November 8, 2023 • 18 mins
Spike Lee, the iconic two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker, writer, and educator, is not only a revered figure in pop culture but also a dedicated collector. In this edition of The Uppity Knitter Podcast, Spike delves into his lifelong hobby and love for amassing contemporary art, which includes baseball cards, comic books, photographs, and film memorabilia. This remarkable collection is currently on public display in an exhibition hosted by the Brooklyn Museum.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, I'm sayu to Garrett and Uppity Knitter and host
of the Uppity Knitter podcast. Celebrity Hobbies Uncovered, a show
about your favorite celebrities and their unusual hobbies.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome. My guest today is.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Spike Lee, the legendary and two time Academy Award winning writer, director,
and educator. Spike has a long, long list of successful
film and TV and advertising credits, far too many to
report on this broadcast. Spike Lee's films have played such
an important role in how I see myself in the world.
(00:40):
His films have become a part of my generation's DNA,
and they've had a profound effect on my personal life.
Starting with one of his early films, She's Got to
Have It. He shot that in black and white in
twelve days. That movie helped me understand how men think
about women and how men think about sex, and and
(01:00):
the character Nola Darling's role reversal was so refreshing. I
thoroughly enjoyed it. It showed me that women can think
like a man.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Thank you, Steve Harvey.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Another one of his films that had an impact on
my young adult life was Spike's nineteen eighty eight school.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Days as a high school grad.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I didn't even think it was possible for me to
go to an historic black college or university. I mean,
the whole idea of sororities and fraternities with such a
foreign concept to me. But Spike made college life seem
like so much fun and at the same time, he
exposed the reality of colorism within the Black community. Man
(01:43):
and then and do the right thing. He goes even
further by focusing on the racial unrest in his own
Brooklyn neighborhood. The song fight the Power by Public Enemy
became synonymous with the movie then Spike Lee's film Malcolm X.
That caused me to reflect on my brief time as
(02:03):
a kid in the Nation of Islam. Yes, that's right,
I used to be an mg T Muslim Girls in Training.
That was serious, y'all. It was a great time in
my life. I enjoyed it so much, And y'all didn't know.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
That, did you.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
M In fact, at thirteen, I changed my name from
Deborah Christine to Saida, which means happiness, starlike and lucky.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Very important part of my growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Another one of Spike's films that impacted my thought process
was Jungle fever because.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
I happened to be dating a white guy at the time.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
And the conversations we had after seeing that movie together
were eye opening. I'm telling you, I was lucky enough
to be on set in Spike Lee's film The Sweet
Blood of Jesus, and I got to see him in
action doing what he does best, and I was able
to contribute a song to the soundtrack. Hey, Spike, thanks
(03:01):
for joining us and grazing us with your presence.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I'm sure you have a.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Million things to be here on the podcast of you
my system.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Thank you for joining us. You're one of my favorite
people on the planet, and anyone who knows me knows
that I when I truly like someone, got me beat.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Though, don't lie.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Who had you beat?
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Michael?
Speaker 1 (03:24):
I said, my favorite, one of my favorite people on
the planet.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Am I still with us?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
He's not.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
He's not on the planets, He's in the Ethos. He's
in the Ethos, he's in our.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Bound the planet. We'll work with that, okay.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Anyone who knows me knows that when I truly like someone,
I will give them a nickname. And that's why I
call you my dear Spike It Spike It Spike.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
It spiky or it's busy full disclosure.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Uh, Spike, You've interviewed me several times for your Michael
Jackson documentaries, and I've even made an acting appearance in
one of your films and wrote the entitled song for
one of your films, The Sweet Blood of Jesus, all
of which opportunities I'm so grateful.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
It happens.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Thank you for that.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
You're welcome, You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
We're here today, though, to talk about your hobbies and
when you're not writing and in front of or behind
the camera. Uh you say you collect baseball cards and
comic books.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
No, no, I said was I started collecting when I
was a mere chout in Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
I see.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Also, besides basebook is also Marvel comic books. So that's
why I started collecting. I was like seven, eight years old.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Can you share some of the rarest or most valuable
comic books that you own and what makes them so unique?
