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!
