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Speaker 1: My next guest is on the phone. She is a

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Speaker 1: producer with a strong music background and director, known for

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Speaker 1: the remix Hip Hop Times Fashion, which is this year

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Speaker 1: her newest project. Also has worked on Precious was the

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Speaker 1: two thousand nine project and The Woods Wind, which is

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Speaker 1: a two thousand fourth project. The next project that she's

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Speaker 1: on the phone to talk about is The Apollo. We're

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Speaker 1: talking about the famous Apollo in Harlem. The Apollo weaves

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Speaker 1: together archival footage of music, comedy and dance performances, were

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Speaker 1: behind the scene footage of the team that makes the

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Speaker 1: theater ron. The film features interviews with such artists as

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Speaker 1: Angela Bassett, Common, Jamie Fox, Doug e Fress, Patty LaBelle,

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Speaker 1: Paul McCartney, Smokey Robinson and for Real. Apollo Debates Winsday

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Speaker 1: November six, So you have to watch it the documentary

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Speaker 1: on HBO. Gotta watch on HBO Debates Winsday November six

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Speaker 1: is also available on HBO Now, HBO Go and HBO

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Speaker 1: on Demand. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations. The first

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Speaker 1: time we've spoken, and I'm happy there will be a

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Speaker 1: many many conversations in the future. Please welcome to the show.

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Speaker 1: Lisa Cortez, Thank you very much. I am good too,

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Speaker 1: good as we say in Harlem. You know, the thing

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Speaker 1: about Lisa was this first time we talked. M I

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Speaker 1: always like to everybody kind of get a sense of

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Speaker 1: who I am interviewing. Uh, I get credits, and sometimes

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Speaker 1: the credits are narrowed down to the project that I'm

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Speaker 1: speaking of. He gives a little bit more about your

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Speaker 1: background before you really got into the film and television

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Speaker 1: side of your career. Uh. Yeah. I was very lucky

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Speaker 1: to uh start my professional career working at def Jam

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Speaker 1: and Rush in the olden age of hip hop, and

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Speaker 1: from there I went on to Mercury Records with at

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Speaker 1: x Stein and then ultimately had my own labeled PolyGram

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Speaker 1: called Loose Cannon Records. UM. After a certain time, I

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Speaker 1: think as I saw the changes that was happening in

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Speaker 1: the music business in the late nineties, a long time ago,

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Speaker 1: I decided I wanted to start making films because I

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Speaker 1: saw that the power of cinema could travel all over

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Speaker 1: the world and then a picture was truly worth a

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Speaker 1: thousand words. And after going back to film school and

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Speaker 1: kind of you know, starting from the ground up again,

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Speaker 1: I ended up working with Lee Daniels and was his

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Speaker 1: producing partner for ten years. Wow. And so let me

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Speaker 1: ask you this now, the Apollo now my background. Just

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Speaker 1: let everybody know, I'm a former stand up comic um

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Speaker 1: at a comedy club in Houston, Texas call the Hip

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Speaker 1: Hop Comedy Stop. I used to finnel talent to the

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Speaker 1: Amateur United. One of the famous features of the Apollo

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Speaker 1: is Amateur Unite, and they would take the show and

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Speaker 1: they'd be a part of the show. They would come

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Speaker 1: down the screen talent. So I just say that least

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Speaker 1: is that I'm excited to interview you because I feel

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Speaker 1: like I'm a part of the history that you're talking

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Speaker 1: about on this show because it expands eighty five years.

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Speaker 1: That's a lot to talk about in a documentary. Oh yeah.

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Speaker 1: And but to thing about what our director, Roger Ross

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Speaker 1: Williams has done is he's made those eighty five years

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Speaker 1: not only go by so quickly, but to evoke memories

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Speaker 1: that we all have. Everybody's got a connection to the Apollo.

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Speaker 1: If you've been there, if you've watched showtime, if you

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Speaker 1: have listened to great artists who were given their start there.

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Speaker 1: And so the history goes by so quickly but we

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Speaker 1: also talk about temporary stories of what is happening at

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Speaker 1: the Apollo. So this documentary is not a museum piece.

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Speaker 1: It is very much alive. When you say that, let's

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Speaker 1: let's talk about let's share a little bit more detail

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Speaker 1: about the directions, vision and telling this story, because you're

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Speaker 1: saying that, see what I because I would have an approach.

