Gorman Bechard's Blog, page 8

new Waxahatchee album

The new Waxahatchee album CERULEAN SALT is out today, which makes this a glorious day. It rocks a lot harder than AMERICAN WEEKEND, but still Katie Crutchfield wears her beautifully wounded heart on her flowered sleeve. Only this time the guitars tears through your soul as well.  As I’ve said before, she is our most talented young songwriter.  And she’s one of the two or three best female vocalists making records today.  Get on the boat now…there probably won’t be a better album released this year.

 

Trailer for EVERY EVERYTHING, THE MUSIC, LIFE & TIMES OF GRANT HART

I’ll let the trailer do the talking for me…

Now pre-order the DVD (or get some other amazing reward…wouldn’t you want your name on this film as an executive producer)!

Click HERE

 

Oscars 2013

OK, time for my lame-ass Oscar predictions.  Not only who WILL win, but also who I honestly think should win.

 

Best Picture


will win: Argo

should win: Silver Linings Playbook.

Argo was a great film.  It truly was.  But Silver Linings was a masterpiece.  Possibly the best American romantic comedy since Annie Hall.

 

Best Director (because it really is the second most important category, and damn if they didn’t fuck it up this year)

will win: Ang Lee for Life of Pi

should win: David O. Russell

Why Life of Pi is nominated for anything, I don’t know, but I’ll close my eyes and think Lee is receiving it instead for Ice Storm.  Russell made the best film and thus deserves the award.  How can the best film NOT be made by the best director.  That would be like naming “Starry Night” painting of the year, but overlooking Van Gogh.  It’s beyond stupid.  A close second here would be Ben Affleck, who of course wasn’t nominated.

 

 

Best Actor

will win: Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln

should win: Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings

Yes, yes, blah, blah, Daniel Day-Lewis embodied Lincoln. We already know he can act.  We know that a thousand times over.  We however did not know that about Cooper.  And he knocked this performance out of the proverbial park.

 

 

Best Actress

will win AND should win: Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings

She is the best young actress of our generation.  She should have won two years ago for Winter’s Bone.  She can tell you more with a look than most actors can with a speech.  She’s a godsend in this film, every breath is brilliant and perfect and real and makes me want to cry just thinking about it.

 

 

Best Supporting Actor

will win AND should win: Robert DeNiro for Silver Linings

Alan Arkin is close.  But for the first time in decades DeNiro didn’t just phone a performance in.  And he shined.

 

 

Best Supporting Actress

will win: Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables

should win: Jacki Weaver for Silver Linings

I loved Anne Hathaway in Love And Other Drugs.  But I’m not a musical sort of guy.  So, sorry, in my crazy world Silver Linings gets the sweep.  Though I would say Ann Dowd in Compliance would be a very close second.  Though of course she isn’t nominated.

 

 

 

Best Documentary

will win: Searching for Sugar Man

should win: I’m torn here.  I loved Sugar Man, and LOVE the idea of a rock doc winning for the very first time.  But Invisible War was gut wrenching and important.  They are actually all very strong candidates.  Any choice here is a good choice.  The Academy got it right this year.  Five great films.

 

 

 

 

 

Best Original Screenplay

will win: Zero Dark Thirty

should win: no one nominated in this category

I though this was a very weak year for original screenplays.  When they open the envelope they should announce: “no one.”

 

 

Best Adapted Screenplay

will win: Argo

should win: Silver Linings

Both are honestly great scripts, either could or should win.

 

 

Have fun tonight.  Drink a lot.

Best Movie of 2012

As much as I would love to be able to give you my list of the ten best films from 2012, I can’t.  Time did not allow me to see everything.  And to be honest, I so now detest the act of going to see a movie at a cinema (unless it’s during a film festival, or at a true art house, neither of which exist in any way, shape, or form in New Haven, CT) that I won’t get to most of the best from 2012 until their dvds are released.  (I did just watch an academy screener of ZERO DARK THIRTY.  I thought it was very, very good.  But would it make my top ten?  Most likely not.)

So instead of a list, I thought I would make a pitch for one movie I’m pretty sure most people have never heard of.  Sort of my Waxahatchee for the film world.  And though there were a number of great documentaries released in 2012 (THE INVISIBLE WAR is mind-numbingly brilliant), the one film that brought me most joy was a 76 minute comedy from Norway: TURN ME ON, DAMMIT! from director Jannicke Systad Jacobsen.

