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Stax documentary on PBS

The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
edited July 2007 in Strut Central
just a reminder! its this Wed 8PM CST, Bossman went to a private screening last week and said it was really top shelf!...also in honor of Stax and the anniversary, log on to WEVL.ORG immediately after the documentary for 2 HRS of nothin but Stax/Volt rekkids played loud and proud!
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  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    just a reminder! its this Wed 8PM CST, Bossman went to a private screening last week and said it was really top shelf!

    I saw a review copy of the DVD and I second that emotion - this documentary is really well-done. I'm waiting for somebody to start a thread after it airs...
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    There's actually a few other docs coming up in August that some of y'all may enjoy (note???I just copied these highlights from a work document, so please send any complaints about the poor writing or the reference to "Black Music Month" to your local circular file):

    Saturday, August 18
    5:30 ??? 6:30pm ch 2: Sam Cooke - Legend[/b]: The first-ever biography of the extraordinary career and
    personal life of Sam Cooke whose contribution to American music spans gospel, R&B and Pop. June is Black Music Month. Sam Cooke's hits are many from You Send Me to Twisting the Night Away. You might be surprised by the sheer number of his hits. This is a documentary with performance footage.

    Sunday, August 19
    12:30 ??? 2pm ch 2: The Beach Boys - Endless Harmony[/b]: This show contains many of the group's best-known songs woven through extended interview segments with the original members and other key musicians, peers and industry observers. It tells their story through evocative period footage and some no-budget promotional videos to add impact.

    Wednesday, August 22
    9 ??? 11pm ch 2: Monterey Pop Festival[/b]: On a beautiful June weekend in 1967, at the height of the Summer of Love, the first and only Monterey International Pop Festival roared forward ??? capturing a decade???s spirit and ushering in a new era of rock ???n??? roll. Monterey would launch the careers of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding, but they were just a few among a wildly diverse cast, including Simon and Garfunkel, The Mamas and the Papas, The Who, The Byrds, Hugh Masekela, and the extraordinary Ravi Shankar. With his charismatic v??rit?? style, D.A. Pennebaker captured it all, setting the tone for many music films that would follow, including Woodstock.

    These are all Boston times and channels, so check the listings in your local market.
  • mandrewmandrew 2,720 Posts
    so what network/station is channel 2 in boston?
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    WGBH. We're the James Brown of PBS stations.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    WGBH. We're the James Brown of PBS stations.

    Any Zoom Memorabilia hanging around?
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Most of it was thrown away when we moved into our new headquarters over the past several months, but I'm sure there's some stuff around. My boss's son was one of the early 90's Zoomers. I imagine you're harkening back to the early 80s era, though?
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Most of it was thrown away when we moved into our new headquarters over the past several months, but I'm sure there's some stuff around. My boss's son was one of the early 90's Zoomers. I imagine you're harkening back to the early 80s era, though?






    OG 70's Son!!!!!!!
  • kitchenknightkitchenknight 4,922 Posts
    Most of it was thrown away when we moved into our new headquarters over the past several months, but I'm sure there's some stuff around. My boss's son was one of the early 90's Zoomers. I imagine you're harkening back to the early 80s era, though?






    OG 70's Son!!!!!!!

    That was your avatar for a while, no?
  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    0 - 2 - 1 - 3 - 4 ... send it to ZOOM!
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Most of it was thrown away when we moved into our new headquarters over the past several months, but I'm sure there's some stuff around. My boss's son was one of the early 90's Zoomers. I imagine you're harkening back to the early 80s era, though?






    OG 70's Son!!!!!!!

    That was your avatar for a while, no?

    Yep. I return to it erry once in a while. I had a crush on Bernadette as a kid.

    No hijack.

    Im lookin forward to Stax doc as well.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    0 - 2 - 1 - 3 - 4 ... send it to ZOOM!

    HAHA! Although we're now in the 0-2-1-3-5???moving on up, baby!
  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    BTW GBH, thanks for the tickets offer on Friday -
    I couldn't use them, but I did mean to write back and
    say thanks anyway but totally spaced. Good lookin' out.

    This guy called my show today and wanted me to play a
    Moody Blues song cause of the concert tonight - I went
    and dug the song he wanted out of the record library,
    but when I previewed it I was like "UGH THIS IS AWFUL"
    and had to say "sorry, dude - can't do it"
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    No sweat???the Moody Blues just don't do it for me, either. Still, it's the closest we get to free rock tickets around these parts.

    Although funnily enough (), we did get offered free Boz Scaggs tix last week.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    To get this back on track, here's the write-up on the Stax doc:

    9 ??? 11pm ch 2: Great Performances: Respect Yourself - The Stax Records Story[/b]: Between 1959 and 1975, Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, released international chart-topping hits such as ???Soul Man,??? ???Dock of the Bay,??? ???Green Onions,??? ???Midnight Hour,??? ???Respect Yourself??? and the theme from Shaft. The label???s artists included Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Booker T. and the MGs, Wilson Pickett, Isaac Hayes -- even Richard Pryor and Jesse Jackson. Founded by a conservative white bank teller who played country fiddle music, Stax became the pre-eminent soul music label in America. Entwined with the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the rise of black nationalism in the 1970s, the program documents the Stax label, its visionaries and most of all, its music.
  • holmesholmes 3,532 Posts
    Hope that Stax thing get's a DVD release.
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Hope that Stax thing get's a DVD release.

