December 11, 2024 • 45 mins
The music festival promoters hustle hard to secure a plane to Zaire. Finally on board, all the artists are nearly killed by James Brown and his oversized ego. Despite the high drama, the flight is a magical experience for all aboard when the musicians turn the plane into an epic jam session. This shared joy carries the crew through to Zaire. Upon arrival, they are greeted by the drums and voices of The Motherland. Meanwhile, fight promoters scramble to rearrange the weekend after Foreman’s cut and, in doing so, find out who President Mobutu really is.
LITERARY REFERENCES
“The Greatest, My Own Story”by Muhammad Ali (autobiography)
“By George” by George Foreman (autobiography)
“Hit Me, Fred” by Fred Wesley (autobiography)
“LATIN NY” (Magazine, Issue No. 20, Nov 1974 Editor-in-Chief, Diane Weathers)
Courtesy of Lola! Love
OTHER MEDIA
US State Department cables (available online in the US State Dept Archives and Wikileaks: https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974KINSHA07638_b.html)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
In September nineteen seventy four, a secure cable arrives at
the US State Department. He comes in with a peculiar request.
The cable is from the US Embassy in Kinshasa, Zaiir.
The memo reports that a musician named Hugh Masekela visited
the embassy in Zayir seeking assistance who wants to know
if the US military can help transport festival gear from
(00:26):
the States over to Kinshasa. The cable documents the musician's
detailed request quote group attempting to transport from US to
Zaieir approximately sixty thousand pounds of equipment, which if shipped commercially,
would cost several hundred thousand dollars. The embassy's memo also
stresses what the Zaire seventy four music Festival could mean
(00:48):
on the world stage, listing all the black superstars slated
to perform.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Quote James Brown, BB King, Maria Mikiba, the Crusaders, the Spinners,
the Fania, Latin All Stars with Stevie Wonder a possibility,
and the.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
List of equipment needed for all those superstars is daunting.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
There's quote recording equipment, console recording machines, sound equipment, monitors,
twenty four loudspeaker cabinets, lighting equipment, seventy five dimmers, amps,
one hundred foot steel cables, in addition to gas powered
generator and a forklift truck.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
In nineteen seventy four, it sure ain't easy to contract
a commercial plane to carry multiple bands, tens of thousands
of pounds of equipment and fly it all over to
Central Africa and do it on short notice. So Hughes
there in Zaieir pressing the State Department for their help,
and his partner Stuart Levine is in New York doing
(01:44):
the same thing. Interestingly, in the memo from Kinshasa, the
South African jazz musician Hugh Masekela is described as the.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Quote farmer husband of Miriam Mikiba, whose political views he
does not report to share.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
That last bit is key because this memo ends up
on the desk of Henry Kissinger. Yeah, that Henry Kissinger,
Nixon's international hatchetman. Since the memo about Hugh Masekela is
intended for Henry Kissinger, the part about him not sharing
Mary Makiba's political views is very important. You see, Mary
(02:19):
Mikiba is still under watched by both the FBI and
the CIA, but her ex husband, Hugh Masekela says he
isn't so eager to spread communism on the continent of Africa.
The note in the memo is code for we can
work with this guy now. Also keep in mind that
in September of seventy four, President Nixon was freshly removed
(02:40):
from office. Nixon resigns on August eighth, and boom the
next day. He's out of power, but Henry Kissinger is
still very much running things at the State Department. So
that means it's Kissinger's call to help Hugh and stew
and the Zaire seventy four Music Festival or not. What
do you think would Henry kiss a man famous for
(03:01):
advocating that carpet bombing Southeast Asian nations would convince them
to turn away from communism? Would this same international diplomat
see the importance of music and culture to change hearts
and minds? Would Kissinger help musical goodwill ambassadors get their
show to the people of a Central African nation. Well,
(03:22):
here's the memo Kissinger sends back in response, quote.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
It would be difficult and perhaps impossible to secure a
plane in the limited time remaining, and the Air Force
would have to be reallyimbursed at approximately commercial rates, So.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Much for that route. Now Hugh and Stu are days
away from opening night of the three day festival in Kinshasa,
and they still have no way to get there. Now
they must truly scramble to charter any private plane that
they can find that will fly them to Conshasa. And
then a last minute Hail Mary request pans out. They
(03:58):
find a private company that will fly them their famous passengers,
and they're thousands of pounds of sound equipment over to
Africa for the festival. They've done it. Now, the show
lineup is set, their ride is set. Somehow, some way,
with little time remaining, the festival organizers pull off the impossible.
(04:21):
And of course, that is precisely when the unexpected strikes.
Something occurs that threatens to derail absolutely everything. All the
carefully coordinated plans, the daring bluffs and international monetary arrangements,
it is all put in peril. You see, on September sixteenth,
(04:42):
just one week before the Ali Foreman heavyweight title fight
is scheduled to go down, George Foreman's sparring partner throws
a punch but he lands an elbow. The blow hits
George Foreman square in the face, just above the eye.
The sharp elbow splitz open skin, a deep and ugly gash.
(05:03):
Blood spurts from his face as Foreman yells out that
he's cut. For anyone there who sees the cut happen,
they immediately know the fight is off. Welcome to Rumble,
(05:30):
the story of Ali Foreman and the soul music of
nineteen seventy four. I'm your host, Zarin Burnett, the third
from iHeart Podcast and School of Humans. This is Rumble.
Previously on Rumble, We've.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Been changed for four hundred years in slavery, and now
I'm gonna free my people.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
When I beat George Foreman.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
To travel with his wife and his mistress at the
same time on the same pane, I mean that's a
special kind of ego.
Speaker 6 (06:03):
The German shepherds with the dogs the Belgiums used to
control the Congolese people. So right away Foreman made the
wrong move.
Speaker 7 (06:13):
That poor guy had no had. I felt sorry for.
Speaker 8 (06:17):
Him, Ali, Ali.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
I hear someone banging against my bedroom door. It's open,
I shout, and Howard Bingham breaks in. The fight is off.
Bingham who ordinarily stutters, is speaking clear and straight. The
fight is off. It's over.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
I just look at him.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Muhammad Ali recalls exactly the moment he heard the news
of Foreman's cut. As he writes later in his autobiography,
his emotional response is immediate and devastating.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
I feel paralyzed out of bed and look them in
the eye to see if they act in They're not.
Now that I look back on it, I remember that
for a split second, I was pleased. George had been
built up as an invisible monster. This shows that he's
human like me. I'm thinking that nothing like that had
ever happened to him in all his life.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
Then the full meaning of it hit me. Oh No.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Zayir's press secretary, Mundungu Bulah, is certainly unsure how to
handle this news. He is the man responsible for handling
the heavyweight title fight and managing its perception on the
world stage, and his boss is President Mabutu. That's bad
news for Bulah. Bulah's first instinct is to smother this
(07:45):
news story. There are tens of millions of dollars on
the line and international relationships rioting on the success of
this event, so Bullah tells the press, you must not publicize.
He warns the press that any talk of the cut
will quote be improperly understood in your country. The cut
is nothing. I suggest you forget about this story. Go
for a swim. But no one is hitting the hotel pool,
(08:08):
not now. How could they? This is major news, So unsurprisingly,
word immediately spreads amongst the sports writers, and questions follow.
Will the fight be postponed, will the fight be rescheduled?
If so, when will there even be a fight? And
if the fight does get rescheduled, what does this mean
(08:29):
for the music festival. Unlike the fight, the three days
of live music cannot be postponed. The musician's schedules will
not allow that. It's now or never. Gary Stromberg, the
pr man for the three day festival, remembers how back
in New York, Stuart Levine.
Speaker 9 (08:47):
He streaked out. It's on film in When We Were Kings.
You can see it when Stuart's getting the phone call
about the cancelation. He cannot figure it out what that
means or what that represents. Are we going to stay?
Are we going home? Is this over with? Yeah? He
was stunned by that. Obviously, everybody was stunned by it.
But Stewart especially, what do we do now? You know
he gets responsible for all these musicians. What's gonna happen now?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Meanwhile, a few of the most diligent sports writers travel
over to George Foreman's training camp. They want to see
this cut for themselves, to hear from the champ himself
about his plans. Does he want to postpone or to
cancel the fight. When the sports writers arrive at Foreman's
(09:31):
training camp, they're met by rifles and armed soldiers. Butbutu
stations his men outside Foreman's camp and they block the
press at gunpoint. They order the sports writers to leave.
They say, you are bothering the champion. The journalists argue
that Foreman would never object to their presence, he would
want to speak with them. The armed soldiers change their tone.
(09:54):
They tell the sports writers, well, then you are bothering us.
