get on the good foot 

this morning i was idling at the stoplight at roxboro & liberty, right near the durham county library. there was a car in each lane, waiting for the light to turn green. as i sat there, a slim black man in a large brown corduroy coat crossed the street in front of the line of stopped cars. he was in no hurry. he was singing. from the look of things, it seemed like it might be a james brown song.

he would pause in front of each car, and at the appropriate point in the song he'd do a great, flamboyant soul pose and point from the hip at each driver. he moved down the line, singing a song i wish i could've heard (the whole thing caught me off guard and my own radio was too loud)... stopping, a few quick dance steps, pointing.

when he finally got to the other side of the street i had a huge smile on my face. just then he got to the best part of his song. he swiveled his hips fast enough that his coat flew around, he bent at the waist and belted an impassioned "YEAAAH!!" into an invisible microphone.