When we search within our souls and find that brave spot it summons the strength to conquer our fears. Levon Helm offers us an example of a musical soul guiding us to bravery in a brand new film, Ain’t In It For My Health.
Director Jacob Hatley’s intimate documentary finds Mr. Helm at home in Woodstock, NY, in the midst of creating his first studio album in 25 years. Shot during the course of two-plus years, this highly anticipated film focuses in on the four-time Grammy winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member after his 2007 comeback album, Dirt Farmer, brought him back to the spotlight.
The movie premiered last night at a special “Midnight Ramble” at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, NY. It was followed by a barbecue dinner and afterwards the Dirt Farmer Band (including Larry Campbell, Amy Helm and Teresa Williams) performed live.
The film will then have a limited run at theaters in the U.S.. I hope we can view it in Greenwich Village NYC at the Cinema Village site.
My wife and I were fortunate to see The Levon Helm Band perform at the Gathering of the Vibes in 2009. Here is one of the songs from that evening set featuring Levon playing mandolin.
He was so brave for all of us that night and he continues to be in the music of our heart.
I am enthusiastic to learn about a new independent film, Greetings from Tim Buckleyby TriBeca Film. It will be available for rental from iTunes starting April 16th. The film opens on May 3rd in New York and Los Angeles.
Official Trailer
Penn Badgley channels Jeff Buckley in this clip from “Greetings From Tim Buckley” as he sings Buckley’s famous cover of his father’s song, ‘Once I Was.’ The movie leads up to this deciding moment when Jeff Buckley is discovered by the world on this stage. The torch is passed from father to son through the shared music inherent in their respective DNA.
I was looking for a different YouTube music video for today’s blog post. I more than found that in Blue Oyster Cult‘s “Godzilla”. It brought back special childhood memories about black and white television viewing, science fiction, and Aurora model making. (Godzilla was one of five or six Aurora model kits I bought and made in the 60s).
I discovered Japanese Science Fiction films by watching “Million Dollar Movie” on WOR-TV Channel 9 in the early 60s. ”Million Dollar Movie” played the same film every night for five afternoon/nights in a row, Monday through Friday. So, if you loved it, you could watch it all week-long.
I was a latch key child along with my brother in the apartment in those days. We would watch Million Dollar Movie after school until our parents came home from work.
A film that kept my repetitive interest was Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956). The version was dubbed in English and featured Raymond Burr. The Japanese movie making process paled in comparison to the superlative stop animation techniques fashioned by Willis O’ Brien (King Kong) and his protegé Ray Harryhausen. But I never seemed to mind that nuance because I found Godzilla engaging to watch.
I loved when I heard Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla” on BOC’s Spectres in 1977.
CBGB, an upcoming film which focuses on the founding of the New York punk nightclub that helped launch the careers of such legendary acts as The Ramones, Blondie, Television and The Talking Heads (and many others).
Alan Rickman stars as club founder Hilly Kristal. Other actors signed on include Malin Akerman as Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry, Kyle Gallner as Lou Reed and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins as Iggy Pop.
Television’s Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine as well as former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne are slated to make cameo appearances, though not as themselves.
The film is scheduled for a theatrical release later this year.
Yesterday I blogged about the six week music education series Rhapsodic City: Music of New York presented by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. It just so happens the third week focuses on the Folk Music Revival in New York that took place in the 1950′s and ’60s. Greenwich Village became the artistic setting for performers, artists, and club owners. The Village invokes a warm nostalgic feeling within the music of our heart. Our son lives there today and we love to visit the clubs, restaurants, and stores around this historic neighborhood.
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS follows an aspiring singer-songwriter (Isaac) as he navigates the 1960s folk-music scene in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Grammy®-winner T Bone Burnett produced the film’s soundtrack which includes music performed by, among others, Oscar Isaac, Marcus Mumford and Justin Timberlake. Robert Graf served as executive producer, T Bone Burnett served as executive music producer and Marcus Mumford as associate music producer.
The film has completed shooting in New York City and the International release date will be November 6, 2013 (France). Projected US release dates are unknown as of this writing. I have ordered the audio edition of the memoir to better immerse myself in the experience. The first trailer fascinates me to no end. Listen closely to the Bob Dylan track “Farewell” that plays underneath.