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I mean, it's for young men my generation. Our mothers
threw all that shit out. They threw out our comic books,
they threw it out, baseball cards, our basketball cards.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
So wow, we all love our mothers, but a lot
of shit out.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, that's a lot of money.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
There's the thing though, no one knew how valuable that
stuff would be twenty thirty forty fifty years later, nobody knew.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Did you start by looking at your collections as investments
as you became an adult and out of your boyhood collecting?
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Well I never started.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I never stopped collecting, but as I became in adulthood,
I knew that there's value in that stuff.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
And no one's gonna throw what.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I got now, No way, brother.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
I just like it's stuff that like.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Right now, I have an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. Yes, yes,
it's run until February. And if one goes to that,
I hope they do. You'll see that that it's like
a anthon of all the people I think that are, you.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Know, masters or greats, and not just.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Sports, for music, art, photography, a whole bunch of stuff
that which really reflects my interest, right, you know, I
can't leave out cinema too, of course.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
In fact, you're part of the.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Exhibit and Glenn Ballad, who are old writers of Man
in the Mirror, Yes, sir, hit for Michael Jackie.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
You hope you Glenn and yourself signed the sheet music.
I love that that is in the exhibition. Yay, yay.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
It's next to an album, the album cover which Michael
wanted but walked the int coff they squashed it. It
was a picture a portrait Michael with the veil lower's face.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Oh I remember that. Hell no, I remember.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
I remember that.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
It's like a net, like a like a doily, a
doiley or something.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
So I had the only copy of that.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
The guy that does the album cover, he gave it
to me. I love that it doesn't exists.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So that was the cover with Mike with the veil
number for the more the leather jacket but bad.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Wow, that's got to be a collector's item for sure.
As an artist, Bike, do you find any creative inspiration
in the imagery and design of of comic books or
baseball cards?
Speaker 4 (07:33):
No?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I mean that's just the sports. I mean I don't
have in this show. There's no comic books. M kind
of like or off, no dispect to Marvel, DC or
anybody else. Well, I definitely got a lot of baseball
cards basketball cards that are in part of my exhibition
at the Brooklyn Museum.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Is there a rare baseball card that do you want,
but you've been unable to find.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
I could find it.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
I'm just gonna not pay a million dollars, got it.
I'm not exaggerating, but I got a living. It was
like that. The highest grade is ten. So a ten,
that card rated ten is gonna cost more than one.
That's you know, one, two, three.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Four, five, got it?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
And that actually people they their job, the industry they grew.
All they do is great cards and deal with this,
you know with sports, you know, great autographs just still
makes us legit too nice.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Is your interest in collecting art? Uh, it's well known.
But does your art appreciation influence your filmmaking and create
a vision in any way?
Speaker 4 (08:47):
I wouldn't say that.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
But the people that I mean, the instruments that I have,
that those people inspire me.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
So I have a print guitar is gifted to.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Me from the Purple Wonder himself.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yes, trumpet players Terrence Blanchard and Wynton Marsalas. I have
the trumpets, got tennis sacks from Grand Marsalis for Dean White,
the great Basis of Earth and the Fire he get
to be a basis. Wow me a bass, you know,
dave a guitar Who's guitar? David byrn Oh, I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Can you share some stories from your experiences in the
art world, whether it's acquiring a piece or meeting a
particular artist that you admire.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Well, it's a combination of both.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Like photography, I have Richard Avedon, Irvin Penn, Gordon Parks,
James vanderzy Nice, you know, I love so there's a
section and the exhibitionist. There's strictly photography, and the great
great corpus of Muhammad Ali and Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra,
(10:03):
you know, just a whole Billy Holliday, Els, Gerald Stevie,
you know, just just the range of the you know
who those are, the people are in my miles, Davis Hendricks,
those people that are in my pantheon.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Nice. Wow, that's quite a collection.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Those aren't photos that you've taken, but photos that you've collected.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
No, No, I'm not a great photographer. Hell no, photography.
