James Brown's friends and family hold private farewell service

Friday, December 29th 2006, 6:25 am

By: News On 6

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (AP) _ One day after thousands bade farewell to singer James Brown at the Apollo Theater in New York, friends and relatives gathered Friday for a more humble memorial service near the place Brown called home.

The gold casket bearing Brown's body was brought into the Carpentersville Baptist Church about 2:30 p.m. Boxing promoter Don King, wearing a red, white and blue tie, was right behind. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who had accompanied Brown's body to New York and back, was also on hand, as was comedian Dick Gregory.

As the hour of the ceremony neared, several hundred friends, relatives and onlookers waited outside the small, red brick church in a neighborhood of dilapidated homes _ some with boarded up windows _ on a street just inside the South Carolina line.

Friday's ceremony marked the second day of farewell services for Brown.

On Thursday, thousands of people danced and sang in the streets outside New York's Apollo Theater in celebration of the music legend's life as his body was displayed on the stage where he made his 1956 debut.

Brown, who died of heart failure Christmas morning at 73, lay in repose in the Harlem theater that helped catapult him to fame and was the setting for a thrilling live album in 1962.

Earlier, Brown's body was carried to the theater through the streets on a majestic white carriage drawn by two white horses.

Hundreds of fans followed behind the caisson singing the chorus of Brown's anthem, ``Say it Loud _ I'm Black and I'm Proud.''

Another public viewing of the singer's body will be held Saturday at the James Brown Arena in Augusta.

To many, Brown was more than just an energetic performer. As Norman Brand of Harlem waited for the Thursday procession to begin, the 55-year-old recalled hearing ``Say it Loud'' for the first time in his native Alabama.

``It really changed the attitude of most black people. It was like a wake-up call. Before that, if you were called black, it was like an insult,'' Brand said. ``Just one song and one word can change a whole situation.''