Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built (PBS)
JustAlice
1,308 Posts
Man, PBS has been really keeping my interest a lot lately. Jonestown, the Hippies, America at a crossroads. The story about the Gardner Museum. Coming up this week they have a story on the Atlantic records founder, Ahmet Ertegun and I think it will be good. I think it premiers on Wed. but I wont be able to catch it until Friday @ 3am or Sunday afternoon. No Tivo. I just hope they keep it coming, not that I have ever been let down. Just particularly cool the past few weeks.Anyone else looking for this?
Comments
First, we'd have to know how to FIND it. Unless it's Sesame Street, PBS hasn't always been good about promoting their shows (like Soundstage - I was at a taping for the Burt Bacharach/Ronnie Isley ep a few years back, but if it aired, I ain't seen it). Do you gotta keep checking their website every day or something?
How was that session? How was was Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head?
It sounded real good, but then again Burt Bacharach is such a perfectionist that he kept doing multiple takes of the same song (remember, this was a TV show more than it was a concert). This kind of killed the excitement; members of the audience started filing out two by two when that happened.
Best moment: after random shoutouts from the audience to sing one of his hits, Ronnie Isley teased us with an acapella version of the opening verse from "Twist & Shout." As soon as he hit that "shake it up, baby!", all these baby-boomer-aged black ladies just swooned...
I don't remember them doing that while I was there (we left early too; Bacharach and his "do-overs" were kinda maddening).
Well, PBS programs air at different times in different markets. What's you local station? You can always check their online schedule, or, for a more general overview of the bigger projects coming up, here's a little inside info.
That's the PBS Pressroom we use internally to write promotional copy.
Also, many stations have a monthly program guide that they send to their members. In Boston, membership costs $50/year, but that may vary from place to place. Here's ours:
Thanks for the info. PBS does show some good stuff, it's just hard to keep up with the schedule sometimes.
I help design ours (Richmond, VA).
I just checked it:
American Masters
Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built
Season 20 opens with a profile of Ahmet Ertegun (1923-2006).
Wednesday, May 02, 9:00 PM
American Masters
Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built
Season 20 opens with a profile of Ahmet Ertegun (1923-2006).
Saturday, May 05, 2:00 AM
No shit? And here I thought I was the lone PBS rep 'round these parts. Well, if I ever find some extra station copies of Stark Reality, you can have the second one.
also PBS related, who saw Bill Moyers - Buying The War. If not you can watch the whole thing online http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html Moyers rocks.
But I do know that the Atlantic show is on Wednesday at 9pm on OPB, our local pbs channel for all the oregonians....and I'm hoping to be able to see it Sunday afternoon when I get up...around 1pm or so. I would think a quick check on your local pbs channel guide website would give exact times.
That Mormon one looked interesting as well.... I guess that was on tonight but I was at work and missed that one too.
I read a review of this program in our local paper on Sunday, and it specifically mentioned Kid Rock, since he was "..going to be bigger than Elvis" according to A.E.
The author of the article went on to say that Bette Middler gets an inordinate amount of coverage, probably due to the fact that she narrates.
The Moyers program was very necessary. Damn, I haven't watched this much PBS since I was a little kid.
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Our evil plan is working perfectly....
You know, I've never really abused graemlins like that before, and to be honest, it felt pretty good.
Just a reminder that Atlantic is as capable of releasing schlock as CBS or anybody else. Not everything they released sounded like Aretha Franklin or Big Joe Turner. So if there's a surplus of pop acts you or I could do without, don't be surprised.
the old footage of Ruth Brown and The Clovers was really cool, and for the most part the interviews were really good.
all in all, good stuff. i'm looking forward to the stax documentary airing in june on pbs.
I really liked the interviews with his wife, Mica, as well.
yes, there is a DVD called "Remembering Otis" that features that Booker T. footage and the Otis footage...it also has some killer Sam and Dave footage from that euro tour...dont know about the studio footage though...
Thanks.
It was an Ahmet lovefest. Which is deserved.
All that said I have plenty of complaints. They glossed over the non-royalty payment issue. Made it seem like a little oversight that was quickly corrected.
PBS is having a love affair with Kid Rock. I watched a Lerry Lee Lewis fundraiser celebraty concert. Kid Rock was on there, an absulote low low low point. He got up and started dancing on the piano, JLL gave him a get off my piano . Highlight was a duet with Solomon Burke. Sol brought his own thrown to sit on while singing.
Back to Atlantic. When someone at Atlantic, probably Wexler, heard Duane Alman who was working at Muscle Shoals studio. They immediatly got on the phone and signed him to contract. Not an artist deal, a studio musician, whatever you want to do deal. Supposedly a first in the industry. Allman bros got mentioned in passing, but appearantly don't deserve the air time that Phil Collins and Bette Midler do. Or more likely they don't have the same connection with Ahmet.
That's why I thought it ironic that Ruth Brown and Ahmet passed away so close to each other...Ruth seemingly griped about being gypped by Atlantic right up to her dying day.
- spidey
Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought afterward. It could of been better but it was cool to get a little more insight into the man. Hopefully any DVD release will have copious uncut bonus footage/interviews.
For those wanting to fill in some gaps left in the Ahmet film the "Tom Dowd and the Language of Music" DVD is outstanding. I think it's even free on On-Demand digital cable.
Unfortunately, most of our programs do not include much bonus footage on the DVD release. My employer, WGBH, is by far the largest producer of PBS content, and we're moving into a new headquarters over the course of the summer. My hope is to be able to gain access to the archives after the move, which contain everything from the original Stark Reality recordings to extensive performances by a wide variety of soul artists on the series "Say, Brother".
I'll report back.