I think you will be asking as I have been who does Llewyn Davis represent? Is he Dylan, Van Ronk, Phil Ochs or is a he a microcosm of that male folk singer of the time? Llewyn Davis will strike a chord in hopeless romantics who identify with living the life of a folkie in that halcyon age from our American culture. Perhaps this picture clues us in
There are several reasons why I relish Dave Van Ronk’s spirit. I find him funny, compelling and engaging as an artist. He was quite the character as his recordings and live performances attest. He was a mentor and inspiration for Tom Paxton, Christine Lavin, Joni Mitchell, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan (who described Van Ronk as “the king who reigned supreme” in the Village)[27]
I had the rare opportunity to meet Dave Van Ronk in person in Hermosa Beach, California one Sunday afternoon years back. My brother-in-law and I attended an early evening solo appearance at The Lighthouse Cafe. We sat at the bar before the show and shared drinks, stories, holding an intimate conversation with Dave Van Ronk. My brother-in-law was the one who turned me on to Van Ronk from his record collection when I started dating my wife in 1969. I went on to feature Dave Van Ronk regularly on my college FM radio shows in the mid-70s.
This early 80′s opportunity to sit across the bar and comfortably chat with Dave Van Ronk was a privilge. He answered our questions openly like an friend indulging old friends. He wiped away that fans talking to a legend sensation to show who he truly was a down to earth soul of a man. He spoke about Bob Dylan in a fatherly way which I liked a lot. We ended up being just two of the 12 people who stopped by that night to hear him play a raucous 90 minute set that was quite animated. Dave Van Ronk played excellent guitar and I will never forget his gravely yet pearl toned voice. “Cocaine Blues (Rev. Gary Davis Traditional)” was the highlight and we thanked him for playing that song for us all.
In 1959 at the age of 27 Lillian moved to New York starting off as a freelancer for ‘Weekend’ and moving on to become the first Australian journalist to gain a high-profile in the States. In 1962 they offered her the New York correspondent’s position for The Sydney Morning Herald, a job she kept for the next ten years.
Her organic writing style flowed into print form in an easy to follow way. She was a sharp critic with a keen ear that discerned well for the large metropolitan audience who read her weekly writings.
I religiously read Lillian Roxon’s music column in the New York Daily News. This was before I graduated to reading the New York Times later in college.
She held court in the late sixties/early 70s in the infamous back room of Max’s Kansas City. She fit in well among the celebrities of the era.
Lillian Roxon wrote the first definitive rock encyclopedia, Lillian Roxon’s Rock Encyclopedia. The New York Times described it as ‘the most complete book on rock music and rock culture ever written’ and it effectively became the template for many of the music books that followed. I owned and loved that book, I dog earred the pages I read and referred to it so often. It served as a major reference for me in programming the FM radio shows I did in the 70s.
Tributes
Lillian Roxon, The Mother of Rock Journalism Web Article
In 2010 Paul Clarke’s documentary ‘Mother of Rock’ premiered at the Melbourne Film Festival. It seems a feature film is also now in development as a lasting tribute to a woman who broke down many barriers and was a pioneer in her own unique way.
‘This book is dedicated to Lillian, who lives with nobody but a colony of New York roaches, whose energy has never failed despite her anxieties and her asthma and her overweight, who is always interested in everybody, often angry, sometimes bitchy, but always involved …’—Germaine Greer,The Female Eunuch
Little did everyone realize that when Dave Grohl announced at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park NYC on September 30, 2012 that he was taking a hiatus from the Foo Fighters the significance of that pivot point in his music career.
Before playing ‘Learn To Fly’, the group’s fourth song of the night, Grohl said: “Without making a big deal out of it, we
don’t have any shows after this. This is it, man. Honestly I don’t know when we’re gonna do it again…and this is the perfect place to do it.”
Dave has produced a labor of love movie about Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, California, Sound City. This studio has been the birthplace of many of the greatest recordings in rock and roll history. The studio has since closed but we get to visit it once again through the miracle of the camera lens.
I really feel like SOUND CITY is my life’s most important work. I hope you do too. – Dave Grohl
Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, Rick Rubin, Copyright Kevin Estrada
There is a companion motion picture soundtrack, Real to Reel with many new tracks recorded through the 1970′s Neve Sound Board Dave Grohl purchased from Sound City Studios.
