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Seventy-Seven

@seventy______seven

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A li’l movie label by @geecaroti with some musick stuff thrown in, as I would say as I would tell you.

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Starting this Friday at the Music Box

In celebration of the beautiful new restoration of DREAD BEAT AN BLOOD, Franco Rosso’s portrait of dub poet and living legend Linton Kwesi Johnson, the Music Box is proud to present “From the Heartbeat: Roots, reggae, & resistance”, featuring eight classic international gems, vibrating with reggae bass, beats, and power. Help us exercise the sound system in our new third theater with cult favorites like BABYLON, THE HARDER THEY COME, LOVERS ROCK, ROCKERS, alongside rarely screened must-sees like BURNING AN ILLUSION, REGGAE SUNSPLASH, and STEPPING RAZOR: RED X.

Co-presented by @dustygroove ! by @seventy______seven

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📰📰📰 An excellent interview with LKJ via the ‘Old Gray Lady’ The NY Times by the great @patmeschino ! Just posted today! Wonderful mentions of his upbringing in the parish of Clarendon, Jamaica; his influences, and his bass lines, which Linton wrote (not Dennis B!)
Two snippets here, but full link up in the story!:::

In “Dread Beat an Blood,” you explain that your poetic cadence is built around reggae bass lines. When writing, do you hear the bass line first or do the words dictate the musical flow?

I’ve always been interested in the language of music and the music in language. When I write my verse, I try to bring out the musicality within the language and I build everything around the bass lines. On my first three albums, “Dread Beat an Blood,” “Forces of Victory” and “Bass Culture,” my late school friend Vivian Weathers played bass and on a few tracks, it was Floyd Lawson. After that it was Dennis Bovell — Dennis was the producer, he did the mixing, and we worked out the songs’ arrangements together. People think Dennis’s bass lines are wonderful [laughs]. They’re my bass lines, but I couldn’t make them sound as good as he does.

You’ve said that your father was illiterate, your mother was semiliterate. Was there anyone around you that fostered your interest in poetry and writing?

No. My grandmother was illiterate, and she’d ask me to read the Bible to her. I got to like the language of the Old Testament, Psalms in particular. The interest in poetry came about later. As a Young Panther, I discovered African American literature. My original inspiration to become a poet came from W.E.B. Du Bois’s book “The Souls of Black Folk,” the political poetry of Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks and Amiri Baraka and the Last Poets. Their discourse was African American everyday speech, accompanied by percussion. I used to recite my poems with percussion in a group called Rasta Love, young Rasta guys I went to school with.

❤️🖤💚

#lintonkwesijohnson #LKJ #dreadbeatandblood #dubpoetry #francorosso taken in Film Forum by @seventy______seven

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From The Heartbeat: Roots, Reggae, & Resistance was such a remarkably heartfelt festival the opportunity alone to experience such impactful and poetic stories, art and history on a big screen in a new theater with such an incredible new sound system was unforgettable. So much 💓 to @musicboxchicago and @dustygroove for such a wonderful and thoughtful experience. 💞🙌🌺 taken in Music Box Theatre by @seventy______seven

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DREAD BEAT AN BLOOD in its Seattle Premiere TOMORROW eve Tue Sept 15 at @thebeaconsea!!! (Also showing this Wed & Thu Sept 16 & 17 at 4:30) Ticket🎟️Link in bio above!☝️
PLEASE spread the word and tell yr friends!
Hopefully this past summer’s Jimothy mania won’t preclude you Seattle folks from coming out to see it tomorrow eve, (e.g. fingers crossed that now yr not only watching “raccoon content.”)
This is a still from the film (natch!) with LKJ and friends walking in Brixton, about to go to the market. (As seen in the trailer!)

❤️🖤💚
🦝🦝🦝

#lintonkwesijohnson #LKJ #dreadbeatandblood #dubpoetry #dub taken in The Beacon Cinema by @seventy______seven

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📰📰📰…And the ne plus ultra @screenslate on Dread Beat an Blood, which “meditates on the insurgent spirit of Johnson’s music and poetry” and LKJ “whose voice has been fundamental to interpreting and presenting the political consciousness and vernacular of the 20th central Black freedom movement in the United Kingdom.” An excellent review by @lucysternbach! (Check stories for the link!) cc: @filmforumnyc

❤️🖤💚

#lintonkwesijohnson #LKJ #dreadbeatandblood #dubpoetry #francorosso taken in Film Forum by @seventy______seven

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Thursday night!

DREAD BEAT AN BLOOD
directed by Franco Rosso
1979, UK, 46m, DCP

L.A. premiere 2K restoration from the British Film Institute, released by @seventy______seven

followed by:

LINTON KWESI JOHNSON IN CONCERT
directed by Roger Thomas
1985, UK, 26m, DCP

Thursday July 30
8pm @2220arts

“A GEM... A portrait of the artist as principled activist.” -Sasha Frere-Jones, 4Columns

“If any young artists need to know about longevity and integrity, Linton Kwesi Johnson is the one to look to... He knew his path and he walked it. His words are still relevant and that reggae bass is still vibrating.” -Steve McQueen

We are thrilled to present this stunning verité documentary about the legendary dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson (LKJ)—which paints a vivid cinematic portrait of Brixton in the late 1970’s on the cusp of Thatcherism—paired with a rare concert film originally broadcast on British television. A member of the British Black Panthers, the 27-year-old LKJ we see on screen had already become an essential voice for British African-Caribbean youth, pioneering a genre known as dub poetry: militant passionate verse about the Black liberation struggle in Britain set to heavy dub. Originally screened at the Los Angeles Independent Film Exposition (FilmEx) in 1980 and unseen since its U.S. premiere, we are honored to revive DREAD BEAT AN’ BLOOD for L.A. audiences in a beautiful new restoration.

