Soapy Films presents
About the Show
Kevin Diehl,
Executive Producer
Imagine
a cooking show like Emeril Live with its high production values:
a great set, a live studio audience, and a lively band to play in and
out of show segments. But instead of Emeril, the host is Bobby Seale,
founding chairman and national organizer of the Black Panther Party; the
studio audience is a diverse crowd of Philadelphians; and the band is
Deep Space Posse led by Tyrone Hill of Sun Ra Arkestra. Engaging, eloquent
and funny, Seale, the author of Bar-b-que’n with Bobby, weaves
socio-political and historical commentary throughout this half-hour, down-home
cooking show which premiered as part of WYBE Public TV's Philadelphia
Tuesday July 15.
Barbeque with Bobby Seale was taped in front of a live audience. In addition to the hosts Bobby and Leslie Seale, there is a live studio band under the direction of Sun Ra Arkestra member, Trombonist, Tyrone Hill. Tyrone leads his ensemble, the Deep Space Posse, in and out of show segments as they play his Barbeque with Bobby Seale Theme.
Historical photos are provided by late Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones. This San Fransico husband and wife team were the foremost photographic chroniclers of the Black Panthers. Their work "The Black Panthers 1968: photographs by Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones" is currently on exhibit at University of California, Berkeley Art Museum (see NYTimes Sunday May 25, 2003,)
As mainstream media covered the sensational aspects of the Black Panther Party in the 60’s and 70’s, many are not aware of the Panthers’ history of social support in urban communities. While Barbeque with Bobby Seale is a cooking show that demonstrates culinary arts and entertains, it also imparts some of the Black Panthers’ rich history.