Producer Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, while editing the Oscar-winning film 'When We Were Kings,' took note of the hundreds of hours of footage not being used. It's that footage -- which documents the musical concert that was also a part of the 1974 'Rumble in the Jungle' heavyweight championship boxing fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire -- that's now become his directorial debut film, 'Soul Power.'

"I knew there was this amazing repository," Levy-Hinte tells Spinner. "If it wasn't made into a film it would essentially be unwritten history."

The film, beautifully edited and digitized, features performances by James Brown, B.B. King, Celia Cruz and Miriam Makeba, among others, as well as a few shots of the notorious Don King, who promoted both the fight and the concert. But it's not just a concert movie. It's a film that highlights the event's evolution, African culture and the importance of music -- soul music.

• Tom Waits cover girl Scarlett Johansson also covers the Cure's 'Boys Don't Cry' on a new iTunes Live EP.
  

• James Brown's possessions, including a red jumpsuit, a circular green sofa and hair curlers once owned by the late Godfather of Soul, will be auctioned off by Christie's in New York.
  

• The Jones Experience, described as "a big show in an intimate venue," is what Nas is calling his headlining tour starting this month, featuring guests Talib Kweil, Jay Electronica and DJ Green Lantern.

• Sebastien Grainger, former drummer and singer of Death from Above 1979, has signed to Saddle Creek.

Seun Anikulapo Kuti is looking a bit professorial in his black and white dashiki and black-rimmed spectacles, sitting at a table and discoursing on the persistent, oppressive colonial impact on Africa revolving around oil, trade deals and imposed religion.

It's rather a contrast from how he seemed a scant 30 minutes or so earlier: shirtless, specs-less and sweaty and shaking his tail feather with quite a fury in front of what is certainly the funkiest, most powerful Afrobeat ensemble in the known universe -- while discoursing on the persistent, oppressive colonial impact on Africa revolving around oil, trade deals and imposed religion.

It's a fittingly hot Summer Solstice eve, if not quite Lagos-level swelter, on which Kuti and the band Egypt '80 -- the band that played with his ultra-iconic father Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the late warrior king of Afrobeat and, not randomly, the subject of the very first Around the World column in April 2007 -- are kicking off their first full U.S. tour, coinciding with the release of Kuti's debut album. The setting is the California Plaza in downtown Los Angeles, home of the annual, global-minded summer series of free Grand Performances events. The stage is nestled among hotel, apartment and office towers with a shallow concrete pond between the band and the pack-in crowd and a dancing-waters fountain behind the group shooting spurts 30 ... 40 ... 50 feet high, in time with the heavily rhythmic music as a backdrop.

Artist: James Brown
Songs: 'There Was a Time' (Kenny Dope Remix)
Album: 'Verve Remixed Vol. 4' [iTunes]
Sounds Like: Earth Wind and Fire, Lee Fields

Download: 'There Was a Time' (Kenny Dope Remix) (MP3)

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On This Date in 1988: James Brown is released on bond after spending the night in an Aiken, S.C. jail on various drugs and weapons charges. He was arrested after leading the police in an interstate car chase.

The Almanac Advises for May 19: "When embarking on a long road trip, be aware of what provisions you may need to make the journey comfortable and which you can leave behind. Pack lightly, and keep in mind that you can purchase essential goods either at road stops or in your destination city.'

• Bootsy Collins is launching a tour, dubbed 'A Tribute to James Brown,' with alumni from Brown's J.B.'s on the bill.

• Mates of State will release a new album, titled Re-Arrange Us,' on May 20. The duo will kick off a tour in support of the new album on May 16 in New Haven, Connecticut.
  

• My Bloody Valentine have added several dates to their reunion tour this summer, including a handful of North American shows.

• Blondie will release an expanded 30th Anniversary Edition of their classic 'Parallel Lines' album on June 24. In addition, the band will kick off a summer tour in celebration of the milestone, beginning June 5 in Baltimore.

On This Date in 1933: James Brown, christened James Joseph Brown Jr., is born is Barnwell, S.C.

The Almanac Advises for May 3: "A godfather is a male adult who is chosen to stand in for a parent. The godfather's role is often to take a strong hand in the development of the youngsters in his charge. The term also has underworld connotations connected to its use in the Mario Puzo novel 'The Godfather,' about a Mafia crime boss."