And those they are those the photo the photographs, the
portraits they have taken.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
That part of my show.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I see.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
How do you balance your filmmaking career with your passion
for collecting, and do these hobbies provide a creative escape
from the demands of the film industry.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
I wouldn't say creative escape, but in my editing rooms,
you know, all these great peace people looking at me
and I'm looking back in so you know, there's the
exchange of creativity with.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
The people who make the wall. You got to make
the wall.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
That's so true.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
One of the many reasons that you are so admired,
especially in the black community, is because you have a
very long and successful marriage to a beautiful and talented,
super smart sister, Tanya.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Yeah, we Tanya, we've been married. We just had a
thirty anniversary.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Whoa Hercules.
Speaker 6 (11:31):
Secondly, nobody's dead, nobody's in jail, nobody's on probation. I
love it not yet, congratulations Spike. That's that is quite
a feat man in Today's.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
In fact, that the gala we had that the opening
of the exhibition was a day after our anniversary, So
I brought tying up on stage. When did we did
a toast? Let let everybody know that, you know, we
had a third anniversary of the day before. I love you,
and I mean we missed if they mentioned that's a
large part of this exhibition is family too, oham. So
(12:11):
there's a great there's a great portrait that sister carry
Man Weeds took of Tanya and I and the family.
So family is represented in there too.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
That's gotta be precious. I love that.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
We'll be right back with more from the legendary filmmaker
Spike Lee. Welcome back. We're here with my brother from
another mother, Spikeage.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Spike Lee, do you.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
And Tanya share any hobbies? Card games or you know,
big whisked fades.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Like, don't cards? I don't play cards?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Okay, I guess there's a reason.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Because I saw a lot of my friends in morehouse
who was spending more time playing cards than studying a
class through So.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
That was that was one to me. I had to graduate.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I heard that.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
I heard that.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
You're also known to be a very strong father and
seriously involved in the lives of your two remarkable children,
your daughter.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
And Jackson's twenty six.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Oh you got grown people grown.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
You don't have the house too.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Oh, congratulations, you raised You've raised the mature adults.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
That's great.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Yeah, it was very very both very artistic.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
My daughter is in a grad school in Chicago for photography.
M an excuse man, and my son Jackson very good photography,
very very good.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
A drone operator.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
What?
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Yeah, so he's they both they both got it from
Tanya and I.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
That's just He has just finished a documentary called Aftershock,
which is nominated for Emmy, and it's about the high
numbers that black women died during pregnancy.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Wow. That's intense.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
How long was she working on that?
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Oh that that took? They were on fl four a year?
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Wow? When is it?
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Is it out?
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Is it coming?
Speaker 4 (14:13):
That's what you call it?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Not be t stars, No, it's like it's it's part
of Is I the Disney umbrella?
Speaker 4 (14:23):
She's gonna be mad at you when this comes.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Do you share any hobbies or activities with your grown
ass kids?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Your grown people?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
My son, I mean, I was a idea as a
father was supposed to do.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
So he's an avid New York Nicks.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Of course he is as he should be.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Spike.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I really enjoyed speaking to you, and I have one
other question.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
We end our podcast usually with a segment called Nitta.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
What I was in a niche hop with these.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Lovely little white ladies knitting, and I decided to join
them because I had had some time and I just
bought some yarns. So I sat down with them, and
the woman sitting next to me was knitting with something
really pretty.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
So I said, that's that's gorgeous. What are you knitting with?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
She said, oh, this is just cotton. Then she looked
at me and she said what are you knitting with?
I said, this is Kashmir. She said, oh, well, aren't
you an up?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
And he knitter?
Speaker 4 (15:27):
I said, what did you call me? She said, I
said nitter?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
I said knitter, And I'm thinking, bitch. You better pronounce
some teas.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
You can get a lot of trouble.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Well do you have a knitter? What experience?