The get the message and they retreat. Much like Mbutu,
the promoter Don King can also feel a growing sense
of calamity. So Don King phones back to the US
and he orders the music festival promoter Stu Levine, do.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Not let the bands know about Foreman's cut.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Get them on the plane to Zaya. In order to
keep this news secret, stue Levine has to call in
a favor. He phones the one journalist who will determine
if this story breaks big in America or not. That
man Howard Cosell. STU calls and personally asks Cosel not
to announce the news of Foreman's cut when he's on
(10:41):
the air later that night for Monday Night Football. The
famously egotistical broadcaster is calling the September sixteenth game Oakland
Raiders versus the Buffalo Bills, and this news about his
friend Muhammad Ali would be the perfect kind of news
for Cosel to break during Monday Night Football. The big
(11:01):
question is will Howard Cosell be able to resist the
ego driven urge to break this huge news that George
Foreman's been cut and that the rumble in the Jungle
may be canceled. Cosell is good to his word to
stue Levine. Never once does he mention Foreman's cut. According
to the New York Times account of events, stue Levine successfully.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Quote prevailed on the sportscaster Howard Cosell to hold back
for twenty four hours the news that the fight had
been postponed lest the American musicians stay home.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
But there was also one other key but unlikely factor
that helps save the music festival. As The New York
Times further reported, Stue Levine quote was also lucky.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
He said that it was Rashashana and many of the
performers managers were observing the holiday.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Turns out that same Monday, September sixteenth, is the Jewish
New Year, and that is why many of the musicians
never hear about Foreman's cut before they take off for Zaire. Instead,
the bands and their crews, their families, their entourages, along
with a documentary film crew as well as journalists and
photographers and the festival directors and Gary work in the
(12:15):
pr They all load up on that Douglas DC eight
and now the only thing they can stop them from
making it to Zaire is James Brown's overloaded sound equipment,
which could bring down the plane at any moment.
Speaker 9 (12:36):
This is my favorite part of this whole story. There
was so much anticipation. I was so excited.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Nearly everyone on the plane to Zaire is buzzing with enthusiasm,
just like Gary Stromberg. Dancer Lola Love still can feel
the energy of that flight.
Speaker 6 (12:51):
I'll take you that. It was Don King, it was
Lloyd Price, it was James Brown. They were doing all
the interviews. It was exciting.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
The big stars, the bands, their crew, managers, family, the
documentary crew, and various writers and photographers. They all arrive
at the airport that Monday night.
Speaker 9 (13:10):
We were all going together on one airplane, two hundred
and fifty of us on one airplane, all of this
talent together, and we were just winging it. And it
was chaos, total chaos.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
And they were all ready to take off Rezaiir, but
they didn't leave right away because not everyone was on
the plane yet. As Lola Love remembers, noon quickly turned
to one pm.
Speaker 6 (13:33):
And then it became two pm and three pm, and
we're still at the airport, and I'm like, well, when
an't we gonna go?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
No one on the plane knows it or could know it.
But around that same time, Stu Levine is busy calling
Howard Kosel to ask for his huge personal favor. Meanwhile,
more time passes and more time passes. Ours actually pass.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
And then it's six pm, and then it's eleven pm.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
The musicians in entourages, media folks and everyone else has
been stuck at this airport for nearly twelve hours. Naturally,
what starts as general irritation begins to turn into a
simmering anger. By this point, the Monday night football game
is over, and Howard Cosell holds back the news a
foreman's cut and the fact that the title fight is
(14:21):
now postponed, so no one at the airport is privy
to this news. However, things may still come undone because
the plane still can't take off or zaiir because of
well a new problem. One that is the exact same
size and shape of James Brown. You see, the godfather
of Soul is threatening to walk at the last minute.
(14:44):
He is the big headliner. He knows his absence will
mean the end of the festival. That means James Brown
also knows he has leverage and he uses it to
get what he wants or he won't fly anywhere.
Speaker 6 (14:58):
And then they say, oh, James Brown is waiting for
his money. James Brown does not hit the stage unless
he has his money in cash.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
And until James Brown gets his money, he refuses to
leave the United States. He won't set foot on that plane,
not until he has the one hundred grand he was promised.
That means everyone must now wait for James Brown to
get paid. But it's the middle of the night. Now.
Another hour passes, and another hour until finally.
Speaker 6 (15:29):
At two am, they got the money to James Brown's
wife in the hotel room. She counted it. She told
him it's all here.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
The good to go to Africa now, right, Well not quite, because.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
Then he said, fine, now I want all of my
sound equipment to go. And they're like, mister Brown, you
don't need just sound. We got Chipmunk doing the sound.
He is the biggest rock sound designer in the world.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Well, this doesn't matter a feather or a fig to
James Brown. He plans to bring his own gear because
he's booked other gigs in Africa and he wants them
to fly all his stuff over for free. So James
Brown says.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
My equipment don't go. I don't go.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
As Gary Stromberg recalls.
Speaker 9 (16:19):
He had I think it was forty thousand pounds of
his own equipment that he insisted on bringing on the plane.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
James Brown's bold demand goes about how you might expect.
Photographer Lynn Goldsmith certainly remembers that day all too well, oh.
Speaker 10 (16:34):
The rideover was horrible.
Speaker 7 (16:36):
I think we sat in that airport for sixteen hours
or some ridiculous amount of time.
Speaker 8 (16:43):
So all the.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
Artists were getting really mad with James Brown, but he
didn't care, and he ain't care if we all died.
That equipment was going on the plane this night.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
That's how James Brown rolls deal with it, which they did.
Speaker 6 (16:57):
So it took more time to figure out what they
were going to bring and his equipment.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Remarkably, the festival organizers eventually get the equipment all sorted
out and loaded up.
Speaker 6 (17:09):
And when we finally finally got on the plane, James
Brown says, my entravige sits in the front like it's
a first class. It was a private plane. There was
no first class, business class, auld coach. It was a plane.
Speaker 7 (17:23):
Everybody's on the plane, and James Brown wouldn't move.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
The festival organizers, having gotten this far, decide to appease
the godfather of soul.
Speaker 9 (17:38):
The plane was divided into the first class in the
economy I guess you'd call it sections, and James Brown
and his orchestra had the entire front section, which I
think was like forty seats, and the rest of us
were all in the back.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
That pretty much kills whatever good vibe there is on
this plane.
Speaker 7 (17:57):
Everybody was so angry to spin everybody that the Godfather
of soul was just so selfish as to keep them
waiting around to them, he wouldn't move to the back
of the plane.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
And all those hours of waiting, by early Tuesday morning,
the plane still has yet to leave the tarmac and
is starting to get warm aboard the plane because.
Speaker 9 (18:23):
The plane was severely overload. Literally you couldn't walk down
the aisles. Everybody brought all of their personal effects, all
of their instruments. All the musicians brought all their instruments.
Not being in storage, they were all in the passenger compartment,
so it was so cluttered you couldn't walk down the aisles.
It was hilarious.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
However, it's not that funny to everyone on board. One
of the acts threatens to walk, a mutiny starts to
spread through the overloaded DC eight, but then just in time,
an announcement sounds through the plane. The pilot says, we
are ready for takeoff. People cheer, they holler with joy excitement.
(19:03):
It's happening. It's actually finally happening. This mad DC eight,
stuffed with irreplaceable talent and about forty pounds of James
Brown's sound gear, is now finally, really actually headed to Africa. First,
they have to take off, and that won't be easy.
Speaker 6 (19:25):
It took every inch of the runway at JFK to.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Lift off, but somehow the overweight DC eight makes it
off the ground and it climbs up into the sky,
bound for the unknown.
Speaker 9 (19:38):
We flew from New York to Madrid and then Madrid
to Conchosa. It was a long flight. Both legs were
very long, eight hours.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Maybe despite all the delays endured the bad vibes of
miscommunication and acts of selfishness. Ultimately, this is a plainload
of musicians. So soon enough someone starts to play a song,
someone else joins in, then a spontaneous jam takes hold.
(20:09):
It's led by a few of the members of the group,
the Fania All Stars.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
My favorites. The Fania All Stars were in the back.
We had Johnny Pacheco, we had Saya Cruise, we had
Ray Barretto, and I was like, all those are my
funio oweso, I'm going back.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Except there's one little problem with Lola Love's plan.
Speaker 6 (20:28):
She's told tap Lola, you're not allowed to socialize with
the other entertainers. What yes, mister Brown doesn't want you
socializing with anybody.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
So Lola Love comes up with a new plan.
Speaker 6 (20:44):
So I'm like, really cool, and I'm waiting until he
goes asleep and some of the other people go to sleep.
But you can hear Ray Barretto banging on stuff. You say,
your cruise is playing, Johnny Pacheco is like blowing his flute.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
It's not only her, This jam session also attracts others.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
And you got bb king clapping and singing and saying stuff.
And I'm gonna miss this.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
I go back there, but Lola Love doesn't get into
any trouble since James Brown's band leader also plays hooky
as he recalls Fred Wesley goes back with Lola Love
and they find that.
Speaker 11 (21:21):
We look along was playing a little keyboard that he
had on now you know, and check over playing his flute,
and six he was dancing, and we just had a
great time oday. We had jam sex and mckiva and
Definia all starve.
Speaker 7 (21:38):
People sang or banged down the seats and did whatever.
But I think that was a long slunt. What else
were you gonna do?
Speaker 9 (21:46):
And people were singing and laughing. It was just joyous.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
There are also many quiet moments and some tender scenes.
Speaker 11 (21:55):
I was sitting talking to Bill Withers half the time
that the next time I'm talking to to Henry with
the Aspinos, and it was just a great time from
beginning to end.
Speaker 7 (22:06):
One of the Sledge sisters was doing drawings of Bill
Withers and BB King. You know, I enjoyed more personal moments.
Speaker 10 (22:15):
Like b B.
Speaker 7 (22:16):
King had brought fan letters with him because he was
going to be answering them on the plane. He answered
his fans.
Speaker 11 (22:27):
It was truly an experience to remember. I can't ever
remember having that much fun, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
And lucky for us, it's all documented.
Speaker 6 (22:36):
There was a West Coast camera crow. They were filming everything.