Turn Me On, Dammit

TMOD is a coming of age story, but one like we’ve never seen before.  It’s from a realistic female perspective.  The film stars first-time actress Helene Bergsholm as fifteen-year-old Alma.  She’s going through a phase we’ve seen a thousand teenaged boys suffer in film: she thinks about sex.  All the time.  She’s as horny as any male counterpoint we’ve ever seen.  She fantasizes.  She’s a regular caller on a sex hotline.  And she’s even ready to act on her school crush.  But when they sneak away together at a party, it turns out that he’s more interested in poking the side of her leg with his penis.  And when she tells her friends about this strange occurrence, no one believes her.  And thus she becomes known seemingly everywhere in her small town as “Dick Alma.”

Nothing I write here can prepare you for the charm of the performances, the innocent yet mischievous realism of the characters – all of the characters, the laugh-out-loud funny moments, or even the completely feel-good ending that will leave you grinning from ear-to-ear.

TMOD is full of beautifully awkward moments, sometimes crude, often times charming, that are probably more real than any parent would like to admit.  Every scene, every line of dialog rings true, from Alma’s friendships with other girls in her class, to her usually disproving mother, to the claustrophobic small town feel, to the boy who likes her but can’t bring himself to admit it.

Director Jacobsen comes from the world of documentaries, and this is her first narrative feature.  But her command of the genre (funny is hard) and her casting of Bergsholm are brilliant.  Someone has already said this is the coming of age story Hollywood would never make, and that’s too bad.  But for anyone who understands that girls can be just as horny as boys, give this remarkable film a chance.  You’ll find the phrase “Dick Alma” forever a part of your film-loving lexicon.

P.S. We have new IndieGoGo campaigns going for both and EVERY EVERYTHING, THE MUSIC, LIFE & TIMES OF GRANT HART…so if you missed out on pre-ordering the DVD or any of the other great rewards last time…now’s your chance.

The Best Music of 2012

I write this as I pack for Cleveland where my film “Color Me Obsessed, a film about The Replacements” is screening at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.  Which is all completely surreal. The band will never be inducted.  None of the bands I truly love will ever be.  Certainly none of the bands listed below.   But my film about one of them is playing.   And that all sort of makes sense for 2012.

This year started off for me as one of the worst years in music.  As bad a year as I could remember.  It seemed every piece I would read about a new band would contain a word I hate more than many women hate the word “panty.”  That would be “synth.”  Just typing the word I feel the bile rising in the back of my throat.  So before I even get to my list, I wanted to offer some sound advice to any band who uses synthesizers.  This will truly help your sound.  I promise.  Take your synthesizer outside.  Lay it on the ground directly behind the rear driver’s side tire of your van/car.  (Not passenger side, it must be the driver’s side.)  Get behind the wheel, start it up, put the car into reverse, then give it just enough gas so that you travel backward approximately two feet.  Pop the transmission back into forward.  More gas.  Again, two feet of driving should do it.  Then repeat those actions a few times.  Then hop out of your vehicle, pick up what’s left of your synthesizer, and toss it into the nearest garbage can.  And just like that, you’ve grown a pair of balls.  You’re that much closer to being a rock band.

And speaking of castrated bands, we’ve got another clear and easy winner for this year’s coveted “Vampire Weekend Lame Ass Award.”  Just as eunuchs Foster The People ran away with the award last year, this year Fun(period) has no equal in the category.  How lame and wimpy are they?  Let me put it this way, the guys in Maroon 5 are “Damaged”-era Black Flag compared to these guys.  (Think about it for a moment.)  So congrats to the guys in Fun(period)!  Wear the honor well.  (For your reading pleasure, my Vampire Weekend film idea.)

Back to real music.  I started off the year editing my Archers of Loaf concert documentary “What Did You Expect?”  I went from there to preparing for our upcoming Grant Hart doc, “Every Everything.”  So I was mostly listening to the Archers, Husker Du, and solo Grant.  The guitar geek in me was in freakin’ heaven.  It was all a loud and glorious noise.  Music that grabbed you by the throat, and slammed you up against the wall.  It was rough sex rock ‘n’ roll that would have the author of “The Shades of Grey” novels hiding in the closet.  You listen to these bands and you’re beaten down with power, with a growl of almost biblical proportions.  But one with melody, with hooks, with singers who were baring their souls.

