Family Filmmaking & The Black Music Industry
01/05/23 • 68 min
1 Listener
We welcome the new year with a rich buffet of guests, starting with husband and wife filmmaking team, Anayancy and Jess Thomas whose project, God & Salsa tells the story of a grieving therapist and a troubled teen who save each other. The film explores suicide, depression, divorce, parental alienation, narcissism, hope and healing.
Next, we are joined by Dr. Logan Westbrooks a groundbreaking black music executive and industry veteran with over 50 years of experience launching careers, making history and positively changing our music and civil rights landscapes.
Dr. Westbrooks joins us to talk about his newest book, 'Power 101: The Harvard Report, Soul Music, and The American Dream', which examines the controversial 1972 Harvard Report which studied and forcast how black folks would be consuming music.
Dr. Westbrook’s journey took him from a childhood in Memphis to the boardrooms of major record labels. He was assigned to oversee The Harvard Report by Clive Davis and CBS Records and he helps us understand how black music and our nation’s trajectory were impacted by one another, pulling us towards a greater understanding of race and destiny in America.
Plus, Fritz and Weezy recommend Babylon, now in theaters and If These Walls Could Sing on Disney+ and Hulu.
Path Points of Interest:
We welcome the new year with a rich buffet of guests, starting with husband and wife filmmaking team, Anayancy and Jess Thomas whose project, God & Salsa tells the story of a grieving therapist and a troubled teen who save each other. The film explores suicide, depression, divorce, parental alienation, narcissism, hope and healing.
Next, we are joined by Dr. Logan Westbrooks a groundbreaking black music executive and industry veteran with over 50 years of experience launching careers, making history and positively changing our music and civil rights landscapes.
Dr. Westbrooks joins us to talk about his newest book, 'Power 101: The Harvard Report, Soul Music, and The American Dream', which examines the controversial 1972 Harvard Report which studied and forcast how black folks would be consuming music.
Dr. Westbrook’s journey took him from a childhood in Memphis to the boardrooms of major record labels. He was assigned to oversee The Harvard Report by Clive Davis and CBS Records and he helps us understand how black music and our nation’s trajectory were impacted by one another, pulling us towards a greater understanding of race and destiny in America.
Plus, Fritz and Weezy recommend Babylon, now in theaters and If These Walls Could Sing on Disney+ and Hulu.
Path Points of Interest:
Previous Episode
Vocal Harmonies & Legends of Classic Pop with Bruce Belland and John H. Mills II
1 RecommendationsIn 1951, 15-year-old Bruce Belland sneaked into a backstage door at Ciro’s Nightclub to get a glimpse of his idols, The Mills Brothers. That fateful night inspired Bruce to form The Four Preps and forge a vocal harmony career that brought us the hits, “26 Miles” and “Big Man.”
Bruce has spent 70 years loaded with questions for his musical heroes and, at long last, he gets to pose them to John H. Mills II, the son of original Mills Brother Donald Mills. John toured with his father for 17 years and he’s got answers!
We hand our fanboy the reins and these two harmony kings go deep into shop talk, discussing style, phrasing, timing, technique and arrangements. They share road stories, talk about John’s childhood with his trailblazing father and uncles and explore how each of them related to their larger-than-life fathers.
Plus, Fritz and Weezy are recommending My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman and Avatar: The Way of Water.
Path Points of Interest:
The Mills Brothers on Wikipedia
Mills Brothers Documentary Part 1
John Mills in a Tribute to Glenn Miller and the Vocal Groups - Feb. 19th
Next Episode
TV News Trailblazing & A Legendary L.A. Broadcast Team featuring Kelly Lange
1 RecommendationsKelly Lange began her trailblazing TV career when women in broadcasting were treated as a “novelty.” But armed with brains and ingenuity, Kelly carved out a career path which led to her becoming the first female news anchor in Los Angeles and a nightly fixture at KNBC.
Kelly and our cohost, former KNBC weatherman Fritz Coleman are back together at long last, recounting story after memorable story which weave into a brilliant retrospective of broadcasting in the Los Angeles market and primetime news through the decades.
Take, for example, Kelly’s plucky resolve to become the KABC traffic copter girl, “Dawn O’Day” and the only-in-Hollywood tale of how she landed her anchor spot at KNBC.
Kelly and Fritz were broadcasting nightly into the homes of L.A.’s most notable citizens, prompting calls from Bette Davis and Marlon Brando and fanboys like Jimmy Stewart and Orson Wells!
Did you know that Jane Fonda shadowed Kelly for a week in training for her role as a newscaster in The China syndrome?
We learn how Kelly began her latest chapter as a mystery writer and we even get to hear about her boyfriend Jim's TV writing career as Kelly switches smoothly from interviewee to interviewer!
Plus, our recommendations this week are the autobiography Spare by Prince Harry and the movie All Quiet On The Western Front on Netflix.
Path Points of Interest:
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