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What Spike Lee learned collaborating with Michael Jackson
by Michael del Castillo - Upstart Business Journal Technology & Innovation Editor
Spike Lee speaks at TedX Brooklyn on Friday, December 6, 2013. Michael del Castillo
The UpTake: During Spike Lee's talk about collaborating with Michael Jackson the lesson he learned is that sometimes working with talented people means knowing when to relinquish control.
Spike Lee hung up on Michael Jackson three times before he finally realized who was really on the other line. At the time of the conversation Lee lived in “pre-gentrified” Fort Greene, Brooklyn, about a half hour train ride across the borough from the TedX Brooklyn event in Williamsburg at which Lee spoke earlier today.
Jackson wanted Lee to make a “short film, not a music video” for a song from the upcoming album HIStory, released by Epic Records in 1995. Shortly after Jackson convinced Lee to meet with him on the director’s home turf in Ft. Greene, the two met face-to-face in his living room.
Jackson gave Lee a choice of the unreleased songs to choose from and after listening to the lot he chose Jackson’s Stranger in Moscow.
“No, no, no, you’re not doing that one!” Lee recalled Jackson telling him, getting plenty of laughs from the TedX audience. It turns out Jackson was really hoping Lee would choose They Don’t Care About Us, a song that peaked at number 30 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
After the two agreed on the song, they traveled to Brazil where Lee recommended using the Olodum drum team as part of the film production—the same musicians Paul Simon employed for his chart-topping album, Rhythm of the Saints.
“Usually artists do not want you to touch the track,” Lee said, but Jackson was open to the idea, and the result was one of the director’s best experiences with film, he said.
Something happened when they added the drums. People kept dancing long after the song was over. "They’re still playing," Lee recalled telling Jackson as the video production came to end.
Source: http://upstart.bizjournals.com/entr...06/spike-lee-learns-from-michael-jackson.html
by Michael del Castillo - Upstart Business Journal Technology & Innovation Editor
Spike Lee speaks at TedX Brooklyn on Friday, December 6, 2013. Michael del Castillo
The UpTake: During Spike Lee's talk about collaborating with Michael Jackson the lesson he learned is that sometimes working with talented people means knowing when to relinquish control.
Spike Lee hung up on Michael Jackson three times before he finally realized who was really on the other line. At the time of the conversation Lee lived in “pre-gentrified” Fort Greene, Brooklyn, about a half hour train ride across the borough from the TedX Brooklyn event in Williamsburg at which Lee spoke earlier today.
Jackson wanted Lee to make a “short film, not a music video” for a song from the upcoming album HIStory, released by Epic Records in 1995. Shortly after Jackson convinced Lee to meet with him on the director’s home turf in Ft. Greene, the two met face-to-face in his living room.
Jackson gave Lee a choice of the unreleased songs to choose from and after listening to the lot he chose Jackson’s Stranger in Moscow.
“No, no, no, you’re not doing that one!” Lee recalled Jackson telling him, getting plenty of laughs from the TedX audience. It turns out Jackson was really hoping Lee would choose They Don’t Care About Us, a song that peaked at number 30 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
After the two agreed on the song, they traveled to Brazil where Lee recommended using the Olodum drum team as part of the film production—the same musicians Paul Simon employed for his chart-topping album, Rhythm of the Saints.
“Usually artists do not want you to touch the track,” Lee said, but Jackson was open to the idea, and the result was one of the director’s best experiences with film, he said.
Something happened when they added the drums. People kept dancing long after the song was over. "They’re still playing," Lee recalled telling Jackson as the video production came to end.
Source: http://upstart.bizjournals.com/entr...06/spike-lee-learns-from-michael-jackson.html