There were a couple of new glimpses of brilliance, but they were singular and far between.  But then on September 2nd, I open up the Sunday New York Times, as I have every Sunday since I was twelve years old.  Went right to Section 2, “Arts & Leisure” – sometimes I never even bother with the rest – and I flipped through it, looking over the articles on film before hitting page 17.  A large above-the-fold photo of two cute slightly-tattooed, somewhat-punky girls.  An article by Jon Caramanica called “Twin Rock Dreams Prevail.”  He wrote about twin sisters Allison and Katie Crutchfield, and how after two bands together – The Ackleys and P.S. Eliot – they were splitting up into new bands, with Katie forming Waxahatchee and Allison forming Swearin’.

I was looking for a sample of their music before I even finished reading the article.  I found Waxahatchee first.  And as I wondered how the word was pronounced, the video for “Grass Stain” came on, and suddenly my musical world didn’t seem nearly as empty.  I bought that album first, then Swearin’ eponymously-titled debut, then the Ackley’s album, then both from P.S. Eliot, then the Ackley’s EP, then a sister side project called “Bad Banana,” then the P.S. Eliot demos, a couple of other Waxahatchee tracks, and then finally another Katie side-project Great Thunder.  It was like finding a treasure chest of gold in your deceased relative’s house.  It was a gift from the music God (perhaps she really liked “Color Me Obsessed”).  One hundred thirteen songs in all.

Why had I never heard of these bands?  How had the Ackleys and P.S. Eliot passed me by?  There were no real answers.  As Grant Hart would say, “shit happens.”  And it didn’t matter ultimately.  What mattered was they were in my collective conscious now and probably forever.

Personally I would advise you to buy every one of those songs for your collection.  Most of the production sounds like what you’ve heard on The Replacements “Let It Be,” a little ragged with heavy emphasis on the guitar.   Most of the songs are pure power punk noise pop.  Sample P.S. Eliot’s “Untitled” or the Ackley’s “7 Days.”  And Katie’s voice truly kills me.  It breaks, it feels real, she can belt, and she can whisper.  She’s telling you the story of her life, with just the right amount of attitude.  She’s a fucking rock star.

And yes, aside from Waxahatchee and Swear’, we’re talking about seven years worth of songs here.  But to me, that’s irrelevant, 2012 will always be the year of the Crutchfields.

(RANT TIME: I said BUY!   Pay for them, dammit.  I fucking hate people who steal music and films.  You are literally stealing from people who give you joy.  You ’ re no different from a thug on the street who steals an old lady ’ s pocketbook.  Except that you probably don ’ t need to feed your starving kids.  And you probably think it ’ s okay, that you ’ re not hurting anyone.  Well, you ’ re wrong.   You ’ re deluding yourself into thinking you ’ re actually a good person.  You are NOT.)

And with that I give you my ten (eleven, really) favorite albums of the year, in order of preference:

1. “American Weekend” by Waxahatchee – I almost don’t know where to start on how perfect the eleven tracks on this record are.  I guess with the production, which is what will hit you first.  A guitar that stings at your senses, noisy, loose, Katie Crutchfield is playing in the corner of kitchen, trying almost not to be noticed as she writes a diary to lovers lost, one that perhaps should never be shared.  When you listen to the brilliant “Bathtub” (which should have been the song every teenage girl was playing this past summer) she’s just as much to blame.  “And I tell you not to love me/But I still kiss you when I want to,” she half-whispers, half-sings, in a voice lost down an endless hallway.  This is as emotionally naked as rock music gets.  And it never lets up.  Even the songs which appear poppier on the surface are just as self-effacing.  It’s an album’s worth of “Unsatisfied” from a female point of view.  And that’s about the highest compliment I can pay any record.

2. “Remember When” by The Orwells – Goddamn if “Mallrats (La La La)” isn’t the most snotty fun you can have listening to music this year.  A song about just walking around the mall, watching some gal shop for bras.  (Or at least I think that’s what it’s about.)  The words are almost incomprehensible, but it doesn’t matter.  It’s got punk attitude up the freakin’ wazoo, and the catchiest hook of the year.  (How did this not outsell “Call Me Maybe”?) The entire album is good dirty fun from a bunch of 17-year-old out of Chicago.  I’m really curious to see them live, as I’m hoping they tear apart the stage.  (Guys, please do not just stand there and play.)  This is a great rock ‘n’ roll record.

