Category: Music Page 1 of 18

Connie plays 4 musical instruments and her daughter is a graduate of Belmont University in Nashville with a degree in Music Business and once worked for Taylor Swift. She may comment on concerts or reminisce on concerts of old.

Two documentaries at the Nashville Film Festival caught my eye on Sunday and Monday, September 22 and 23. The first was “They All Came Out to Montreux,” followed by “The Black Sea.”“They All Came Out to Montreux” was a love letter to the man responsible for creating, founding and sustaining the Montreux Jazz Festival, Claude Nobbs. Oliver Murray created this documentary as a tribute to Claude Nobbs. Nobbs dedicated his entire life to making Montreaux, Switzerland, his home town, a premier destination for the very best musicians in the world. Claude and his partner showcased the Shakespeares and Picassos of Jazz and, over time, branched out to include other forms of music.

Nobbs was so devoted to musicians and helping preserve their work that he and his partner since 1987, Thierry Ansalm, digitally preserved every concert ever given there from 1970 on. (There are even a few from 1968 and 1969). They created a huge archive collection of the premier performers of the past 60 years. On this documentary there were many famous musicians either performing or talking about Claude—a wealth of talent from jazz, rock, blues, and beyond.

CLAUDE’S INFLUENCE

Claude was universally loved by all the musicians whom he encountered, although some of the locals in Montreux (Switzerland) on Lake Geneva (the Swiss Riviera) were not keen on having a bunch of hippies pitch tents on their well-manicured lawns. There was even an arrest of Claude based on his homosexuality that represented a trumped-up charge designed to stop his quest to make Montreux into a must-stop destination for World Class musicians.

Quincy Jones produced the festival for at least 3 years, with Miles Davis appointed as an honorary greeter. The voices we hear talking about the legendary Claude Andre Nobbs include Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, who lived nearby for some time and considered Claude’s archived music collection an oasis in the desert. Here is a (partial) list of the renowned names who either testify to Claude’s supremely enthusiastic vision or actually perform onscreen in short vignettes: Jack White; Wyclef Jean, George Clinton, Lizzo, Questlove, Carlos Santana, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, B.B. King, Ray Charles, Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, Herbie Hancock, Van Morrison, Sting, Carol King, Queen, AC/DC, Deep Purple, Muddy Waters, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Joan Baez, Shania Twain, Z.Z. Topp, Elvis Costello, Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Zappa. And many, many more.

CATASTROPHE

During Frank Zappa’s show, an audience member fired a flare gun towards the ceiling of the casino. The casino caught fire and burned to the ground. Claude personally rescued some teenagers from the burning structure. The song “Smoke on the Water” was composed to describe the incident. The fire didn’t stop Claude. He directed his irresistible enthusiasm and passion to the project of rebuilding. Three years later, there was a new casino for performers to utilize.

Nesuhi Ertegan, head of Capital Records, offered Claude a full-time job during the period that represented the manufactured gay charges, but Claude did not want to leave his home town. He was enthusiastic to the point that one admirer said, “Claude was too much.” He cared deeply about the music and the musicians. One voice on the film says, “When I started in the Music Business 35 years ago, the emphasis was on the 2 words The Music. Now it’s on the 2 words The Business.” Many said that Claude was fighting for the human factor of the music business and would be very unhappy with the trend today toward monetizing music. “His passion was deep. His whole life resolved around the festival.”

Claude was killed in a skiing accident on Dec. 24, 2012. He fell into a coma and died on January 10th, 2013 at age 76. But Claude’s friends and supporters like Quincy Jones (a producer of the film) collated this film to honor him and his irrepressible enthusiasm and passion for music and life.

“The Black Sea”

“The Black Sea”

The second documentary that we saw on Monday, September 23, chronicled a charming man who could also bring others together, even if he didn’t speak their language. That was the film “The Black Sea” which told the story of a Black guy from Brooklyn who ends up in Bulgaria with no money and no passport.

The synopsis reads: “Khalid, a charismatic big dreamer from Brooklyn gets stuck in a small Bulgarian resort town on the Black Sea after chasing a fast cash opportunity that goes awry. As the only Black guy around, he becomes the center of the town’s curiosity. His New York City street hip-hop rap is all he has to survive and figure out how to get home. But in his pursuit he finds connections in a way he never expected.”

The film showcased Derrick B. Harden as Khaled (who also did the rap music) and Ina, played by Irmena Chichikova . Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden are the movers and shakers on this one, which has been picked up by Metrograph Pictures for distribution,. It had no real script and was shot during the pandemic, apparently in Bulgaria with cinematography by

The film was promising when Derrick arrives in Bulgaria only to learn that he has no passport, no money and no ability to communicate with the locals. It’s an absolutely terrifying feeling, which I have experienced. Derrick reminds of a younger version of J.B. Smoove and he uses his charismatic personality to figure it out (much like Claude Nobbs did in the Montreux documentary).

The lack of a plan for what happens next begins to pull the story down after that; the end of the film is not entirely satisfactory, but congratulations to the makers of this small film. The setting was beautiful in both films and there is a common thread beyond the beautiful geography and that is but one of their similarities. Both Claude Nobbs and Derrick B. Harden were positive people who had the charisma to organize others and that means a lot.

“DEVO” Opens the 55th Nashville Film Festival on 9/19/2024

By Connie Wilson

On September 19, 2024

In Movies, Music, Pop Culture, Reviews

Opening night of the 55^th Nashville Film Festival on September 19, 2024, highlighted a documentary, DEVO, directed by Chad Smith, which premiered originally on January 21, 2024 at Sundance. As it was introduced to the audience at the Belcourt Theater, the comment was: “So insightful in ways that I never thought it would be.” The “Whip It” creators formed DEVO in 1973 in Akron, Ohio. They still seem to be ready and willing to continue as a band, if not as able as they were in the 70s and 80s. The dedication at documentary’s end was to three members of the group who are dead. At film’s end three of the surviving members—Bob Mothersbaugh, Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerard Casale—answered questions from the audience via zoom screen.

At the Opening of the 55th Nashville Film Festival.

The band credits the impetus for their formation to the political unrest at Kent State, Ohio, that led to the May 4, 1970 deaths of 4 students (and the wounding of 30) who were demonstrating against the Vietnam War. As someone who took part in demonstrations of the era at Berkeley, I can remember and relate to the horror the members of the group experienced at this historic mis-use of power in the United States. Nixon had expanded the war in Vietnam without an act of Congress; my generation’s young men were being sent to Vietnam to die in a war that was ill-advised and unwinnable. The draft was in full swing; we were mad as hell and not going to take it any more. The students had set fire to the ROTC headquarters on campus and burned that building down. President Richard Nixon decided to send in the National Guard, who opened fire on the unarmed students.

AHEAD OF THEIR TIME

DEVO:
photographed in Holland, 1978 by Barry Schulz.

Through the years, the band doggedly worked to satirize society and, as they admit, “We did some absurd things.” In explaining the famous “energy hats,” as well as the lacquered hair-dos that the band wore (based on JFK, not Reagan), the group admitted, “We like ironic humor.” They also said that the masks and hats and odd costumes were “a way to amuse ourselves—a very Meta idea.” DEVO was anti-punk rock, saying, “We’re the fluid in the punk enema bag.” Over the years, the group saw the future of film in music and began making music videos which were shown on MTV (MTV didn’t exist when the band first formed). Casale went on to helm music videos for current groups like Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters and Soundgarden.

