|
|
Friday, July 10
Soul Power
The Ramble In The Jungle
Trailers & Mo | Official Website
Soul Power (no relation to Soul Plane), a new documentary about the massive 3 day 'black Woodstock' that coincided with Muhammad Ali and George Foreman's infamous 1974 'Rumble In The Jungle' bout in Zaire, should have been the perfect companion piece to 1996's mos eggsalad Academy Award winning doc When We Were Kings. Sadly, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte (Kings' editor)'s look back is more like an extended DVD extra that isn't required viewing by any stretch of the imagination. Tis a shame, cause the performances by the likes of James Brown (the film's title is a nod to his song of the same name), BB King, Bill Withers, The Spinners, Sister Sledge, Celia Cruz & The Fania All-Stars and many others do sparkle quite bright in the African night, but beyond some slightly amusing behind the scenes footage leading up to the big show (Don King, always a pleasure to watch in action), there's not much else to sing about once the show hactually begins. Where Kings succeed in expressing the impact the fight and all the hoopla surrounding it had on the locals, Power comes off as being, well, power-less. We're assuming the footage that we're pinning for doesn't eggsist, otherwise it would have been included, but this event staged for the original soul brothers from the motherland doesn't reserve enough screentime for them. The most illuminating non-musical bits revolve around Muhammad Ali (no big sirprize there), who's fight was postponed for over a month, as we see the smooth talker shoot the shiz with the musical legends. Ali was truly a king in Zaire, and so why does this concert, which is equally a landmark undertaking as his fight was, feel like one giant court jester?
Shirt Tales Part MIXLIX: the Zaire '74 logo totally kicks glass! we were putzin round on the interwebs looking for a tee with it on it and found this fly yellow one
but apparently this hot arsed site that reproduces tees that ye olde rockers wore don't sells it no mo. probably cause this lady now has the eggsclusive rights to make the shirts... which aren't nearly as good/yellow
Verdictgo: Sum Merit But No Stinkin Badges
Soul Power opens today in NY & LA only the lonely
and until next thyme the balcony is clothed...
|
|
