Fanumentarys

There’s a few doc ideas we hear literally once or twice a week from producers: tribute bands and crazy fans. The latter always has the same breathless sales pitch: “you wouldn’t believe what these fans do when following around their favorite bands / they’re the most insane fans of all time / they tattoo their band’s logo on this body part and that body part.” You know what? We do believe it. Some forty odd years into the rock n’ roll era, we’ve all seen these fans in person and witnessed their devotion. It’s like politicians who have affairs or lie in office: we’re not really shocked anymore. Sure, we’ll pay attention for a few minutes…but an hour or more about crazed fans? The crestfallen producers always warn us we’re missing a big hit. We’ll take that chance.

I wonder what everyone’s favorite “fanumentary” is? (A not so subtle beg for comments!) Perhaps one group of fans worthy of the claim of the most clinically passionate are KISS followers. Maybe that’s because they have more opportunities to indugle the fantasy by wearing the makeup, buying a zillion KISS products, wiggling their tongues, etc. (After all, what’s a Fugazi zealot to do? NOT drink, NOT buy tee-shirts, etc. Hard to be expressive!) Filmmaker & bassist Jim Heneghan produced KISS Loves You last year, which got some pretty good viewer response. It will be screened again at the upcoming MOFFOM Music on Film Festival in Prague in October. MOFFOM (cited earlier in this blog) will have special focus on music and stories from New York City. More to come on this front. For now, for all of you (especially neglected Bruce Kulick fans) here is some evidence KISS Loves You.

TIFF Music docs

I’d been waiting to post about the music docs at September’s Toronto International Film Festival until they were ALL announced, which happened today. (Yes, some docs were posted earlier…but I wanted to be a completist….that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.) There are a couple of cool looking music projects:

Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
Senegal’s Youssou Ndour is one of Africa’s most famous musicians; in the West, he’s known best for singing on Peter Gabriel’s hit “In Your Eyes.” The film documents Ndour the release of his album Egypt and how it relates to his Islamic faith.

It Might Get Loud
David Guggenheim, the Oscar-winning director of “An Inconvenient Truth,” makes a paean to the electric guitar by examining the work of Jimmy Page, The Edge of U2 and Jack White. Each guitarist represents three generations of music and its capped by a group jam at the end.

Soul Power
There was the famous “Rumble in the Jungle” bout between Ali and Foreman in Zaire in 1974..but there was also a concert. This film recounts it with performances by James Brown, B.B. King, Bill Withers, The Spinners, etc.

Sounds Like Teen Spirit: A Popumentary
About the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, don’t have much more information on it at this time

Festival runs from September 4 to the 13th. I’ll be writing more about each of these films but check out the trailer below of the Youssou Ndour flick.

Dance off!

Pamela at the Still in Motion doc blog raves about the DVD release of Inside the Circle. Filmed over a four year period, it features three bboys from rural Texas who become rivals when they join separate dance crews. It’s been compared to Mad Hot Ballroom, but hip hop style. Pamela says “its a high impact story of boyhood friendship, rivalry and transcendence through dance.” She also has an interview with the director. It won an audience award at SXSW in 2007.

Incoming: Notable Music DVDs for August

Courtesy of the folks at Pause & Play (an essential resource for upcoming albums, music books and DVDs) here are some notable music DVDs to reach stores this month:

America: America & Friends: Absolutely Live!
Black Uhuru: Black Uhuru: Live in London – 25th Anniversary
Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert: The 3D Movie (Painful to include but can’t knock those box office receipts.)
Elvis Presley & Johnny Cash: Lost Concert Series: Presley & Cash – Interstate Road Show
Tammy Wynette: Tammy Wynette: Legendary Performances

Will upcoming Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison doc get behind the music?

No web clips yet, but an intriguing upcoming theatrical doc from Canada focuses on late ’60s and the lives of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. The title, 27, refers to the age at which all three died, which happened between September 1970 and July 1971. Director Stuart Samuels reports that the lives and deaths of the three rock icons will parallel the story of how the era of peace, love and harmony ended. Aside from social changes and the Vietnam war, the film also shows how rock changed:

It was a period when pop culture became big business, when mass concerts became defining historical events, when musicians became Gods, and fans turned into a frenzied army of fame fanatics.

