About Black Omnibus
Black Omnibus was a TV show hosted by James Earl Jones that taped in 1972 and aired for one season in 1973.
The show was filmed in Hollywood before a live stuio audience during the same time as the legendary WattStax Music Festival. Therefore, many of the popular artists of the day who were in town to perform in the festival stopped by to appear on the show. This lost footage contains 13 hours of those rare live performances that aired on television only once in LA and NYC. It is one of the few African-American show in its era that featured 100% live music. NO lip-syncing, NO tracks. This led to exhorbitant production costs causing it to go off the air after only one glorious season.
PREMIERE SHOW MONOLOGUE
"Hello, I'm James Earl Jones.
Welcome to the premiere show of Black Omnibus.
On a warm summer night way back in 1619, a ship sailed quietly into a Virginia harbor and unloaded the first black man for sale into American slavery and that was the birth of "The Blues".
In the 350 years since, our people have struggled to stay alive. This is a tribute to that spirit and to the fact that today it is very much alive. Alive in music, poetry and art and many more ways we'll explore tonight. Black Omnibus is the whole wide world of the Black experience."
The show was filmed in Hollywood before a live stuio audience during the same time as the legendary WattStax Music Festival. Therefore, many of the popular artists of the day who were in town to perform in the festival stopped by to appear on the show. This lost footage contains 13 hours of those rare live performances that aired on television only once in LA and NYC. It is one of the few African-American show in its era that featured 100% live music. NO lip-syncing, NO tracks. This led to exhorbitant production costs causing it to go off the air after only one glorious season.
PREMIERE SHOW MONOLOGUE
"Hello, I'm James Earl Jones.
Welcome to the premiere show of Black Omnibus.
On a warm summer night way back in 1619, a ship sailed quietly into a Virginia harbor and unloaded the first black man for sale into American slavery and that was the birth of "The Blues".
In the 350 years since, our people have struggled to stay alive. This is a tribute to that spirit and to the fact that today it is very much alive. Alive in music, poetry and art and many more ways we'll explore tonight. Black Omnibus is the whole wide world of the Black experience."
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Welcome to Black Omnibus!
Click here to join. It's free!
Black Omnibus is where people who love 1970's African-American music, art and culture connect, get to know each other, and stay informed. Black Omnibus gives you instant access to:
- video music archives of extremely rare once-in-a-lifetime live performances from legendary 1970's performers that were featured on Black Omnibus in 1972.
- Photos and photo albums
Created by Zoe Alexander Dec 31, 2008 at 9:05am. Last updated by Zoe Alexander Oct 8.
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