Brown Turns Blues Into Green

The Scene: Saturday’s grand opening of the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip. The $9-million restaurant/music venue kicked off with a benefit for the Magic Johnson Foundation that included performances by Isaac Hayes, Dan Aykroyd with the Blues Brothers Band, John Lee Hooker and “The Godfather of Soul,” James Brown.

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Who Was There: A major turnout with 1,000 guests, including Robert De Niro, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Spielberg, Wesley Snipes, Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Penny Marshal, Whoopi Goldberg, Bobby Brown, Bill Murray, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rob Reiner, Woody Harrelson, club founder Isaac Tigrett, Earvin (Magic) Johnson and Taj Mahal, who succinctly defined the blues as “a platform for communicating your feelings on any subject.”

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The Buzz: Even the most jaded were impressed by the attention to detail in the building. “This is the greatest music hall in America,” said Jim Belushi, who sang with the Blues Brothers. “It’s the best sound I’ve heard in a club in a long, long time,” said Ringo Starr. One music industry veteran said: “It’s got more character than any other L.A. venue.”

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Money Matters: Ticket prices began at $150 and more than $200,000 was raised for the Magic Johnson Foundation, which so far has distributed $2.5 million to AIDS charities. The House of Blues underwrote all costs. One film industry exec remarked: “This is the first invitation in years where I said, ‘James Brown? Magic Johnson? I’m writing the check now.’ ”

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Chow: Bangkok chicken skewers, tandoori chicken, crawfish, jambalaya and Southern fried catfish bites. “It’s international peasant food,” said chef Joseph Marcus. “Some of the spices are a little bold, some we tame down, but our food is far from wimpy.”

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Observed: Early in the evening, Brown was piqued when a scheduled press conference was late. With his formidable entourage in tow, he stormed out of the club. He ended up buying boots at the nearby Paris Go store. The dialogue in the James Brown method for rapid footwear purchase is: “You got 8D? You got blue? OK, gimme three pair of black. You got 8 in this? Eight in that? OK, that’s enough.” Though Brown wanted to leave for dinner, he was persuaded to return to the club.

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Low Point: At 12:45 a.m., 15 minutes into his act, Brown stopped the show, sent the back-up singers and dancers off the stage and told the band it had to “tone up” immediately. “If I’m on the stage,” he said, “it’s gonna sound right before we play.”

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High Point: At 2 a.m., Brown packed the stage with Springsteen, Snipes, Johnson, Aykroyd, Harrelson and others singing “Get On Up” and the crowd went wild. Hey, that’s the reason he’s the godfather.