New (old) schitt has come to light

waxjunky

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060306/music_nm/harlem_dcNEW 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 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, 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 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.