[lit-ideas] Now THIS will be worth watching for!
- From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2006 04:30:27 EST
_http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060306/music_nm/harlem_dc;_ylt=AjCOoYpLupxZkkR_R
zeC6uwDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl_
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060306/music_nm/harlem_dc;_ylt=AjCOoYpLupxZkkR_RzeC6uwDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW
04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl)
NEW YORK (Billboard) - After more than 35 years, pristine footage of a
seemingly forgotten music festival featuring Sly & the Family Stone, B.B.
King,
the Staples Singers and Mahalia Jackson is finally coming to light.
Filmmakers Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon are editing the reels of film
capturing 1969's Harlem Music Festival into a feature-length film, with the
goal of having it ready for the _Sundance Film Festival_
(http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=Sundance+Film+Festival) next
January.
The Harlem Music Festival -- sometimes referred to as "The Black Woodstock"
-- drew huge crowds to the northern end of New York's Central Park for six
days in the summer of 1969. Hosted by _Jesse Jackson_
(http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=Jesse+Jackson) , the concerts were
sponsored by Maxwell
House Coffee. Security was provided by the Black Panthers, a job said to have
been declined by New York Police Department.
The event was organized by television producer/director Hal Tulchin, who
planned to sell footage from his five-camera shoot to a television network as a
music special. An hour-long program was sold to international syndication, but
no U.S. takers ever stepped up to the plate.
"Time and time again I was told candidly, 'There is no interest in putting on
a black special,"' Tulchin is quoted saying in the liner notes of the
RCA/Legacy DualDisc "The Soul of Nina Simone." Released last year, that title
included four songs -- "Revolution," "Four Woman," "Ain't Got No" and "Young,
Gifted and Black" -- Simone performed during the festival.
More than three decades later, Neville and Gordon ("Muddy Waters Can't Be
Satisfied," "Shakespeare Was a Big
_George Jones_ (http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=George+Jones)
Fan: 'Cowboy' Jack Clement's Home Movies") hope to change that with the
release of their documentary, which has a working title of "Harlem '69." Along
with performance footage, the filmmakers plan to provide some historical
context by interviewing surviving participants. Discussions with distributors
are
underway.
Reuters/Billboard
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