It was a party plane, but.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
The vibes of this party plane are interrupted when their
lives are once again at risk.
Speaker 6 (22:51):
Well, we landed in Madrid, we hit bail.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
It's a scary moment for everyone aboard.
Speaker 6 (22:58):
And everybody was what's going on.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
It's got everyone's attention. When the overweight DC eight slams
back down to Earth, but no one is hurt and
most Importantly, none of James Brown's stage equipment gets damaged.
All jokes aside, it's a rather terrifying moment knowing that
you could die just to save James Brown a few
thousand on his touring budget. And well that didn't sit
(23:20):
right with everyone aboard when they heard.
Speaker 6 (23:22):
James Brown had to take all of the stuff. Everybody
we overweight. And then you had Bill Withers talking about
James Brown that'd be jumping through a hoop on fire
for us to risk our lives so he could take
his sound equipment.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Bill Withers knows they're only in Madrid. They still have
to risk a whole another flight before they'll get to
conshasa plus, there's the sheer physical reality that at this.
Speaker 9 (23:47):
Point everybody was exhausted. We get off the plane, we
get to shake our legs out a little bit to
get to maybe get something to eat.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
But unfortunately it's a short layover, which means soon.
Speaker 9 (23:58):
Enough, back on the plane, it's laid. Everybody's really tired.
We taxi to the end of the runway.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
And the plane is still overloaded, but the runway is shorter.
Speaker 9 (24:08):
We're ready to take off and the pilot comes on
the announcement, and he said, ladies and gentlemen, he said,
I've just received word from the flight deck that this
flight is severely overloaded and that this is a short
runway in Madrid. We're not going to get off the
ground unless we unload. Everybody in the front section has
to move to the back section.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
The folks aboard must adjust the collective body weight to
balance out the plane and give them a fair shot
of taking off. But as a passenger, how do you
even respond to news like that?
Speaker 9 (24:40):
And we're steady that we're stunned, like what does that mean?
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Lola Love is up there in the James Brown first
class section and she recalls how it's now clear. Someone
must tell James Brown he needs to move to the
back of the plane. And you can imagine how that
chat's gonna go. The someone who gets up to go
tell James to move to the back of the plane
is Stuart Levine.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
I saw Stu Levine talking about the fact that the
plane was how many tons.
Speaker 9 (25:08):
Overweight, at which point James Brown stands up and says,
I'm the star this motherfucking show. You're gonna get this
plane off the ground like.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
It is for the mellow honey voiced soul man Bill Withers,
this is the last straw.
Speaker 9 (25:24):
And when you made that announcement, Bill Withers for some
reason just freaked out. I guess he had had some
kind of interaction with James Brown prior or just observed
him the way he was behaving prior and wasn't happy
with it.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
That's an understatement.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
Bill Withers was pretty pissed. I mean, I'm laughing and
talking about him, you know, jumping through hoops on fire.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
But Bill was pissed, so pissed in fact, that Bill
Withers took things to the next level. What was a
flying party quickly descends into the sort of fight you'd
expect to find an a Delta juke joint. Because, yes,
Bill Withers, he pulls.
Speaker 9 (26:01):
Out a knife. I don't know where he got a knife,
and he's walking down the aisle enraged. He's going after
James Brown.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
In the middle of this packed plane still on the
tarmac in Madrid. Bill Withers looks to be fully prepared
to cut James Brown just to make his point, and
a big.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
Fight broke out. They had to pull Bill off. I
think he pulled him down into the aisle.
Speaker 9 (26:25):
I think there was Lloyd Price who jumped in front
of him and grabbed him in That little tussle ensued,
and Withers was screaming at James Brown.
Speaker 7 (26:33):
It was just also shocking.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Eventually, James Brown's band leader, Fred Wesley gets involved. He
jumps in and he jokes at the plane being overloaded.
Isn't James Brown's fault.
Speaker 11 (26:46):
I said, no, it's not James Brown's equipment. It's the
point of sister's wardrobe.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Make the plane overweight.
Speaker 11 (26:57):
Let them leave some of those vested at home.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
The pointer sisters did bring a Broadway stage show's worth
of costume changes, but a couple of racks of bedazzled
outfits are not what's making this plane several tons overweight.
The lasting impression of the Bill Withers versus James Brown
almost night fight for Lynn Goldsmith.
Speaker 7 (27:20):
Is that Bill was a very honest god and the
others were still I don't know if they were trying
to just be good people and not express themselves. But
Bill really had enough. He didn't care any longer about
James being the godfather of soul. What he cared about
(27:43):
was that James Brown was endangering the lives of everybody.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
How do you displaying a man like James Brown? Even
among the famous, among the superstars of life, James Brown
stands out. I mean that gets said a lot. But
James Brown was truly singular. He was like Prince or
Little Richard or Tupac. He was this unique, irreplaceable presence
(28:19):
in the culture. Born in Barnwell, South Carolina, James Brown
was raised in the church. He started out as a
gospel singer, but then left the church behind and developed
his singing style outside of the chapel walls. He added
the shouts and hollers of the juke joint and the
shrieks and squeals of sex. Then he backed that with
(28:42):
a fast, new rhythm, one that felt like the pelvic
thrusts of the bedroom were now allowed on the dance floor.
James Brown changed up the blues and R and B
into something wholly new, and that was the birth of
what we now call soul music. In nineteen sixty three,
(29:02):
James Brown released his iconic album Live at the Apollo.
It featured his genre defining songs I Got You, I
Feel Good, Papa's Got a brand New Bag, and It's
a Man's man's man's world. As the political climate of
the sixties heated and grew tumultuous. In the long hot
(29:24):
summer of nineteen sixty eight, James Brown gave a soundtrack
to the revolution with his mega hit song Say It Loud,
I'm Black and I'm Proud, And as the soul music
gave way to the birth of funk, James Brown was
there at the conception. In the early seventies, James Brown
redefined his sound with his pre eminent backing band, the JBS.
(29:49):
The band was tight as a drum skin, and it
was led by funkster Supreme Bootsy Collins and his brother Catfish.
They recorded James Brown's next of hits, the Payback and
Get Up. I feel like being a sex machine. By
the time He's headed to Zaire and James Brown is
a megastar, a man at the top of his game,
(30:12):
the peak of his career and his musical potency. The
promoter Don King always liked to refer to James Brown
as soul Brother number one, but the man had so
many show business nicknames. He was called the hardest working
man in show business and mister Dynamite. His most popular nickname, though,
(30:33):
was the godfather a soul. Regardless of what you called him,
there's one thing that remained the same. James Brown was
always what we would now call a selfish asshole, and
this wasn't helped by the fact he was typically on
a daily cocktail of uppers and downers and everything in between.
(30:53):
For ZI year seventy four, the job of managing James
Brown's recklessness came down to one Lloyd Price. He was
the main point of contact, but as well PR pro
Gary Stromberg certainly had his rushes with the diva James Brown.
Speaker 9 (31:11):
Well. It was explained to me that James Brown was
number one and that you had to take care of
him first and foremost, so everybody else. Bb King wasn't
very demanding. Bill Withers he made him a high profile,
but he wasn't very demanding or outgoing, so he was
easy to manage. The Pointer sisters were clients of my
PR company. I knew them really well. They weren't going
(31:32):
to be an issue, so none of the other talent
seemed to be an issue. They were all going to
be easy to manage and work with. James Brown, on
the other hand, who I didn't know, but knew by
reputation I was very leery of and just watched him
very carefully.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
And his reputation was legendary in the world of backstage
show business folk.
Speaker 9 (31:52):
For instance, I'd gone to a concert once with James
Brown at the Hollywood Palladium, I think was on a
New Year's Eve in the late sixties, and he was
He showed up and he didn't come on stage because
he wanted more money.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
As we've covered, if James Brown don't get paid, then
James Brown don't take the stage.
Speaker 9 (32:10):
He came out on stage and he told the audience
that they're not paying him what he deserves, so he
isn't going to do this show. And if he was them,
meaning the audience, he would go and break started ripping
the place up, which they started doing. They caused a riot,
which James Brown encouraged. So I knew this guy was
capable of lighting the place on fire.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Because he also knew. James Brown was as unpredictable as
an open flame.
Speaker 9 (32:34):
He was mercurial, you know, and you just never knew
what James Brown you were going to get at any
given moment. So that was a challenge.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Now, on that plane in Madrid headed to zaire Gary
feels rather honestly.
Speaker 9 (32:47):
I was intimidated by James Brown. I can't lie about that.
I have a couple still photos at home with me
and James Brown just sitting there together talking and I
don't remember what we were talking about. I could see
in my face stet like I was leary of what
we were talking about. I just didn't trust that it
was safe talking to him. I don't know what it was,
(33:09):
but I didn't feel comfortable with James mister Brown, he
insisted on being called.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Sitting there in his made up first class section of
the plane, James Brown is perfectly willing to risk the
lives of everyone on board, including his own life, just
to save some shipping costs. The fact he risks his
own life is what makes his choice seem extra chaotic
and not just cheap and cruel ego like cocaine is
(33:36):
a hell of a drug, just to ask Muhammad Ali
or George Foreman or Don King or even Bill Withers.
After the pilot tells everyone that they need to go
to the back of the planes or their collective weight
can counteract the overloaded weight of James Brown's musical equipment.
What happens. Does James Brown take his place at the
back of the plane? What do you think?
