LS/TLSs Old Faithful geyser erupting, spewing, gushing. Several scenic GV/MS/LSs of Mammoth Hot Springs. MCUs bubbling mud pots.
Panning WS Alpine Meadows (volcanic plateau). Scenic TLS/MS rivers & waterfalls of Alpine Meadows. Panning WS Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone showing the Yellowstone River down below. LS waterfall w/ steep drop. Panning WS cannon walls & Yellowstone River gorge.
Establishing GV The Inn at Old Faithful. Panning GV The Lake Hotel. Panning LS scenic Yellowstone Lake at dusk. Panning LS scenic Yellowstone Lake during summer day.
Male elk walking across prairie field, coming to stop near female elk grazing or laying in grass. Head of young, possibly female, bighorn sheep chewing, looking around. Female elk. Male moose laying in grass. Several American bison walking through woods. Bison rubbing face against small conifer tree. Male elk wading into stream. Ducks swimming in lake. Male moose grazing in marsh area of river. Bighorn sheep coming down a steep rocky incline to graze on grass. Young bighorn sheep walking along rocky terrain.
Funky Soul opening, Joe Dennis providing voiceover. CU/MS poet Nikki Giovanni, sporting Afro hairstyle & wearing long flowing red dress w/ silver circular pattern, reciting "Kidnap Poem." (Opening line of "Ever Been Kidnapped by a Poet?")
Nikki Giovanni introduces Wilbert Hart, William Hart, Major Harris, otheriwse known as the Delfonics. The Delfonics perform "Trying to Make a Fool of Me." Words can't possibly describes the colorful though oddly cut jumpsuit-like outfits they chose to wear. Funky in-studio band provides hot accompaniment, the guitarist drenching the song with tasty wah-wah during the breakdown. At outset, TLS black audience applauding.
Nikki Giovanni introduces South African singer Miriam Makeba. Miriam Makeba performs "Brand New Day." In-studio band accompaniment. At outset, TLS black audience applauding.
Nikki Giovanni interviews Miriam Makeba, welcomes her to the States. Nikki asks of her husband Stokely Carmichael (the couple had exiled themselves to Guinea, West Africa in 1971); Miriam replies that he is very active in teaching & politics & intends to come back to the U.S. Miriam Makeba discusses the difficulties she has endured thus far on her American tour, says "the only difference between South Africa & America is very slight" & that "South Africa admits what they are (racists, bigots)." Miriam Makeba says she records exclusively for a label owned by the Guinea government, mentions Union of South Africa. Ms. Makeba says she is happy w/ her life, that she wouldn't change a thing, that she has made her own decisions & if something fails then she has no one else to blame. Ms. Makeba elects not to incite the rancor of the U.S. government on camera. Miriam says she has a daughter, Bongi, & two grandchildren, Lumumba & Zanzi.
An admittedly nervous Nikki Giovanni continues interview of Miriam Makeba. Miriam discusses her immediate touring plans, and the honorary doctor of laws degree she received for her husband Stokely Carmichael. Miriam Makeba discusses the need for Africans & African-Americans to understand each other's cultures, especially when traveling.
Miriam Makeba & live band perform unidentified African ballad about a young man who leaves his village & his new bride to work & eventually die in the gold mines. Features an interpretive dance by the talented Judy Deering. World music. Afro-pop.
Miriam Makeba & live band perform unidentified African pop song dedicated to African women & the empowerment of all women around the world. Miriam Makeba gets funky, dances, loosens up the audience. World music. Afro-pop.
Miriam Makeba & live band perform unidentified African pop song that opens with a type of non-verbal scatting from Ms. Makeba. World music. Afro-pop. At outset, panning MS black audience applauding, followed by MS Nikki Giovanni thanking Miriam Makeba. MSs appreciative audience clapping.
Nikki Giovanni introduces former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay, Cassius X). TLS African American audience applauding. Muhammad Ali talks briefly about his father; his younger brother Rudolph Clay, also a boxer, predicting that he'd be in the top 10 heavyweight ranks, then adding that he would retire before fighting Rudy; his 3 children & one pending arrival.
Continuation of Nikki Giovanni interviewing Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali talks about Howard Cosell, ABC Wide World of Sports & his controversial fight vs. Buster Mathis: "I caught more hell for not trying to hurt him. So, from now on, there'll be no more lightening up. Next time I'm gonna knock him down & if he gets up I'm gonna try to knock him down again & if the referee doesn't stop it, if the judges don't stop it, it's not my fault." "If somebody gets hurt the next time they can't say that it's my fault b/c they gave me hell for trying to be human." The Champ praises Wide World of Sports for allowing the poor & invalid to watch his pricey fights. "Since I caught so much hell for trying to be nice & taking it easy on the man, look out from here on b/c I'm gonna be blasting. I'm gonna fight until he falls. If he gets up I'm gonna knock him down again & if anything happens they can't say nothing else. So look out whoever the next man is b/c he is in trouble."
