American Soul

Oh. I'm sorry.

- Next time. Bye. - Don.

- You shitting me? - No, national syndication.

14 cities. All we need is a top ten act.

Now, they want us by fourth quarter.

Yeah, which means we're behind schedule.

Well, I could expedite production, uh,

buy a bigger piece of the show, if that helps.

What, 50% isn't enough?

I'll have my share, George, don't you worry.

Hey, what about the act? I mean, Eddie's cool,

but Eddie Kendricks without The Temptations

is just Eddie Kendricks.

Yeah, well, Thursday I'm in L.A. to meet the dance coordinator.

Thursday night, I sit down with the godfather himself.

Oh, James Brown?

- Now who's shitting who? - Five, four, three...

All right, Chi-Town, it's that time we go from fast to slow.

Let's give a warm Soul Train welcome

to one of my favorite groups, Chicago's very own...

...the Chi-Lites.

What's that, Dad?

What's so important that you'd call in a favor

to attend our humble rehearsal?

I need dancers. Good ones.

Start with Franklin and Kasey.

Simone is a gift.

Almost as good as you were.

Careful. She might actually believe the dreams you sell.

Hey, baby.

Hey. You did great.

Thank you.

Eh, somebody might see.

And you jailbait.

Well, I won't tell if you won't.

You seem to forget your daddy carry a gun.

He a big old teddy bear.

Yeah. With a gun.

Don't forget the audition tomorrow.

I'm-a try to get off work early.

Don't try, okay? Be there.

Heavy monsoon weather covered

much of South Vietnam today,

reducing U.S. air strikes

over the south...

How many cities?

- 14. - 14!

- Baby! - 14 cities, national syndication.

- Yes! - We did it, baby.

All we need is a top ten act to make it official.

And George needs his share of the seed money by Monday.

But now, look, Don,

look, we both agreed that the emergency fund was off-limits.

-Baby, baby, look. This, this is the dream, right? -N-No...

This is it. We did it, baby. This is the dream.

But Don, we're barely making ends meet now.

Mmm.

This is the worst-kept secret of all time.

- Go away, Kendall. - I'd love to,

but Mom wants you home.

Your turn to cook.

- Call me later. - Yeah.

Aww, come here, nephew.

I will buy you a mansion.

All right? I'll buy you a mansion in every single state.

All right.

I won't touch the emergency fund.

...Now you talking.

Mwah.

-Mm. -All right, look now, w-where are the boys?

Well, you know, they at Mama's.

- Mm-hmm. Mm. - Mm-hmm.

Can you get me that Stevenson file, please?

Ah. I assume your visit is because you got your notice

from the draft?

My physical is Friday. I report in two months.

Kendall, I reached out to everybody I know,

and the best I could do was $15,000.

For a medical exemption? I don't have that kind of money.

Maybe it's time to tell your parents.

I can't do that.

I don't want to die, Ms. Jacobs.

Kendall, you're not gonna die.

Look, I have a friend who helps kids like you escape to Canada.

I could make the call.

My dad is in Vietnam right now.

I won't ruin his name by running away.

There is another option.

If you were head of a household, you'd be exempt.

Kendall, you have a son.

If you and Victoria were married, all this goes away.

For the love of God, Don, light a candle.

Honey, you can walk out if you want.

Well, we only have one bathroom.

- So what time's your flight? - 12:30.

- Mm. - Still time to make it.

Uh, now there's a romantic offer.

No, come on, Red. We can make a weekend of it.

Well, you know, someone's got to hold down the fort

while you go out and take over the world.

I'm really proud of you.

Okay, geez, Don, seriously. That's a problem.

Well, you walked into it.

And I'm walking out of it.

So, who you bringing to the cookout?

The missus or the mistress?

Heads it's Nancy, tails Laura.

Ha. Shit. It's the wife.

Looks like we got one.

- All right, let's get him. - Yeah.

Afternoon, Officer.

Everything okay?

Ran a stop sign, son. Need your license.

Thought I stopped.

Still getting my bearings.

- Only been here a few hours. - Hands on the wheel.

So you're a cop, Don?

Was.

Two years, Chicago PD.

Real cop would know it's illegal to try

to influence an officer, Don.

- You a basketball player? - I produce a dance show, for TV.

Like Bandstand. So you sing, Don?

I'm just the host.

Tell you what.

Heads, I run your black ass in for trying to bribe an officer.

Tails, you sing for me.

It's tails.

Hey, Marty! He's gonna sing for us.

How about a little, um, Al Green?

You boys like Al Green, don't you, Don?

I'm not gonna ask you again, Don.

Sing for me.

2-11 in progress, multiple shots. We're on our way.

Looks like it's your lucky day,

Officer Cornelius.

12, seven, 22, come forward.

Keep going. Hey.

Yes. There we go.

Oh, I didn't know you were coming.

- Is this the first group? - Third.

Did we book the construction crew?

- Scheduled to start Monday. - Director interviews?

First thing in the morning. Mr. Cornelius, number...

Mr. Cornelius.

...All right, listen up.

Tessa and I appreciate your time,

but that'll be all for today. Thank you.

What they talking about? I...

- going over every... - I need you to do better.

- I don't know what that means. - It means I didn't hire you

to get dancers that I can get at a house party.

You hired me because I am good at what I do.

No, I hired you because you are cheap.

Mr. Cornelius, these kids are great.

They're nailing all the latest steps.

Maybe you don't understand.

I don't need dancers nailing the latest moves.

I need stars creating the next dance craze. Do better,

or I'll find someone who will.

Look, there he is, right there.

Come on, man. Come on.

It's gonna be a stone gas, honey.

Okay, okay, that's enough.

Next.

That's you, let's go.

Come on, come on, come on, who's next?

Uh, hi, I'm Kendall. My sister, Simone.

That's JT, and we are Encore.

One, two, three, four.

Gig's yours if you want it.

- Yeah. - Yes, yes, we want it.

Pays $150 a set, weekend's $200.

Break a thousand heads, you get a dollar a head.

-How many songs you got? -Uh, six originals, but we can cover any...

- How many you need? - More than you got.

Boss, you got to hear these cats, House Band.

How old are you?

18.

So if I check your ID, it'll tell me the same lie?

I'll be 17 in a few months.

You fly, but you ain't worth my liquor license.

Get rid of 'em.

Boss, I just hired 'em.

And I just fired 'em.

Look, I know we didn't get the gig, but he liked us.

That means something.

Ain't no small moral victories, Simone.

We're close. All we need is a break.

I'm running out of time.

Well, maybe we're doing this wrong.

Our dream is to sing and become famous.

Well, what if we were famous first?

- What's a Soul Train? - It's a dance show.

So Cindy has a cousin in Chicago

and she says the dancers there are stars around town.

And that's just the local show. This is national.

Now, I don't know if we can get on,

but maybe we can use it to build our name.

- But do they pay? - I don't think so.