Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber » Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasss Song; A Hood Opera

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadaass Song — Recorded Live in Paris!!

Burnt Sugar — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:47:58 +0000

Thanks to the efforts of our amazing French hosts at Sons D’Hiver & Arte Live Web — we’re happy to share the performance of the second night of “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadaass Song: A Hood Opera”

Sweetback Caught in the Act on Brooklyn Independent Television

Burnt Sugar — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:25:59 +0000

Many thanks and a HUGE shout out to Brooklyn Independent Television, a community media program of BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn !

Check them out here

Ben Sisario profiles Melvin Van Peebles at The NY Times

Burnt Sugar — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:14:03 +0000

“ASK Melvin Van Peebles about his legacy, and you get a snort, a grimace, a wave of the hand, a game-show error buzz and a finely punctuated “come on.” “I didn’t even know I had a legacy,” he said between rehearsals for his latest project, a musical-theater adaptation of his 1971 film “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song.” “I do what I want to do.”

The story includes audio excerpts of the interview.

Check it out here at NY Times Online

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (the Hood Opera)

Burnt Sugar — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:38:18 +0000

The unforgettable Melvin Van Peebles’ movie Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971) is an iconic work of Afro-American cinema and the beginnings of Blaxploitation. It was one the biggest successes in the independent film-making and still has a huge influence over the hip-hop culture. Melvin Van Peebles’ own compositions really determine the action by inventing something completely new, a funky cinema, thick, sweaty, and panting.

The freedom of speech and coarseness of some scenes, strongly contrast with Hollywood’s puritanism as well as the way he shows the Afro-American community from the inside. The sexual exploits of the hero, his runaway to Mexico with the police on his trail, the ceaseless race on the verge of exhaustion of this man, still standing up, always at odds with society; the whole story composes a significant metaphor of Back men difficulties in the American society of that time.

The film becomes now an opera, and a world premiere for Sons d’hiver festival, led by Melvin Van Peebles himself! Greg Tate and Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber provide the musical part. As a matter of fact, the idea is not to replay the original but to adapt this unique work for the stage in a contemporary way. Co-founder of the Black Rock Coalition, Greg Tate and his Burnt Sugar Arkestra seems the perfect ensemble to take up the challenge, carrying on the heritage of a certain Black music from Duke Ellington to the Art Ensemble of Chicago to Funkadelic and Sun Ra.

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (the Hood Opera) is a musical adaptation written, composed and directed by Mr. Van Peebles: developed in residence at The Apollo Theater Salon Series, Harlem NY and at BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn, Brooklyn, NY. The production will have it’s world premiere at the Sons d’hiver Festival in Paris, France at Maison des Arts on Friday, February 19th & Saturday, February 20th, 2010 procured by Jared Michael Nickerson for Burnt Sugar Index LLC.

Best known as the “Godfather of independent film and modern black cinema,” Melvin Van Peebles has also distinguished himself in an impressive list of other aspects of the entertainment industry – as a director, producer, writer, and composer. He is an Emmy award-winner and has received two NAACP Awards in addition to three Grammy nominations and eleven Tony nominations. He published five novels in French, one of which became the basis of his first feature, a French film entitled, La Permission” (The Story of A Three Day Pass), which won the Critic’s Choice Award at the 1967 San Francisco Film Festival. He became the first black director to shoot a film in Hollywood with his film Waterman Man and he used the money he earned from this project to finance his next feature, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. He later went on to write and compose two Tony Award-nominated Broadway musicals, Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death and Don’t Play Us Cheap. In television, Van Peebles wrote the screenplay for a CBS movie pilot Just an Old Sweet Song (1976) followed by the sequel Down Home. He wrote and acted in Sophisticated Gents and also wrote the Emmy award-winning after school special, The Day They Came to Arrest the Book. Most recently he starred in his off-Broadway show, Unmitigated Truth (Life, a Lavatory, Loves & Ladies), directed and starred in the film Confessions of a Ex-Doofus Intchy Footed Mutha, and was also awarded the prestigious French Legion of Honor.