Not only was the band way ahead of the curve in using music videos to promote themselves (most of which were directed by Gerard Casale), but they contributed to the birth of electronic music. Jim Mothersbaugh created circuit bending before there was a name for that process. Jim Mothersbaugh went to a muffler shop to build a guitar that was the precursor of the Moog synthesizer. In this respect, the film reminded me of the SXSW documentary “Resynator,” ,helmed by Alyson Tavel, which catalogued her father Don’s similar pioneering attempts to create the Moog synthesizer. (Highly recommended). DEVO has been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018, 2021 and 2022.

FAMOUS FANS

Audience members at DEVO at the Nashville Film Festival on 9/19/2024.

After a video that the band submitted won an award at the Ann Arbor Film Festival their fortunes took a turn upwards. Famous fans included David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Jack Nicholson, Mick Jagger, Dennis Hopper, Leonard Cohen and Neil Young. Over the years, the band made appearances on “Saturday Night Live,” David Letterman’s “Tonight” show, daytime talk shows like Merv Griffin’s, “American Bandstand” and many others. Neil Young put them in a movie entitled “Human Highway” in 1977 (released in 1982) where the members of the group wrote their own parts and portrayed nuclear garbagemen.

However, the group said, “Being self-aware put us in a delicate position” and added, “How soon will you become the people you hated?”

Q&A

During the post-film conversation with three members of DEVO the trio shared some amusing details of what they term the “headache” solo. This episode is shown onscreen. The small audience of 12 people dwindled to 6 people when all the band played were electronic high-pitched sounds. As Mark said, “The guitar players backstage were having a horrible time trying to tune their guitars. The bit ran five times as long as we thought it would. It was Supreme Dada—like Andy Kaufman performance art.”

Bob Mothersbaugh, Mark Mothersbaugh, and Gerard Casale during the zoom interview after the documentary DEVO.

CONCLUSION

This documentary about a band best-known for their #14 Billboard Hit “Whip It” was quite interesting. It drives home the need for good marketing, good management, and good legal advice in areas like the music, publishing and entertainment businesses. While DEVO’s video marketing was good, it was ahead of its time as MTV did not yet exist. The management and the legal advice seem to have been spectacularly MIA.

That, as much as anything else, led to the death of DEVO—(if they are really and truly dead.) As Mark Mothersbaugh said, “Somebody decided that DEVO should die. We succumbed to the same reality we were satirizing.” He added, “DEVO didn’t officially end” and said, perhaps prophetically, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.”

A solid opening to the 55th Nashville Film Festival.

“Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken” on 9/22 at Nashville Film Festival

By Connie Wilson

On September 9, 2024

In Editorial, Movies, Music, Pop Culture, Reviews, Television

Melissa Etheridge appears in a series streaming on Paramount Plus as of July 7^th, entitled “Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken.” The two episodes are being shown on Sunday, September 22, from 7 to 9 p.m. as part of the Nashville Film Festival.

Young Melissa Etheridge.

A native of Leavenworth, Kansas, Etheridge is shown visiting the Topeka Correctional Facility for Women, after having corresponded with many of the inmates for 9 months prior. It was a homecoming of sorts for the singer, as, like Johnny Cash, she had performed at a Kansas prison when she was only 12 years old, in 1973. Brian Morrow and Amy Scott directed the series and five of the inmates of the prison are shown reading the letters they wrote to Etheridge. Etheridge talks with the five women and performs for them.

Saying that their letters inspired her, Melissa wrote some original music for the concert and said, “I realize I can’t save anyone, but I’m looking to inspire.”

HIGH POINTS

The Mayor of Leavenworth, Jermaine Wilson, who did 3 years in prison himself, is shown talking with Etheridge about the upcoming concert. Wilson and Etheridge, together, stressed that they wanted to inspire and encourage the imprisoned felons, saying, “Mistakes don’t define you. You are not a failure. You are not a mistake. You were created on purpose for a purpose.”

Mayor Jermaine Wilson of Leavenworth, KS.

Mayor Jermaine Wilson of Leavenworth, Kansas.

In addition to much charitable work, Melissa also founded the Etheridge Foundation which attempts to legalize cannabis and other drugs that might be useful for therapeutic purposes. She shared with the crowd of women—many of them incarcerated specifically for selling, using, or possession of drugs—that she once had an arrest as she entered the U.S. from Canada through North Dakota, where cannabis was illegal. “The best I can do is to be an example—a light that holds you up and says you matter.”

PRISON STATISTICS

Meghan Davis, an employee of the facility, said that the likelihood of a woman being the victim of a crime never drops for women as it does for men. Women do not grow up and become less likely to become victims of crime. In fact, over the last 40 years, there has been an 84% increase in women convicted of crimes and imprisoned, many of them crimes that originated with a drug habit.

Of the 760 women incarcerated in Topeka, 500 are mothers or grandmothers. Prison employee Dani Essman talked about how many of the imprisoned women lose their identity. One of the women expressed gratitude for Etheridge’s actions, saying, “We were just grateful that she gave a shit.”

POIGNANT SHARE

Melissa and her then-partner Julie Cypher had 2 children. Cypher gave birth to Bailey Jean and Beckett.^[⁶⁵^] Cypher became pregnant via artificial insemination using sperm donated by musician David Crosby.^[⁶⁶^] Cypher and Etheridge separated in 2000. On May 13, 2020, Etheridge announced on Twitter that her son with Cypher, Beckett, had died at the age of 21 of a drug overdose related to opioid addiction. (Her daughter, Bailey Jean, graduated from Columbia in 2019).

Beckett and sister Bailey.

When Etheridge shared this personal heartbreak with the crowd, she sang the song “Shadow of a Black Crow,” which she said she seldom performs. One of the lines in the song is, “I would rather die fast than ever drive slow. Father, forgive me, for what my mother don’t know.”

Etheridge—speaking to so many women who know only too well the curse of addiction—said, “He (Beckett) was either gonna’ find his way out or not, and in his case not.” Referencing the lyric “The scratch marks on my soul from the shadow of a black crow” Etheridge said, “I miss him here, but I know he is here (gesturing upwards).”

SECOND HALF

In the second episode of the Melissa Etheridge Paramount Plus offering “I’m Not Broken” Ms. Etheridge composed a song especially for the inmates of the Topeka State Prison. We witnessed the actual creative process as Etheridge discusses the evolution of the song. Band member Joe Ayoub tells us that they worked up the band’s part from Friday to Sunday.

Onstage.

particularly heartbreaking story, told by one of the five women spotlighted in the special (Andrea, Cierra, Jessica, Kristi and Leigh) shared with the viewers was that she became hooked on drugs and was pregnant by 19. Her baby died ten minutes before she gave birth.

Etheridge opened up about her son Beckett’s death on May 13, 2020. Beckett was born on November 18, 1998. Etheridge explained his addiction as stemming from Vicodin administered after a snowboarding accident. His addiction quickly spiraled out of control.

Beckett was 21 when the police found him dead after a wellness check that Melissa and her former partner Julie Cypher requested.

THE ODD

Beckett and Bailey.

I found Melissa Etheridge’s sharing of her personal trauma brave, but odd.

Melissa and son Beckett.