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Speaker 1: I would do Apollo about all the all the great

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Speaker 1: hosts that were there with show Time at Devolver Whoopi

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Speaker 1: Goldberg was host, Rickevellis when I was moved to New

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Speaker 1: York and eight. Rickevilis was the host at the time

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Speaker 1: for show Time at the Apollo that Martin Lauren Sindbad

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Speaker 1: and then when sim Bad left and Steve Harvey took

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Speaker 1: over and Monique took over, Kid read at the Anderson

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Speaker 1: to the whole constant was my girl, Kiki Shepherd. She

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Speaker 1: was always out there. She was the original I like

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Speaker 1: to call it Vanna White. Before Vanna White was always

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Speaker 1: Kiki Shepherd. That's a part of the story, But you're

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Speaker 1: not delving so much in that part of the story.

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Speaker 1: You're telling how the process worked at the Apollo and

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Speaker 1: the interviewing people involved. Well, we tell the history of

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Speaker 1: the Apollo as a very important place for the souls

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Speaker 1: of black folks. It was a place that you know,

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Speaker 1: at the top of the circuit, that welcomed us as

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Speaker 1: performers when other venues did not. It was the place, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, where dreams are born. And so the dot

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Speaker 1: mentory is about great moments like Billy Holiday performing Strange

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Speaker 1: Fruit there. It is a story. It's the stories of

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Speaker 1: Patti LaBelle talking about what it was to be a

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Speaker 1: black woman on the road in the segregated America and

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Speaker 1: what it meant to arrive at the Apollo and what

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Speaker 1: she and the Blue Bells learned there. So it is

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Speaker 1: great moments in the polo history. But it's also the

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Speaker 1: it's political. It is the intersection of how we as

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Speaker 1: black folks use our art to take to lift ourselves

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Speaker 1: out of oppression. But also our art is coded with

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Speaker 1: information on zillions and survival and so the documentary is

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Speaker 1: you know, it's clips of performers. It is you know,

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Speaker 1: when we talk about Amateur Night, we interviewed Miss Eva

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Speaker 1: and I think you remember Miss Eva was a lady

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Speaker 1: who said in the front row, how on everybody come on,

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Speaker 1: you know, and we talked to um, you know, Billy Mitchell,

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Speaker 1: the resident historian, and Joe Gray, you know, the head

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Speaker 1: of stage who's also the set it off man. We

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Speaker 1: you know, we're looking at the people who work at

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Speaker 1: the Apollo because they're as important to the story as

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Speaker 1: the artists who have graced the stage. In addition to

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Speaker 1: political politicians like you know, uh, Charles Wrangel who you

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Speaker 1: know went there as a young man, so uh and

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Speaker 1: Paul McCartney who said, you know, coming to America, that's

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Speaker 1: the first place the Beatles wanted to go, right. You know,

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Speaker 1: the Apollo is the crossroads. We know. It's really interesting

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Speaker 1: when I because you know, I've walked in Apolo. You know,

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Speaker 1: first of all, is bigger than life, because if you

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Speaker 1: walk into you go, okay, that's how big it really is.

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Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean that. But the process of getting

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Speaker 1: on that stage it's really interesting. You you have the

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Speaker 1: you have the audience. But when you walk on that

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Speaker 1: stage and you look at the audience, it's almost overwhelming

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Speaker 1: because there's so much history that comes. I was seeing

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Speaker 1: Prince on stage there. You know this thing you know,

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Speaker 1: you know, uh, James Brown recorded a live album at

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Speaker 1: the Apollo that became one of his biggest sellers. And

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Speaker 1: now the one of the parts of the Apollo that

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Speaker 1: stood out the most was Amateur Night. And I've reason

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Speaker 1: to say that is that how important was amateur Night

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Speaker 1: to the history of the Apollo venue. Amateur Night is

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Speaker 1: so important in ur the theater open Ella Fitzgerald is

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Speaker 1: an amateur night that just goes to show you the

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Speaker 1: soap of and depths of the talent that was given

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Speaker 1: an opportunity there. Amateur Night is also interesting because the

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Speaker 1: first time, you know, Lauren Hell performed as a young girl,

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Speaker 1: she was booed off the stage. What is unique about

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Speaker 1: the Apollo is that the audience is in on it.