The film will be composed of news archives and interviews with family, friends, fellow musicians, rock critics, managers, etc. Supposedly Jimi, Janis and Jim will tell their own stories through live TV appearances, recorded private interviews, news archives, home movies, poems, press conferences, etc. I’m most curious if they’ll be a note of music from the three, however. From first hand experience, the estates of both Hendrix and the Doors are some of the trickiest folks to work with in regards to music licensing. Stratospheric licensing fees are almost the secondary problem behind the strict editorial control both estates demand. This enforced hagiography, of course, serves no one: history, filmmakers, or even fans. The legacy of these artists can’t be besmirched and I’d argue their myths are more powerful if presented in an unbiased fashion. Or else it’s a commercial and not a doc. I certainly hope that 27 had a breakthrough with the estates to play some music or else it will be like a silent film, no matter how well intentioned. (I seem to recall reading or hearing that this film is headed for a release next year but can’t confirm at this time.)

More Old News: Don’t Let It Be

More post vacation catch up (originally spotted in The Playlist blog): a UK news report says that the DVD release of long hoped for Beatles doc Let it Be is not going to happen (despite the apparent bootleg cover in the accompanying image.) The word is that Paul and Ringo don’t want it out anymore. The Chicago Tribune’s Mark Caro describes why:

McCartney comes across as a domineering showboat; he irritates George Harrison with instructions on how to play the guitar solo on “I’ve Got a Feeling” and often flashes his puppy-dog eyes into the camera… I’m sympathetic to Paul. As the authors show through their detailing of recordings for the film, he was the one trying to keep the band together while John Lennon was indifferent, strung out and almost surgically attached to Yoko Ono, George was so frustrated that he temporarily quit, and Ringo Starr was withdrawn. The movie barely nicks the tip of that iceberg.

But like so much of the Beatles strange digital strategy – releasing nothing while pirates share music at will. Let It Be curiosity seekers can view the film (which was released on VHS in the 1980s) currently on YouTube in ten installments; part one excerpted below.

Dreaming of Seeing Patti Smith doc

Perils of blogging/working: I’ve been trying to see the new Patti Smith doc for like six months. (A friend shot some film for it; it was shot over an 11 year period, which could make it like the Hoops Dreams of music docs; Patti ended up more or less collaborating with filmmaker/photographer Steve Sebring, which touches on all sorts of interesting director-subject issues unique to docs; and I’m a huge fan (obvs.)) But of course, even though I could have/should have gone at various festivals and film screenings, I keep missing it. But its playing now for two weeks at New Yorks’ Film Forum so I got to mention it now! Here it is! More to write on this film after I see it and before its limited theatrical release in September/October.

Schnack goes country (from the better late than never dept.)

Filmmaker and general doc market guy in the know AJ Schnack just snuck a mention of his latest project on his blog about, um, two weeks ago. (Hey, I have been on vacation myself!) Schnack, best known for the Kurt Cobain About A Son doc, which was so fascinating both for the subject and filmmaking techniques, is going country. On his blog, he writes:

For the past two months, I’ve been spending the majority of my time not in Los Angeles, but in Branson, Missouri, at work on a new nonfiction feature about the community that Bart Simpson once referred to as “Vegas if Ned Flanders ran it” and once famously dubbed “the live entertainment capitol of the world”….specifically about those who make their home in Branson – a town of 7,000 that draws more than 8 million visitors a year with its mix of music shows, outdoor recreation and self-described family friendly values (read: patriotism and religious values worn proudly on sleeve).

Project will be executed produced by Matthew Mills and Paxton Films/TV By Mills. Expected 2010.

The Man Comes Around (again)

Probably the best general doc series on TV (as its been for many years) is PBS’ POV. The 21st season kicks off tonight with the reairing of a classic: 1969’s Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music (embed troubles but click the link for a preview.) The behind the scenes doc captures Cash post-Folsom with fans, casually hanging out offstage and visits to the sharecropping farms where he grew up. It also features performances with new bride June Carter Cash and a duet with Bob Dylan. Its the real life Walk the Line. Other than that, this season’s other music doc on POV is another encore of Lomax The Songhunter.

Um, major clarification to last post – music doc film festivals

A hazard of blogging I suppose – write something half informed that assumes that just because you haven’t heard of it, it must not exist. Then watch as your attention span locks in, the facts pour in and causes you to regret the half baked post. (Fortunately it was just the last post so the historical record is almost pure).<P>

In short, there seems to be a lot cooking with music documentary themed film festivals (which is great!). Right now, there’s a great selection of music docs at the Melbourne Film Festival, many of which have aired in the U.S. already, but still. (One entry is VH1’s own The Night James Brown Saved Boston.) Don’t Knock the Rock Festival in LA co-founded by filmmaker Allison Anders has some smaller 2007 films and a bunch of indie docs too, a very intriguing lineup. Winston Salem is hosting the Revolve Music and Film Festival (with some traditional docs and features too). And come October, actually a fairly big festival in Prague called Music on Film (MOFFOM) will host an international list of films, including a special forum devoted to (you guessed it) VH1 Rock Docs! So forget Barcelona, see you in Prague!