LIVE WIRE MR. DYNAMITE The Rise of James Brown Film screening followed by a discussion with Harry Allen Geeta Gandbhir Alex Gibney Michael Veal Moderated by Harry Weinger Thursday, November 12, 2015 6:30 p.m. Apollo Theater 253 West 125 Street, New York, NY
LIVE WIRE: MR. DYNAMITE This evening at the Apollo offers a rare opportunity to watch Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown in the theater Mr. Brown considered “home base”. Here is how Mr. Dynamite should be seen, with a community that lived through key moments as well as with those who are just beginning to understand who was James Brown. The story in this film – of Mr. Brown struggling to make it, his extraordinary soul power, his previously undocumented importance in social movements, his cultural stature - deserves to be here, with the renowned Apollo audience singing along, talking loud, feeling his triumphs and his pain. Mr. Dynamite begins to answer important questions: Who was James Brown? Who were his family, his friends? Who were his key band members? Could James Brown show emotion or was his music his only expression? How and why did he keep up his frantic pace, performing all-out 350 nights a year? And how was funk invented? In the film we will hear from co-producer Mick Jagger, from the “Cape Man” Danny Ray, Brown’s musicians, confidante Rev. Al Sharpton and the people he has influenced, from Chuck D to Questlove, and many more. We will see film clips long buried and forgotten. We will also consider, who is James Brown, right now? As a bonus, the Apollo stage tonight will host the people who made the film. From them we will hear about their intent at the start of production, and where they ended up. What they thought they knew about James Brown that changed, what they didn’t know that changed their understanding of his life and work, and what challenges they faced in tackling the story. The film includes an avalanche of great music: “Please, Please, Please,” “Sex Machine,” “Soul Power,” “Cold Sweat,” “Say It Loud-I’m Black And I’m Proud,” “There Was A Time,” “The Payback”… direct from Mr. Dynamite, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, the Amazing Mr. Please Please Please Himself, the star of the show… Jaaaaames Brown! Harry Weinger November 2015
LIVE WIRE: MR. DYNAMITE - PANEL BIOGRAPHIES A veteran of the entertainment industry, Harry Weinger is a producer, writer and educator who is currently Vice President of A&R for Universal Music Enterprises, the catalog reissue arm of Universal Music Group. For Universal Music and its predecessor PolyGram Records, Weinger has overseen and produced hundreds of reissues, compilations and music DVDs, notably for recordings from Motown, James Brown, Verve, and other prominent artists and labels in the world of funk, soul, rock and jazz. The New York Times named his 4CD box set Star Time, a Grammy®-winning collection that spotlights the music of Mr. Brown, “one of the Top 25 recordings of the 20th Century.” In film, Weinger was the Music Consultant for Get On Up: The James Brown Story, and also produced the film’s Grammy®-nominated soundtrack album. He acted as a special consultant to the acclaimed documentaries, Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown, directed by Alex Gibney, and Standing in the Shadows of Motown, about Motown’s Funk Brothers band; Weinger received another Grammy® Award for co-producing the latter’s soundtrack album. For Broadway, Weinger was the co-executive producer for the Original Cast Recordings of the Tony®-nominated shows Motown The Musical and Rocky. As an adjunct professor at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, Harry has taught courses on Motown, James Brown and Stevie Wonder; he also co-teaches with Questlove of the Roots crew annual courses on Classic Albums, Prince, Funk and, in 2016, Michael Jackson. In addition he has been a guest lecturer at Princeton University, Duke University, Carleton College, University of South Carolina Honors College, Washington University/St. Louis, and others. As an author he has contributed to several books and his byline has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vibe, Billboard, Cash Box and Hits magazines. Early in his career Weinger was the producer of a nationally syndicated weekly radio comedy show, for which he discovered such future stars as Paul Reiser, Bill Maher and Carole Leifer. A cum laude graduate of Ithaca College with a BS in Communications, Weinger was Music Director of the school’s nationally recognized FM radio station. Harry Allen, Hip-Hop Activist & Media Assassin, writes about race, politics, and culture for Vibe, The Source, The Village Voice, and other publications. Widely hailed as one of hip-hop’s most original minds, he has been quoted as an expert in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and on National Public Radio, MTV, and CNN. Well known for his association with the seminal band Public Enemy, Allen also founded the world’s first not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization for hip-hop culture, the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame & RhythmCultural Center, Inc. (aka RCI: The RhythmCultural Institute) in 1994. Allen is host of the long-running, weekly WBAI-NY talk show, NONFICTION.