Speaker 1 (15:47):
And if you do, can you wait? Can you deliver
it in your Mars Blackman voice.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
There's an article written about me and was a negative
review of one of my films, and it's said that
I had not graduated college, and I wrote a letter
to New York Times. They had correct that. Yes, indeed,
I mean not only did I graduate Morehouse, but my
(16:17):
father went to Morals, my grandfather went to Morels, and
my mother and grandmother went to Spelman.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Wow is your daughter going to Spelman? Is your son
going to Morehouse?
Speaker 4 (16:27):
They went to Yu.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
So I came along line and educated black folks. No,
and that's typical where we're not given the credit that
we deserve. But you know I'm not striving for that.
You know, I'm just doing my thing. But it's not
(16:50):
I mean, you tell me a story. It's not a
news flash that someone would say that to you, because
they did. They see it's as equal themselves. They're gonna
make it your statements like that.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
If you had seen the look on her face when
I said.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
What did you call me?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
She she realized what she said sounded like something else,
so she went beat red.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
It was too late when she said came out of
your mouth.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
You know you can't you can't take that back exactly.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Well, just with the story I just told you, I mean,
I never spoke to the person, but I had that.
Let the New York Times know that that was some bs.
And don't they have fact checkers, Hockey write that I
never graduated college.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Somebody didn't check nothing.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
So I just got I just rolled out of the
cotton patch a cotton nigga, and just big films from it.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
This has been an awesome pleasure, my friend.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
You and men will be well, will come to the show.
I'm come to the exhibition.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
We're coming to New York next week and we'll definitely
check you.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Out a SIS.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Take care, appreciate you man, have a great day.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Thank you so much for joining us on The Uppity
Knitter Podcast. Celebrity Hobbies Uncovered, a show where your favorite
celebrities talk about their unusual hobbies.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Join us next time, see you then.
Speaker 5 (18:21):
The Uppity Knitter Podcast is brought to you by Black
Chick Productions. Our show is hosted by Say To Garrett,
Our producer is Eric Neurie, and we're recorded and edited
by Felicia Morris at Morris Media Studios in Los Angeles.
Special thanks go out to our friends at iHeartMedia and
Seneca Women
Hello, I'm sayu to Garrett and Uppity Knitter and host
of the Uppity Knitter podcast. Celebrity Hobbies Uncovered, a show
about your favorite celebrities and their unusual hobbies.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome. My guest today is.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Spike Lee, the legendary and two time Academy Award winning writer, director,
and educator. Spike has a long, long list of successful
film and TV and advertising credits, far too many to
report on this broadcast. Spike Lee's films have played such
an important role in how I see myself in the world.
(00:40):
His films have become a part of my generation's DNA,
and they've had a profound effect on my personal life.
Starting with one of his early films, She's Got to
Have It. He shot that in black and white in
twelve days. That movie helped me understand how men think
about women and how men think about sex, and and
(01:00):
the character Nola Darling's role reversal was so refreshing. I
thoroughly enjoyed it. It showed me that women can think
like a man.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Thank you, Steve Harvey.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Another one of his films that had an impact on
my young adult life was Spike's nineteen eighty eight school.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Days as a high school grad.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I didn't even think it was possible for me to
go to an historic black college or university. I mean,
the whole idea of sororities and fraternities with such a
foreign concept to me. But Spike made college life seem
like so much fun and at the same time, he
exposed the reality of colorism within the Black community. Man
(01:43):
and then and do the right thing. He goes even
further by focusing on the racial unrest in his own
Brooklyn neighborhood. The song fight the Power by Public Enemy
became synonymous with the movie then Spike Lee's film Malcolm X.
That caused me to reflect on my brief time as
(02:03):
a kid in the Nation of Islam. Yes, that's right,
I used to be an mg T Muslim Girls in Training.