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Speaker 1: The audience and the performer have a unique conversation because

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Speaker 1: the Apollo is church and so there's very few places

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Speaker 1: that you entertainment venues that you're going to have the

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Speaker 1: kind of call and response between the performer and the

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Speaker 1: audience in the way that you do at the Apollo. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's really important that you say that. Let

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Speaker 1: me read something about the Apollo has served as a

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Speaker 1: launch path for such legendary talents like you mentioned Billie Holiday,

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Speaker 1: Aretha Franklin that you just mentioned Ellaphus Gerald, the Supreme,

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Speaker 1: Stevie Wonder, Jimmie Hendrix, Smokey Robinson, Ray Charles, Patty Lebert

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Speaker 1: who's been interviewed in the documentary showcase, comedians such as

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Speaker 1: Red Fox, Dick, Gregory, Dick Gregory, Richard Pryor, the great

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Speaker 1: incredible Mars Maylie. I hope somebody does a movie on

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Speaker 1: her one day Moms mainly incredible actor Jamie Fox, and

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Speaker 1: you interviewed Jamie Fox in the documentary talked to us

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Speaker 1: about that. We also have clips from Moms mainly and

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Speaker 1: did Gregory and Richard Pryor and Chris rock Um. You

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Speaker 1: know that speak to the unique connection that comedians had

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Speaker 1: with the theater, but also what it is how we

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Speaker 1: use comedy um in a very unique way right now.

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Speaker 1: The interesting thing about it, are you able to talk

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Speaker 1: about the origin of the buoy? Yes, we we talked

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Speaker 1: about because they're not that right there, Miss Evil. It was,

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Speaker 1: it was awesome, But the booing is what the what?

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Speaker 1: What was separated uh the talent from the wanna be talent?

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Speaker 1: That what That's what you walked on stage with this

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Speaker 1: with this fear that you can be rejected massively by

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Speaker 1: room full of people which can crush some people are

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Speaker 1: just make them determined to come back and show these

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Speaker 1: people that I'm better than what you think that I

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Speaker 1: just talk to talk to us about the origin of

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Speaker 1: the boot. Well, you know, I mean, we um the

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Speaker 1: power of the booth. That is, we spent some time

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Speaker 1: with I want to talk too much because I want

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Speaker 1: people to see this absolutely, absolutely, absolutely absolute, but we

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Speaker 1: definitely get into the power of the boot and the

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Speaker 1: place that it has played with artists. Even Jamie Fox

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Speaker 1: talks about, you know, his experience there. I remember his experience.

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Speaker 1: I was actually there on the side of the stage,

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Speaker 1: so I I know about that. I know about a

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Speaker 1: lot of these famous people as a comedian. See the

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Speaker 1: thing about it is that Apollo UM. As a I

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Speaker 1: never I wasn't bold enough to get out there. I'm

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Speaker 1: admitted everybody. I didn't. I didn't I had the opportunity

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Speaker 1: to go in front of this day. It was something

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Speaker 1: about New York, the fact I remember one time Um,

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Speaker 1: because I was like, I moved in New York in

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Speaker 1: and I used to go through Apollo and watch and

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Speaker 1: you know, amateur night, and I remember you catched the

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Speaker 1: subway downtown because Apolos on a hundred s and so,

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Speaker 1: and I remember it was it was this guy he

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Speaker 1: got booed on stage. He had a red suit on

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Speaker 1: and he was sitting on he was sitting on the

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Speaker 1: on the subway and it's like a group of like

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Speaker 1: five people walked up to him. They said, excuse me,

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Speaker 1: all you two dude who were just performing at the Apollo.

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Speaker 1: He said yes, and they went boo. Interesting, Lisa, they

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Speaker 1: booed him from A hundred and five the forty second. Okay,

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Speaker 1: they booed that young man. So I don't know if

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Speaker 1: he ever want that red suit again, but I was

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Speaker 1: just letting you know the power of the boot left

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Speaker 1: the building with them. Okay, we're gonna wrap up this

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Speaker 1: segment right quick, Lisa. We will wrap up this second

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Speaker 1: right quick, and want to continue with some great interviews.

