Thunder Soul [HD]

LOVE IT!
I've seen this documentary twice in documentary festivals and love it! Great storytelling and fantastic music. I'm so excited it will be released soon as a DVD so I can share it with friends.
This is a tale of a high school reunion and friends reunited - laughing about their hair in high school and telling stories of what they have done for the last 40 years. It is a thank you to music in schools and a special teacher who touched so many students' lives. It is a part of the history of the US and of funk music. You'll laugh and cry - and leave dancing to the music in your head. Well worth watching over and over again. (and there's a CD of the original music!)

This 93-year old band teacher gives his students R-E-S-P-E-C-T and they return it with musicianship
Much like the award-winning documentary "Drumline", "Thunder Soul" shows how a strong-willed and loving teacher can truly "make a difference" in the lives of children living in the poorer or more crime-ridden areas of a city. This 88-minute film (produced in 2010) focuses on the Kashmere (Texas) High School Stage Band and it's music director Conrad "Prof" Johnson. One of the most award-winning stage bands in the country, Kashmere's band only existed because of "Prof". He ran the coed musical aggregation of black students in this ward in Houston, with a "tough love" and a code of conduct and respect. And the students we hear from in the many interviews let us know that, with out Prof's support and guidance they'd probably be using, or selling, drugs today.

The action which forms the core of the film takes place in 2008 when a couple of band alumni from the 1971-4 period - just before Prof retired - decide to find all the old band members - now scattered around the country,...

The value of a good teacher
In the wake of negative commentary that has overtaken the media in discussions about the state of American education, this documentary puts the spotlight on the value of a good teacher. It demonstrates how years after we exit our school aged years, we can look back and identify the teachers who used their talents to mold us as students into responsible, caring, and empathetic adults. There's no mention of test scores but what teachers provided was invaluable and not easily measured. Thundersoul should be seen by a wide audience since it's message holds so much more insight than the more popular Waiting for Superman. It demonstrates how Superman does exist in classrooms across our nation.

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