Date admitted to the U.S. December 3, 1818 (the 21st state)
Claim to fame: Birthplace of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, also Styx, Fall Out Boy, the Smashing Pumpkins and the band that performed "25 or 6 to 4" whose name escapes me at the moment.
Nickname: Land of Lincoln or the Prairie State
Prevalent language: Italian, I think
State Motto: "This fell off the back of a truck, whaddaya gonna do?"
State Flower: Violent, whoops, I meant violet.
State Mushroom: Giant puffball
State Reptile: Painted turtle (what's with all the turtles?)
State Bird: Northern Cardinal, who I think is now the new Pope
State Insect: Monarch butterfly
State Mammal: White-tailed deer
State Tree: White Oak (they apparently love only white things, just saying)
State Dance: Square dance (clearly this was voted on in the 1800's, time for an update)
Notable Sports Teams: Da Bears, Da Bulls, Da Cubs, Da Sox and Da Blackhawks and the Fighting Illini, whatever that is.
Fun Facts: Illinois was the birthplace of the modern skyscraper, Twinkies, the first McDonald's franchise, and the home of the biggest mob hit in history, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, which inspired the movie "Some Like It Hot". However, most of the state's culture burned up in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, leaving them with only improv comedy and deep-dish pizza. While I appreciate any pizza that's larger than my own head, the Chicago versions of hot dogs ("dragged through the garden") and ice cream ("dragged through five clashing flavors") need to be avoided at all costs.
I've visited Chicago twice, once in 2003 and again in 2021. The first time we took one of those mob-themed bus tours and the Field Museum, and both times we visited Navy Pier and the Billy Goat Tavern, because seriously, what else is there to do there? At least the second time we also went to Morton's steakhouse and the world's largest Starbucks (like, 6 floors of different coffee stuff).
THE PLOT: The rise and fall of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, told via exclusive access to the band's archives of visual, audio and written material, with the support of the band members and the estate of Maurice White.
AFTER: I've maybe watched too many documentaries about bands, because they follow a formula, based on the lifespan of the band, it's a pattern that was set by the Beatles and has continued to manifest itself in the story of every band since. Eventually the same things will happen, the band will break up either due to creative differences or because the income has dried up. In the case of Earth, Wind & Fire, both things happened around about the same time. The money thing is kind of a given because as a band becomes more successful, they're forced to create a business, either a holding company or an LLC that is responsible for paying the bills, and keeping things legal - this company is sometimes run by family or friends of the band members, but not in all cases. But what happens then is the band has created this machine to process the money from the record company, but also pay for the tours, travel expenses, legal fees, merchandising, etc. and at some point the company is maybe laying out more money than it's taking in, often leading to the band members getting paid less and less over time. When you have a 15 or 16-piece band, with two drummers, a horn section, and back-up singers, well you can see the obvious problem, you can't treat all of those people as staff. The bass player for the Rolling Stones has had a 20-year temp job.
At the same time, EW&F founding member Maurice White, who kept the books, wanted to embark on a solo career (what could possibly go wrong?) and maybe also saw that the income from each tour was less and less, and the band was losing money with each tour, then borrowing against the advance for the next record, and where does THAT end? So he basically fired the rest of the band and encouraged them to strike out on their own, although some who weren't ready had to sell stereo equipment for a while, and it was a couple years before Maurice figured out that he needed the rest of the band as much as they needed him to be in charge. But musical tastes of the public change over time, and by the time they got the band back together and were ready to tour again, it was nearly too late, they played to empty stadiums and had to cancel shows and issue a bunch of refunds, hoping that the new album would strike a chord with the public and they'd start showing up again.
Earth, Wind & Fire kind of got saved by the next generation of rappers who sampled their hits (stealing the riff is OK I guess if you give credit and also re-introduce a bunch of old-timers to the new crowd of music fans) and the older EW&F songs got licensed to appear in TV commercials and films (like the "Trolls" movies). And then the band got the bump from winning an NAACP award plus getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Pack your bag, guys, you're heading out on tour again...
We therefore diagnose Maurice White as the band member with the worst case of "artist brain" - sure, he was a driving creative force, he was inspired by African musical instruments, Egyptian iconography and the theatrics of Doug Henning - PLUS he demanded that the band should learn at least a little choreography and wear outlandish costumes. BUT at some point this reaches beyond the principles of showmanship and becomes, "I'm in charge, everyone has to take my advice", and also "I get to sing about love and preach about faithfulness, but also I'm allowed to have a second secret family while I'm on tour." Yeah, we've seen this before and we'll probably see it again, famous people are just like regular people, except even more entitled. Sure, he felt abandoned by his mother when he was a kid, and this affected how he treated other people when he was an adult, but at some point, don't you need to get some therapy for your childhood trauma if it prevents you from treating people fairly later in life? Just saying.