Speaker 9 (33:58):
James Brown stayed in the front, didn't go back in
the plane.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Hope you weren't surprised by that.
Speaker 9 (34:03):
And the pilot was instructed to just take off as is.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
They weren't gonna move, and so that's what they did.
Everyone had to hope the pilots knew what they were doing.
Speaker 9 (34:14):
So can you imagine sitting in your seat on an
airplane where the pilot has informed you that unless everybody
moves to the back, we're not gonna make it, and
we're gonna try in any event.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
And even then, James Brown still won't move to the
back of the plane.
Speaker 6 (34:30):
Because I guess it was private.
Speaker 10 (34:31):
They let it go.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
They let it go once again. They all risk life
and limb to satisfy James Brown. The plane taxis down
the short Madrid runway. The pilots pushed the plane towards
its maximum thrust and sort of hope it all works out.
The overweight DC eight roars down that runway. The pilot
(34:55):
aims the nose of the plane up at the sky.
They're nearly out of runway, but then the pilot feels
the rush of wind lift the wings and that heaviest
hell airplane takes to the air, But first it.
Speaker 9 (35:09):
Kit trees at the end of the runway. We skim
the trees. You could hear the brush breaking on the
bottom of the plane as we're taken off. It was
so close and I was just my heart was beating
a mile a minute, as you can imagine.
Speaker 11 (35:22):
I don't know how they did it, but they got
it all together and we did manage to take off.
You know, the plane had to use every bit of
the runway, is it now?
Speaker 1 (35:32):
In the following clip, you can hear my producer Julia
and I both imagining the worst as Lola Love takes
us through this moment.
Speaker 6 (35:40):
Could you imagine that plane falling?
Speaker 9 (35:42):
Little?
Speaker 6 (35:42):
Oh my god, those stars on board no right, said no, no, no,
and it wasn't meant to be.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
With their plane safely back in the sky and no
one killed by James Brown's forty pounds of musical equipment. Well,
what happens next?
Speaker 6 (35:57):
We left from Madrid and the plane is still partying.
I don't think we slept, okay, We partied all the
way until we landed early in the morning in zaire.
Speaker 9 (36:08):
The important part is that they have been made it
to Kinchasa.
Speaker 5 (36:12):
We bid make it the zaire.
Speaker 11 (36:14):
You know.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
When the packed DC eight touches down in Kinshasa. This
time the pilots manage a more graceful landing, no terrifying
bam safely back down on terra firma. The musicians, their bandmates,
the dancers, their entourages, the family members, the documentary film crew,
and all the journalists and all the others gather up
(36:39):
their stuff and then wait to discover new sights and
new smells and new sounds that await them. It's Africa
just outside the plane, but it's also night.
Speaker 9 (36:50):
We landed. It was after midnight. I looked out the
window and there were no lights on. We had apparently
landed with lights, but as soon as the plane hit
the ground those lights were turned off on purpose. We
looked out the windows. It was pitch black, and the
plane came to us stop. We all sat there looking around,
like where are we What's going on here? And it
was a few minutes just sitting there in total darkness,
(37:13):
and then all of a sudden we started hearing drumming,
very faint drumming, and then it started getting louder louder.
We knew something special was happening outside, but we didn't
know what it was.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Out of that darkness comes the sound of drums, African drums.
Speaker 9 (37:30):
Nobody knew what to expect, nobody had been to Africa before.
We were going into the great unknown.
Speaker 6 (37:37):
And then when the doors opened, the most amazing sound
were the African drums and the chance and then you
can feel that African air just coming in.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
One of the first off the plane is Lynn Goldsmith,
the photographer. She has to stay in work mode.
Speaker 7 (37:56):
I had to get down the plank first to try
to get people getting off the plane. There were those
who kissed the ground, you know, of Africa.
Speaker 6 (38:04):
We were in Zaire and that was the Congo, and
those Congolese people greeted us, hugged us as we came
down the stairs and started walking to the buses that
were gonna take us to our hotel, and they were
so loving and the music was just so you couldn't
I was dancing my way to the bus because I
(38:27):
was so happy to be in in my motherland, Africa.
Speaker 11 (38:32):
I remember people coming down all the playing Bill Withers
and the the Spinners and the part of Sister's Sister sleds.
It was so many people BB king over there. B
B thought he was real, baby, you know he was.
He was the guy unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Among those there to greet them is Hugh Masekela.
Speaker 11 (38:53):
I remember Hugh Messeequila was saying that, who is Fred Wesley?
So I said, I'm Fred Wesby and he's I'm a
Hugh Messaquila.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
You know, he was asking for me, for me, for
Fred Wesley. And this man travels the world with James Brown,
but when he gets to Zire, Fred Wesley recalls how
special it felt.
Speaker 11 (39:14):
It was like like you didn't landed on a planet.
It just felt like this was another world. You know,
you would coming to, but you would breaking something to
this world, you know, and this world was giving something
to you too.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
When he finally steps off the plane, Gary Stromberg gets
to see what all is awaiting them in kinshasa It's
just music.
Speaker 9 (39:39):
There was an entire troop of African dancers, native dancers
in costume surrounding the plane welcoming us, and then the
lights came on. It was just like like a theatrical production.
And that was the greeting that was given to us
upon arrival in Conshasa, and it was great.
Speaker 6 (39:58):
And it was my first trip out of the country
with James Brown and it was in Africa, so that
was an amazing omen for me. I knew I was
going to have the time of my life.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
While the plane was in the air, the drama of
George Foreman's cut continues to play out. The champ wants
to seek immediate medical treatment for the deep laceration over
his eye, but no doctor is called. Instead, as Foreman
recalls later in his autobiography.
Speaker 12 (40:28):
Distrust in local doctors. I had sadly a place a
butterfly adhesive over the cut. In anticipation of flying to
Belgium of France for proper medical treatment and regrouping.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
President Mabutu calls a special meeting of his sports committee
to decide his next move. In this moment of pause,
in that brief liminal space between what was and what
comes next, Ali takes a walk with Don King and
his partner Hank Schwartz. They used this moment to strategize.
(41:00):
As Ali writes later in his autobiography.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
I watched the sunset over the Zaya River that flows
just beyond my door, and I walk along the promenade
with Hans Schwartz video techniques and Don King.
Speaker 5 (41:13):
This gives George his way out.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
King says, there's been something pulling him away from taking
this fight with you ever since it was made. Now
Fate comes in to help him. What does Saddler say?
I asked, if George is pressing to leave the country,
Saddler will go with him, Short says, and we move
mountains to get this one.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
What can I do about it? Nothing? King is depressed.
Nothing to do but wait and see where George is
gonna go.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Muhammad Ali forgets that. The real question to ask is
what will Imabutu do? As George Farman recalls it.
Speaker 5 (41:48):
Fear and I wouldn't return.
Speaker 12 (41:50):
Zayir President Mobutu say say Seku, who cut the deal
with Don King to sponsor the fight, refuse to let
me leave until after the.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Bout that at least a month month and a half away.
And now, for the second time in less than a year,
the heavyweight champion of the world, George Foreman, gets held
captive in a foreign country. Meanwhile, the big announcement comes out.
The Ali Foreman fight is officially postponed. However, the show
(42:20):
must go on. The three day music festival cannot be delayed.
The two events will be separated by at least five
or six weeks. When Ali hears the news that there
fights officially being postponed, he holds a press conference and
jokes with the press. He turns the tense narrative of
(42:40):
failure back to his favor.
Speaker 4 (42:43):
George's eye ain't cut that bad. It ain't the cut
he's afraid of.
Speaker 5 (42:48):
It's me.
Speaker 4 (42:49):
I'm in shape and he ain't. You saw how fat
he is. He's about to lose his title. Look at me,
See how trim and pretty. I am not announce a
fat anywhere now. I appeal to the President not to
let anyone connected with this fight out.
Speaker 5 (43:06):
Of the country. Beat careful. George might sneak out tonight.
Speaker 4 (43:10):
Watch the airports, watch the train station, watch the elephant trails.
Speaker 5 (43:14):
Send boats to patrol the rippers.
Speaker 4 (43:16):
He'll never come back if you let him out, Because
George Foreman knows I can't lose.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Next time on Rumble.
Speaker 7 (43:30):
Mabutu had all the known pickpockets arrested, lined up and shot.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
A lot of people lost their lives in the midst
of Cold War politics.
Speaker 9 (43:42):
This was a dictatorship out and out. People were terribly
fearful of this guy. You could feel it.
Speaker 10 (43:51):
Rumble is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts.
Rumble is written and hosted by Zaren Burnett. The third
produced and directed by Julia scou Sound designed by Jesse
Niswanger and scoring by John Washington. Original music composed by
Jordan Manley and T. J. Merritt.
Speaker 13 (44:09):
Series concept by Gary Stromberg. Executive producers are Jason English,
Sean Titone, Gary Stromberg, Virginia Prescott, L. C. Crowley, and
Brandon barr Our. Senior producer is Amelia Brock. Production manager
Daisy Church, fact checker Savannah Hugley. Legal services provided by
Canoel Hanley PC. Additional production by Claire Keating, Casting director
(44:34):
Julia Christcau. Casting support services provided by Breakdown Express.
Speaker 14 (44:38):
Episode nine cast Abraham Amka as Muhammad Ali, Anthony Brandon
Walker as George Foreman, Terrence Flint as Don King.