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Speaker 1: Is an amazing interview about that as the documentary about

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Speaker 1: to Apollo this uh uh that's premiering November six on

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Speaker 1: HBO uh HBO streaming Networks. Quartet Production is the people

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Speaker 1: who producing this project, The Apollo documentary about an amazing

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Speaker 1: venue that has changed lives even today. Hi, this is

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Speaker 1: Rashan McDonald and you're listening to money making conversations. We're

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Speaker 1: talking about the documentary, Uh, The Apollo. Uh. We're on

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Speaker 1: the phone with the producer, Lisa Cortez Lusa. How are

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Speaker 1: you doing. I'm great. How are you I'm doing fine.

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Speaker 1: I'm really excited because you're talking about a piece of history,

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Speaker 1: entertainment history, the Apollo. I've been fortunate too. I lived

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Speaker 1: in New York and eight in ninety as a stand

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Speaker 1: up comic. I was pursuing a career as a stand

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Speaker 1: up comic when I was living in New York, so

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Speaker 1: it has to go over there and watch Amateur Night.

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Speaker 1: And then I moved back to New York and two

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Speaker 1: thousand five as a seven when I was managining Steve

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Speaker 1: Harvey and we were we launched our radio broadcast network

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Speaker 1: So I've seen the transition in the in the process

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Speaker 1: because when I was managing Steve, he actually managed was

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Speaker 1: seven years. I believe he was the host of the

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Speaker 1: TV version of Showtime at the Apollo. So I was

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Speaker 1: always at that facility. And a lot of the names

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Speaker 1: that you're talking about are people that I'm familiar with,

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Speaker 1: but I asked you now the question I've asked, why

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Speaker 1: this story? Now you know why. Well, you know, it

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Speaker 1: was amazing for us to discover that there had been

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Speaker 1: a documentary about the Apollo. So many greats from dance, vocalists,

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Speaker 1: comedian has, you know, like everybody, politicians have been there

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Speaker 1: and it's a mecca, and it was kind of like,

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Speaker 1: this is a story that is so rich and it

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Speaker 1: is continuing to grow and evolve as the theater becomes

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Speaker 1: a place where new productions are being created. So one

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Speaker 1: of the things we do in the film is we

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Speaker 1: map the production and presentation of a special stage reading

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Speaker 1: of Tana Hatzi Coats is between the World and Me

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Speaker 1: that the Apollo created. You know, Tana Hassi is our

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Speaker 1: James Baldwin and this piece with music by Jason Moran

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Speaker 1: is serious and Apollo created this. So you know, it's

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Speaker 1: that place where are African American creativity. Our conversations are

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Speaker 1: held in such reverence. Now it's really interesting because you know,

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Speaker 1: we were upbeat and to my understand the documentary and

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Speaker 1: we're not trying to tell the story of the document

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Speaker 1: We want people to watch the show. When Your premiers

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Speaker 1: November six on HBO, it's important to people understand it.

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Speaker 1: But you want to talk about the good times and

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Speaker 1: the bad times at the Apollo, correct, Yes, we do.

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Speaker 1: We take people through the opening, the challenges that's the

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Speaker 1: theater uh faced, and then the incredible solution that the

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Speaker 1: theater has found that has placed it in this really thriving,

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Speaker 1: prosperous place. The film is also about African American history,

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Speaker 1: because you cannot separate the two. You know, our entertainment

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Speaker 1: does not come from a bubble. Our entertainment that we

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Speaker 1: create comes from both our joy and our pain, and

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Speaker 1: we use it as a means of expressing ourselves now.

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Speaker 1: And I'm pretty sure you know Apollo is anonymous with music,

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Speaker 1: Uh in a creative collaborative collaborators on the music. Let's

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Speaker 1: talk about you come into the project, Lisa, because to understand,

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Speaker 1: white Horse Production is to is the company that is

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Speaker 1: producing my House pictures, excuse me, is producing the project.

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Speaker 1: How was How did you get involved in the project, Lisa? Uh?

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Speaker 1: You know I ran into the director, Roger Ross Williams.

