The first time that I ever heard Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, I was 11 years old. I was on the school bus #82 travelling back and forth to Town and Country Day School in Wheaton when “Bustin’ Loose” came on the radio. As a young, white girl it was unbelievable to me as everyone on the bus started to sing along. On the school bus, that day, we were one. This song was totally different than the songs that came out of the small white table top radio in my house at dinner time. We listened to Don McLean singing about “Miss American Pie” and danced along to Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” while the voice of Captain Dan in ‘copter 12-6-0oooo” would periodically break in to give us the rush hour traffic update.
“It don’t mean a thing if it don’t have the Go-Go Swing!”- Chuck Brown
Bus 82 was the school bus that provided door to door transportation to the students who lived in the Upper Northwest/Downtown Silver Spring corridor and since I grew up in downtown Silver Spring, I rode this bus. I was exposed to Chuck Brown, Parliament Funkadelic, the Isley Brothers and all of the funk and soul acts as one of the older kids- Bo Sampson, Jimmy Cobb or Blair George or maybe our bus driver “Catfish”, brought a pocket radio every day for the daily groove session sing-a-longs. Imagine me, an 11 year old Jewish kid singing along to “Amen” by the Impressions. All of this provided the sounds that would mold me musically for the next 39 years.
“Oh, when we are one, I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid!”- Chuck Brown
One of my very best friends, still to this day, Gena Johnson, also rode that bus and as youngsters we became tried and true Chuck fans that would carry us well into our present day adulthood. Simply, Chuck Brown provided the soundtrack to my life, and hers and legions of fans from Bus 82 to those across the entire DC Metropolitan area.
“Keep what you got until you get what you need. You’ve got to give a lot just to get what you need sometimes y’all.” – Chuck Brown
Chuck was played at every single one of our birthday celebrations- or we would celebrate during his birthday at the 9:30 Club. He was with us at New Year’s celebrations by CD or live when the lavish buffet at the hotel where he was playing consisted of pigs in a blanket and a lack of champagne while the countdown to midnight was off by 10 seconds or so. It didn’t matter because we were with Chuck. He was with us during summers when we were eating crabs and drinking beer, when we were in our early 20’s buying wine coolers from Sam’s Beer and Wine on Georgia Avenue, at our holiday parties, while we were laying on the beach in Dominican Republic a decade ago celebrating the year of our 40th birthdays, sitting on the wall of the Malecon in Havana, Cuba playing Chuck from our iPods for any Cuban who would listen or in our early 20’s cruising up and down Georgia Avenue on weekend nights- Chuck was always with us. And, as long as he was with us, we remained, in our own minds, as ageless and timeless as he was.
“Whatever you do, big or small, do it well or don’t do it at all.”- Chuck Brown
As I got older and started my career writing for various publications, I had ample opportunity to speak with Chuck and develop a wonderful relationship with him. As humble as he was, he was larger than life! From his pigeon-toed stance to his toothy grin with the ever-present big smile for all, he made everyone feel like family. He taught us life lessons that we will carry with us forever and ever. He taught us that a smile can get you everywhere, but hard work and the right combination of people can get you to the Grammys. He taught us that if you go through life and are kind and encouraging, you will rarely have an enemy. He taught us that you can take a bad situation, learn your lesson from it, strive to be a better person and you will have success in abundance. He taught us about Jazz and Blues legends through his interpretations of “Run Joe”, “Go-Go Swing”, “2001”, “Misty”, “Moody’s Mood” and so, so many more. He taught us that it is ok to cover a tune, but make sure that you add your own spin to it so people know that it’s you and not a regurgitated version of the original. He was genius.
“Chuck Baby don’t give a f***”- Crowd “Yes I do!” – Chuck Brown
As Gena and I aged into our late 30’s and early 40’s schleping down to the Safeway BBQ Battle to see Chuck took a little more effort, we were always instantly transformed back to a time and place where we were on Bus #82 or in our early 20’s at Rock Creek Park with a huge spread of crabs and beer. It didn’t matter because whatever grown up issues we were going through, Chuck was there and everything was ok.
“If I ever get my hands on a dollar again, I’m gonna squeeze on it ’til the eagle grins.”- Chuck Brown
The day Chuck passed away, Gena and I had a conversation. We were talking about our experiences and how lucky we were to grow up in DC and have Chuck in our lives. Gena said, “Go-Go is the rhythm that makes your body move. And no one did it better than Chuck. There’s always a party when Chuck is playing. He makes sure the audience has a good time. He was a great musician whether he was playing Go-Go or Jazz. It’s about the music with him. He always gives the audience something to groove to. There is no flashy stage production necessary. He IS the best.”
“When I step onstage I forgot all about my age, I think about you. Cause I love to see y’all groove.”- Chuck Brown
The last conversation that I had with Chuck was at the Go-Go Awards in 2011, a year before he passed away. We were happy to see each other and hugged. After speaking for a few minutes, his daughter, KK walked by. He said to me, “Jill, have you ever met my daughter KK?” I told him that I had not. He introduced us with that warm smile of his, “I am so proud of KK,” Chuck beamed. That was our last conversation.
“Sho ya right!” – Chuck Brown
The Music Examiner 
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