their was an interview in front of the movie audience with the (l to r) Director Tate Taylor, Lead Actor Chadwick Boseman, Rev Al Sharpton, and the interviewer Toure'. (photo by Coka Lani)

A closer shot of the interview with the principles (credit: Coka Lani)

While Lead Actor Chadwick Boseman would not get on up and show the audience his JB dance moves, Boseman explains how he captured the voice and singing style of James Brown.

A Washington DC premiere is not complete without a red carpet provided by Comcast Universal, the distributors of the movie "Get on Up". (Photo credit: Coka Lani)

While growing up James Brown was one of my favorite artists. School mates of mine and I would use James Brown songs to dance in Talent shows. I was honored to have interviewed The Godfather of Soul James Brown four times in my broadcast career in LA, San Francisco, and Washington DC. (credit: Coka Lani)


Toure interviews Al Sharpton. Sharpton spoke of his days as a manager of James Brown, and also revealed a few experiences he encountered while living with JB in Augusta Georgia including meeting James Brown's Mother and Father. Sharpton spoke of Brown's strained relationship with both of his parents frequently illustrated in the movie "Get on Up".


I highly recommend "Get on Up" and strongly urge the Academy Award voters to nominated Chadwick Boseman for Best Actor in the 2015 Academy Awards. Boseman was James Brown for the 2 hour movie, performing as good or better than Jaime Fox portrayal of Ray Charles in his Academy Award winning performance in the movie "Ray". The movie is revealing and very entertaining. The concert portions are just long enough for you and your party at a theater near you to "Get on Up" and dance.