She said, “I do not let it take me out of my own sense of well-being. You can accept a person’s choices and it doesn’t have to destroy you.” She seemed remarkably calm and distanced from grief at the death of her son. I couldn’t help but wonder if, like the devotees of the new meditation start-up Jhourney, Etheridge has internalized the life rule “true peace comes from accepting things just as they are.” I admit that I was taken aback at the calm way Etheridge discussed the death of her 21-year-old son, Beckett. It was shocking and surprising; she seemed somewhat clinically detached. The death had taken place three years prior so that may help explain the low-key dispassionate discussion the film showcases.

CONCLUSION

The 2 part serial look into Melissa Etheridge’s life and creative process was interesting, but repetitive. There were too many shots of Etheridge performing on the temporary stage set up outside the prison walls. The interviews with the five inmates (Andrea, Cierra, Jessica, Kristi and Leigh) were conducted in less-than-optimal settings and there were a lot of those table shots. Perhaps film of the five inmates establishing the women’s relationships with their families of origin before they were incarcerated would have helped?

Onstage.

What comes through loud and clear is that Melissa Etheridge is a time-tested talent. She asks the assembled women if they are familiar with her music. Some are not. For them she described her audience as those aged 50 and up, as her Grammy-winning years were approximately 1993 through 2007. That’s a pity, as she is just as talented now as she was in earlier years— more seasoned and just as creative. She continues to write. This series is a tribute to a true talent trying to bring redemption and empowerment to incarcerated female prisoners. It is a wonderful humanitarian concept.

Melissa Etheridge onstage.

What else could have been done to liven up the many scenes of Ms. Etheridge talking with the inmates? The library setting was used repeatedly. Melissa performing onstage was entertaining, but also repetitive. Those were the weak points of the two-episode series, which will screen at the Nashville Film Festival on Sunday, September 22^nd, from 7 to 9 p.m., and on Paramount Plus.

THE GOAL

The goal of bringing hope to the incarcerated women of the Topeka Correctional Facility for Women was worthwhile and deserving of support. The plea for accepting drugs for therapeutic purposes is also a progressive step forward, just as Etheridge’s original song “I Need to Wake Up” for Al Gore’s 2007 documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” which won the Academy Award, was part of a good cause, trying to alert the world to the dangers of global warming. (I can’t help but regret how our weather patterns might be different if Florida and the candidate’s brother had not been allowed to prevail in the hanging chads election of 2000. A candidate whose party had no plan at all to address global warming—and still does not—was declared the winner. Al Gore, who was extremely concerned about our stewardship of the planet, stepped aside with decorum. How times change!)

Reservations aside, it’s a pleasure to watch a Top-Notch Singer/Songwriter writing and performing her work. Etheridge’s social conscience cannot be denied. This two-part Paramount Plus series is a testament to that .

“The Day the Music Stopped” to Screen at Nashville Film Festival on 9/20/2024

By Connie Wilson

On September 7, 2024

In Editorial, Music, News, Pop Culture, travel

THE EXIT/IN

Exit/In bar in Nashville, Tennessee

“The Day the Music Stopped,” directed by Patrick Sheehan is a 95 minute film that explores the end of an iconic Nashville indie music venue, the Exit/In. Last year’s Nashville Film Festival ended with a buffet meal at the Exit/In. It was great. The Big Names who have played at the iconic Exit/In venue appeared on plaques that literally filled the walls.

The room hosted its last indie concert on November 23, 2022. Fifty-one years of music as an independent venue stopped when Goliath beat David. As Wikipedia explained, Exit/In’s demise, it had 25 different owners over the years from 1971 to 2022 and was not continuously open, but it definitely was a place where many big names in music either got their start or performed over the years. It even served vegetarian food for a brief period. Comedian Steve Martin performed there while climbing the ladder of success.

LAST INDIE OWNERS LOSE

The final owners before the Big Boys of Music moved in and took over were Chris Cobb and his wife, Teisha, who put up a valiant fight to keep the venue independent. However, on November 14, 2022, club operators, Chris and Telisha Cobb, announced their departure.^[^2] In December 2022 AJ Capital Partners, was announced as the new purchasers and operators of the venue.^[^3]^[^4] The venue was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2023. There are still shows at Exit/In and the Rock Block, but admission prices to the 500-seat space have, no doubt, increased. (There was even talk of how Live Nation would charge musicians a fee simply to use their lights.) There is a hopeful bit of film showcasing (Attorney General) Merrick Garland at the very end of the film that would probably bring forth a cheer from the group assembled in the photo below this paragraph.

Exit/In’s last indie show in 2022.

This film depicts the tumultuous last show as an indie venue and also charts a path forward that gives a glimmer of hope—a national movement, Save our Stages. Watching the crowd surfing group revel one last time you could feel the joy and also the sadness in the room.

The city and the state face the reality that capitalistic greed is destroying the music culture created in Nashville over decades. As Chris Cobb of the Exit/In said, “The winds of charge are certainly upon us.” Much of the fight centers on who owns the brand name “Exit/In.” (Still unresolved). A.J. Capital Partners (of Chicago) is the villain of the piece, especially when we learn that they are in business with Live Nation. It seems to be only a matter of time before the Big Boys gobble up all of the small venues that used to provide platforms for the future Taylor Swifts and Garth Brooks of the music business.

One by one, iconic venues are listed and (mostly) shown going under—Mercy Lounge (closed May 19, 2022), Douglas Corners, Exit/In, Lindsay Corners (saw Low Cut Connie there the last time I was in town), the Bluebird Cafe. The music business is still very unstable post-pandemic. Although Exit/In closed for what they thought would only be 3 months during the pandemic, the iconic venue once reopened in 1981 by Chuck Berry which spawned so many big names through the years is one of the casualties of what is described as “a corporate takeover of America by capitalists.” Exit/In still open, but it’s not the same.

THE OLD DAYS

Up-and-coming Nashville.

Many in the documentary talk about how, if you arrived in Nashville before 2012 or 2013, Nashville was a very different town. My daughter selected Nashville as her college town in 2005 (Belmont College). She can testify to the many changes that the city has experienced.

The film does a good job of explaining why 43 buildings on Music Row were demolished between 2013 and 2018. It also lays bare the dilemma that Nashville faces. “It truly is a crisis situation here in Music City.” As the Mayor outlined “an unparalleled series of challenges for cities with only a few million in cash reserves” the picture begins to focus. It’s not good news for those who considered Exit/In “a sacred space for Nashville.”

John Cooper, Mayor of Nashville.

John Cooper, the Mayor of Nashville, explains that, although Nashville has certainly enjoyed a booming economy, “We had not been a good steward of our finances.” When tough times hit, Nashville only had a few million dollars in its contingency fund, not enough to handle the crises that beset the city, beginning in 2010.

THE FLOOD, THE STORM, COVID & OTHER CATASTROPHES

Nashville flood of 2010.

First, there was the flood of 2010, which ruined downtown Nashville.

Then came the deadliest tornado on record on March 2, 2020 (25 people died). (There’s been another since then that killed 3 people on the block where my daughter lives in December of 2023.)

Just one week later, Covid struck the nation and the world.

Indie music venues were impacted very negatively. Even today, “a lot of clubs are in limbo.” It is an eco-system that cannot survive without assistance. The Exit/In closed for what they thought would be 3 months.

