Indie Memphis‘ concert film series plays host to Stax co-owner Al Bell, who will introduce and discuss the origin of the musical documentary film WATTSTAX. The film captures the Stax roster at the height of the label’s success during a 1972 concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The opening sequence strikes you immediately in light of recent events in Ferguson. Richard Pryor’s monologues are disturbingly prescient. Bell organized the festival that Mel Stuart captured in the 1973 film. Al Bell’s remarks will be a Memphis history lesson. The music makes you move, and the dialog makes you squirm and think. It’s the funkiest lesson in civic morality in the history of humanity. Friday, August 29th, at 8 p.m.