“One of the most powerful examples of the pervasive influence that Jamaican and reggae culture had on 1970s England.” -Ink 19

“Rosso kinetically documents LKJ’s live poetry and reggae performances; his recording and mixing sessions with producer Dennis Bovell (a reggae legend in his own right); and his activism, including a powerful protest for the unjustly imprisoned Black Briton George Lindo, about whom Johnson wrote “It Dread inna Inglan.” The film gained national attention when its TV premiere was delayed by the BBC until Margaret Thatcher was elected, so great was the concern about Johnson’s powers of persuasion.” -Seventy-Seven

In English and Jamaican patois. Special thanks to Gabriele Caroti (Seventy-Seven) and Pauline Kraatz. by @seventy______seven

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What a piece of art. Lovingly put together by @seventy______seven …Manifested with the weight of @lintonkwesijohnson and @dennisbovell ‘s legacies behind every note. @ital_counselor_music appreciations to all parties involved. by @seventy______seven

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A quick note that we have some special guests for Dread Beat an Blood at Film Forum! 🔊🔊🔊 The Sounds of Heaven selector/DJ, none other than @ayannaheaven from @thelotradio @thegoodting and much, much more will be introducing THIS FRIDAY’s 8:20pm show, and
@Cartervanpelt from @coneyislandreggae and WKCR’s @footstepsofreggae and @vprecords will introduce the SATURDAY 8:20p show! Please come and listen to their deep knowledge of LKJ before the film (they both interviewed him last fall)!
🎟️🔗in bio☝️ !

Ayanna Heaven is a Brooklyn-based DJ, radio host, and event producer whose sound is shaped by a life lived across key musical landscapes—from 1990s dancehall-era Jamaica to Atlanta during the rise of Southern hip-hop, and later New York City, where she studied Ethnomusicology at The New School. Blending deep musical scholarship with lived cultural experience, she hosts the monthly Sounds of Heaven on The Lot Radio and is a bi-weekly selector on WKCR’s Across 110th Street.

Carter Van Pelt has been a fixture on WKCR’s continuum of Saturday morning reggae programs for more than two decades. He is also the founder and producer and New York’s beloved Summer Soundsystem Series, including Reggae On The Boardwalk and Reggae Under The Bridge. A celebrated vinyl DJ (featured in Dust & Grooves Volume 2), he has curated dozens of releases for Queens-based VP Records, including the acclaimed Down In Jamaica box set.

❤️🖤💚

#lintonkwesijohnson #LKJ #dreadbeatandblood #dub #dubpoetry taken in Film Forum by @seventy______seven

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Just announced!

DREAD BEAT AN BLOOD
directed by Franco Rosso
1979, UK, 46m, DCP

L.A. premiere 2K restoration from the British Film Institute, released by @seventy______seven

followed by:

LINTON KWESI JOHNSON IN CONCERT
directed by Roger Thomas
1985, UK, 26m, DCP

Thursday July 30
8pm @2220arts

“If any young artists need to know about longevity and integrity, Linton Kwesi Johnson is the one to look to... He knew his path and he walked it. His words are still relevant and that reggae bass is still vibrating.” -Steve McQueen

We are thrilled to present this stunning verité documentary about the legendary dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson (LKJ)—which paints a vivid cinematic portrait of Brixton in the late 1970’s on the cusp of Thatcherism—paired with a rare concert film originally broadcast on British television. A member of the British Black Panthers, the 27-year-old LKJ we see on screen had already become an essential voice for British African-Caribbean youth, pioneering a genre known as dub poetry: militant passionate verse about the Black liberation struggle in Britain set to heavy dub. Originally screened at the Los Angeles Independent Film Exposition (FilmEx) in 1980 and unseen since its U.S. premiere, we are honored to revive DREAD BEAT AN’ BLOOD for L.A. audiences in a beautiful new restoration.

“One of the most powerful examples of the pervasive influence that Jamaican and reggae culture had on 1970s England.” -Ink 19

“A GEM... A portrait of the artist as principled activist.” -Sasha Frere-Jones, 4Columns

“Rosso kinetically documents LKJ’s live poetry and reggae performances; his recording and mixing sessions with producer Dennis Bovell (a reggae legend in his own right); and his activism, including a powerful protest for the unjustly imprisoned Black Briton George Lindo, about whom Johnson wrote “It Dread inna Inglan.” The film gained national attention when its TV premiere was delayed by the BBC until Margaret Thatcher was elected, so great was the concern about Johnson’s powers of persuasion.” -Seventy-Seven

In English and Jamaican patois. Special thanks to Gabriele Caroti (Seventy-Seven) and Pauline Kraatz. Flyer by @painrelieverfeverreducer by @seventy______seven

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Unveiling our new poster for DREAD BEAT AN BLOOD • just in time for the @filmforumnyc opening on July 24th! Thank you to the wonderful @gregmh for the beautiful design! He hearkened back to LKJ’s debut record with the Dynamo typeface. And we just love the still of Linton on the tube - and had to use it again for this! We have some more exciting announcements to come in the next few days • stay ‘chuned’! • but tickets are on sale NOW! 🎟️Link in bio!☝️

❤️🖤💚

#lintonkwesijohnson #LKJ #dreadbeatandblood #dubpoetry #dub taken in Film Forum by @seventy______seven

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