Continuation of Muhammad Ali interview conducted by Nikki Giovanni. Muhammad Ali discusses his fight vs. Joe Frazier, Mar 8, 1971, aka Ali-Frazier I, saying that he mistakenly played w/ him for 3 rounds & didn't move like he should have. "At the time I hadn't won my draft case, one black man in the million dollar bracket who tells it like it is, who stays w/ his own kind-- so naturally they're going to pick the best boy to give it to. But the next time, there is no doubt, he must go out." "He won the decision but he took a terrible whupping." "We can't get on him, he's a brother. He fought good but he can't box. He has no skill but he hits hard. Takes a lot of whupping but he hits real hard. He hit me so hard in the 12th round, it jarred my kinfolk in Africa." Muhammad Ali says Joe Frazier won't retire in the near future: "It takes 3 years to be established as a champion. For him to retire it would really hurt him."
Continuation of Muhammad Ali interview conducted by Nikki Giovanni, who asks of his opinion of boxing's future. Muhammad Ali: "They say that boxing is dead b/c there are too many black people that rule it" & "it's interesting when you got different races & nationalities competing but when one race dominates, which is us, it's dead." "When I fought Jerry Quarry, who was a white Irishman, that was a big fight. But when I fought Buster Mathis it was a farce b/c it was 2 black men." Muhammad Ali is asked to dispense some words of wisdom to young men interested in pursuing sports; The Champ replies that he wouldn't advise a career in sports b/c it's too risky, both physically & financially, that they should concentrate on academics instead, but if they're really interested in boxing they should become a manager b/c "usually they get all the money." Muhammad Ali doesn't recommend a boxing career for young black men, stating that blacks need scientists, doctors, nurses, electricians, etc. "Something that most black people don t get hip to is reading & spelling, something I can't do right now." The Champ says he failed his 1st two Army exams; "they said I was mentally unable until they heard I was a Muslim, then I was smart but before that they didn't want me." "I told you I was the greatest, not the smartest." Nikki Giovanni closes segment, saying the Muhammad Ali is "a wonderful image to us all" & "an inspiration."
FOR FULL PERFORMANCE WITH AUDIO, PLEASE CONTACT WPA. Nikki Giovanni introduces The Delfonics (Wilbert Hart, William Hart, Major Harris). The Delfonics, wearing matching orange & black outfits, perform the timeless sweet soul ballad, "Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time" (live).
The Delfonics perform the soul ballad "The Love That I Gave to You." At outset, panning MSs African American audience applauding. Nikki Giovanni thanks The Delfonics.
Nikki Giovanni reads excerpt from her book "Gemini." Cutaways of African American audience listening intently to the harsh tale of a door stolen from a home in Africa for display in a white museum & how it relates to the stark reality of modern black life. "I really like to think a black, beautiful, loving world is possible."
Nikki Giovanni closes show, thanks Muhammad Ali, the Delfonics, Judy Deering, & Miriam Makeba. "Peace to you & power to the people." Nikki Giovanni introduces Miriam Makeba. Miriam Makeba performs unidentified Afro-pop ballad, black man playing gourd lyre in FG. Credits eventually roll.
Funky Soul! Opening with VO by Joe Dennis. Soul! Producer Ellis Haizlip introduces program, James Baldwin & Nikki Giovanni from Soul studio in New York City.
James Baldwin discusses w/ Nikki Giovanni his extended stays in Europe, saying that he moved to Paris in 1948 b/c he was trying to become a writer & couldn't find the "stamina" or "corroboration" in the United States, returning to NYC in 1957. "I'm condemned to live in the world." "It's very valuable to be forced to move from one place to another & deal w/ another set of situations." Television studio; table with alcohol and drinks between Giovanni and Baldwin.
James Baldwin takes a sip of tea, then discusses w/ Nikki Giovanni his 1949 essay "Everybody's Protest Novel." "If I wrote that essay today I would be writing a very different essay out of a very different problem." "It's not the world that was my oppressor only. What the world does to you, if it does it long enough & effectively enough, you begin to do it to yourself. You become an accomplice of your own murderers. They think it's important to be white then you think it's important to be white." "The danger of your generation is to substitute one romanticism for another. These categories are commercial categories." "The standards that almost killed you are really mercantile standards that are based on profits which the church sanctifies. It's when you begin to realize all of that that you begin to break out of the culture which has produced you & discover the culture that has really produced you." Baldwin holds a cigarette.
Nikki Giovanni says to James Baldwin that the thinking among blacks during the civil rights movement was that they assumed they knew white people. James Baldwin smokes cigarette, says that Americans are astonished to find out that the rest of the world doesn't like them. Nikki Giovanni says, "You all can have Jesus, give me the world. Even though it's polluted, dirty, ugly, give it to me. I will take it."