Musically Speaking – SHINING STARS

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.

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)

UPCOMING FILMS:
Tuesday, July 2 – NO FILM TONIGHT

Tuesday, July 9
The Clash: Westway to the World (2000, 60 min.)
Westway to the World is the only full, unexpurgated story of one of rock music’s legendary acts. Blasting away from the parochial concerns of the London punk scene of the late 1970’s, the Clash explored and expanded musical boundaries like no act before, experimenting with reggae, rap, and dance music during their short, but influential seven years in existence. This documentary, directed by filmmaker Don Letts, combines rare performance footage with interviews from the entire band, including leader Joe Strummer, who passed away just two years after this film’s release.

Tuesday, July 16
Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002, 116 min.)
In Detroit, Michigan, 1959, Berry Gordy gathered the best musicians from the city’s thriving jazz and blues scene for his new record company: Motown. For the next 14 years these players became the heartbeat on classics like “My Girl,” “Baby Love,” “Ooo Baby Baby,” “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” “Dancing In The Street,” and every other hit from Motown’s Detroit era. By the end of their phenomenal run, the unheralded group of musicians played on more Number One hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles combined, making them the greatest unknown hit machine in the history of popular music. Two decades after they played their first note on a Motown record and three decades since they were all together, the musicians, known as the Funk Brothers, reunited back in Detroit to play their music and tell their unforgettable story. With Chaka Khan, Ben Harper, Bootsy Collins, Meshell Ndegeocello, Joan Osborne, Gerald Levert, and more.

Tuesday, July 23
Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (1988, 90 min.)
Expanding on footage of Thelonious Monk’s 1967 tour shot by Christian Blackwood, Charlotte Zwering (Gimme Shelter) has created the definitive filmic portrait of the master bop pianist-composer, digging deep into the life of the famously eccentric pianist-composer. Straight, No Chaser fleshes out Monk’s character considerably – from his harmonic theories to his use of quarter–tones (produced by hitting two adjacent piano keys simultaneously and occasionally even striking the boards with his entire forearm or his foot), to his mysterious relationship with his patron, baroness Nica de Koenigswarter. Monk’s music, naturally, is at the center of this canny portrait, giving fans cause to rejoice since most of the movie’s performances had been previously unavailable in any form.

Tuesday, July 30
Freestyle – The Art of Rhyme (2005, 75 min.)
A celebration of the role of MC in the hip hop culture, this film documents the history and art of freestyle rap, featuring mainstream icons such as Notorious BIG and Tupac Shakur, as well as underground heroes like Common, Black Thought (the Roots) Chali Tuna (Jurassic 5), Mikah 9 (Freestyle Fellowship), and Mos Def (Black Star), not to mention commentary from a historical perspective by Abiodun Oyewole and Umar Bin Hassan of the legendary Last Poets.