Speaker 10 (44:49):
Special thanks to Lewis Ehrenberg. Check out his book Rumble
in the Jungle. It's a great resource.
Speaker 14 (44:54):
Also thanks to Jonathan I for his book Ali Alife,
And finally thanks to Zarenz Pops Zeek who grounds this
material like no one else. If you like the show,
let us know, like subscribe, leave five star reviews.
Speaker 10 (45:09):
It really helps.
Speaker 14 (45:11):
Also check out our show notes for a full list
of reference materials.
In September nineteen seventy four, a secure cable arrives at
the US State Department. He comes in with a peculiar request.
The cable is from the US Embassy in Kinshasa, Zaiir.
The memo reports that a musician named Hugh Masekela visited
the embassy in Zayir seeking assistance who wants to know
if the US military can help transport festival gear from
(00:26):
the States over to Kinshasa. The cable documents the musician's
detailed request quote group attempting to transport from US to
Zaieir approximately sixty thousand pounds of equipment, which if shipped commercially,
would cost several hundred thousand dollars. The embassy's memo also
stresses what the Zaire seventy four music Festival could mean
(00:48):
on the world stage, listing all the black superstars slated
to perform.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Quote James Brown, BB King, Maria Mikiba, the Crusaders, the Spinners,
the Fania, Latin All Stars with Stevie Wonder a possibility,
and the.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
List of equipment needed for all those superstars is daunting.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
There's quote recording equipment, console recording machines, sound equipment, monitors,
twenty four loudspeaker cabinets, lighting equipment, seventy five dimmers, amps,
one hundred foot steel cables, in addition to gas powered
generator and a forklift truck.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
In nineteen seventy four, it sure ain't easy to contract
a commercial plane to carry multiple bands, tens of thousands
of pounds of equipment and fly it all over to
Central Africa and do it on short notice. So Hughes
there in Zaieir pressing the State Department for their help,
and his partner Stuart Levine is in New York doing
(01:44):
the same thing. Interestingly, in the memo from Kinshasa, the
South African jazz musician Hugh Masekela is described as the.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Quote farmer husband of Miriam Mikiba, whose political views he
does not report to share.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
That last bit is key because this memo ends up
on the desk of Henry Kissinger. Yeah, that Henry Kissinger,
Nixon's international hatchetman. Since the memo about Hugh Masekela is
intended for Henry Kissinger, the part about him not sharing
Mary Makiba's political views is very important. You see, Mary
(02:19):
Mikiba is still under watched by both the FBI and
the CIA, but her ex husband, Hugh Masekela says he
isn't so eager to spread communism on the continent of Africa.
The note in the memo is code for we can
work with this guy now. Also keep in mind that
in September of seventy four, President Nixon was freshly removed
(02:40):
from office. Nixon resigns on August eighth, and boom the
next day. He's out of power, but Henry Kissinger is
still very much running things at the State Department. So
that means it's Kissinger's call to help Hugh and stew
and the Zaire seventy four Music Festival or not. What
do you think would Henry kiss a man famous for
(03:01):
advocating that carpet bombing Southeast Asian nations would convince them
to turn away from communism? Would this same international diplomat
see the importance of music and culture to change hearts
and minds? Would Kissinger help musical goodwill ambassadors get their
show to the people of a Central African nation. Well,
(03:22):
here's the memo Kissinger sends back in response, quote.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
It would be difficult and perhaps impossible to secure a
plane in the limited time remaining, and the Air Force
would have to be reallyimbursed at approximately commercial rates, So.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Much for that route. Now Hugh and Stu are days
away from opening night of the three day festival in Kinshasa,
and they still have no way to get there. Now
they must truly scramble to charter any private plane that
they can find that will fly them to Conshasa. And
then a last minute Hail Mary request pans out. They
(03:58):
find a private company that will fly them their famous passengers,
and they're thousands of pounds of sound equipment over to
Africa for the festival. They've done it. Now, the show
lineup is set, their ride is set. Somehow, some way,
with little time remaining, the festival organizers pull off the impossible.
(04:21):
And of course, that is precisely when the unexpected strikes.
Something occurs that threatens to derail absolutely everything. All the
carefully coordinated plans, the daring bluffs and international monetary arrangements,
it is all put in peril. You see, on September sixteenth,
(04:42):
just one week before the Ali Foreman heavyweight title fight
is scheduled to go down, George Foreman's sparring partner throws
a punch but he lands an elbow. The blow hits
George Foreman square in the face, just above the eye.
The sharp elbow splitz open skin, a deep and ugly gash.
(05:03):
Blood spurts from his face as Foreman yells out that
he's cut. For anyone there who sees the cut happen,
they immediately know the fight is off. Welcome to Rumble,
(05:30):
the story of Ali Foreman and the soul music of
nineteen seventy four. I'm your host, Zarin Burnett, the third
from iHeart Podcast and School of Humans. This is Rumble.
Previously on Rumble, We've.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Been changed for four hundred years in slavery, and now
I'm gonna free my people.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
When I beat George Foreman.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
To travel with his wife and his mistress at the
same time on the same pane, I mean that's a
special kind of ego.
Speaker 6 (06:03):
The German shepherds with the dogs the Belgiums used to
control the Congolese people. So right away Foreman made the
wrong move.
Speaker 7 (06:13):
That poor guy had no had. I felt sorry for.
Speaker 8 (06:17):
Him, Ali, Ali.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
I hear someone banging against my bedroom door. It's open,
I shout, and Howard Bingham breaks in. The fight is off.
Bingham who ordinarily stutters, is speaking clear and straight. The
fight is off. It's over.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
I just look at him.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Muhammad Ali recalls exactly the moment he heard the news
of Foreman's cut. As he writes later in his autobiography,
his emotional response is immediate and devastating.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
I feel paralyzed out of bed and look them in
the eye to see if they act in They're not.
Now that I look back on it, I remember that
for a split second, I was pleased. George had been
built up as an invisible monster. This shows that he's
human like me. I'm thinking that nothing like that had
ever happened to him in all his life.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
Then the full meaning of it hit me. Oh No.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Zayir's press secretary, Mundungu Bulah, is certainly unsure how to
handle this news. He is the man responsible for handling
the heavyweight title fight and managing its perception on the
world stage, and his boss is President Mabutu. That's bad
news for Bulah. Bulah's first instinct is to smother this
(07:45):
news story. There are tens of millions of dollars on
the line and international relationships rioting on the success of
this event, so Bullah tells the press, you must not publicize.
He warns the press that any talk of the cut
will quote be improperly understood in your country. The cut
is nothing. I suggest you forget about this story. Go
for a swim. But no one is hitting the hotel pool,
(08:08):
not now. How could they? This is major news, So unsurprisingly,
word immediately spreads amongst the sports writers, and questions follow.
Will the fight be postponed, will the fight be rescheduled?
If so, when will there even be a fight? And
if the fight does get rescheduled, what does this mean
(08:29):
for the music festival. Unlike the fight, the three days
of live music cannot be postponed. The musician's schedules will
not allow that. It's now or never. Gary Stromberg, the
pr man for the three day festival, remembers how back
in New York, Stuart Levine.
Speaker 9 (08:47):
He streaked out. It's on film in When We Were Kings.
You can see it when Stuart's getting the phone call
about the cancelation. He cannot figure it out what that
means or what that represents. Are we going to stay?
Are we going home? Is this over with? Yeah? He
was stunned by that. Obviously, everybody was stunned by it.
But Stewart especially, what do we do now? You know
he gets responsible for all these musicians. What's gonna happen now?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Meanwhile, a few of the most diligent sports writers travel
over to George Foreman's training camp. They want to see
this cut for themselves, to hear from the champ himself
about his plans. Does he want to postpone or to
cancel the fight. When the sports writers arrive at Foreman's
(09:31):
training camp, they're met by rifles and armed soldiers. Butbutu
stations his men outside Foreman's camp and they block the
press at gunpoint. They order the sports writers to leave.
They say, you are bothering the champion. The journalists argue
that Foreman would never object to their presence, he would
want to speak with them. The armed soldiers change their tone.
(09:54):
They tell the sports writers, well, then you are bothering us.
The get the message and they retreat. Much like Mbutu,
the promoter Don King can also feel a growing sense
of calamity. So Don King phones back to the US
and he orders the music festival promoter Stu Levine, do.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Not let the bands know about Foreman's cut.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Get them on the plane to Zaya. In order to
keep this news secret, stue Levine has to call in
a favor. He phones the one journalist who will determine
if this story breaks big in America or not. That
man Howard Cosell. STU calls and personally asks Cosel not
to announce the news of Foreman's cut when he's on
(10:41):
the air later that night for Monday Night Football. The
famously egotistical broadcaster is calling the September sixteenth game Oakland
Raiders versus the Buffalo Bills, and this news about his
friend Muhammad Ali would be the perfect kind of news
for Cosel to break during Monday Night Football. The big
(11:01):
question is will Howard Cosell be able to resist the
ego driven urge to break this huge news that George
Foreman's been cut and that the rumble in the Jungle
may be canceled. Cosell is good to his word to
stue Levine. Never once does he mention Foreman's cut. According
to the New York Times account of events, stue Levine successfully.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Quote prevailed on the sportscaster Howard Cosell to hold back
for twenty four hours the news that the fight had
been postponed lest the American musicians stay home.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
But there was also one other key but unlikely factor
that helps save the music festival. As The New York
Times further reported, Stue Levine quote was also lucky.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
He said that it was Rashashana and many of the
performers managers were observing the holiday.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Turns out that same Monday, September sixteenth, is the Jewish
New Year, and that is why many of the musicians
never hear about Foreman's cut before they take off for Zaire. Instead,
the bands and their crews, their families, their entourages, along
with a documentary film crew as well as journalists and
photographers and the festival directors and Gary work in the
(12:15):
pr They all load up on that Douglas DC eight
and now the only thing they can stop them from
making it to Zaire is James Brown's overloaded sound equipment,
which could bring down the plane at any moment.