Still, this also works as a love letter to some of the greatest soul/funk/fusion jazz songs that the band is known for - "Shining Star", "Sing a Song", "September", "Fantasy", and we can maybe almost forgive them for their foray into disco with "Boogie Wonderland" because during that same time period they covered the Beatles song "Got to Get You Into My Life" and performed it in the god-awful-but-I-still-love-it movie "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". I just want Questlove to keep making documentaries, because he's got really good instincts and a knack for picking great subjects from the pantheon of American music. I think the only Earth, Wind & Fire album I own is their Christmas album, though, where they updated their song "September" as a holiday song titled "December".
Directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson (director of "Summer of Soul")
Also starring Philip Bailey (last seen in "The Greatest Night in Pop"), Ralph Johnson, Verdine White (last seen in "Under the Volcano"), Patt Adams, Bob Cavallo, George Faison, Flea (last seen in "Queen & Slim"), David Foster (last seen in "Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall"), Michael Harriot, H.E.R., Jimmy Jam, Booker T. Jones (last seen in "A Star Is Born" (1976), Dennis Kimbro, George Massenburg, Al McKay, Michelle Obama (last seen in "The Six Triple Eight"), Anderson .Paak (last heard in "Trolls Band Together"), Herb Powell, Lionel Richie (last seen in "Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary"), Leonard Smith, Bruce Talamon, Wanda Vaughn, Wayne Vaughn, Eden White, Don KB White, Marilyn White, Don Whitehead, Stevie Wonder (last seen in "Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything")
with archive footage of Maurice White (last seen in "Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives"), Fontella Bass, Roland Bautista, Michael Beal, Chuck Berry (last seen in "The Beatles: In the Life"), Beyonce Knowles-Carter (last seen in "Jagged"), Jim Brown (last seen in "Draft Day"), Sabrina Carpenter (last seen in "Horns"), Chance the Rapper (last seen in "Slice"), Jessica Cleaves, George Clinton (also last seen in "Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary"), Don Cornelius (ditto), Phil Collins (last seen in "I Am Sam Kinison"), Ram Dass, Clive Davis (last seen in "Luther: Never Too Much"), Rhamlee Michael Davis, Morris Day (last seen in "Graffiti Bridge"), Neil Diamond (last seen in "Remastered: Tricky Dick and the Man in Black"), Melinda Dillon (last seen in "Spielberg"), Leslie Drayton, Richard Dreyfuss (last seen in "Music by John Williams"), Larry Dunn, Medgar Evers, Laurence Fishburne (last seen in "Pee-Wee as Himself"), Wade Flemons, Johnny Graham, Bryant Gumbel (last seen in "Martha"), Michael Harris, Doug Henning, Jennifer Holliday, Whitney Houston (last seen in "Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything"), Michael Jackson (ditto), Yackov Ben Israel, Etta James (last seen in "Muscle Shoals"), Rick James (last seen in "Little Richard: I Am Everything"), Kendrick Lamar (last seen in "Straight Outta Compton"), Ronnie Laws, John Legend (last seen in "Martha"), Ramsey Lewis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus (last seen in "Thunderbolts"), Mike Myers (last seen in "Terminal"), Don Myrick, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Prince (also last seen in "Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary"), Richard Pryor (also last seen in "Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything"), Minnie Riperton, Bobby Rush, Lui Lui Satterfield, Skip Scarborough, Sherry Scott, Marlena Shaw, Charles Stepney, Billy Stewart, Barbra Streisand (also last seen in "Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything"), Beloyd Taylor, Alex Thomas, Ellene Warren, Chester Washington, Thomas Washington, Muddy Waters (last seen in "Travelin' Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall"), Howlin' Wolf (ditto), Fred White, John White, Mimi White, Bill Whitten, Deniece Williams, Allee Willis, Wolfman Jack, Andrew Woolfolk
and Black Eyed Peas, Cameo, The Commodores, Gap Band, Brothers Johnson, Kool & the Gang, Pointer Sisters.
RATING: 7 out of 10 meditation sessions
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