3. “Swearin’” by Swearin’ – Allison Crutchfield’s takes her turn in a raging collection of eleven songs that sound like a great lost riot grrrl record, noisy guitars (have I mentioned that I like noisy guitars?), a driving rhythm section, and Allison’s slightly gruff vocals.  “Movie Star” is the masterpiece here, where the pop almost threatens to overtake the growl with a bridge that will catch you off guard as the album winds down, as you’ll find yourself floored and wanting more.

4. “The Lumineers” by The Lumineers – Monumental songwriting, that keeps you on your toes.  Even I was surprised by this record.  Love the sound, the instrumentation, the voices.  And other than a couple of duds (“Slow It Down” is a god-awful song), it’s pretty damn spectacular.  And really now, “Ho Hey” was one of the only listenable “hits” this year.

5. “Celebration Rock” by Japanandroids – I’m not a fan of most two people bands.  Every song by Black Keys sounds like every other song by the Black Keys.  Same for the White Stripes.  Buy one album you’ve bought them all.  The Pack A.D. for me were one band who broke that mold.  Japanandroids is another.  This is a mostly flawless collection of bluesy anthem rock that’s as compact and personal as it is loud and stadium-ready.

6. “Open Your Heart” by The Men – good, noisy, balls-to-the-wall punk-based rock ‘n’ roll.  What the fuck more do you want?

7. “Tramp” by Sharon Van Etten – A beautiful collection of heartbreak from a voice that will steal what’s let of your heart.

8. “Royal Headache” by Royal Headache – see #6

9. “Boys & Girls” by Alabama Shakes – yes, it was over-rated and over-played.  But still it had the coolest vibe of the year.  And you’ll still be wanting to listen to at least half these songs ten years from now.

10. (tie) “In The Dusk of Everything” Matthew Ryan  and “Tomorrowland” by Ryan Bingham – In reviewing the Matt Ryan album I am not taking into account the amazing title track from my forthcoming “Broken Side Of Time” which is a bonus track on the album.  Obviously the song kills me, otherwise it wouldn’t be in my film.  It’s the rest.  Matt alone with his guitar.  The production stripped away.  What’s left is brilliant songwriting and that voice.  That voice unlike any other.  A beautiful collection, his best in years.  And I include the Ryan Bingham here because in many ways Bingham is the alt-country Matt Ryan.  Songs about life and love and despair.  And again, another one of those voices.  Beautiful.

There you have it.  No list of best movies this year.  I was working so much, I barely scratched the surface of what was released.  But instead you’ve got some music to buy.  Start with the first two on the list, they’re a nice contrast to one another, then work your way down.  Then dig into that Crutchfield catalog.  If you weren’t aware, then I just left a gold nugget in your Xmas stocking.

Happy Holidays! Be healthy, happy and well.  And if you don’t already have one or two, adopt a dog from a shelter.  It’ll make your life better.  It’ll make you a much better person.  And you’ll understand what unconditional love is for the first time in your life.  (It’s a good thing.)

Time for “”…

See you in January.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame…or bust!

OK…so COLOR ME OBSESSED, A FILM ABOUT THE REPLACEMENTS never got into Sundance or SXSW…but it’s screening at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on December 12th.  Its DVD charted at #11 on Billboard’s music video chart this week.  It was in the top ten for most of last week on Amazon.  And we’ve sold out copies everywhere.  So…

Take heart fellow filmmakers.  If you work your film.  If you treat it like a business once completed.  If you get off your ass and not wait for “deals” to come to you, if you not rely on film festivals.  If you realize that the work doesn’t not stop once the film is complete, that you’ve got another year or two to go.  Well, then, good things might actually happen.

Great things even.

DVD sleeve for COLOR ME OBSESSED, A FILM ABOUT THE REPLACEMENTS

A Dog Named Gucci

For about a year now I’ve been talking with my wife and my crew about changing gears.  I love rock ‘n’ roll, anyone who knows my work, who knows me, knows that without question.  Finding the next great new band (this year it’s Waxahatchee and in second place The Orwell’s) is a passion and commitment I take as seriously as a brain surgeon about to open up someone’s head.

But after three rock documentaries I knew it was time to do something with a little more weight.  Something that might help make this world a better place.  And I knew, without question, that the subject would be about dogs.  I do truly believe dogs make us better people.  To paraphrase an old Bogart quote, I don’t trust people who don’t like dogs.  They love us unconditionally, and don’t care if we’re living in our car or in a mansion.  They just want to be by our side.  They protect us, makes us laugh, and just generally make life better.  No matter what sort of mood I’m in, my dogs can improve it.