Add to the natural disasters the 63-year-old Nashville resident, Anthony Quinn Walker, who blew himself up inside an RV parked outside an AT&T building on December 25^th of 2020, taking most of historic 2^nd Avenue with him, and you have the makings of the dilemma that haunts creatives in Nashville now. As the film points out so well, the residents of Nashville have to ask themselves “Where are we heading?”

A GLIMMER OF HOPE

Famous spokespeople like Ben Folds speak out about the potential closing of RCA Studio A, the studio where Chet Atkins and Elvis recorded. It was established on June 20, 1924. It almost met the wrecking ball on Chet Atkins’ 90^th birthday, until some notable names like Ben Folds and Keith Urban stepped up and made efforts to save the iconic studio.

Erica Wollam, General Manager & Chief Operating Officer Bluebird Cafe.

Throughout the film there is much information about the fight to keep the Exit/In out of the hands of Live Nation. But Live Nation bought Ticketmaster and, as one executive told the owner of the venue, “In 10 years we’ll control the business from the top to the bottom.” A 2021 Live Nation document is shown onscreen that spells out how, if an artist were to cancel his or her Live Nation concert, “the artist will pay promoters double the artist fee.” It also highlighted how the cost of insurance to artists increased from 0% to 100% and, all-in-all, while getting only 40 cents on the dollar from any gig they might play in Music City under the auspices of the big music biz entrepreneurs, it has become more and more difficult to make a living as a musician—not that it was ever easy.

There are those who are fighting to save the stages. Jeff Syracuse, a BMI executive, is a City Councilman who is well aware of the competition for space in Nashville and how new talent is struggling to find a launching pad amongst dwindling indie clubs. Mike Curb, Chuck Elcan, Chris Cobb, Representative Johnny Garrett (R, Goodlettsville) are all shown working to pass a state-wide live music fund, the first in the nation, that would help struggling indie venues, which seems to be meeting some success by film’s end.

Honky Tonk Central.

Near the end of the film Chris Cobb (last owner of the Exit/In) is awarded the Blayne Tucker Advocacy Award for his work with Save Our Stages. I’ve never heard of Blayne Tucker. But I could relate to the talking head in the film who said “Money is gonna’ win a lot of the time.”

Patrick Sheehan, Stephen Thompson, Ian Criswell (Cinematographers/Director) and Michael Gomez (Photography), with editing by Sheehan have done a great job with this film. It sounds very familiar to an Austin (Tx) resident to learn that the music industry is not a straight-arrow biz. But it does have people within it who really love what they do and want to preserve music culture in their city for all the right reasons.

And then there are the others who just want to make as much money as they can as fast as they can; they don’t seem to care about much else. The creators of “The Day the Music Stopped,” both onscreen and behind the camera compiling this engaging documentary, obviously do care. With this documentary they are trying to help preserve the true spirit of Nashville. It’s a sobering look at greed spurred by the competition for space in Nashville. I hope those fighting the good fight catch a break in their struggle. Stay tuned for further developments in Nashville and nationwide.

Wild Bill & the Bruisers Rock Austin on August 30th, 2024

By Connie Wilson

On September 1, 2024

In Editorial, Music, Pop Culture

As part of our annual Wilson Family Fest, some of us journeyed out to hear Nashville band “Wild Bill and the Bruisers” at a bar in Austin, Texas, that was literally less than 5 minutes from our south Austin home. The Nashville-based band that plays on Broadway at various venues was only supposed to be the opening band for a band that had double-booked themselves, leading to the band playing from 8 p.m. until midnight at Sam’s Town Point at 2115 Allred Drive on Friday, August 30th.

Son Scott, Wild Bill (Will Allison), me on Friday night in Austin.

Since the daughter (Stacey) is a Nashville resident, and a graduate of Belmont University just like band leader Will Allison (aka, Wild Bill) she knew them all. Also in the 3-member band are lead guitar and vocals Ryan Hartman and Roger Ross on drums.

The band has an infectious enthusiasm; the crowd this night got into the spirit quickly. The band is releasing an album of their original songs. I think they announced the album would drop on September 14th, but don’t hold me to that. (Some of us were imbibing and dancing at the time.) I learned that my daughter has been doing the two-step a lot, and the rest of the crew (me included) certainly saw some accomplished dancers sweating up a storm in the low-ceilinged and hot Sam’s Town Point. If you look up “dive” in the dictionary, after the verb definition, you might find a picture of Sam’s Town Point, but it’s hard to fault the performance of the three musicians or the response of the crowd.

A friend of Will’s asked me to dance “the two-step,” a dance which I had never seen, let alone danced. Houston (my dance partner) informed me that the rules for this dance were: “Don’t look at your feet. Two steps left and one step right. Keep it close, like you’re in a closet.” I had just drunk my third or fourth Diet Coke (yes, I was drinking plain Diet Coke; after all, I’m here for the Texas Liver Institute to figure out why my liver enzymes are sky high, and your liver hates alcohol.) So, at least I was sober. (As Bill Murray would say, “At least I had that going for me,”)

Will Allison, aka Wild Bill of Wild Bill and the Bruisers

I was intent on hearing the band, as I had seen video of the lead on the bass throwing that thing around like it was a child’s toy. Will (Bill) needs a fairly high ceiling to do it justice and said he had developed a bit of a bad knee from going down on one knee to hoist the rather large fiddle into the air.

All-in-all, it was very entertaining. The honky-tonk and country tunes were big crowd-pleasers. I haven’t thought of the name Conway Twitty since the movie “Bye, Bye Birdie,” where it was changed to Conrad Birdie. That was 1963 and I was a senior in high school, so I was definitely not “up” on the catalogue of tunes that the band covered, but the original song “Do You Want to Dance With Me?” (on the new album) had a Huey Lewis and the News vibe. I certainly know who Johnny Cash was, but my knowledge of honky tonk and/or country music is seriously impaired by devotion to rock-and-roll. Enjoyed the Johnny Cash song Wild Bill selected, as he sold it well.

If you’re going to be in Nashville, check them out by checking their blog for dates and places, https://www.wildbillandthebruisers.com/

You won’t be disappointed.

Guitarist Ryan Hartman at Sam’s Town Point in Austin, Texas, on August 30, 2024.

The Rolling Stones Play Soldier Field on June 27, 2024

By Connie Wilson

On June 28, 2024

In Music, Pop Culture, Reviews

The Rolling Stones play Soldier Field on June 27, 2024.

The Rolling Stones played at Soldier Field (across the street from me) tonight, Thursday, June 27th.

We were 3 rows from the top of the stadium until the $16 beer my spouse had consumed drove us to lower levels to seek a rest room.

I was quite happy to move from the top section, because a man (who had to go at least 300 pounds) was sitting ON me. I can’t remember a time that was worse, except for the play “Tommy” when a very large lady sat on me,,,and it wasn’t even her seat!. There was also the air trip back from Europe when a very large crippled man sat ON me. I am not small, myself—(although I’m 50 lbs. lighter than in the past)—but I seem to be a magnet for extremely heavy people to come sit ON me, literally.

But I digress.

The last time we saw the Rolling Stones at Soldier Field nobody stood up and blocked the view of other people. That was not the case this time, which I think was because the audience seemed to be composed, that last time, of oldsters like us, but a lot of younger fans were there this night, who danced throughout. Unfortunately, two of the non-stop dancers were standing right in front of us. One of them had no sense of rhythm and reminded of the Elaine episode on “Seinfeld.”

