by Kwame Brathwaite
The celebration which is always held in Washington, DC is presented by a group called “Compared To What?” and co-sponsored by The National Park Service in co-operation with the DC Public School system, the Smithsonian Institution, the DC Dept. of Recreation and Department of Human Resources, the Mayor’s Office, The United Students, The Ebony Impromptu Theatre Company, WMAL-TV, RCA Records and McDonald’s Corp.
RCA proudly informed me that this year’s honoree was Nina Simone. We at Blues & Soul were trying to track down Nina for several weeks, as Dave Nathan was interested in interviewing her. Nina had been very difficult to get in touch with and at least I knew that I’d be able to find her.
The last time that I’d seen her, she was at the Newport Jazz Festival, just visiting, and informed me that she was living in Barbados, in the Caribbean. I was interested in not only finally getting a lead on Nina, but the whole idea of HKD was novel and, as I later learned, many star attractions were to appear.
I read the programme which included Herbie Hancock, New Birth, The Pointer Sisters, Black Heat, Crown Heights Affair, Choice Four, Darren Green and some local, Washington-Baltimore talent that I hadn’t heard of, for instance – “Mousetrap”, “Brute Band & Show”, “Sir Joe & The Free Souls”. I immediately informed them that Blues & Soul would be there.
One of the advertised features or events of the day was the morning “Run For Human Kindness” featuring Muhammed Ali, Dick Gregory, The Capital Bullets and the Washington Redskins” which I’m not sure ever took place. The idea was that groups would jog from four different points, DC high schools, and cover the two and a half miles to three miles, from those points to the Washington Monument where the day would begin. I never did see Dick Gregory, but I’m certain that at the time scheduled for the run, Muhammed Ali was checking into his hotel.
The previous two Human Kindness Days had honoured Dick Gregory and Roberta Flack, who is from DC. When checking out the groups involved, I’m sure that you’ll be hearing about the “DC sound” pretty soon. There are a number of groups that are either from DC or Baltimore or that record or are produced there.
I had gotten my first hint of this earlier that week, when I visited a recording session in NY in which the Choice Four were cutting for their upcoming RCA releases. And let me tell you, they’ve got some boss sides coming out very soon. One of the tracks that they were working on was “You’re The One That Did It” (that’s the lead line but not the title). It sounds like it was produced by those two gents from Philly, but it is actually the work of DC’s Van McCoy, who also was producing the session. The record is going to establish the Choice Four on the scene.
The tambourine track alone could be the flip side. The group is versatile and many will say they sometimes sound like the O’Jays, the Stylistics and/or Blue Magic, especially when Bobby Hamilton leads on “You’re So Right For Me”. The session even got applause from the technicians while they were recording it.
In addition to the art and writing contests for students from grades 1-12, there were arts and crafts demonstrations, magic shows, and art exhibits. Nina’s day started with the Community Leaders Breakfast at the newly built and world renowned Kennedy Center. Nina was presented with many awards, plaques, certificates, etc. from community leaders from several parts of the country. As at all events, Nina was accompanied by an entourage which included her 72 year old mother, Mrs. Kate Waymon and her 11 year old daughter.
The next special event of the day was the Luncheon-reception at the African Art Museum where Nina was presented with more awards and honors.
The largest, by far, event was the free concert, which drew over 75,000 people to the Washington Monument grounds to hear some of the scheduled talent. I say some of the scheduled talent because several groups did not get on. The concert started right on time but that is about the last time the schedule and the actual even agreed. With the gigantic crowd that appeared, there had to be some problems. One problem was the crown in unauthorized areas kept kicking out wires to the audio setup, accidentally of course, and this caused many delays in the programme.
Since there were no seats, and it was an “on the grass” affair, another problem arose. For the first 200-300 feet the crowd was sitting, but behind them the rest were standing. Several times during the day some of the standees leaned forward and started to fall on the seated fans. This caused a rush for the seated ones to stand up to avoid the cruse and therefore caused the fans front of the stage to jump up onto the stage for lack of anywhere else to go.
This was the beginning of the problem that would finally plague the entire event – an overcrowded stage. Many fans began to stay on the stage and the crowd continued to pile up. By the time the first group, “Mousetrap” finished the “show fence” that was erected backstage to cordon off that area, resembled a railroad track as it was completely down. This opened up the backstage area even more and the crowed massed and the situation was beyond control.
It wasn’t that the crowd was rowdy at this point, but just that musicians and personnel didn’t have the freedom of movement that they should have had and backstage became very disorganized. Some of the groups that were present would not appear under the circumstances and justifiably so. New Birth was the third group on following the Brute Band and Show from Baltimore, Md. New Birth did a heavy set, but again the crush came from the back of the crowd and more fans jumped onstage. By the time the Pointer Sisters appeared on a crowded stage, the show, for all practical purposes, was over. Muhammed Ali had come out prior to that and appealed to the crowd to leave the stage, and most of them did. Ali then promised to regain his crown in Zaire by beating George Foreman, which pleased the crowd which seemed with him 99%.
The Pointers did two numbers, but the speakers on the stage were out and they couldn’t hear themselves and the crowd again joined the performers and their management called them off stage, and right into the McDonalds bus that awaited them to return to their hotel. The McDonalds bus, which was donated by one of the sponsors, the hamburger franchise, is reported to cost over $250,000 with its fancy interior, with swivel upholstered seats, color TV, bar, etc. I didn’t bother to look for my transportation but hopped on the bust with the girls headed back to the Hilton, which was HKD headquarters.
Since the daylight was steadily decreasing and the hour was getting late, I predicted that the Crown Heights affair would never get on, so my day was through for a while. My prediction was right, for back at the hotel while I was rapping with RCA artists and staff, a call came in from the Crown Heights Affair. They were holed up in the “last and found” and calling for transportation out of the area where a mini riot had broken out. A&R director, Tom Draper, rushed out to see after the group, while the rest of us prepared for the Herbie Hancock/buffet supper show that evening.
One of the most outstanding events of the day was the “Tribute-Tones of the Lady of Ebony” at the Smithsonian Institute Museum of Natural History. The programme by the Ebony Impromptu Theatre Company was described as ‘a theatrical piece with music,’ and it was conceived and directed by Harry Poe with a script by Jo-Anne McKnight (one of the officers of Compared To What?) and Clarence Young III. The show spotlighted some extremely talented dancers, primarily Edna Long.
After the performance, the group presented Miss Simone with a painting of herself and some flowers. Just a touch of kindness on the third annual Human Kindness Day. The dancers and actresses seemed genuinely moved, as tears could be seen running down the cheeks of Ms Long as they presented Nina on stage.
One thing that made me wonder and that is why the crowd of Human Kindness Day was 99% black…isn’t anyone else interested?
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