Written and Directed by Melvin Van Peebles
Featuring the Hood Opera Cast and Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber

Alfred Preisser           Creative Consultant to the Director
Jared Nickerson        General Manager
Grier Coleman           Wardrobe Supervisor
Kimberly Glennon       Wardrobe Coordinator
LaRonda Davis           Company Manager
Naima Ince           Director’s Assistant

Cast
(in alphabetical order)

Chelsea Adewunmi
Roger Binette
Alex Dittmer
Jeffery Glaser
Jeremiah Griffen
Tracy Jack — Choreographer
Karma Mayet Johnson
Derrin Maxwell
Kimberlee Monroe
Jacqueline Thuener-Rego
Lelund Durond Thompson
Gillian Wiggin
Rejinald Woods

Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber — Sweetback Edition
(in alphabetical order)

Lewis “Flip” Barnes Jr.        Trumpet
Mikel Banks           Harmonica, Flute and Freak-A-Phone
Jason DiMatteo          Acoustic Bass
Christopher Eddleton        Drums
Avram Fefer            Tenor Sax
Micah Gaugh            Alto Sax
“Moist” Paula Henderson    Baritone Sax
Andre Lassalle            Guitar
Bruce Mack            Keyboards
William Martina        Cello
Jared Michael Nickerson    Electric Bass
David Smith            Trombone
Mazz Swift            Electric Violin
Gregory S. Tate        Musical Director, Guitar

www.sonsdhiver.org

Late Night at Joe’s Pub, with special guest, Melvin Van Peebles

Burnt Sugar — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:39:33 +0000

As the story goes …from a humble beginning of only two theaters and a torrent of negative reviews, “Sweet Sweetback’s Baasasssss Song” eventually mushroomed to domestic box office receipts of $10,000,000.00 and landed on Daily Variety’s list of top-grossing films for the year 1971. Incidentally Sweet Sweetback was the largest grossing independent film up to that time with it’s success kick-starting what became known as the Blaxplotation film movement.

Not as well documented is that Earth Wind and Fire performed the musical soundtrack on Sweetback. Here, thirty-nine years later, Mr. Melvin Van Peebles, the producer, writer, director, composer, editor and star of Sweet Sweetback has chosen Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber to be his 23rd-century Earth Wind and Fire.

The Arkestra Chamber will perform the soundtrack live, on-stage, for the theatrical world premiere of “Sweet Sweetback’s Baddass Song (The Hood Opera)” at the Sons d’hiver Festival in Paris, France on February 19th and 20th, 2010.
Want a taste and can’t go to Paris in February? Joe’s Pub has you covered!

On Sunday, January 10th, 2010, Joe’s Pub Late Night will present Burnt Sugar for a baadasssss time of tunes from the soundtrack; an appearance by Mr. Melvin Van Peebles himself; and of course the conducted-improvisational mash-ups conductor Greg Tate and the Burnt Sugar crew are world-famous for.

Get your tickets early as the last Burnt Sugar/Joe’s Pub performance in August stranded a bus-load of music lovers in the Public Theater lobby. The time is now, Be a witness!

“Sweet Sweetback’s Baddass Song: A Hood Opera” Open Rehearsals at BRICstudio

Burnt Sugar — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:06:01 +0000

Two Nights! Feb 3 & 4

Melvin Van Peebles
& Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber
in residence at BRICstudio

8:00 PM Work-In-Progress (rehearsal) Viewing
9:45 PM Discussion w/ Melvin Van Peebles
10:00 PM Book Signing & Merchandise Sales

Doors Open @ 7:45 PM
Tickets Details Coming Soon!

Join us for an unforgettable evening with legendary artist and director Melvin Van Peebles as he directs Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber and a large cast of actors and singers in a musical stage adaptation of his groundbreaking 1971 film, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song. Experience a work-in-progress preview of the piece, ahead of its international premiere at the 2010 Sons d’hiver Festival in Paris, followed by a post-performance discussion with the artists.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to witness the intimate process of artistic collaboration and creative fusion that will bring to the stage one of the most influential movies of the African-American cinema!

Melvin Van Peebles financed, wrote, directed, scored, and starred in the original film version of Sweet Sweetback, paving the way for the success of future independent black films to follow. It tells the story of a deprived African-American man on his flight from white authority in satirical, realistic and often humorous detail.

Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber » Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasss Song; A Hood Opera

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadaass Song — Recorded Live in Paris!!

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Sweetback Caught in the Act on Brooklyn Independent Television

Ben Sisario profiles Melvin Van Peebles at The NY Times

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (the Hood Opera)

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Late Night at Joe’s Pub, with special guest, Melvin Van Peebles

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“Sweet Sweetback’s Baddass Song: A Hood Opera” Open Rehearsals at BRICstudio

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