Keith Richard, Ronnie Wood and Mick Jagger at the Chicago show in 2024.

Mick. Ronnie & Mick.

The Stones opened with “Start Me Up” and the first four songs were among their top hits.

Things slowed down a bit after that, with songs that either were newer or were not as well-known.

Near the end, while singing “Just a Shot Away”, a very impressive female singer was highlighted and sang with Mick on the stage that leads into the audience. Chanel Haynes was terrific! She immediately reminded me of the documentary about Mick’s previous Black female back-up singer. Both of these women have voices that are so powerful that they literally can blow the roof off the place! Amazing!

Near the end of the concert we made an early trip to the rest rooms and, following that, chose to watch the finale songs from seats that were not sold, for reasons that we did not understand. The entire section was vacant, and all of the seats were quite close to the stage, (although off to the left.) We sat in the front row near the stage for “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” and “Jumping Jack Flash” and other big hits.

The entire show was very enjoyable, except for the two girls that blocked our view of the stage most of the time..

Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, and Keith Richards onstage in Chicago on June 27, 2024.

This was the view from the seats NOT sold near the left side of the stage.

The weather was cooperative, cooling to the sixties and seventies. It was so much cooler that I had to dig out a very old coat that I leave here for emergencies.

After we made it to our section (435) we had to climb 35 rows to seats 9 and 10. Since I generally was not able to walk at all at this time in 2022 and parts of 2023, I felt very happy that I was able to not only walk to the stadium, but also to climb multiple stairs to our seats and then down to the rest room areas on the ground floor. We didn’t spend long at the concession stand, where shirts were going for $50.

I’ve seen the Rolling Stones every tour since 1982, which is 32 straight years, but they have actually been touring for 62 years and this was their 40th show in Chicago. They bemoaned the possible destruction of Soldier Field (to be replaced with a newer stadium, ostensibly). I don’t think I’ve seen Keith Richards smile as much at any concert in those 32 years.

The other thing that made an impression on me was the new Black drummer, Steve Jordan, who replaced Charlie Watts. Very impressive that this band is still going strong after all these years, going back to my college years. I still remember hearing “Hey, You, Get Offa My Cloud!” as I walked through the student union on campus at the University of Iowa as a freshman, a song that they played tonight with a Reggae influence. I’ve been listening to the Rolling Stones ever since and—after the Beatles broke up (saw them in 1965 at the San Francisco Cow Palace)—I switched to following the Stones “live” when they tour.

Mick Jagger and his new Black back-up singer.

Mick Jagger and his Black back-up singer onstage in Chicago.

I still think their best tour was “Steel Wheels,” which I saw in Ames, but I remember the Voodoo Lounge, Bridges to Babylon, No Security and the very first one at the University of Northern Iowa Uni-Dome, when Mick and the boys dressed in American football outfits and he used a cherry-picker to float above the crowd. The worst show of theirs was the one that was held in Austin at a place (Circuit C? in 2022 that is normally used for road races. It was a disaster because of the venue. People could not make it to the place and turned around and went home. That was the last time before this one. One of the most memorable was when my daughter took me to the Indianapolis 500 race track for my 75th birthday celebration. It was held near the Fourth of July in 2020 and fireworks burst overhead as it ended.

I always wonder if I’m seeing the Stones on their final tour. How can Mick Jagger continue to perform at this level when he was born in 1943 (July 26) and is 81 years old next month? If only Joe Biden looked as fit and capable as Mick did this night. Instead, our president looked very frail. Jagger referred to the debate as “Viagarapalooze,” We were missing the debate between Biden and Trump this night and, after we saw it on tape afterwards, I am glad. It was so sad for such a good man, who seemed to have no voice at all this night to be attacked by DJT. I’m glad I was not there “live.”

Mick leaves the stage.

The field at Soldier Field on June 27, 2024.

The stage. It resembled the stage used at the Indianapolis Speedway.

The band onstage near the end of their June 27, 2024 concert at Soldier Field in Chicgao.

Stage up close.

Mick Jagger and his Black female back-up singer.

Mick and the female Back-Up Singer with the dynamite voice (Chanel Haynes) leave the stage.

Mick Jagger and his female Black back-up singer.

Mick Jagger and Chanel Haynes,

Mick Jagger and his female Black back-up singer take a bow.

Taking a bow with Chanel Haynes singer.

Seth Meyer, Ribfest and the Gold Coast Art Show in Chicago (June 14-16, 2024)

By Connie Wilson

On June 16, 2024

In Local, Music, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, travel

Hello Weekend at Ribfest on June 15, 2024.

hello weekend chicago highlights youtube

The cover band “Hello Weekend” consists of six members: Christina Bagby and Connie Baltzell on vocals, Chris Brown on guitar, Scott Steele on bass, Ivan Dunki on drums and Bob the Bunny (who did not seem to be evident this night at Chicago’s Ribfest.) This line-up list was from a September 17, 2014 in The Daily Egyptian that serves Southern Illinois University, so the line-up may well be different 10 years later. (I definitely did not see someone who fit the description Bob the Bunny wearing a mask.)

There was a lot of discussion about the sexual identity of the lead singer. I maintain that the lead singer is female, but, at the point when the singer took off the long blonde wig to reveal a bald head, the discussion increased, with votes pro and con. Whoever sang lead, he/she was very good and very powerful. The Lady Gaga material seemed to be his/her favorite, which gave my companion some evidence for his point of view that the lead singer was simply a cross-dresser. Regardless of Christina’s true gender, she was one hell of a singer and we enjoyed the Chicago performance at RibFest, which followed a performance by an Irish folk band earlier at a different stage.

folk band performing at Chicago's Ribfest on June 15, 2024

Irish folk band also performing at Ribfest on a different stage on June 15, 2024.

The weekend began with the Seth Meyer performance at the Vic on Friday night, which was going to be filmed for a network special the next night. Much of the material had to do with Meyer’s three children, ages 8, 6 and 2. His description of his two-year-old daughter meeting President Biden was very funny and all of his material was fresh and fun. His lead-in was a comedian from Dubuque, Iowa, who likened his appearance as the lead-in to being the lead-in act for Pearl Jam when he would attend their concerts in his youth. He told a truthful story about his time as a ticket seller at a movie theater in Dubuque (which no longer exists). It seems that his entrepreneurial spirit caused him to charge ticket-goers for adult prices while ringing them in as children and pocketing the difference in the ticket prices. This ultimately led to corporate stepping in and closing the theater, firing all the employees, including Brooks, the comedian.

Tomorrow will be the Gold Coast Art Show within walking distance in Grant Park.

Lead singer of Hello Weekend at Ribfest on June 15, 2024.

Ribfest in Chicago on June 15, 2024

Connie Wilson at the Vic Theater in Chicago following Seth Meyer's comedy performance.

Waiting at the Vic Theater in Chicago to give Seth Meyer a copy of BEE GONE after his June 14, 2024 show.

Scott Steele, bass guitarist for Hello Weekend

Scott Steele, bass guitar for Hello Weekend, at Ribfest.