LIVE WIRE: MR. DYNAMITE - PANEL BIOGRAPHIES Geeta Gandbhir has been nominated for three Emmy Awards and has won two. As editor, her films have been nominated twice for the Academy Award, winning once, and have also won three Peabody Awards. Most recently, a feature documentary she produced with Perri Peltz and directed with Academy Award Winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, "A Journey of A Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers" premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. She is currently co-directing and co-producing a "Conversation" series on race with The New York Times OpDocs, and she co-directed and edited the film, "Remembering the Artist, Robert De Niro, Sr.” with Perri Peltz for HBO. Additional notable works as an editor include, "Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown," "Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley" for HBO, which was nominated for an Emmy, "When the Levees Broke," "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama," "Music By Prudence," "Budrus," "If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise," and "God is the Bigger Elvis" which was nominated for the 2012 Academy Awards. Her film, “Which Way is the Frontline From Here?” with author and Academy Award nominated director Sebastian Junger was nominated for the 2014 News and Doc Emmys. Director Alex Gibney has been called “one of the pre-eminent filmmakers in America” (Indiewire). The director has won the Academy Award, the Emmy, the Grammy, the Peabody, the DuPont-Columbia, The Independent Spirit, and The Writers Guild of America Award, to name just a few. He won the Academy Award for Taxi to the Dark Side and was nominated for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. His 2013 film for HBO, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, won three Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. He also won an Emmy that year for Showtime’s The History of the Eagles. His latest film, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, premiered at Sundance in 2015 and has been nominated for 7 Emmy Awards alongside his two-part documentary about Frank Sinatra All Or Nothing At All.
Michael E. Veal is Professor of Ethnomusicology at Yale University. He is the author of Fela: The Life & Times of an African Musical Icon (2000), Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae (2007) and the forthcoming Wait Until Tomorrow: Miles Davis and John Coltrane in the Digital Age. Dr. Veal is also a bassist and leader of the Afrobeat-jazz band Michael Veal & Aqua Ife.
PLAYLIST For those connected with the Spotify streaming service, check out the film’s accompanying playlist, “Songs From Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown.” It features the hits heard in the film, as well as the smartly chosen instrumental music, including “Why Am I Treated So Bad,” “Infatuation,” “Fat Eddie,” and more taken from rare James Brown Band albums.
Understanding the roots of James Brown is worthwhile. Grab these tracks from artists whom Mr. Brown regularly cited as his influences – these are the links between the Godfather and the forefathers of Soul: “Caldonia” / Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five “Good Rockin’ Tonight” / Roy Brown “Talk To Me, Talk To Me” / Little Willie John “Every Day I Have The Blues” / Joe Williams with the Count Basie Orchestra “Further Up The Road” / Bobby “Blue” Bland “Honky Tonk” / Bill Doggett “Baby Please Don’t Go” / Big Joe Williams (1935) and The Orioles (1952) Now let’s flip the script. Here are more recent tracks that incorporate James Brown’s music and feel: “Fight The Power” / Public Enemy “Rebel Without A Pause” / Public Enemy “It Takes Two” / Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock “I Know You Got Soul” / Eric B. & Rakim “Raw” / Big Daddy Kane “Get Down” / Nas “Otis” / Jay Z and Kanye West
ABOUT THE APOLLO THEATER The Apollo is a national treasure that has had significant impact on the development of American culture and its popularity around the world. Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, the Apollo Theater has played a major role in cultivating artists and in the emergence of innovative musical genres including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hiphop. Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Sammy Davis, Jr., James Brown, Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, and countless others began their road to stardom on the Apollo’s stage. Based on its cultural significance and architecture, the Apollo Theater received state and city landmark designation in 1983 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
APOLLO THEATER EDUCATION PROGRAM The Apollo Theater Education Program extends the Apollo’s commitment to enhancing the life of the community. The Education Program focuses on five distinct areas of learning and engagement: residencies, workshops, lecture demonstrations, and tours for schools; curriculum materials aligned to state and national learning standards and study guides derived from the Theater’s history; career development for teens and adults through the Apollo Theater Academy; workshops and performances for families; and discussions and lectures for the public that highlight the history of the Apollo and its impact on American art, culture and entertainment.
LIVE WIRE Produced by the Apollo Theater Education Program, Apollo Live Wire is a discussion series that focuses on the arts, culture, entertainment and other topics pertinent to the legacy of the Apollo Theater.
For more information on upcoming Apollo Education programs, please visit apollotheater.org or call 212.531.5363.
Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown Director Alex Gibney Producers Mick Jagger Victoria Pearman Peter Afterman Blair Foster Co-Producer Trevor Davidoski Editors Geeta Gandbhir Maya Mumma Executive Producers Alex Gibney Dan Brooks Mike Singer Eric Weider Directors of Photography Maryse Alberti Antonio Rossi Inside cover photo of James Brown courtesy of Johnson Publications Special thanks to Harry Weinger and to the team at Jigsaw Productions.
Leadership support for Apollo Education Programs provided by the
The Ronald O. Perelman Family Foundation
and
Additional support from the Mitsubishi UFJ Foundation, Con Edison, Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, General Motors Foundation, Insperity, The Reginald F. Lewis Foundation, Pinkerton Foundation, the QBE Foundation and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.