    There's apparently one on the way, according to the promo I saw.
  • erewhonerewhon 1,123 Posts
    WGBH. We're the James Brown of PBS stations.



    WGBH is one of the things I miss most about Boston. PBS ain't the same anywhere else, let alone Baltimore, where it is about as bad as it gets.
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Any Zoom Memorabilia hanging around?

    Most of it was thrown away when we moved into our new headquarters over the past several months, but I'm sure there's some stuff around.

    Too bad about the memorabilia, but are there any ACTUAL EPISODES in them vaults? From the seventies[/b]? This show should be reissued on DVD same as The Electric Company (another PBS program from the same era) was.

    And speaking of vintage footage, there's a wealth of never- or seldom-seen footage on this Stax doc coming up.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Too bad about the memorabilia, but are there any ACTUAL EPISODES in them vaults? From the seventies[/b]? This show should be reissued on DVD same as The Electric Company (another PBS program from the same era) was.

    I'm pretty sure we've got just about everything archived, although very little of it has been digitized. If you're psyched about Zoom, our archives of Say Brother! will melt your face clean off. You may remember Say Brother! as the show the Stark Reality did the theme for. Unfortunately, there are currently only 1 minute clips from each show available. We're a non-profit organization, and transfering programs to digital formats costs money.

    Anyone got $20,000 to spare?
  • pknypkny 549 Posts
    For those that slept, the documentary is on now, check your listings to find your PBS station.


    They're talking about Otis right now and showing footage of him doing "Respect"...
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    None of the three LA PBS stations are carrying this. WTF?
  • rsmeetsrsmeets 35 Posts
    just got done watching this.. hope it gets a dvd release... mavis staples is amazing.
  • soul_lurkersoul_lurker 99 Posts
    im watching the show right now.
    stax hit rock bottom, can some one explain the bankruptcy to me.
    it seems to get confused between racism and some really shady business.
    was it al bell's fault???was he set up?
  • TNGTNG 234 Posts
    im watching the show right now.
    stax hit rock bottom, can some one explain the bankruptcy to me.
    it seems to get confused between racism and some really shady business.
    was it al bell's fault???was he set up?

    Read this for all the messy details you'll ever need:

    http://www.amazon.com/Soulsville-U-S-Sto...86026629&sr=1-1
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    im watching the show right now.
    stax hit rock bottom, can some one explain the bankruptcy to me.
    it seems to get confused between racism and some really shady business.
    was it al bell's fault???was he set up?

    Read this for all the messy details you'll ever need:

    http://www.amazon.com/Soulsville-U-S-Sto...86026629&sr=1-1

    Word - Rob's book is mega-proper. And the short story is that Bell made some really phenomenally bad business decisions but it's hard running most labels and Stax would have been tough to run under most circumstances even with smarter leadership.

    What happened to Stewart is a cotdamn shame and disgrace though.
  • DJPrestigeDJPrestige 1,710 Posts
    great take on the entire history of the label. some of the footage was x 10:

    -otis in europe

    -booker t. and the mg's in london in 68 after MLK was shot

    -isaac hayes in the studio

    -johnny taylor killing it with "who's making love"




    i know they had some cool stax items back in the day, from high ball glasses to a leather bag stamped with the snap logo. i know it's no , but cool all the same.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
  • motown67motown67 4,513 Posts
    I missed about 45 minutes of the 1st hour so I'm going to have to try to catch this again on either another PBS station in the area or hopefully on re-run. That being said, I gotta say the Booker T. stuff was the shit. I mean with a staple of artists like that it's really hard to pick one, especially because Otis is my favorite Soul singer of all time, and Sam & Dave were just wildmen out there dancing, but man, those clips of Booker T. and the MG's just had me going. I mean they were hitting that groove.
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    My fave footage is of the post-plane crash Bar-Kays, on TV (Upbeat, it looks like), looking badass in black leather...it's only shown for less than a minute, blink and you'll miss it, but it's there.

    There's another curious clip of what looks like Otis in the studio lipsynching to "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa"...it looks like a studio rehearsal, 'cause everybody is just sitting around all casual, not really playing to the camera, but then again it synchs to the recording so well it just looks like a very odd early promotional video...I was hoping the credits would tell which clips came from what source, but it wasn't happening. Anyway, great special.
  • TNGTNG 234 Posts
    And the short story is that Bell made some really phenomenally bad business decisions but it's hard running most labels and Stax would have been tough to run under most circumstances even with smarter leadership.

    What happened to Stewart is a cotdamn shame and disgrace though.

    Al Bell really needed to own up to this in the film. He pussy footed around it, but never came out and said, "You know, I really fucked that up." Stewart wasn't a great business person to begin with (the Atlantic fineprint is a a perfect example), and he trusted that Bell was taking the company in the right direction. That being said, Stewart should have been watching credits and debits. I mean, who the fuck was that statistition? That was the shark jumping moment for sure.

    In the end it's always excess, which is a great lesson for all the junior circuit label owners out there. Just because you landed a Levis commercial doesn't mean you need a Mercedes.
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