Musically Speaking – Wild Combination

Please join us for Musically Speaking with DJ Soul Sister – A series of music-themed movies and documentaries, curated and hosted by DJ Soul Sister, and co-presented by Press Street, WWOZ and Charitable Film Network.  Free Admission – SEATING IS LIMITED.  For more information, contact soulsister@post.com.

Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell
Wild Combination is director Matt Wolf’s visually absorbing portrait of the seminal avant-garde composer, singer-songwriter, cellist, and disco producer Arthur Russell. Before his untimely death from AIDS in 1992, Arthur prolifically created music that spanned both pop and the transcendent possibilities of abstract art.In the early 1970s, Russell began working with Philip Glass and other composers in the avant-garde music world, writing melodic orchestral music. Simultaneously Arthur discovered the liberating social and aesthetic possibilities of underground discos. Under the guise of various monikers — Dinosaur L, Loose Joints, Indian Ocean — Russell produced playful and eccentric disco records that became hits of the pre-Studio 54 era.The rules and codes of established genre didn’t apply to him, as the utopian social settings of the early discos were like the Buddhist commune Russell had once known. Now over two decades after Arthur’s death, his music continues to be rediscovered.

UPCOMING FILMS:
Tuesday, June 11th
No film screening – Enjoy the New Orleans Loving Festival!

Tuesday, June 18th
EL CANTANTE by Leon Ichaso
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony bring to life this riveting tale of romance and redemption based on the true story of salsa legend Hector Lavoe and the woman who kept him from falling over the edge. It’s the 1970s and the salsa revolution is in full swing. Hector Lavoe (Anthony), is the singer (or “el cantante”) whose voice can move millions and whose passion moves one woman, his wife Puchi (Lopez). But when the spotlight brings Lavoe’s personal demons and addictions to light, it will take the incredible devotion of his wife to put him on the path to becoming the legend he was born to be.  (2007, 116 minutes)

Tuesday, June 25th
SHINING STARS: The Story of Earth, Wind & Fire by Kathryn Arnold
Earth, Wind and Fire is perhaps the most successful and popular R&B band of the 1970s, and one of the most influential bands of the 20th century. This documentary follows the group from its modest Chicago beginnings with leader Maurice White, a Chess Records session drummer who was also a member of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, to its induction into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. The film features rare concert footage and interviews with the members of the group, both past and present.(2001, 90 minutes)