Speaker 9 (12:36):
This is my favorite part of this whole story. There
was so much anticipation. I was so excited.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Nearly everyone on the plane to Zaire is buzzing with enthusiasm,
just like Gary Stromberg. Dancer Lola Love still can feel
the energy of that flight.
Speaker 6 (12:51):
I'll take you that. It was Don King, it was
Lloyd Price, it was James Brown. They were doing all
the interviews. It was exciting.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
The big stars, the bands, their crew, managers, family, the
documentary crew, and various writers and photographers. They all arrive
at the airport that Monday night.
Speaker 9 (13:10):
We were all going together on one airplane, two hundred
and fifty of us on one airplane, all of this
talent together, and we were just winging it. And it
was chaos, total chaos.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
And they were all ready to take off Rezaiir, but
they didn't leave right away because not everyone was on
the plane yet. As Lola Love remembers, noon quickly turned
to one pm.
Speaker 6 (13:33):
And then it became two pm and three pm, and
we're still at the airport, and I'm like, well, when
an't we gonna go?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
No one on the plane knows it or could know it.
But around that same time, Stu Levine is busy calling
Howard Kosel to ask for his huge personal favor. Meanwhile,
more time passes and more time passes. Ours actually pass.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
And then it's six pm, and then it's eleven pm.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
The musicians in entourages, media folks and everyone else has
been stuck at this airport for nearly twelve hours. Naturally,
what starts as general irritation begins to turn into a
simmering anger. By this point, the Monday night football game
is over, and Howard Cosell holds back the news a
foreman's cut and the fact that the title fight is
(14:21):
now postponed, so no one at the airport is privy
to this news. However, things may still come undone because
the plane still can't take off or zaiir because of
well a new problem. One that is the exact same
size and shape of James Brown. You see, the godfather
of Soul is threatening to walk at the last minute.
(14:44):
He is the big headliner. He knows his absence will
mean the end of the festival. That means James Brown
also knows he has leverage and he uses it to
get what he wants or he won't fly anywhere.
Speaker 6 (14:58):
And then they say, oh, James Brown is waiting for
his money. James Brown does not hit the stage unless
he has his money in cash.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
And until James Brown gets his money, he refuses to
leave the United States. He won't set foot on that plane,
not until he has the one hundred grand he was promised.
That means everyone must now wait for James Brown to
get paid. But it's the middle of the night. Now.
Another hour passes, and another hour until finally.
Speaker 6 (15:29):
At two am, they got the money to James Brown's
wife in the hotel room. She counted it. She told
him it's all here.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
The good to go to Africa now, right, Well not quite, because.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
Then he said, fine, now I want all of my
sound equipment to go. And they're like, mister Brown, you
don't need just sound. We got Chipmunk doing the sound.
He is the biggest rock sound designer in the world.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Well, this doesn't matter a feather or a fig to
James Brown. He plans to bring his own gear because
he's booked other gigs in Africa and he wants them
to fly all his stuff over for free. So James
Brown says.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
My equipment don't go. I don't go.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
As Gary Stromberg recalls.
Speaker 9 (16:19):
He had I think it was forty thousand pounds of
his own equipment that he insisted on bringing on the plane.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
James Brown's bold demand goes about how you might expect.
Photographer Lynn Goldsmith certainly remembers that day all too well, oh.
Speaker 10 (16:34):
The rideover was horrible.
Speaker 7 (16:36):
I think we sat in that airport for sixteen hours
or some ridiculous amount of time.
Speaker 8 (16:43):
So all the.
Speaker 7 (16:44):
Artists were getting really mad with James Brown, but he
didn't care, and he ain't care if we all died.
That equipment was going on the plane this night.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
That's how James Brown rolls deal with it, which they did.
Speaker 6 (16:57):
So it took more time to figure out what they
were going to bring and his equipment.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Remarkably, the festival organizers eventually get the equipment all sorted
out and loaded up.
Speaker 6 (17:09):
And when we finally finally got on the plane, James
Brown says, my entravige sits in the front like it's
a first class. It was a private plane. There was
no first class, business class, auld coach. It was a plane.
Speaker 7 (17:23):
Everybody's on the plane, and James Brown wouldn't move.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
The festival organizers, having gotten this far, decide to appease
the godfather of soul.
Speaker 9 (17:38):
The plane was divided into the first class in the
economy I guess you'd call it sections, and James Brown
and his orchestra had the entire front section, which I
think was like forty seats, and the rest of us
were all in the back.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
That pretty much kills whatever good vibe there is on
this plane.
Speaker 7 (17:57):
Everybody was so angry to spin everybody that the Godfather
of soul was just so selfish as to keep them
waiting around to them, he wouldn't move to the back
of the plane.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
And all those hours of waiting, by early Tuesday morning,
the plane still has yet to leave the tarmac and
is starting to get warm aboard the plane because.
Speaker 9 (18:23):
The plane was severely overload. Literally you couldn't walk down
the aisles. Everybody brought all of their personal effects, all
of their instruments. All the musicians brought all their instruments.
Not being in storage, they were all in the passenger compartment,
so it was so cluttered you couldn't walk down the aisles.
It was hilarious.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
However, it's not that funny to everyone on board. One
of the acts threatens to walk, a mutiny starts to
spread through the overloaded DC eight, but then just in time,
an announcement sounds through the plane. The pilot says, we
are ready for takeoff. People cheer, they holler with joy excitement.
(19:03):
It's happening. It's actually finally happening. This mad DC eight,
stuffed with irreplaceable talent and about forty pounds of James
Brown's sound gear, is now finally, really actually headed to Africa. First,
they have to take off, and that won't be easy.
Speaker 6 (19:25):
It took every inch of the runway at JFK to.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Lift off, but somehow the overweight DC eight makes it
off the ground and it climbs up into the sky,
bound for the unknown.
Speaker 9 (19:38):
We flew from New York to Madrid and then Madrid
to Conchosa. It was a long flight. Both legs were
very long, eight hours.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Maybe despite all the delays endured the bad vibes of
miscommunication and acts of selfishness. Ultimately, this is a plainload
of musicians. So soon enough someone starts to play a song,
someone else joins in, then a spontaneous jam takes hold.
(20:09):
It's led by a few of the members of the group,
the Fania All Stars.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
My favorites. The Fania All Stars were in the back.
We had Johnny Pacheco, we had Saya Cruise, we had
Ray Barretto, and I was like, all those are my
funio oweso, I'm going back.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Except there's one little problem with Lola Love's plan.
Speaker 6 (20:28):
She's told tap Lola, you're not allowed to socialize with
the other entertainers. What yes, mister Brown doesn't want you
socializing with anybody.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
So Lola Love comes up with a new plan.
Speaker 6 (20:44):
So I'm like, really cool, and I'm waiting until he
goes asleep and some of the other people go to sleep.
But you can hear Ray Barretto banging on stuff. You say,
your cruise is playing, Johnny Pacheco is like blowing his flute.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
It's not only her, This jam session also attracts others.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
And you got bb king clapping and singing and saying stuff.
And I'm gonna miss this.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
I go back there, but Lola Love doesn't get into
any trouble since James Brown's band leader also plays hooky
as he recalls Fred Wesley goes back with Lola Love
and they find that.
Speaker 11 (21:21):
We look along was playing a little keyboard that he
had on now you know, and check over playing his flute,
and six he was dancing, and we just had a
great time oday. We had jam sex and mckiva and
Definia all starve.
Speaker 7 (21:38):
People sang or banged down the seats and did whatever.
But I think that was a long slunt. What else
were you gonna do?
Speaker 9 (21:46):
And people were singing and laughing. It was just joyous.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
There are also many quiet moments and some tender scenes.
Speaker 11 (21:55):
I was sitting talking to Bill Withers half the time
that the next time I'm talking to to Henry with
the Aspinos, and it was just a great time from
beginning to end.
Speaker 7 (22:06):
One of the Sledge sisters was doing drawings of Bill
Withers and BB King. You know, I enjoyed more personal moments.
Speaker 10 (22:15):
Like b B.
Speaker 7 (22:16):
King had brought fan letters with him because he was
going to be answering them on the plane. He answered
his fans.
Speaker 11 (22:27):
It was truly an experience to remember. I can't ever
remember having that much fun, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
And lucky for us, it's all documented.
Speaker 6 (22:36):
There was a West Coast camera crow. They were filming everything.
It was a party plane, but.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
The vibes of this party plane are interrupted when their
lives are once again at risk.
Speaker 6 (22:51):
Well, we landed in Madrid, we hit bail.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
It's a scary moment for everyone aboard.
Speaker 6 (22:58):
And everybody was what's going on.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
It's got everyone's attention. When the overweight DC eight slams
back down to Earth, but no one is hurt and
most Importantly, none of James Brown's stage equipment gets damaged.