Billy Preston Bio-Pic “That’s the Way God Planned It” Has World Premiere at SXSW 2024

By Connie Wilson

On March 13, 2024

In Movies, Music, Pop Culture, Reviews, Television, Texas

Billy Preston, the “Fifth Beatle.”

“Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned it” is a documentary from Paris Barclay (“In Treatment,” “Glee”), whose own film accomplishments put him in a class that few can match. It was co-written by Cheo Hodari Coker. This is an outstanding documentary. It will go right up there with my favorite from last year’s SXSW, “Little Richard: I Am Everything.” (Lisa Cortes) It is a tribute to the man who was multi-talented and always the best musician in the room.

Says the synopsis: “With his signature gospel sound on the Hammond B3, Billy Preston double-handedly elevated the greatest artists of his time – from the Beatles to the Rolling Stones, from Aretha Franklin to Eric Clapton, from Ray Charles to Barbra Streisand to Sly and the Family Stone. In our film, we explore Billy’s career and influence on generations of musicians, as he scored several number one hits of his own and became one of the most sought-after musicians in the world. He did all of this as a soul divided — by his deep roots in the church, in constant conflict with his identity as a gay Black man, searching for a family of his own that would accept him for who he was.”

EARLY LIFE

Preston was an early phenomenon, playing piano and organ from the age of three by ear. In fact, he appeared on television for the first time at the age of 5. He sang a duet of Fats Domino’s song “Blueberry Hill” on Nat King Cole’s television show in 1957 at age 11, and from there his career went straight up, intersecting with nearly every major musical name of the past 60 years. On film, Preston says “It’s been the way God planned it for me. I’ve never gone out and auditioned.”

Preston himself said, “You don’t know how glad I am that God laid his hands on me.” But, as articulated by Billy Porter (“Kinky Boots” on Broadway), “It’s hard being queer.” Porter, born in 1969, knows how much worse it was for someone like Billy Preston, born in the forties (September 2, 1946). Porter acknowledged that his own ability to openly declare his sexuality is based on those, like Billy Preston, who came before him. Director Paris Barclay, who is President of the Directors Guild of America, is an openly gay Black director of great acclaim.

Very close to his mother, Robbie Preston Williams, the Joe Cocker hit “You Are So Beautiful To Me” was co-written by Williams for his mom. Robbie is shown playing and singing with Billy. Sadly, she didn’t protect him well enough from those who would take advantage of the youth. Billy was repeatedly molested by a piano player when he was working for the “Amos ‘N Andy” radio show. His mother either didn’t believe him or didn’t want to deal with it. That’s the way it was in 1955. He also went on a European tour with Little Richard in 1962 when only 16, an experience that he would never discuss.

BEING GAY IN AMERICA

Billy Porter (“Kinky Boots” on Broadway) appears onscreen commenting. Porter dismissed the idea that early sexual abuse would cause the young boy to become gay. Regardless, the sexual abuse when young did leave Billy Preston psychologically scarred. Preston was very careful not to discuss his sexual orientation. In the era that he grew up in, that was the way it was. It is not something he should have had to do. Porter tells us “God wouldn’t be so narrow-minded.” But I lived through those years. I understand his decision. (Think Liberace and his many lawsuits against those who publicly called him out.)

Narrow-minded defined the growing-up years that Billy Preston was ascending to fame and fortune. His talent was undeniable, but, on a personal level, he suffered. Part of it was his struggle with his sexuality. The Black church, so important in his life, said homosexuality was a sin. But Preston also suffered because he lost his older brother. His brother entered his home smoking a lighted cigarette. He was killed in the explosion that resulted from a gas leak.

Preston did not talk about his brother. He did not discuss the repeated abuse when he was nine. He simply threw himself into music, saying, “Music is my life.” When not playing with the most famous names of the day he had a ranch in Topanga Canyon and rode horses, a stress-reliever that he shared with the documentary subject whose life story kicked off SXSW 2024, Stormy Daniels. (“Stormy”).

It would take a large book to list every famous musician who worked with Billy Preston. Onscreen we hear from Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger. There is archival footage, showing Billy collaborating with the Beatles, whom he met in 1963 when touring Europe with Little Richard. The man was a dynamo, playing, singing and dancing.

1960s

When Billy returned to America, he did not talk about the Little Richard Tour, but he did talk about the Beatles. Preston developed a special friendship with George Harrison. Olivia Harrison, George’s widow, is one of the principal cast members speaking onscreen.

In the sixties Billy collaborated with the Beatles on the Abbey Road Album and is the only artist given a credit on a Beatles album for “Get Back:” The Beatles With Billy Preston. Preston was dubbed “the Fifth Beatle.” Preston played keyboards on the Beatles very last performance from the New York City rooftop on January 30, 1969. He also appeared on television’s “Shindig” as musical director.

1970s

In 1971, Billy would leave Apple for Herb Alpert’s A&M records. He wanted to step out of his identity as just an instrumentalist and be able to do more, including more solo and singing performances.

In 1972, he won a Grammy for “Outa-Space’ as the Best Pop Instrumental Performance. (He was nominated for 9 Grammies and won 2, including Album of the Year in 1973.) In 2021 he was inducted into the rock-and-roll Hall of Fame for musical excellence.

Billy Preston was the Rolling Stones primary touring keyboardist from 1973 to 1977. I saw him on their Bridges to Babylon tour two times, once in Chicago and once in Minneapolis. Mick Jagger appears onscreen and admits to teasing Preston about the many wigs he wore onstage. They allowed the musician to wear a trademark huge Afro onstage, but remove it and become relatively anonymous.

CRACKS IN THE CAREER

Paris Barclay, Director of “Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It” at SXSW 2024.

There may have been a romance with a woman named Kathy Silva in the early 70s. If there is a criticism of this documentary, it is how much this was soft-pedaled in the narrative. Whatever the relationship between Preston and Silva, it ended badly when Preston returned home to find her in bed with Sly (of Sly and the Family Stone). Some sources say that Preston swore off women from that point on.

It couldn’t have helped that Silva married Sly onstage in Madison Square Garden shortly afterwards. The film’s point-of-view is that Preston had both male and female lovers; everyone within the loop knew he was gay. His talent was so unparalleled that his homosexuality was not an issue. Perhaps accurate, but such a public betrayal had to cut deep and leave the artist feeling betrayed.

Disputes over money led to Preston’s departure from the Rolling Stones. In 1975 he was also the very first musical guest on the very first airing of “Saturday Night Live.” In 1978 he was cast as Sergeant Pepper in Robert Stigwood’s musical treatment of the famous Beatles album. It involved an all-star cast; it was a failure, which also bothered Preston.

1980s

With the dawn of the eighties and the emergence of disco, Preston’s star began to fade. He was Gospel, rhythm and blues, rock-and-roll—not disco. He became addicted to illegal substances and drank too much. A nighttime program built around comedian David Brenner, “Nightlife,” hired him to be musical director. The program tanked after one season (1986-1987).

1990s

Preston was asked to tour with The Band in 1991. He did, but he was sentenced for cocaine and assault in 1991. That was the end of his ability to tour. In August, he was sentenced to 9 months in drug rehabilitation (in Malibu) and given 3 months of house arrest. In 1992 he was given 30 days in jail on another offense. There was a sex charge involving a 16-year old youth. (Think Kevin Spacey).

Preston’s intense for money to feed his drug habit became so great that he burned his own house down. When apprehended, he pled guilty to the $1 million insurance fraud and was ordered to prison and to pay $60,000 in restitution.

