Lost Kisses
In June of 1968 Michael Viner was an aide to Bobby Kennedy. His roommate, ex-NFL star Rosey Grier was a bodyguard for the aspiring President. They were both there that night when Sirhan Sirhans fatal…
Lost Kisses
In June of 1968 Michael Viner was an aide to Bobby Kennedy. His roommate, ex-NFL star Rosey Grier was a bodyguard for the aspiring President. They were both there that night when Sirhan Sirhans fatal shots rang out in Los Angeles. Grier wrestled the pistol from the killers hands while Viner watched stunned from the sidelines. Viner was devastated by the death of Bobby Kennedy and left politics to work for Mike Curb at MGM. He held various positions with the company including producing the soundtrack for a B movie, The Thing With Two Heads which starred his former room mate Rosey Grier. In order to complete a soundtrack for the film, Viner headed into the MGM recording studio in 1972 with the cream of LA studio musicians lead by arranger/composer Perry Botkin Jr. They recorded several tracks by a group Viner named The Incredible Bongo Band. A sountrack inspired by the film containing the tracks Bongo Rock and Bongolia by the Incredible Bongo Band was released later that year. In the Spring of 1973 Viner headed to Vancouver, Canada to record additional tracks so that an album could be released. The sessions at Can Base Studios were again lead by Perry Botkin Jr. but a different group of LA studio musicians including Jim Gordon, King Errisson, Mike Deasy and Steve Douglas played on the second Incredible Bongo Band sessions. In May of 1973 MGM released the album, Bongo Rock by Michael Viners Incredible Bongo Band. The album was a commercial failure in the US as was a follow-up album released in 1974 that featured the band on the cover. In the summer of 1973, a Jamaican born DJ in the Bronx discovered the Incredible Bongo Band album languishing at a record store. The long percussion breaks on the album caught his ear. DJ Herc pioneered the technique of taking those breaks and extending them by playing them back to back from two copies of the same record. Bongo Rock, Apache and other tracks from the Incredible Bongo Band are widely acknowledged as the foundation of hip hop music. The Incredible Bongo Band has been sampled by many contemporary artists including Moby, Grandmaster Flash, Will Smith, Missy Elliot, Nas, Sugarhill Gang, Hammer, C+C Music Factory, Tone Loc, LL Cool J, Freddie Foxx, Faith Evans, Double D, Busta Rhymes, Goldie, Kanye West and Jay-Z. Sample This chronicles the incredible story behind the creation of one of the most influential albums in popular music that helped spawn a whole new genre of music. If not for the assassination of Bobby Kennedy it might never have happened. Sample This features new interviews with Questlove, Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz, Rosey Grier, Grand Wizzard Theodore, Freda Payne, Jerry Butler, Mike Curb, King Errisson, Afrika Bambaataa, Jerry Scheff, Mike Deasy, Perry Botkin Jr., Mike Melvoin and many more. The film is narrated by Gene Simmons, directed by Dan Forrer and produced by Bob Burris.
Lost Kisses
Drama
Film Details
In June of 1968 Michael Viner was an aide to Bobby Kennedy. His roommate, ex-NFL star Rosey Grier was a bodyguard for the aspiring President. They were both there that night when Sirhan Sirhans fatal shots rang out in Los Angeles.
Grier wrestled the pistol from the killers hands while Viner watched stunned from the sidelines. Viner was devastated by the death of Bobby Kennedy and left politics to work for Mike Curb at MGM. He held various positions with the company including producing the soundtrack for a B movie, The Thing With Two Heads which starred his former room mate Rosey Grier.
In order to complete a soundtrack for the film, Viner headed into the MGM recording studio in 1972 with the cream of LA studio musicians lead by arranger/composer Perry Botkin Jr. They recorded several tracks by a group Viner named The Incredible Bongo Band. A sountrack inspired by the film containing the tracks Bongo Rock and Bongolia by the Incredible Bongo Band was released later that year.
In the Spring of 1973 Viner headed to Vancouver, Canada to record additional tracks so that an album could be released. The sessions at Can Base Studios were again lead by Perry Botkin Jr. but a different group of LA studio musicians including Jim Gordon, King Errisson, Mike Deasy and Steve Douglas played on the second Incredible Bongo Band sessions.
In May of 1973 MGM released the album, Bongo Rock by Michael Viners Incredible Bongo Band. The album was a commercial failure in the US as was a follow-up album released in 1974 that featured the band on the cover. In the summer of 1973, a Jamaican born DJ in the Bronx discovered the Incredible Bongo Band album languishing at a record store.
The long percussion breaks on the album caught his ear. DJ Herc pioneered the technique of taking those breaks and extending them by playing them back to back from two copies of the same record. Bongo Rock, Apache and other tracks from the Incredible Bongo Band are widely acknowledged as the foundation of hip hop music.
The Incredible Bongo Band has been sampled by many contemporary artists including Moby, Grandmaster Flash, Will Smith, Missy Elliot, Nas, Sugarhill Gang, Hammer, C+C Music Factory, Tone Loc, LL Cool J, Freddie Foxx, Faith Evans, Double D, Busta Rhymes, Goldie, Kanye West and Jay-Z. Sample This chronicles the incredible story behind the creation of one of the most influential albums in popular music that helped spawn a whole new genre of music. If not for the assassination of Bobby Kennedy it might never have happened.
Sample This features new interviews with Questlove, Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz, Rosey Grier, Grand Wizzard Theodore, Freda Payne, Jerry Butler, Mike Curb, King Errisson, Afrika Bambaataa, Jerry Scheff, Mike Deasy, Perry Botkin Jr., Mike Melvoin and many more. The film is narrated by Gene Simmons, directed by Dan Forrer and produced by Bob Burris..