All jokes aside, it's a rather terrifying moment knowing that
you could die just to save James Brown a few
thousand on his touring budget. And well that didn't sit
(23:20):
right with everyone aboard when they heard.
Speaker 6 (23:22):
James Brown had to take all of the stuff. Everybody
we overweight. And then you had Bill Withers talking about
James Brown that'd be jumping through a hoop on fire
for us to risk our lives so he could take
his sound equipment.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Bill Withers knows they're only in Madrid. They still have
to risk a whole another flight before they'll get to
conshasa plus, there's the sheer physical reality that at this.
Speaker 9 (23:47):
Point everybody was exhausted. We get off the plane, we
get to shake our legs out a little bit to
get to maybe get something to eat.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
But unfortunately it's a short layover, which means soon.
Speaker 9 (23:58):
Enough, back on the plane, it's laid. Everybody's really tired.
We taxi to the end of the runway.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
And the plane is still overloaded, but the runway is shorter.
Speaker 9 (24:08):
We're ready to take off and the pilot comes on
the announcement, and he said, ladies and gentlemen, he said,
I've just received word from the flight deck that this
flight is severely overloaded and that this is a short
runway in Madrid. We're not going to get off the
ground unless we unload. Everybody in the front section has
to move to the back section.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
The folks aboard must adjust the collective body weight to
balance out the plane and give them a fair shot
of taking off. But as a passenger, how do you
even respond to news like that?
Speaker 9 (24:40):
And we're steady that we're stunned, like what does that mean?
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Lola Love is up there in the James Brown first
class section and she recalls how it's now clear. Someone
must tell James Brown he needs to move to the
back of the plane. And you can imagine how that
chat's gonna go. The someone who gets up to go
tell James to move to the back of the plane
is Stuart Levine.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
I saw Stu Levine talking about the fact that the
plane was how many tons.
Speaker 9 (25:08):
Overweight, at which point James Brown stands up and says,
I'm the star this motherfucking show. You're gonna get this
plane off the ground like.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
It is for the mellow honey voiced soul man Bill Withers,
this is the last straw.
Speaker 9 (25:24):
And when you made that announcement, Bill Withers for some
reason just freaked out. I guess he had had some
kind of interaction with James Brown prior or just observed
him the way he was behaving prior and wasn't happy
with it.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
That's an understatement.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
Bill Withers was pretty pissed. I mean, I'm laughing and
talking about him, you know, jumping through hoops on fire.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
But Bill was pissed, so pissed in fact, that Bill
Withers took things to the next level. What was a
flying party quickly descends into the sort of fight you'd
expect to find an a Delta juke joint. Because, yes,
Bill Withers, he pulls.
Speaker 9 (26:01):
Out a knife. I don't know where he got a knife,
and he's walking down the aisle enraged. He's going after
James Brown.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
In the middle of this packed plane still on the
tarmac in Madrid. Bill Withers looks to be fully prepared
to cut James Brown just to make his point, and
a big.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
Fight broke out. They had to pull Bill off. I
think he pulled him down into the aisle.
Speaker 9 (26:25):
I think there was Lloyd Price who jumped in front
of him and grabbed him in That little tussle ensued,
and Withers was screaming at James Brown.
Speaker 7 (26:33):
It was just also shocking.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Eventually, James Brown's band leader, Fred Wesley gets involved. He
jumps in and he jokes at the plane being overloaded.
Isn't James Brown's fault.
Speaker 11 (26:46):
I said, no, it's not James Brown's equipment. It's the
point of sister's wardrobe.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Make the plane overweight.
Speaker 11 (26:57):
Let them leave some of those vested at home.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
The pointer sisters did bring a Broadway stage show's worth
of costume changes, but a couple of racks of bedazzled
outfits are not what's making this plane several tons overweight.
The lasting impression of the Bill Withers versus James Brown
almost night fight for Lynn Goldsmith.
Speaker 7 (27:20):
Is that Bill was a very honest god and the
others were still I don't know if they were trying
to just be good people and not express themselves. But
Bill really had enough. He didn't care any longer about
James being the godfather of soul. What he cared about
(27:43):
was that James Brown was endangering the lives of everybody.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
How do you displaying a man like James Brown? Even
among the famous, among the superstars of life, James Brown
stands out. I mean that gets said a lot. But
James Brown was truly singular. He was like Prince or
Little Richard or Tupac. He was this unique, irreplaceable presence
(28:19):
in the culture. Born in Barnwell, South Carolina, James Brown
was raised in the church. He started out as a
gospel singer, but then left the church behind and developed
his singing style outside of the chapel walls. He added
the shouts and hollers of the juke joint and the
shrieks and squeals of sex. Then he backed that with
(28:42):
a fast, new rhythm, one that felt like the pelvic
thrusts of the bedroom were now allowed on the dance floor.
James Brown changed up the blues and R and B
into something wholly new, and that was the birth of
what we now call soul music. In nineteen sixty three,
(29:02):
James Brown released his iconic album Live at the Apollo.
It featured his genre defining songs I Got You, I
Feel Good, Papa's Got a brand New Bag, and It's
a Man's man's man's world. As the political climate of
the sixties heated and grew tumultuous. In the long hot
(29:24):
summer of nineteen sixty eight, James Brown gave a soundtrack
to the revolution with his mega hit song Say It Loud,
I'm Black and I'm Proud, And as the soul music
gave way to the birth of funk, James Brown was
there at the conception. In the early seventies, James Brown
redefined his sound with his pre eminent backing band, the JBS.
(29:49):
The band was tight as a drum skin, and it
was led by funkster Supreme Bootsy Collins and his brother Catfish.
They recorded James Brown's next of hits, the Payback and
Get Up. I feel like being a sex machine. By
the time He's headed to Zaire and James Brown is
a megastar, a man at the top of his game,
(30:12):
the peak of his career and his musical potency. The
promoter Don King always liked to refer to James Brown
as soul Brother number one, but the man had so
many show business nicknames. He was called the hardest working
man in show business and mister Dynamite. His most popular nickname, though,
(30:33):
was the godfather a soul. Regardless of what you called him,
there's one thing that remained the same. James Brown was
always what we would now call a selfish asshole, and
this wasn't helped by the fact he was typically on
a daily cocktail of uppers and downers and everything in between.
(30:53):
For ZI year seventy four, the job of managing James
Brown's recklessness came down to one Lloyd Price. He was
the main point of contact, but as well PR pro
Gary Stromberg certainly had his rushes with the diva James Brown.
Speaker 9 (31:11):
Well. It was explained to me that James Brown was
number one and that you had to take care of
him first and foremost, so everybody else. Bb King wasn't
very demanding. Bill Withers he made him a high profile,
but he wasn't very demanding or outgoing, so he was
easy to manage. The Pointer sisters were clients of my
PR company. I knew them really well. They weren't going
(31:32):
to be an issue, so none of the other talent
seemed to be an issue. They were all going to
be easy to manage and work with. James Brown, on
the other hand, who I didn't know, but knew by
reputation I was very leery of and just watched him
very carefully.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
And his reputation was legendary in the world of backstage
show business folk.
Speaker 9 (31:52):
For instance, I'd gone to a concert once with James
Brown at the Hollywood Palladium, I think was on a
New Year's Eve in the late sixties, and he was
He showed up and he didn't come on stage because
he wanted more money.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
As we've covered, if James Brown don't get paid, then
James Brown don't take the stage.
Speaker 9 (32:10):
He came out on stage and he told the audience
that they're not paying him what he deserves, so he
isn't going to do this show. And if he was them,
meaning the audience, he would go and break started ripping
the place up, which they started doing. They caused a riot,
which James Brown encouraged. So I knew this guy was
capable of lighting the place on fire.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Because he also knew. James Brown was as unpredictable as
an open flame.
Speaker 9 (32:34):
He was mercurial, you know, and you just never knew
what James Brown you were going to get at any
given moment. So that was a challenge.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Now, on that plane in Madrid headed to zaire Gary
feels rather honestly.
Speaker 9 (32:47):
I was intimidated by James Brown. I can't lie about that.
I have a couple still photos at home with me
and James Brown just sitting there together talking and I
don't remember what we were talking about. I could see
in my face stet like I was leary of what
we were talking about. I just didn't trust that it
was safe talking to him. I don't know what it was,
(33:09):
but I didn't feel comfortable with James mister Brown, he
insisted on being called.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Sitting there in his made up first class section of
the plane, James Brown is perfectly willing to risk the
lives of everyone on board, including his own life, just
to save some shipping costs. The fact he risks his
own life is what makes his choice seem extra chaotic
and not just cheap and cruel ego like cocaine is
(33:36):
a hell of a drug, just to ask Muhammad Ali
or George Foreman or Don King or even Bill Withers.
After the pilot tells everyone that they need to go
to the back of the planes or their collective weight
can counteract the overloaded weight of James Brown's musical equipment.
What happens. Does James Brown take his place at the
back of the plane? What do you think?
Speaker 9 (33:58):
James Brown stayed in the front, didn't go back in
the plane.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Hope you weren't surprised by that.
Speaker 9 (34:03):
And the pilot was instructed to just take off as is.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
They weren't gonna move, and so that's what they did.
Everyone had to hope the pilots knew what they were doing.
Speaker 9 (34:14):
So can you imagine sitting in your seat on an
airplane where the pilot has informed you that unless everybody
moves to the back, we're not gonna make it, and
we're gonna try in any event.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
And even then, James Brown still won't move to the
back of the plane.