At this point, the film brings on the judge who sent him to prison, Bernard J. Kamins, a judge in Los Angeles District Court (who said it was his first interview in 80 years). The court appearance was in 1992. Billy Preston was 44 years old and had various probation violations. Although 7 (of 8) charges were dropped the judge felt that if the musician didn’t clean up his act, he’d soon be dead (the Mayo Clinic agreed.) He was sent to Avenol State Prison for a term that ended up being much less than the 4 years for which he was sentenced. However, his health—especially his kidneys—were failing.

BLOWS TO THE MUSICIAN

George Harrison, Billy’s great and good friend, died in 2001. (Preston participated in the Concert for George in November of 2002). His beloved mother Robbie died in 2005 (1917-2005). Even his good friend Eric Clapton said, “I had to let him go” (Clapton tears up after that comment).

Clapton was a kindred soul and wanted to help Billy heal from his addiction, but it wasn’t happening. Billy’s last session was with Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave). Randy Jackson (of “American Idol”) fame is seen in the footage. We also see Sam Moore and Billy Preston flanking Paul Shaffer on a “Letterman” gig. Preston appeared on one “American Idol” segment.

Billy Preston called his last manager and revealed that he had finally told the others in group therapy that he was gay, something he had refused to do his entire life. He lapsed into a coma four days later, dying on June 6, 2006, in Scottsdale, Arizona (site of a Mayo Clinic facility) at age 60.

CONCLUSION

As one of Preston’s oldest friends, interviewed onscreen said, “How did we let someone like Billy Preston slip away?” She added (to spontaneous audience applause), “Can you imagine if church was really what it says it is?”

Do yourself a favor and make it a double-feature night. Watch the Little Richard documentary (“Little Richard: I Am Everything”) and follow it with “Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It.” The documentary is an absolute gem and extremely well-done.

“Resynator” Documentary at SXSW 2024 Showcases Electronic Music Pioneer

By Connie Wilson

On March 10, 2024

In Movies, Music, Pop Culture, Reviews

Director Alison Tavel.

Alison Tavel has directed a film about her father’s invention, the Resynator, one of the first synthesizers and a step forward into electronic music. Her father, Don Tavel, died in a car crash in 1988 when Alison was 10 weeks old. Don, a trailblazer in the field of electronic music, was, by all accounts, a genius in pioneering electronic music efforts.

Don Tavel began working on the Resynator at the age of 25, after graduating from the University of Indiana. Don played 17 different instruments, started the University of Indiana’s department of electronic music engineering in what a professor called “a seminal moment for music technology.” Don’s goal was to push the musical envelope and create a way for a musician to “play” or sing into the machine and have it electronically altered in a way that also retained some semblance of the musician’s input, unlike other synthesizers that simply mimicked the sound of a particular instrument.

Alison, who works for singer/songwriter Grace Potter, is involved in music herself, and, in the course of this journey back in time to attempt to discover who her father really was, she speaks with musicians like Kenny Aronoff (drummer for John Cougar Mellencamp), Peter Gabriel, Ornie McIntyre of the Average White Band, Butch Vig (Nirvana, Garbage), Money Mark of the Beastie Boys, Fred Armison, and Rami Joffee of the Foo Fighters. All her life, Allison had heard stories about her father’s encounters with famous artists like Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, and Paul McCartney. She had never known whether these stories were true or merely family legends.

The film starts out as a mystery about the electronic instrument Don Tavel invented. It was abandoned for 25 years and ended up stashed away in a box in Don’s mother’s attic in Indianapolis, Indiana. The discovery of this “lost Indiana Jones-like item” begins as a straightforward investigation. Utilizing old family film of her father and using voice-over, Alison shares the many positive stories about her award-winning father that she has been told over the years.

Then, things take a very different turn and the information shared with her by Don’s former friends, family and colleagues lead to a very different place—a place that is real, raw, and honest.

There are so many things about Don’s family that emerge and puzzle us. For instance, Don had an identical twin brother, R.J., but Allison has never met him. In fact, when Ron tells Alison, “When Don died, our Mom wrote me out of her life.” Who does that? Why does someone do that?

Investigating the Resynator electronic instrument.

Allison Tavel, Grace Potter, and Michael Tavel.

For the first time, Alison learns less-than-positive things about her genius father. His mercurial temperament had never been discussed before. Letters that Don left say things like, “I must not allow myself to ruin the last half of my life. I felt unloved my entire life…Instead of love, I got awards. I have never been able to make you love me.” These gut-wrenching peeks into the psyche of Don Tavel reduce Alison’s mother, Tamara, to tears at one point, and Allison herself ends up transporting the Resynator all the way to Minca, Columbia, and, later, to such venues as the Midwest Acoustics Conference and the NAMM show, where it was demonstrated in 1980, 44 years earlier.

We learn that only 2 completely workable Resynators reached the public, although there were 6 prototypes and 200 ordered, but not produced (3 by Peter Gabriel). Colleagues share stories of how Don seemed to lose enthusiasm for the project after a 1982 trip to London to demonstrate the instrument for Paul McCartney did not yield fruit. The friction between Tammy and Don is fully revealed to Alison for the first time; there are more questions than answers.

At various points, clever animation is used to fill in the story blanks. Danny Madden did a fine job with the animation, and the music, supervised by Chris Ruggiero, is excellent. Especially touching is audio of Alison’s father singing Leon Russell’s “A Song for You” at film’s end.

“Resynator” at SXSW 2024 on March 10, 2024.

This was a true revelation, as the synopsis doesn’t really reveal the revelations to come. Don Tavel crashed his car on November 28, 1988 and was declared brain dead at age 36 on December 3, 1988. Alison had just reached 2 and ½ months of age on September 14, 1988. By all accounts her life growing up with her mom and stepfather Alen Rosenberg, who entered her life in 1997, was idyllic.

The film is both enlightening, informative, and interesting on a psychological level. While it is true that tekkies might be less thrilled with the personal stuff, cut the one hour and 36 minute film some slack. It is a major achievement for this musician/filmmaker and it makes us hope that the Resynator will rise, Phoenix-like, from the ashes 35 years later and potentially achieve the acclaim that was denied Don Tavel during life.

“Porcelain War” Is Documentary Grand Jury Winner at Sundance, 2024

By Connie Wilson

On February 5, 2024

In Local, Movies, Music, News, Politics, Reviews

“Porcelain War” won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance 2024 and added to the ever-proliferating number of documentaries that are coming out of the horrific Russia/Ukraine War. The front-runner for an Oscar in the upcoming Academy Awards is “20 Days in Mariupol” from Ukrainian journalist Mstyslav Chernov. The “Porcelain War” is a joint project from Brendan Bellomo of the United States and Slava Leontyev, shooting inside Ukraine. Close friend Andrey Stefanov served as cameraman for the sequences within Ukraine and he and Slava deserve great admiration for their courage and resolve under pressure.

Having just seen “20 Days at Mariupol,” comparisons, for me, were inescapable. Plus, I am currently mid-way through a course at the University of Texas that traces Putin’s rise to power, leading to today’s invasion of Ukraine and the war that has dragged on since February 2022.