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Speaker 1: We've always wanted to work together, and he said, you know,

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Speaker 1: at least I've come on this new project. Uh. And

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Speaker 1: what are you up to? You live in Harlem, background

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Speaker 1: music industry. You know, let's let's come to you know,

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Speaker 1: can you join the team. And I was like, can

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Speaker 1: I start right now? It was such a delight because

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Speaker 1: I've been going to the theater since i was a child.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's really important when you when you start

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Speaker 1: telling the story, you're interviewing the right people, getting the

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Speaker 1: right people on camera who have have an emotional connection

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Speaker 1: to the people. I know, we talked about Jamie Fox,

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Speaker 1: You mentioned Paul McCartney, who are are something that other

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Speaker 1: people that were interviewed for are describing special moments at

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Speaker 1: the Apollo for the documentary. Oh wow, um, Dougie Fresh

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Speaker 1: and Dougie is amazing, you know, and it connects us

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Speaker 1: to that whole time with the role that the theater

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Speaker 1: played in presenting hip hop when a lot of other

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Speaker 1: venues were not doing that. Angela Bassett Um we spoke

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Speaker 1: with Miss Bassett of course, Smokey Robinson, Patti LaBelle Farrell,

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Speaker 1: williams Uh, the incredible Camilla Fours, the executive producer now

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Speaker 1: at the theater. So you got Leslie Uggins is here,

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Speaker 1: Oh Leslie. We talk about the history of dance there,

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Speaker 1: so you know, we just everyone uh just gave was

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Speaker 1: so generous with their time and with their memories. And

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Speaker 1: and Miss Patty Labell, you know, she invited us to

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Speaker 1: her home and just she took care of us. You know,

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Speaker 1: we're here to interview and take care of you. Miss

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Speaker 1: Patty is like, no, sit down and get comfortable. She's

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Speaker 1: that person. You know. It's really interesting when you have

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Speaker 1: all this footage and we kind of hit on it

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Speaker 1: early on with eighty five years and you said, Roger,

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Speaker 1: the director had had a vision of it. What was

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Speaker 1: your you know, like I said, you came on board

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Speaker 1: of the project, project was moving forward. You came on

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Speaker 1: to the very instrumental person. How did you you know,

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Speaker 1: I look at Marvel Marvel and they put all these storyboards.

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Speaker 1: They said, we're gonna start here, We're gonna start here.

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Speaker 1: How did you start pulling, pulling all this, putting all

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Speaker 1: this together? You know, roughly less than two hours the documentary.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot going on, at least I gotta keep

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Speaker 1: saying that because it's a lot. There's so many different

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Speaker 1: ways you could have taken a story and how you

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Speaker 1: know what what y'all just shooting down idea? Now we're

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Speaker 1: not gonna do that. How did this out of this

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Speaker 1: whole process start evolving to being shot? And this is

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Speaker 1: how we're gonna tell the story beginning, middle, and end.

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Speaker 1: I really need to clearly understand that I want to

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Speaker 1: not saying that you're not doing that, but I really

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Speaker 1: want to let people know this is eighty five years

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Speaker 1: this is the legendary facility that's still open today creating stars.

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Speaker 1: You know, this this story is is um It's big,

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Speaker 1: and there were many stories that we wanted to tell

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Speaker 1: that time did not allow for. You know, in the

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Speaker 1: process of producing is really you know, led by the

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Speaker 1: north star that the director sets. And so once we

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Speaker 1: have the north star of we're going to create different

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Speaker 1: timelines in the edit room, and we're gonna look at

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Speaker 1: major moments in the Apollo history, major moments in African Americans, okay,

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Speaker 1: American history and musical history. How do they intersect? One

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Speaker 1: are the moments that stand bright, you know when you

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Speaker 1: think of what is happening to black folks in the thirties.

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Speaker 1: When Billie Holiday goes and sings Strange Fruits on the

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Speaker 1: stage of the Apollo, she's singing a protest song, you know,

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Speaker 1: and so it becomes more than the song, more than

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Speaker 1: Billie Holiday. It becomes a very big part of our history.

