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AUDIENCES GAGA FOR GO-GO'S GODFATHER CHUCK BROWN BRINGS HIS REVOLUTIONARY SOUND TO FREDERICKSBURG SATURDAY "THERE ARE JUST UGLY PEOPLE OUT THERE. PEOPLE SHOOT PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. GO-GO MUSIC IS VERY POSITIVE." CHUCK BROWN

September 6, 2007 12:35 am

By MICHAEL ZITZ

Chuck Brown, "the Godfather of Go-Go," is obviously going to be compared to that other "godfather" with the same surname.

But Brown, the headline act for Saturday's Greater Fredericksburg Area SuperFest at the Fredericksburg Fairgrounds, may have more in common with "King of Rock 'n' Roll" Elvis Presley than with "Godfather of Soul" James Brown.

Both Elvis and Chuck are widely credited with germinating their genres. And both those genres, rock and go-go, have borne their share of controversy.

Go-go is a subgenre of funk music that developed in the Washington area, and Brown is generally credited with getting it started.

The music is a spicy blend of funk, jazz, Latin, hip-hop and soul, brought to a boil by "call and response" audience participation. It's underscored by the bass drum and snare drum, and also is identified strongly with the conga drums, timbale and handheld cowbells.

Despite strong roots in the region and continuing appeal with several generations, go-go hasn't always had a positive reputation, either in Washington or here in the Fredericksburg area.

Violence broke out during a go-go concert at what was then Mary Washington College during the 1990s. And just last New Year's Eve, a Prince William County man was shot and killed after a go-go performance brought fans down from the north to a Fredericksburg nightclub.

During the 1980s, as the music was ascending, go-go clubs in Washington developed reputation for violence. Go-go was banned in some areas of the city. In 1988, a band called the Go-Go Posse recorded "D.C. Don't Stand for Dodge City," in an effort to stop the violence.

But problems continued.

In March of this year, Prince George's County, Md., closed nine area go-go clubs due to recurring violence.

"Go-go had nothing to do with that violence," Brown told The Free Lance-Star recently.

"There are just ugly people out there. People shoot people everywhere. Go-go music is very positive."

Promoters Andre Catlett of Fredericksburg and Christopher O'Neal of Tappahannock decided on Brown to headline Saturday's SuperFest after polling the local black community.

Catlett said he's not worried about the crowd Brown will attract. "To me, it's not so much the music as how the event is run," he said.

"I'm more worried about the alcohol factor than about the go-go factor."

Catlett pointed out that many other styles of music had their detractors. "They said the same thing about hip-hop, about go-go, about rock 'n' roll, about heavy metal."

On the other hand, he added, Brown's particular brand of go-go is based in gospel music. "Chuck isn't the problem. It's what go-go has become; just like there's good rap and gangsta rap is bad."

Brown himself certainly gets positive reactions.

A show last Friday night at the 9:30 Club in Washington, honoring Brown on his 72nd birthday, sold out. Radio station WPGC circulated a petition outside the club demanding the birthday boy be inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.

Most of the other artists honoring Brown were about a third his age, and the crowd was primarily made up of 20-somethings.

Brown said he often sees a mixture of fans that includes fans in their 50s, 30s and early 20s.

"Kids' grandparents used to come out," he said. "Kids' parents used to come out with their own parents. And then, these kids came out with their parents."

Brown said the Grover Washington Jr. song "Mr. Magic" inspired him and band, the Soul Searchers, to create go-go during the 1970s.

But there's much more to the story than that.

Brown knew he was going to be a professional musician when he was 2 years old.

He had been born in Gaston, N.C., he said, to a 16-year-old mother and a 55-year-old father. Little Chuck's father died of pneumonia before he was 1 year old.

"He was a hardworking man and a lot of hardworking people died that way then," Brown said.

"He had a lot of other children. I'd like to meet some of them someday."

His mother, a maid and a gospel musician herself, taught her son to sing. And she began taking her 2-year-old son from home to home and church to church, performing for donations as a way of eking out a living. She would play the accordion, and her toddler son would sing.

People would tell Brown's then 18-year-old mother, "That little boy is gonna be something. Keep teaching him."

Then she met the man who would become Chuck's stepfather--a farm worker, who moved the family to Richmond and then to Washington.

That gospel background is what led to the birth of go-go.

"It was the beat," Brown said. "When Grover Washington came up with 'Mr. Magic,' I recognized an old church beat in it. I took that beat and put it into a groove and changed the beat around different ways. I realized we could incorporate it into just about anything we wanted to."