That was serious, y'all. It was a great time in
my life. I enjoyed it so much, And y'all didn't know.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
That, did you.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
M In fact, at thirteen, I changed my name from
Deborah Christine to Saida, which means happiness, starlike and lucky.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Very important part of my growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Another one of Spike's films that impacted my thought process
was Jungle fever because.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
I happened to be dating a white guy at the time.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
And the conversations we had after seeing that movie together
were eye opening. I'm telling you, I was lucky enough
to be on set in Spike Lee's film The Sweet
Blood of Jesus, and I got to see him in
action doing what he does best, and I was able
to contribute a song to the soundtrack. Hey, Spike, thanks
(03:01):
for joining us and grazing us with your presence.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I'm sure you have a.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Million things to be here on the podcast of you
my system.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Thank you for joining us. You're one of my favorite
people on the planet, and anyone who knows me knows
that I when I truly like someone, got me beat.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Though, don't lie.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Who had you beat?
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Michael?
Speaker 1 (03:24):
I said, my favorite, one of my favorite people on
the planet.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Am I still with us?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
He's not.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
He's not on the planets, He's in the Ethos. He's
in the Ethos, he's in our.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Bound the planet. We'll work with that, okay.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Anyone who knows me knows that when I truly like someone,
I will give them a nickname. And that's why I
call you my dear Spike It Spike It Spike.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
It spiky or it's busy full disclosure.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Uh, Spike, You've interviewed me several times for your Michael
Jackson documentaries, and I've even made an acting appearance in
one of your films and wrote the entitled song for
one of your films, The Sweet Blood of Jesus, all
of which opportunities I'm so grateful.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
It happens.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Thank you for that.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
You're welcome, You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
We're here today, though, to talk about your hobbies and
when you're not writing and in front of or behind
the camera. Uh you say you collect baseball cards and
comic books.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
No, no, I said was I started collecting when I
was a mere chout in Brooklyn.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
I see.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Also, besides basebook is also Marvel comic books. So that's
why I started collecting. I was like seven, eight years old.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Can you share some of the rarest or most valuable
comic books that you own and what makes them so unique?
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I mean, it's for young men my generation. Our mothers
threw all that shit out. They threw out our comic books,
they threw it out, baseball cards, our basketball cards.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
So wow, we all love our mothers, but a lot
of shit out.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, that's a lot of money.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
There's the thing though, no one knew how valuable that
stuff would be twenty thirty forty fifty years later, nobody knew.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Did you start by looking at your collections as investments
as you became an adult and out of your boyhood collecting?
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Well I never started.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I never stopped collecting, but as I became in adulthood,
I knew that there's value in that stuff.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
And no one's gonna throw what.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I got now, No way, brother.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
I just like it's stuff that like.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Right now, I have an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. Yes, yes,
it's run until February. And if one goes to that,
I hope they do. You'll see that that it's like
a anthon of all the people I think that are, you.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Know, masters or greats, and not just.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Sports, for music, art, photography, a whole bunch of stuff
that which really reflects my interest, right, you know, I
can't leave out cinema too, of course.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
In fact, you're part of the.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Exhibit and Glenn Ballad, who are old writers of Man
in the Mirror, Yes, sir, hit for Michael Jackie.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
You hope you Glenn and yourself signed the sheet music.
I love that that is in the exhibition. Yay, yay.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
It's next to an album, the album cover which Michael
wanted but walked the int coff they squashed it. It
was a picture a portrait Michael with the veil lower's face.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Oh I remember that. Hell no, I remember.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
I remember that.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
It's like a net, like a like a doily, a
doiley or something.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
So I had the only copy of that.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
The guy that does the album cover, he gave it
to me. I love that it doesn't exists.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So that was the cover with Mike with the veil
number for the more the leather jacket but bad.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Wow, that's got to be a collector's item for sure.
As an artist, Bike, do you find any creative inspiration
in the imagery and design of of comic books or
baseball cards?