Time to pay them all back.

I had been searching for a subject. Shelters seemed obvious.  And though they had been the subject of other documentaries, none of those were very well made.  In fact, I’m rather amazed that there has never been a great dog doc.

Then, shortly before we were leaving for a 20th anniversary vacation, my wife Kristine, who’s even more passionate about the subject than I am, sent me a link.  Let me preface this by saying, I’ve asked her not to send me these things. Pages set up for abused or murdered animals.  It makes me so angry I can’t see straight.  And when it began happening recently in my back yard (Desmond who was strangled, Precious who was stabbed 29 times), it makes me want to hunt the perpetrators down and do to them what they did to their dogs.  But after a few hours, I calm down…I know my best revenge is a great film.

Which leads me to Gucci.   After sending that link, Kris told me to read it.  It had a happy ending.  So I did.  And I immediately knew what the subject of my next film would be.

Here’s the KickStarter link. It explains everything. Please consider pre-ordering a DVD or poster, or any of the other great rewards.  Please pass the link along to anyone who might appreciate what we’re doing.  Please feel free to post it anywhere.

Thank you.

A Dog Named Gucci

 

My day before the election rant

Hopefully by now you’ve made up your mind as to whom you’re voting for tomorrow.  (Hopefully you’re voting!)

But…on the off chance that you haven’t, let me break the Presidential race down for you, and make it easy:

If you are a male who is in the top 2% of earners in this country AND you care nothing about the arts AND you have no elderly relatives or females whose welfare your care about, then you vote for Mitt Romney.

If you are male and are NOT in the top 2% of earners, but would like to see unemployment go UP because all the new jobs created will be headed to China, AND your paycheck go DOWN because what few tax breaks you have will be eliminated, AND you likewise have no elderly relatives or females whose welfare your care about, then you too should vote for Mitt Romney.

However, if you are male and NOT in the top 2% of earners, and would actually like to see this country move in the right direction, AND be a country you can actually be proud of, one which takes care of its own and looks into the future, instead of dwelling on the failed policies of the Bush past, then you vote for Barack Obama.

If you are female, and somehow like the idea of losing all control over what happens to your body, literally handing over your vagina to old silver-haired men (and while I know a few of you might be thinking that sounds like kinky fun, think again), then you vote for Mitt Romney.

However, if you are female, and believe that you should be in control over what happens to your body, then forget about every other issue and put yourself first by voting for Barack Obama.

Please realize this is more than just about the man who sits in the Oval Office.  This is just as much about who will appoint the next Supreme Court justices.  And they could change everything for the worst (if you vote for Romney), or the better (if you vote for Obama).

It’s really as simple as that.

In memory…

Four years now…

The day my dog Kilgore Trout died.

A lot has happened. Mostly for the good. As if Kilgore (and perhaps his older sister Casey) were watching over me and Kris. I’ll be announcing my next documentary in the coming weeks. Not another rock doc. This time I’m taking on a much weightier subject. I’m pretty sure Kilgore would approve. Perhaps he’s the one who led me in that direction.

I still think about him every day. I wish he were here to hang with Springsteen, who is in so many ways a baby Kilgore. I just wish he were here, period.

What follows (below the photo of my tattoo, and the shot of Kilgore which inspired it) is one of the best thing I feel I’ve ever written . . . certainly the most heartfelt. I present it again as originally written. Hug your pet, grab a box of tissues and read on . . .

My first tattoo (at the age of 50), placed so that Kilgore can peek out from under my shirt sleeve and still make me laugh.

Kilgore jumping. Casey is not amused.

A tumor the size of a grapefruit. I saw it on the x-ray, filling the space between his liver, his spleen, and his stomach. Perhaps encroaching on his lungs as well. Suffocating Kilgore Trout from the inside out.

At first we thought it was a reaction to Previcox. A drug given to him just about four weeks ago to help with his hips. He was having the worst time walking, this glorious pup who would jump, would bounce, like on a trampoline whenever he saw me.

(watch the clip that now opens my website as proof . . . t’s 45 seconds that will make you smile.)

At first the drug did wonders, until he stopped eating, starting vomiting. Side effects all, so many serious side effects. How could this fucking killer pill be on the market?

