Sooooouuuuulllllll Train!

Ah...remember the days kids -- Saturday afternoons busting a move in front of the TV trying to mimic the fantastic dancers on the screen. Well, I don't remember them either! But, that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the legacy of Soul Train, which paved the way for countless dance shows, including current ones like So You Think You Can Dance on ABC and MTV's America's Best Dance Crew. My memories of Soul Train are of the Shemar Moore kind -- he had a brief stint as a host in the early 2000s.

Now after 38 years, the Soul Train has been...well...sold folks. The NY Times is reporting today that Soul Train founder and living legend Don Cornelius sold (for an undisclosed amount which I'm sure is in the millions) the franchise to MadVision Entertainment, an L.A.-based production company run by three African-American movers-and-shakers in the worlds of entertainment and media -- Kenard Gibbs, the group publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, Anthony Maddox, a former producer at NBC who also ran Sean Combs’s Bad Boy Films, and Peter Griffith, a Vibe magazine veteran.

They plan to breathe new life into the series, by both opening up the archives for the old fogies to relive their golden days, and creating a new version (which, fingers crossed will knock BET's shameful 106&Park off the air!).

Change is good, and I think that will be a great opportunity for the Black American Bandstand to experience a rebirth and continue to inspire a new generation of dancers and musical talent.