As late as a week ago I was trying to figure out , how to incorporate some of Don Cornelious' success and ideas into the live events of The Music And Entertainment Report. Hey if you are going to "steal"? "Steal" from the best. Let's look back to what the world he stepped into was like.
Imagine a world with no internet, no MTV and no cable, and no Black Music TV Shows.
ENTER THE DON!
Mr. Cornelious was able to flip his job as a DJ , into a local TV show....
Before you knew it.
He had connected Black People coast to coast. From Watts to Harlem. From Houston to Detroit.
That is not to say that white people didn't watch either.
But in a very real sense Mr. Cornelious created the urban TV market. And not the glorified Minstrel Show we see today on black cable stations.
I am still amazed that he had the vision to connect up his show with Johnson Hair Care Products.
If you called Soul Train, The Afro-Ceen Show, you would not be wrong.
Watching Soul Train in the 70's was full of teachable music moments, where America learned the names of the Jacksons' not named Michael, where America learned to do the bump, where America could all be cool for one hour.
Today when I reflect on Soul Train...the teachable moments are about turning your talent into a business, how to build your business into an empire and how to connect your empire with other powerful businesses so that you all enjoy The Peace, The Love, The Soul.
If we learned nothing from Mr. Cornelious during the 1970's or about business. Let us all remember and not pass up the lesson that DEPRESSION is real. That MONEY does not BUY YOUR WAY OUT OF DEPRESSION.
How ironic is it that the man who gave us so many hours of PEACE, LOVE AND SOUL.
Did not have enough when HE NEEDED IT MOST.
THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER LIKE HIM. AND THE WORLD IS TRULY POORER for his passing.
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