Speaker 4 (07:33):
No?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I mean that's just the sports. I mean I don't
have in this show. There's no comic books. M kind
of like or off, no dispect to Marvel, DC or
anybody else. Well, I definitely got a lot of baseball
cards basketball cards that are in part of my exhibition
at the Brooklyn Museum.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Is there a rare baseball card that do you want,
but you've been unable to find.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
I could find it.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
I'm just gonna not pay a million dollars, got it.
I'm not exaggerating, but I got a living. It was
like that. The highest grade is ten. So a ten,
that card rated ten is gonna cost more than one.
That's you know, one, two, three.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Four, five, got it?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
And that actually people they their job, the industry they grew.
All they do is great cards and deal with this,
you know with sports, you know, great autographs just still
makes us legit too nice.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Is your interest in collecting art? Uh, it's well known.
But does your art appreciation influence your filmmaking and create
a vision in any way?
Speaker 4 (08:47):
I wouldn't say that.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
But the people that I mean, the instruments that I have,
that those people inspire me.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
So I have a print guitar is gifted to.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Me from the Purple Wonder himself.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yes, trumpet players Terrence Blanchard and Wynton Marsalas. I have
the trumpets, got tennis sacks from Grand Marsalis for Dean White,
the great Basis of Earth and the Fire he get
to be a basis. Wow me a bass, you know,
dave a guitar Who's guitar? David byrn Oh, I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Can you share some stories from your experiences in the
art world, whether it's acquiring a piece or meeting a
particular artist that you admire.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Well, it's a combination of both.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Like photography, I have Richard Avedon, Irvin Penn, Gordon Parks,
James vanderzy Nice, you know, I love so there's a
section and the exhibitionist. There's strictly photography, and the great
great corpus of Muhammad Ali and Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra,
(10:03):
you know, just a whole Billy Holliday, Els, Gerald Stevie,
you know, just just the range of the you know
who those are, the people are in my miles, Davis Hendricks,
those people that are in my pantheon.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Nice. Wow, that's quite a collection.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Those aren't photos that you've taken, but photos that you've collected.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
No, No, I'm not a great photographer. Hell no, photography.
And those they are those the photo the photographs, the
portraits they have taken.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
That part of my show.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I see.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
How do you balance your filmmaking career with your passion
for collecting, and do these hobbies provide a creative escape
from the demands of the film industry.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
I wouldn't say creative escape, but in my editing rooms,
you know, all these great peace people looking at me
and I'm looking back in so you know, there's the
exchange of creativity with.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
The people who make the wall. You got to make
the wall.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
That's so true.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
One of the many reasons that you are so admired,
especially in the black community, is because you have a
very long and successful marriage to a beautiful and talented,
super smart sister, Tanya.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Yeah, we Tanya, we've been married. We just had a
thirty anniversary.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Whoa Hercules.
Speaker 6 (11:31):
Secondly, nobody's dead, nobody's in jail, nobody's on probation. I
love it not yet, congratulations Spike. That's that is quite
a feat man in Today's.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
In fact, that the gala we had that the opening
of the exhibition was a day after our anniversary, So
I brought tying up on stage. When did we did
a toast? Let let everybody know that, you know, we
had a third anniversary of the day before. I love you,
and I mean we missed if they mentioned that's a
large part of this exhibition is family too, oham. So
(12:11):
there's a great there's a great portrait that sister carry
Man Weeds took of Tanya and I and the family.
So family is represented in there too.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
That's gotta be precious. I love that.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
We'll be right back with more from the legendary filmmaker
Spike Lee. Welcome back. We're here with my brother from
another mother, Spikeage.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Spike Lee, do you.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
And Tanya share any hobbies? Card games or you know,
big whisked fades.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Like, don't cards? I don't play cards?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Okay, I guess there's a reason.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Because I saw a lot of my friends in morehouse
who was spending more time playing cards than studying a
class through So.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
That was that was one to me. I had to graduate.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I heard that.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
I heard that.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
You're also known to be a very strong father and
seriously involved in the lives of your two remarkable children,
your daughter.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
And Jackson's twenty six.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Oh you got grown people grown.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
You don't have the house too.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Oh, congratulations, you raised You've raised the mature adults.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
That's great.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Yeah, it was very very both very artistic.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
My daughter is in a grad school in Chicago for photography.