The making of this film and the soundtrack initiates the nucleus of an innovative sound direction for Grohl and friends.
Dave Grohl will debut a new supergroup, named Sound City Players, at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where the Sound City movie will début reports Rolling Stone. The track listing above gives a good sign as to who that new supergroup may feature
2013 promises to be an extremely busy and productive year for Dave Grohl. He will deliver the keynote speech at this year’s South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas on March 14. He will also be drumming on the forthcoming Queens Of The Stone Age album.
West of Memphis: Voices of Justice is an album of music from and inspired by the new documentary, West Memphis Three. Your purchase of this album will in part directly benefit the West Memphis 3. The album becomes available on January 15, 2013. Pre-order here
West of Memphis: Voices For Justice – Track Listing
The David Chase flim (Creator of the Sopranos), Not Fade Away speaks to the teen spirit inside us that rock and roll sets free. I love the soundtrack and what the trailer says to the rebel spirit ever-present in the music of our heart. It doesn’t hurt either that the Executive Producer is Steven Van Zandt.;)
I love the time I get to spend between Christmas and New Year reflecting upon and renewing commitments to an ongoing pursuit of the arts. Its treasured down time from a perpetual teaching schedule that runs day and night, all year round. I try to spend the time productively, teaching myself new software, preparing for certification exams, etc. I also spend time listening to music that escaped my grasp during the year, reading through my significant music magazine and book pile, visiting Barnes & Noble to stay vibrant and aware.
As a result I have accumulated some meaty writing topics for the coming year. They represent more substantive research into genres/artists I want to explore more in-depth, hopefully across multiple blog posts. This is my revised approach to professional blogging in 2013, which I hope my readers will like and seek to learn along with me (or teach me something new they know in these areas).
The five 2013 art blogging projects are:
Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan – I just heard Billy Corgan‘s interview with Howard Stern on Sirius XM. Oceania is a recording I did not do justice to in 2012. I have discovered more about the Smashing Pumpkin/Corgan direction as well as the various side projects by past/current members. The Teargarden by Kaleidyscopeinitiative interests me greatly. Time to do some justice about the art of Smashing Pumpkins in the music of our heart.
I was leaving through the current newsstand issue of Uncut Magazine last week at Barnes & Noble when I discovered a review of Joni Mitchell‘s box set, Studio Albums 1968-1979.The box setis a UK import via Rhino that is presently stocked out on Amazon. Once I can get my order fulfilled and I have given these 10 CDs a thorough listening I will write a blog series about that experience.
I was browsing the music book section when I discovered the On The Road: The Official Movie Companiontrade paperback. This stirred my sentiment about The Beats. I realized very quickly I had not really delved effectively into the writings of Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg. Patti Smith has galvanized the poetic pentameter in the music of our heart for this halcyon period of art. I resolve to see the movie On The Road in New York City before the wider theater release. I also make a commitment to read more of Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs books (and of course Patti Smith’s poetry books until her new book(s) come out!). I also plan to get some of the books by the “authoritative” researchers/biographers of The Beat, most notably Ann Charters. I must follow through on this as my core initiative for the arts in 2013. The movie has become the impetus for renewing my kinship with The Beats.
I picked up another of The Ultimate Music Guide’s from the publishers of Uncut Magazine. This one is about The Kinks. The 146 page special collector’s edition covers each album in the Kinks discography, the solo albums from Ray and Dave Davies, rarities and singles. It is just the compendium I had looked for about The Kinks. I plan to summarize this satisfying publication in a later blog post article.
I am continually impressed by the quality and substance of the British magazine publications. I need to get that iPad 4 with Retina so I can electronically subscribe to Uncut and NME. The magazine I’ve had in my hands twice now at Barnes & Noble is the The Story of Joy Division and New Order. I readily admit I don’t know enough about this band. Realizing I should correct that problem makes this my fifth blogging project for 2013.
When we search within our souls and find that brave spot it summons the strength to conquer our fears. Levon Helm offers us an example of a musical soul guiding us to bravery in a brand new film, Ain’t In It For My Health.
I was looking for a different 
Building on the April 2nd event 
Patti Smith
