In “SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)” , the feature documentary directorial debut from Questlove (drummer from The Roots, producer, dj, film director) we get to learn about, and experience The Harlem Cultural Festival. Which you probably never heard about… though it was in 1969, the same summer as that other festival that you probably know a lot about from the film and the album, and years of it being canonized by the media, Woodstock.
The footage from The Harlem Cultural Festival was of no interest to the media at the time, and according to this NPR article, was locked in a basement for 50 years. Questlove, and his team have unearthed this footage, and made a large screen tribute to this historic event that featured black musicians like Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, The Fifth Dimension, Sly and the Family Stone and many more… including The Chambers Brothers!
The film is playing now all over on big screens, and also debuted last weekend on HULU, where I watched it, after seeing some glowing reviews from friends. The movie does not disappoint, so many wonderful musical highlights abound. Throughout, I had the nagging question in my mind: As a big music and music festival fan, and lover of music history, and music on film, etc… how come I have never heard about this festival?
What an incredible event and line-up! Similarly I learned about another big music festival many years ago that featured black artists, Los Angeles Wattstax festival, when I saw a documentary about it that had been made in 1973. There is power in that footage! Unlike Wattstax though, this film never got made until now, Thank you Questlove for finding and editing this footage, and making this important film, and sharing these great performances and history.
So when I was watching Summer of Soul last weekend, The Chambers Brothers came on, and there was a familiar face: Lester Chambers! Of course I know their classic hit Time. But I also know and have seen Lester Chambers, and his son Dylan, several the last few years, as The New Chambers Brothers would join in with Lebo, Roger McNamee, and so many others at the Surrealistic Summer Super Jam‘s in San Francisco celebrating the Summer of Love and more. Like many things, this yearly event was disrupted by the pandemic, but I hope it comes back!
And more recently, Lester Chambers, Dylan Chambers, along with the T-Sisters, have joined up with Roger McNamee and his band Moonalice to form the new super-duper group FULL MOONALICE! Lester is an amazing and inspiring presence on stage, and he always gets the whole audience on it’s feet and clapping loud!
And that brings us to today… THE TIME HAS COME! An opportunity to see this living legend perform today!
FULL MOONALICE, featuring living legend, and Summer Of Soul performer Lester Chambers of The Chamber Brothers, will be performing later today FRIDAY JULY 9, 2021, at Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael California. Tickets are available online at TerrapinCrossroads.net, and at the door.
