Wattstax

I found this gem of a documentary on black culture in the early '70's one night on cable in '98 and was blown away. Having been born in 1972 and growing up in that era it warmed my heart to listen to people talk about what they loved about our culture and to be reminded of how we took care of ourselves and each other back in the day. That is something that is terribly lacking in all communities today. And the musical performances were nothing short of spectacular. Watching the Emotions rendition of "Peace Be Still", I'm not ashamed to say, brought tears to this big ol' Southern boy's eyes, I also enjoyed the late great Rufus Thomas' renditions of "Breakdown" and "Do the Funky Chicken" and the singing of the black national anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing" as they showed the audience filing into the stadium. I recorded it onto VHS the next time it came on and treasured it like the Hope Diamond, but a few months later the tape popped and I have never been able to find it anywhere else since. So I say to the producers of this great film, if you are reading this message, please do yourself and the rest of the world a favor and release this classic on VHS/DVD.