I am angry. I am seething. I know Previcox did not kill my dog, but it certainly didn’t help there in the end. A shot of Pepcid did for a while. But still the appetite nowhere near the vacuum cleaner-like enthusiasm with which he used to eat. Less and less every day. And the vomiting returned. Bile, from his mostly empty stomach.

More Pepcid. But it didn’t seem to help this time. Finally a trip to the vet. You could see it in her face as she checked him stomach. Perhaps we should get him x-rayed…now. The normally busy hospital would take us NOW.

So I dropped my wife at home so she could tend to our other dog, and drove Kilgore down to Central Hospital in New Haven. It was quick. He sat by my feet afterwards as I waited on word. The receptionist said the vet wanted to speak with me. She gave me the news. None of it good.

How long does he have? I asked. A few days, was the response. Or perhaps to the beginning of next week. (This was a Thursday.) The x-ray technician showed me the tumor. It was massive. All encompassing. There was nothing to do but make him comfortable during his last few days.

But a small meal of Kentucky Fried Chicken pulled from a breast was all he could manage. A few strips of it really. And a little water to follow. That would be his last meal. My dog who could eat anything and everything, from a full edition of the Sunday New York Times to financial magazines (he especially loved to “tear into” MONEY and KIPLINGER’S) to, well…anything he could find in the yard., gross or not.

Whenever I put a 12-pack of beer away, he’d wait patiently, then snatch the empty box as I pulled out the last beer and put it into the fridge. Then he’d play keep-away with it, or tug-of war. Or he’d lie right down and start ripping it to confetti. He especially loved Rolling Rock boxes.

But he could eat anything and everything, always without repercussion. Now, nothing…

He walked around on his own on Friday. Venturing out into the yard, up on the couch with a little help. He wagged his tail, but mostly slept a lot.

That night, Friday, what would be his last night (october 24), I slept on the couch with Mr. Trout. Well, he slept on the couch. I was mostly on the coffee table, but that was ok. He rested his chin on my leg, I scratched him behind his ear.

My wife and I kept asking anyone we knew…how would we know when it was time to put him to rest? Well, he told us.

Kilgore got up twice that night, went out into the yard, slowly, but surely. But then came the morning. Almost two days now without food or water. And when it came time for him to go outside, he made it through the door, but had to lie down after only a few steps. He couldn’t get up. We knew…

We had already made an appointment at the vet for Saturday morning. Originally for a check up to see if there was anything else we could do. But now I needed to call them, and change the appointment until late in the day. The last appointment of the day.

He couldn’t really walk, so I carried my friend out to my Jeep and laid him down in the back. And, the three of us took his final ride. My wife sat in the back with him, as I went into the vet office to make sure everything was ready. Then I carried him in and laid him on the table.

After a while the vet came in an asked if we were ready. No, how could anyone ever be ready? But I knew he was in pain, I knew he was so tired, and I certainly didn’t want that thing inside of him to burst.

He lay, as he always did at night, two paws straight out in front, his chin resting perfectly centered between them. I squatted down so that I was nose-to-nose with my friend. He never took his eyes off me as the doctor administered the drug that would put him to sleep.

When his eyes finally closed, I kissed his head. Something he so hated until a few weeks ago. I’d always do it at night, and he rub at the top of his head with his paws as if I’d given him cooties, or something. It was a ritual. But he was wagging tail. And in my heart I always believed he was perhaps embarrassed in front of the other dogs, like why was I kissing his head in public?

But this would be the last time I’d get to kiss the top of Kilgore’s head.

Goodnight, my sweet prince, perhaps one day we’ll meet up on the other side.

(i.miss.you.)

(so.fucking.much.)

 

Kilgore at 8 weeks

Kilgore chewing on a Tab bottle as Casey investigates

Kilgore Trout

 

 

DVD release dates!

Sorry it’s been a while…

First, spent a lot of August in Minneapolis filming EVERY EVERYTHING, THE MUSIC, LIFE & TIMES OF GRANT HART.

Second, really started hard editing of BROKEN SIDE OF TIME, part two of my Alone Trilogy.

Third, was in Key West, one of my favorite places on earth, with Kris, celebrating our 20th anniversary.

But today, the pressing matter is the DVD release date for both COLOR ME OBSESSED and WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?

NOVEMBER 20TH!

MARK IT DOWN!