Speaker 6 (34:30):
Because I guess it was private.
Speaker 10 (34:31):
They let it go.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
They let it go once again. They all risk life
and limb to satisfy James Brown. The plane taxis down
the short Madrid runway. The pilots pushed the plane towards
its maximum thrust and sort of hope it all works out.
The overweight DC eight roars down that runway. The pilot
(34:55):
aims the nose of the plane up at the sky.
They're nearly out of runway, but then the pilot feels
the rush of wind lift the wings and that heaviest
hell airplane takes to the air, But first it.
Speaker 9 (35:09):
Kit trees at the end of the runway. We skim
the trees. You could hear the brush breaking on the
bottom of the plane as we're taken off. It was
so close and I was just my heart was beating
a mile a minute, as you can imagine.
Speaker 11 (35:22):
I don't know how they did it, but they got
it all together and we did manage to take off.
You know, the plane had to use every bit of
the runway, is it now?
Speaker 1 (35:32):
In the following clip, you can hear my producer Julia
and I both imagining the worst as Lola Love takes
us through this moment.
Speaker 6 (35:40):
Could you imagine that plane falling?
Speaker 9 (35:42):
Little?
Speaker 6 (35:42):
Oh my god, those stars on board no right, said no, no, no,
and it wasn't meant to be.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
With their plane safely back in the sky and no
one killed by James Brown's forty pounds of musical equipment. Well,
what happens next?
Speaker 6 (35:57):
We left from Madrid and the plane is still partying.
I don't think we slept, okay, We partied all the
way until we landed early in the morning in zaire.
Speaker 9 (36:08):
The important part is that they have been made it
to Kinchasa.
Speaker 5 (36:12):
We bid make it the zaire.
Speaker 11 (36:14):
You know.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
When the packed DC eight touches down in Kinshasa. This
time the pilots manage a more graceful landing, no terrifying
bam safely back down on terra firma. The musicians, their bandmates,
the dancers, their entourages, the family members, the documentary film crew,
and all the journalists and all the others gather up
(36:39):
their stuff and then wait to discover new sights and
new smells and new sounds that await them. It's Africa
just outside the plane, but it's also night.
Speaker 9 (36:50):
We landed. It was after midnight. I looked out the
window and there were no lights on. We had apparently
landed with lights, but as soon as the plane hit
the ground those lights were turned off on purpose. We
looked out the windows. It was pitch black, and the
plane came to us stop. We all sat there looking around,
like where are we What's going on here? And it
was a few minutes just sitting there in total darkness,
(37:13):
and then all of a sudden we started hearing drumming,
very faint drumming, and then it started getting louder louder.
We knew something special was happening outside, but we didn't
know what it was.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Out of that darkness comes the sound of drums, African drums.
Speaker 9 (37:30):
Nobody knew what to expect, nobody had been to Africa before.
We were going into the great unknown.
Speaker 6 (37:37):
And then when the doors opened, the most amazing sound
were the African drums and the chance and then you
can feel that African air just coming in.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
One of the first off the plane is Lynn Goldsmith,
the photographer. She has to stay in work mode.
Speaker 7 (37:56):
I had to get down the plank first to try
to get people getting off the plane. There were those
who kissed the ground, you know, of Africa.
Speaker 6 (38:04):
We were in Zaire and that was the Congo, and
those Congolese people greeted us, hugged us as we came
down the stairs and started walking to the buses that
were gonna take us to our hotel, and they were
so loving and the music was just so you couldn't
I was dancing my way to the bus because I
(38:27):
was so happy to be in in my motherland, Africa.
Speaker 11 (38:32):
I remember people coming down all the playing Bill Withers
and the the Spinners and the part of Sister's Sister sleds.
It was so many people BB king over there. B
B thought he was real, baby, you know he was.
He was the guy unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Among those there to greet them is Hugh Masekela.
Speaker 11 (38:53):
I remember Hugh Messeequila was saying that, who is Fred Wesley?
So I said, I'm Fred Wesby and he's I'm a
Hugh Messaquila.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
You know, he was asking for me, for me, for
Fred Wesley. And this man travels the world with James Brown,
but when he gets to Zire, Fred Wesley recalls how
special it felt.
Speaker 11 (39:14):
It was like like you didn't landed on a planet.
It just felt like this was another world. You know,
you would coming to, but you would breaking something to
this world, you know, and this world was giving something
to you too.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
When he finally steps off the plane, Gary Stromberg gets
to see what all is awaiting them in kinshasa It's
just music.
Speaker 9 (39:39):
There was an entire troop of African dancers, native dancers
in costume surrounding the plane welcoming us, and then the
lights came on. It was just like like a theatrical production.
And that was the greeting that was given to us
upon arrival in Conshasa, and it was great.
Speaker 6 (39:58):
And it was my first trip out of the country
with James Brown and it was in Africa, so that
was an amazing omen for me. I knew I was
going to have the time of my life.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
While the plane was in the air, the drama of
George Foreman's cut continues to play out. The champ wants
to seek immediate medical treatment for the deep laceration over
his eye, but no doctor is called. Instead, as Foreman
recalls later in his autobiography.
Speaker 12 (40:28):
Distrust in local doctors. I had sadly a place a
butterfly adhesive over the cut. In anticipation of flying to
Belgium of France for proper medical treatment and regrouping.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
President Mabutu calls a special meeting of his sports committee
to decide his next move. In this moment of pause,
in that brief liminal space between what was and what
comes next, Ali takes a walk with Don King and
his partner Hank Schwartz. They used this moment to strategize.
(41:00):
As Ali writes later in his autobiography.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
I watched the sunset over the Zaya River that flows
just beyond my door, and I walk along the promenade
with Hans Schwartz video techniques and Don King.
Speaker 5 (41:13):
This gives George his way out.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
King says, there's been something pulling him away from taking
this fight with you ever since it was made. Now
Fate comes in to help him. What does Saddler say?
I asked, if George is pressing to leave the country,
Saddler will go with him, Short says, and we move
mountains to get this one.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
What can I do about it? Nothing? King is depressed.
Nothing to do but wait and see where George is
gonna go.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Muhammad Ali forgets that. The real question to ask is
what will Imabutu do? As George Farman recalls it.
Speaker 5 (41:48):
Fear and I wouldn't return.
Speaker 12 (41:50):
Zayir President Mobutu say say Seku, who cut the deal
with Don King to sponsor the fight, refuse to let
me leave until after the.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Bout that at least a month month and a half away.
And now, for the second time in less than a year,
the heavyweight champion of the world, George Foreman, gets held
captive in a foreign country. Meanwhile, the big announcement comes out.
The Ali Foreman fight is officially postponed. However, the show
(42:20):
must go on. The three day music festival cannot be delayed.
The two events will be separated by at least five
or six weeks. When Ali hears the news that there
fights officially being postponed, he holds a press conference and
jokes with the press. He turns the tense narrative of
(42:40):
failure back to his favor.
Speaker 4 (42:43):
George's eye ain't cut that bad. It ain't the cut
he's afraid of.
Speaker 5 (42:48):
It's me.
Speaker 4 (42:49):
I'm in shape and he ain't. You saw how fat
he is. He's about to lose his title. Look at me,
See how trim and pretty. I am not announce a
fat anywhere now. I appeal to the President not to
let anyone connected with this fight out.
Speaker 5 (43:06):
Of the country. Beat careful. George might sneak out tonight.
Speaker 4 (43:10):
Watch the airports, watch the train station, watch the elephant trails.
Speaker 5 (43:14):
Send boats to patrol the rippers.
Speaker 4 (43:16):
He'll never come back if you let him out, Because
George Foreman knows I can't lose.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Next time on Rumble.
Speaker 7 (43:30):
Mabutu had all the known pickpockets arrested, lined up and shot.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
A lot of people lost their lives in the midst
of Cold War politics.
Speaker 9 (43:42):
This was a dictatorship out and out. People were terribly
fearful of this guy. You could feel it.
Speaker 10 (43:51):
Rumble is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts.
Rumble is written and hosted by Zaren Burnett. The third
produced and directed by Julia scou Sound designed by Jesse
Niswanger and scoring by John Washington. Original music composed by
Jordan Manley and T. J. Merritt.
Speaker 13 (44:09):
Series concept by Gary Stromberg. Executive producers are Jason English,
Sean Titone, Gary Stromberg, Virginia Prescott, L. C. Crowley, and
Brandon barr Our. Senior producer is Amelia Brock. Production manager
Daisy Church, fact checker Savannah Hugley. Legal services provided by
Canoel Hanley PC. Additional production by Claire Keating, Casting director
(44:34):
Julia Christcau. Casting support services provided by Breakdown Express.
Speaker 14 (44:38):
Episode nine cast Abraham Amka as Muhammad Ali, Anthony Brandon
Walker as George Foreman, Terrence Flint as Don King.
Speaker 10 (44:49):
Special thanks to Lewis Ehrenberg. Check out his book Rumble
in the Jungle. It's a great resource.
Speaker 14 (44:54):
Also thanks to Jonathan I for his book Ali Alife,
And finally thanks to Zarenz Pops Zeek who grounds this
material like no one else. If you like the show,
let us know, like subscribe, leave five star reviews.
Speaker 10 (45:09):
It really helps.
Speaker 14 (45:11):
Also check out our show notes for a full list
of reference materials.
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