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performances by Mahalia Jackson and Dick Gregory. That's the only one I ever missed. I had the flu, and I was out. In '71, The Voices of East Harlem, Godfrey Cambridge, Bloodied and Bowed. Getting an award, Lena Horne, Shirley Chisolm. '72, at Hunter, Stevie Wonder. That packed the place. That was really crazy.

He had just had a Grammy Award winning album.

I remember, I dealt with his agent. I couldn't believe that the guy agreed to bring him for some kind of small amount of money, like $1,500.

Did you have any dealings with Stevie himself?

No. Awards that year go to Father Barrigan, Geraldo Rivera, Micky Grant. Guest speaker is Andy Young. '73, at Hunter, the cast of “Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope” puts on the show. Guest speaker, Ron Dellums. 1974, the cast of “Raisin,” the musical “Raisin.” Guest speaker, Julian Bond. Awards go to Bella [Abzug], to Bob Teague, the black newscaster.

In '75, Ballet Hispanico and the Harlem Boys Choir. Awards go to Bruce Wright, Charlie Rangle, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Dolores Huerta. In '76, the cast of “The Wiz,” plus Linda Hopkins. That was gilding the lily. The awards go to Bobby Garcia, Gil Noble, Joe Papp, Linda Hopkins. In '79, we move up.

What happened to '77 and '78?

I don't know.

Okay, go ahead.

In '79, “Bread and Roses” and Harry Belafonte, at Lincoln Center, Avery Fisher Hall, 2,800 seats. Belafonte agrees to do it, his first performance in New York City in about seventeen years, and he does it for “Bread and Roses.” “You pay my musicians and that's all.” I had a big hassle on the question of the sound. Belafonte moves with sound equipment, like seven hundred mikes and six hundred speakers. A whole truck comes with it. He wants a sound rehearsal at Lincoln Center and they can only do it on a Sunday or a Friday evening, around five o'clock, and they say that you're not going to have time to bring his sound in, and they say, on Sunday, you're not going to be able to bring your sound in either because we can't set up. There's a concert, the Philharmonic. And Belafonte says, “I can't perform without my sound.” He finally agrees to perform with their sound. Most of the people in the audience, it was the first time they ever had been in