Now a little on both releases…(click the title to pre-order)

WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? THE ARCHERS OF LOAF LIVE AT CAT’S CRADLE

To me, the Archers of Loaf were the single greatest band of the 90s. They saved my love of music after The Replacement broke up, and I truly felt no band would ever fill those dirty Converse All Stars.

I will always remember the first time I saw the Archers live at a CMJ showcase at Tramps in NYC. Within 30 seconds I knew I had discovered my new favorite band. And that’s never changed. I do honestly believe WEB IN FRONT is the greatest song ever written. Ever. It makes me happy. The band makes me happy.

But of course all good things must come to an end as they did in 1998. A true story: I knew the band, and knew WHITE TRASH HEROES would be their last album. The day it was released I drove some 45 minutes to pick it up, and listened to it blissfully for the first time on the ride home, having to pull over as the last song came on, because knowing it was the last new song I’d ever hear from them I began to cry. I sat in a bank parking lot the tears flowing uncontrollably as the final refrains of that amazing title track played on my car’s speakers.

Jump forward to 2011. My first rock documentary, COLOR ME OBSESSED, A FILM ABOUT THE REPLACEMENTS, was doing quite well on the festival circuit. I knew I wanted to make a second rock doc. And one afternoon my wife informed me that the Archers were reuniting for a tour, and I knew I had my next subject. I won’t go into the details of talking the camera-sky band into the project, but after seeing their two LA performances I knew I had to do everything in my power to forever preserve this energy for future generations. Especially in a time when going to a rock show usually means seeing a wimpy band who looks even more bored than the texting crowd members who are more interested in talking or being seen.

Cat’s Cradle was the obvious venue. So I got together some of my favorite crew members I’d worked with in recent years. Jan Radder and Sarah Hajtol, who were my right and left hands in making COLOR ME. Adrian Correia who did such an amazing job shooting my FRIENDS (WITH BENEFITS) — the original FWB movie. As well as Cory Maffucci and Andrew Ross. We had seven cameras in all, with me on Eric Johnson’s side of the stage, Sarah on Matt Gentling’s, Jan with two cameras behind drummer Mark Price, Adrian roaming the audience, Cory watching over the Red One capturing our wide shot, and Andrew on the catwalk covering the crowd.

I shot the interviews myself a few months later in their hometown of Asheville, then I went home and cut together the truly mind-blowing footage to Brian Paulson’s astounding mix.

I’ve made a number of films, written a bunch of books, but never in 30 years did I have more fun doing anything. This is my proudest moment as a filmmaker, because not only do I feel I have made a great film, I know I have helped preserve an important part of rock history, proof that rock once had balls, and at times, still can.

I love this band, and have never found a replacement for them. I doubt I ever will.

And FYI: the set list from the film can be seen as the background to the poster. The DVD 12 contains 6 additional songs from the two Cradle shows, and 4 extra interviews with the band members.

COLOR ME OBSESSED, A FILM ABOUT THE REPLACEMENTS

Just want you to know how proud we are of this DVD release. On it you’ll find 6 hours of extras including 19 deleted scenes, the complete interviews with Grant Hart of Husker Du, famed rock critic Robert Christgau, and Sound Opinions hosts Greg Kot & Jim DeRogatis, a behind the scenes interview with me, and another with Hansi Oppenheimer who originated the project years ago. Plus there are two commentaries, one from me, and the other from our Minneapolis producer Jan Radder. Throw in 4 trailers, and you have one hell of a DVD!!!

Color Me Obsessed was a blast to make. And for anyone wondering why there’s no band or music, that was the concept from the start. We never even asked to speak with the band, never asked to use the music. Never. From the get-go I wanted to turn the rock doc genre on its ear. And for a band who shot a stereo speaker for 4 minutes for its first music video, I think this approach is appropriate and more than fitting.

A number of critics seem to agree. Rolling Stone called it one of “the seven best new music documentaries of the year.” The Village Voice called it “the rock version of Rashomon.” David Carr, the NY Times columnist tweeted “You can feel The Replacements in every single frame.” And the raves go on and on (even check the IMDb user comments).

For fans, you will be reaching for your Mats albums the moment the end credits roll. (NOTE: the film doesn’t end with the end credits. There’s more!)

And for music lovers not familiar with The Replacements, you will be armed with everything you need to discover them and fall in love with them as we did so many years back.

As CHARTattack said, “the film is a shockingly refreshing and invigorating experience for anyone who ever care about any kind of music at all.”

All for now…

Hope you enjoy the films!