A lot full of items from James Brown’s South Carolina home went to auction yesterday at Christie’s, under protest from the soul singer’s children and business managers. Among the 350-odd items that sold were Brown’s medical bracelet, which was bought for $32,500 by Letterman musician Paul Shaffer, and an autographed Snoop Dogg picture that’s signed “2 Uncle James Brown.” That item got a winning bid of $875. Brown’s famed Hammond organ only sold for $10,000, while the Godfather of Soul’s embossed black cape got a winning bid of $47,500. The house cleaning continued with a $40,000 sale of Brown’s pink leather couches from the home. Also going was his stereo system, clothing and framed photographs. The auction reportedly took in a total of $800,000 (short of the projected two million Christie’s was anticipating), with the money expected to be used to pay Brown’s outstanding tax bills.

• The judge overseeing R. Kelly’s child pornography trial has confirmed the public will be allowed to see the controversial videotape that allegedly shows the singer having sex with — and urinating on — a minor because the girl in question denies she is the girl who appears on the tape (as does Kelly). The judge said he’d consider overturning his decision if the prosecution calls the girl as a witness. Kelly’s trial begins September 17th, almost five years and twenty-two chapters of “Trapped in the Closet” after he was first slapped with child pornography charges.

• Ongoing DNA tests following James Brown’s death have revealed the late singer has another child; three weeks ago two more of his children were identified.

• My Chemical Romance, All-American Rejects, Daughtry, Big & Rich and Gretchen Wilson have been announced as opening acts for Bon Jovi’s ten-date residency in New Jersey this fall. Dates for the shows, which will inaugurate the new Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, after the jump.

• As various digital music services experiment with DRM-free releases to compete with iTunes, Black Eyed Peas‘ will.i.am has decided to jump into the fray. He’ll launch a digital music store on August 28th on his Web site to coincide with the release of single “I Got it From My Mama” to sell his own copyright-protection-free tracks.

• R.E.M. will release a live CD/DVD titled R.E.M. Live CD/DVD on October 16th, which will feature their performance at Dublin’s Point Theatre on February 27, 2005, two years before the band returned to the city to test-drive songs for a still-forthcoming album. Click here to see the DVD’s trailer, and get the tracklisting after the jump. (more…)

• Though the Beatles have yet to release their catalog on iTunes, Paul McCartney will continue to distribute his solo work digitally through the store later this month. On August 21, McCartney will release Live at the ICA Festival, a six-song EP taken from his performance at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in the U.K. during last month’s iTunes festival.
• According to reports, Oasis will release their postponed tour documentary Lord Don’t Slow Me Down in October; the film features footage from their 2005-2006 world tour.
• The co-executor of James Brown’s will has resigned after handing over a check for $350,000, the amount of Brown’s money he was accused of misappropriating.
• Amy Winehouse has pulled out of two gigs opening for the Rolling Stones in Germany after being admitted to the hospital last week.
• Aretha Franklin canceled a hometown gig in Detroit Sunday night due to the weather. “I am exhausted from the heat and cannot tolerate heat in these extremely high numbers and being in concert simultaneously,” she said in a statement.

Photo: Getty

Ladies and gentlemen! The Godfather of Soul; Mr. Please, Please, Please; The Hardest Working Man in Show Business; Soul Brother Number One…has left the building. But despite James Brown’s death on Christmas morning, his spectacular body of work lives on, right here, in video footage of his incomparable stage performances. He was so superbad on stage that the Rolling Stones were reportedly terrified to follow his 1964 breakout performance on the iconic ‘60s TV special The T.A.M.I. Show. “Nobody could follow me,” he said afterward. Check out these iconic clips that clearly document how Mr. Dynamite dominated the stage through the five decades of his unparalleled career.

• “Out of Sight,” The T.A.M.I. Show (1964)
• “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud),” Playboy After Dark (1969)
• “Living in America,” Rocky IV (1985)
• “I Got the Feeling,” James Brown: Live From the House of Blues (2000)
• “I Feel Good,” The U.K. Hall of Fame (2006)

Brown gets very black for a spectacularly white TV show hosted by Hugh Hefner himself in a surreal, but riveting performance that features stacks of stacked white chicks lounging around a bachelor pad clapping to the quintessential Afro-American anthem. Other guests included Three Dog Night and Soupy Sales…we’re serious.

Not technically a live show…but the filmed stage performance single-handedly pulled Soul Brother Number One’s career off the mat. Brown and the Flames floored filmgoers with the killer single that would become his final charting hit while Apollo Creed dances his way to the ring to be beaten to death by Evil Ivan Drago.

Brown is bursting with energy and life just five weeks before his death in his final performance captured on video. Brown performs his signature song and mesmerizes a star-studded audience which includes Beatles producer George Martin, David Gilmour, Patti LaBelle and Brian Wilson.

Taken from a 97-minute concert from Chicago, Brown shows he hasn’t lost a step as he struts his stuff in a scary electric blue jump suite to his Top Ten hit from 1968. The full concert DVD is available on Amazon.com.

Mr. Dynamite blew away a 50-megaton lineup of the best acts of the ’60s, which ranged from Marvin Gaye to the Beach Boys, before 2,600 screaming fans of every color with his unforgettable performance. “I tell you, it’s a masterpiece and the beginning of my career in one way,” Brown said of the show.