M an excuse man, and my son Jackson very good photography,
very very good.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
A drone operator.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
What?
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Yeah, so he's they both they both got it from
Tanya and I.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
That's just He has just finished a documentary called Aftershock,
which is nominated for Emmy, and it's about the high
numbers that black women died during pregnancy.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Wow. That's intense.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
How long was she working on that?
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Oh that that took? They were on fl four a year?
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Wow? When is it?
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Is it out?
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Is it coming?
Speaker 4 (14:13):
That's what you call it?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Not be t stars, No, it's like it's it's part
of Is I the Disney umbrella?
Speaker 4 (14:23):
She's gonna be mad at you when this comes.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Do you share any hobbies or activities with your grown
ass kids?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Your grown people?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
My son, I mean, I was a idea as a
father was supposed to do.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
So he's an avid New York Nicks.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Of course he is as he should be.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Spike.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I really enjoyed speaking to you, and I have one
other question.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
We end our podcast usually with a segment called Nitta.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
What I was in a niche hop with these.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Lovely little white ladies knitting, and I decided to join
them because I had had some time and I just
bought some yarns. So I sat down with them, and
the woman sitting next to me was knitting with something
really pretty.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
So I said, that's that's gorgeous. What are you knitting with?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
She said, oh, this is just cotton. Then she looked
at me and she said what are you knitting with?
I said, this is Kashmir. She said, oh, well, aren't
you an up?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
And he knitter?
Speaker 4 (15:27):
I said, what did you call me? She said, I
said nitter?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
I said knitter, And I'm thinking, bitch. You better pronounce
some teas.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
You can get a lot of trouble.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Well do you have a knitter? What experience?
Speaker 1 (15:47):
And if you do, can you wait? Can you deliver
it in your Mars Blackman voice.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
There's an article written about me and was a negative
review of one of my films, and it's said that
I had not graduated college, and I wrote a letter
to New York Times. They had correct that. Yes, indeed,
I mean not only did I graduate Morehouse, but my
(16:17):
father went to Morals, my grandfather went to Morels, and
my mother and grandmother went to Spelman.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Wow is your daughter going to Spelman? Is your son
going to Morehouse?
Speaker 4 (16:27):
They went to Yu.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
So I came along line and educated black folks. No,
and that's typical where we're not given the credit that
we deserve. But you know I'm not striving for that.
You know, I'm just doing my thing. But it's not
(16:50):
I mean, you tell me a story. It's not a
news flash that someone would say that to you, because
they did. They see it's as equal themselves. They're gonna
make it your statements like that.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
If you had seen the look on her face when
I said.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
What did you call me?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
She she realized what she said sounded like something else,
so she went beat red.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
It was too late when she said came out of
your mouth.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
You know you can't you can't take that back exactly.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Well, just with the story I just told you, I mean,
I never spoke to the person, but I had that.
Let the New York Times know that that was some bs.
And don't they have fact checkers, Hockey write that I
never graduated college.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Somebody didn't check nothing.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
So I just got I just rolled out of the
cotton patch a cotton nigga, and just big films from it.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
This has been an awesome pleasure, my friend.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
You and men will be well, will come to the show.
I'm come to the exhibition.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
We're coming to New York next week and we'll definitely
check you.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Out a SIS.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Take care, appreciate you man, have a great day.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Thank you so much for joining us on The Uppity
Knitter Podcast. Celebrity Hobbies Uncovered, a show where your favorite
celebrities talk about their unusual hobbies.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Join us next time, see you then.
Speaker 5 (18:21):
The Uppity Knitter Podcast is brought to you by Black
Chick Productions. Our show is hosted by Say To Garrett,
Our producer is Eric Neurie, and we're recorded and edited
by Felicia Morris at Morris Media Studios in Los Angeles.
Special thanks go out to our friends at iHeartMedia and
Seneca Women
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