Both films show the “before” and “after” of a beautiful country now reduced to rubble. In the case of Mariupol (available on most major platforms and a “must see”) we see the city of Mariupol before it is totally ravaged by the Russians. The Writer/Director of “20 Days at Mariupol,” a Ukrainian AP reporter, chose to stay on with the troops and depict the true horrors of those left behind, including the young boy who was shooting baskets outdoors when a missile blew off his legs, ultimately killing him. The blood and grief mirror the scenes in Gaza that are horrifying in their brutality.

“Porcelain War” uses the metaphor of porcelain, which, as the film drives home relentlessly is this:

“Ukraine is like porcelain — easy to break, but impossible to destroy.”

This is because the Ukrainian participants we become acquainted with are artists who work in porcelain.

The United States director, Brendan Bellomo, won a student Academy Award when he was a student at NYU and his expertise is quite evident here.

THE BAD

Cast of “Porcelain War,” including co-directors (front) and Frodo, the dog..

For me, it is the very slickness of the porcelain metaphor and the well-done visual effects in “Porcelain War” that detract when compared with the effect that the raw footage of “20 Days in Mariupol” evokes. There is somewhat a looking away from the horrors of war a bit more in “Porcelain War” than in the shorter “20 Days in Mariupol” film. In “Porcelain War” we see idyllic footage of Ukrainian artists Slava, Anya, and Andrey coping with life in a war zone but also surrounded by great beauty. As “Variety” said in its review, “An accomplished visual effects supervisor whose credits include the 2012 Sundance smash ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild,’ Bellomo is attuned to the jolting sensations of combat both on the ground and above it.” It is precisely the excellence of Bellomo’s visual work in depicting the porcelain figures that takes away slightly from the less polished, but more visceral power of the shorter film (“20 Days in Mariupol.”) The porcelain work is beautiful and delicate. I, for one, wanted more of the brutal truth of war in Ukraine, to help me understand and process this latest aggression.

We do learn about the history of Russia’s land grab of Crimea in 2014. Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for promises of non-aggression from Russia, but those promises were bogus. Russia has a long history of not living up to its word. Putin seized Crimea in 2014 and collaborating director Slava Leontyev lived in Crimea at the time. He moved to Ukraine and he and others began re-establishing the military that they had abandoned when they believed Russia’s promises. So, for the past 10 years there has been an attempt to re-establish some kind of defense system for Ukraine, and Slava—who was present at Sundance along with Frodo, the dog in the film— has been instrumental in that effort, as we see.

A recent “New York Times” article speculated on the outcome of the Ukraine/Russia conflict. It said the Russian defense of parts of Ukraine it now occupies currently seems impenetrable. The war, it said, is beginning to resemble the WWI stalemate during which neither side seemed able to advance and the human toll inexorably rose. The article stated that Ukraine has lost 20% of its area and wants ALL of its country back. The odds of that happening (on Russia’s part) don’t seem good. With the Republican support for Ukraine seemingly mired in political gamesmanship that might re-install a leader who seems to think emulating Putin is a good thing, can we assume that our technical support and weaponry, that allowed Ukraine early in the fight to score some impressive wins, will continue after the November election if Trump were to win?

United States financial aid and expertise is necessary for Ukraine to move forward; there was a mention in the article of the potential firing of the Ukrainian Minister of Defense by Zelenskyy. If he IS fired, he was said to be the chief rival who might run against Zelenskyy. If Russia is feeling the crunch and would agree to settlement talks, said the article, it would almost certainly be predicated on Ukraine not joining NATO or other such groups. Meanwhile, Russia recruits from prison and will march those men forward to certain death simply to find out where their adversaries are concealed. The brutality of the Russian troops is legendary. The firsthand accounts of what has occurred are absolutely sickening; that, too, is not likely to improve over time.

Nobody trusts Putin to honor agreements he makes. The general feeling that would come from such a “settlement” would be anger that so many Ukrainians have given so much only to potentially be given back only a portion of their native land with conditions on how they might best defend themselves against future Russian aggression. The odds for the West and for democracy and for Europe are very large if you accept the premise that Putin will never stop his characteristic aggressive behavior and his dream of re-establishing the USSR as a Super Power. And, although Putin is 71, is a successor likely to be a change for the better? (Unlikely).

Ukraine’s largest military aid partner since the start of the war, the United States, has committed a total of €71.4 billion in aid to Ukraine when also considering financial and humanitarian support. Martin Armstrong on “Statista” (Dec. 13,2023) had these figures of support for Ukraine:

“Thanks chiefly to the €77.1 billion in pledged financial aid, European Union institutions are the largest aid donors to Ukraine. This is based on data from the IfW Kiel Ukraine Support Tracker which currently covers the period January 24, 2022 to October 31, 2023.

But will U.S. aid continue if Donald J. Trump is elected? And if Biden remains president, can he successfully negotiate continued support with the current GOP House and with the Senate’s current iteration?

All of these considerations enter into election year 2024. The analogy of porcelain (“Easy to break, but impossible to destroy”) may weaken in its appropriateness with the conflagration dragging on.

THE GOOD

Slava Leonytev is shown holding Frodo, the dog, with the cast of "Porcelain War."

Entire cast of “Porcelain War,” many of them direct from Ukraine.

Slava Leontyev became a weapons expert and has been training other civilians in how to load and fire weapons, in preparation for the war that Ukraine feared was coming. As one of the characters says, alluding to Russia’s history of aggression against the nations that broke away, “After 400 years we’re going to finally take care of it.” From watching Slava at work as a Ukrainian defense officer we get a better understanding of the reality of the current war.

The action in “Porcelain War” is centered in Kharkiv, which is 25 miles from the Russian border. In “Porcelain War,” we get to see the nuts-and-bolts of fighting the war in Ukraine. The emphasis on drone use is shown. We see “ordinary people in extraordinary situations” learning to fire weapons. We don’t see as much of the blood and guts and heartbreaking grief as in “20 Days in Mariupol,” but the horror of war is ubiquitous, emphasizing the message.

One line in the film is “Because of the invasion, we lost the substance of our lives.” Another analogy is that refugees are like snails without their shells. As Anya and Sonya are sent to Lithuania for their safety, their parents describe what an ordeal it was to get the girls out of the country by way of Poland. It reminded me of London residents, during the Blitz, sending their children to the countryside to protect them. As the family says, “What is absolutely predictable is death.” We see face-time chats between the family members. The Ukraine residents feel that, “We’re fighting against evil. This is a historic opportunity to destroy aggressors.” The script adds, “It will keep pushing until it reaches you.”

The music is particularly effective. It is a fevered, clattering score from DakhaBrakha, a self-described “ethnic chaos” band based in Kyiv. The musical refrain is “A time to laugh, a time to cry. A time to live. A time to die.”

This film gives us a focused look at how the local populace, with aid from the United States and the European Union, is responding to Russian aggression. As Slava says, “Crimea ended in the blink of an eye, and we retreated to Ukraine.” At another point, as the struggle drags on, the line is “Armageddon is happening in Bakhmut.”

The drone group, decorated by the local artists, is dubbed “Saigon.” The reference to that Vietnamese city seems to be a nod to the effective guerilla fighting that the local populace employed against a super power.

CONCLUSION:

This is a film that is well worth watching. I would suggest viewing “20 Days in Mariupol” at the same time. One will give a very polished look at the Ukraine/Russia war; the other is more visceral, but both are terrific.