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Speaker 1: And so, uh, how does it happen? We have a

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Speaker 1: great team. I worked with two other producers, Genie Alfon,

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Speaker 1: Sesta Cassidy Hartman. We had incredible editors, got Jene Chen

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Speaker 1: and John Fisher, Amazing music supervisors Dondi Bastone, Gilly Rockwell,

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Speaker 1: and and so many other people. Um, if you look

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Speaker 1: at the credits, our credits go for like seven minutes

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Speaker 1: because there is an amazing theme, you know, an archival

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Speaker 1: producer to help us find footage and what was most

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Speaker 1: that person was busy for love Central. This is a

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Speaker 1: love song to the Apollo, to the place that it

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Speaker 1: holds not only for African Americans, but to the world. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: it's such a recognized iconic and it's really just you know,

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Speaker 1: I like have been moved to New York and eight eight,

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Speaker 1: so I've seen that only the community change around the Apollo,

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Speaker 1: you know, in the gentrification that's set in, and it's

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Speaker 1: the atmosphere is different, how people shop around their Apollo

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Speaker 1: is just a whole different atmosphere around it, which doesn't

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Speaker 1: diminish what the Apollo is it just shows you, even

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Speaker 1: with change, it stays the Apollo. It stays in an

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Speaker 1: iconic place where you can see talent on amage and

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Speaker 1: night today. You know, still there going stage, they still

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Speaker 1: boo there. You still see great shows, play eas are

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Speaker 1: being done there. A lot of great touring events are

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Speaker 1: being done there. Major superstars are still recording comedy. Uh.

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Speaker 1: Not only just African American talent, but also white talent

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Speaker 1: is also performing in booking themselves at the Apollo. Before

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Speaker 1: we get off the air, though, Lisa, you have another

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Speaker 1: project that I want to be remissing not having you

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Speaker 1: talk about is called Hip Hop Times Fashion. Tell us

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Speaker 1: about that. Let let's talk about there for a couple

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Speaker 1: of minutes. Well, it's called the remix hip Hop Times Fashion,

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Speaker 1: and it's the story of the women behind the scenes

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Speaker 1: in hip hop fashion who created not only the looks

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Speaker 1: that changed how we express ourselves, but it also are

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Speaker 1: the looks that them went to the runway until we

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Speaker 1: talked to people like Missa Hilton, the style architects who

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Speaker 1: created those incredible looks for Missy Elliott and Mary and

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Speaker 1: Little Kim, April Walker Walker Ware and of course Dapper Dan,

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Speaker 1: you know who started built was the one with the

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Speaker 1: little famous outfit for a little Kim on that with

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Speaker 1: Dinah Ross, right, yeah, with the v H one, right

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Speaker 1: with the oh yeah, oh yes. I just won't let

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Speaker 1: everybody know how iconic that moment was. I actually interviewed

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Speaker 1: on money Making Conversations on Bear for me to laugh

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Speaker 1: about it a lot. So so she was, and she

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Speaker 1: also has a fashion schooled up in New York as well.

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Speaker 1: It's really popular as well. So yeah. So that's a

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Speaker 1: project I produced and co directed with Fara Khalite, Fara

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Speaker 1: X and Uh. It will be coming to a streaming service.

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Speaker 1: I will be able to announce shortly um next year.

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Speaker 1: It's going to be out in the world. We've had

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Speaker 1: a great run at festivals. We've won many awards as

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Speaker 1: the best documentary. And I love it because I was

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Speaker 1: a woman in hip hop and I've seen so many

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Speaker 1: hip hop documentaries that really leave out the story of

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Speaker 1: the contributions of women behind the scenes. And you know,

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Speaker 1: we've been there from the beginning when Cool her through

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Speaker 1: that party and he dj as for the very first time,

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Speaker 1: his sister through the party. His sister sold the tickets.

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Speaker 1: So I think it's important in looking at our hip

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Speaker 1: hop history, that we make certain that a place is

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Speaker 1: set at the table for the contributions of women. My friend.

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Speaker 1: First of all, you know you have love on this show.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for producing. The Apollo Again airs on November

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Speaker 1: six on HBO and all its streaming channels, HBO to

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Speaker 1: own Demand as well. Lisa, when your next project comes out,

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Speaker 1: the Remix, please come back. I know it's next year,

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Speaker 1: but keep us on your calendar. I want to continue

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Speaker 1: to promote the brand of Lisa Cortez, an exciting talent.

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Speaker 1: You're very creative with your music background and now you're

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Speaker 1: in the film. You can only keep winning again. Thank

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Speaker 1: you for coming on money they can come say thank you,

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Speaker 1: Lisa Cortez. Thank you