Music Documentaries

[short ornery norwegian]

AXS TV runs a lot of music docs. the other day they ran two back-to-back. One was about the Allman Brothers and how the band changed after the deaths of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley.

and then they ran a doc about the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash and aftermath. some pretty harrowing stories from the surviving band members about what it was like when the plane went down, and the wait to be rescued.

 

[Ope3]

I am excited about a Documentary "Running With Our Eyes Closed", from Sam Jones (produced by Bill Simmons) about Jason Isbell during the recording of Reunions in 2020.

Here’s Your First Look at Jason Isbell’s HBO Documentary ‘Running With Our Eyes Closed’

In the HBO doc 'Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed,' the artist strips down the recording process and reveals struggles outside the studio.

www.billboard.com

Any fans of Wilco will recognize that Jones was responsible for "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" from 20 years ago.

 

[Costa Rican Gopher]

The Howlin Wolf Story is amazing. I watched it, then rewatched it immediately after, and have seen it a few times since.

Like many I imagine (?), I'd heard OF Howling Wolf, but didn't know much about him, and had never seen him perform. The guy was a flipping beast, and really easy to like.

 

[Ope3]

I am excited about a Documentary "Running With Our Eyes Closed", from Sam Jones (produced by Bill Simmons) about Jason Isbell during the recording of Reunions in 2020.

Here’s Your First Look at Jason Isbell’s HBO Documentary ‘Running With Our Eyes Closed’

In the HBO doc 'Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed,' the artist strips down the recording process and reveals struggles outside the studio.

www.billboard.com

Any fans of Wilco will recognize that Jones was responsible for "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" from 20 years ago.

This premiered on HBO tonight.

Favorite Isbell quote which he said wryly, "If I was out there making people dance, I wouldn't waste my time on prepositions."

 

[short ornery norwegian]

not so much a documentary, but apparently director James Mangold is going ahead with a biopic about Bob Dylan starring Timothy Chalamet. Mangold says it will focus on the period where a young Dylan moved from the Twin Cities to New York City and established himself in the NYC folk music scene.

could be interesting to see if they cover anything about Dylan's time in the Cities.

 

[tikited]

could be interesting to see if they cover anything about Dylan's time in the Cities.

It won't be pretty imo.

 

[Ope3]

I am excited about a Documentary "Running With Our Eyes Closed", from Sam Jones (produced by Bill Simmons) about Jason Isbell during the recording of Reunions in 2020.

Here’s Your First Look at Jason Isbell’s HBO Documentary ‘Running With Our Eyes Closed’

In the HBO doc 'Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed,' the artist strips down the recording process and reveals struggles outside the studio.

www.billboard.com

Any fans of Wilco will recognize that Jones was responsible for "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" from 20 years ago.

I do highly endorse the film "Running With Our Eyes Closed" filmed while recording his album Reunions in late 2019 into early 2020. While predisposed to liking the movie with being a fan of Isbell/Shires I think it would appeal to others as well.

It's not a technical "making of" album, though there is a little of that. Fans of Isbell know about his personal life growing up, rise/fall with the Drive-By Truckers, eventually becoming sober, marriage and then huge breakthrough.

This features the other side of the story as much as Isbell by talking to his parents, Patterson Hood from DBT, his manager, current band members and Amanda. It's really raw, to the point that it's an uncomfortable watch at times.

Also interesting is the timing of the pandemic, and how Isbell/Shires/400 Unit were forced off the road for a prolonged time for the first time since they were all kids and how they dealt with it.

It's available on HBO MAX.

 

[Bad Gopher]

My friend (actually my wife's cousin's husband) Rolf Belgum will be screening the two documentaries he directed a number of years ago, at the Trylon on May 10th: Driver 23 and The Atlas Moth.

DRIVER 23 & THE ATLAS MOTH

www.trylon.org

The films, released two years apart, chronicle the exploits of Dan Cleveland, a Minneapolis musician, and his band, Dark Horse. I've never seen them myself (yet), so I wouldn't miss this for the world. They've been out of print, practically impossible to find streaming in recent years, and prohibitively expensive to buy used DVDs. Rolf has told me they're reprinting discs and will have them for sale there (!).

Driver 23 (1999) ⭐ 4.0 | Documentary

1h 12m

www.imdb.com

The Atlas Moth (2001) ⭐ 2.1 | Documentary

1h 12m

www.imdb.com

 

[Ope3]

The fact that A24 is behind this has me even more enthused. Talking Heads Stop Making Sense is being released on IMAX Sept 22 and other theaters on Sept 29.

 

[Ope3]

The fact that A24 is behind this has me even more enthused. Talking Heads Stop Making Sense is being released on IMAX Sept 22 and other theaters on Sept 29.

I saw Stop Making Sense on an IMAX, I highly recommend anyone checking it out even if there is just casual interest.

Originally I remember renting it on VHS and watching it 3 or 4 times over a weekend. Eventually a year or so later I did see it in a theater on a late night screening.

It just looks and sounds fantastic with so many great songs.

Here's the original Roger Ebert thumbs up review.

Stop Making Sense movie review (1984) | Roger Ebert

The overwelming impression throughout "Stop Making Sense" is of enormous energy, of life being lived at a joyous high. And it's not the frenetic,

www.rogerebert.com

 

[Slim Tubby]

I stumbled across a documentary on Max called "Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis" that was incredible and heartbreaking in so many ways. The band, originally founded by childhood friends Jesse Hughes and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age fame), were on stage during the massacre at the Bataclan in Paris.

I had never even heard of EODM before but they have some real bangers that are sprinkled in amongst the tragic re-telling of the events and the emotional damage caused, especially to the controversial Hughes who went unhinged after the attack dealing with his demons. His backstory and personality are mesmerizing and painful at the same time.

It's a "must watch" for music fans IMO.

 

[Ope3]

I caught Becoming Led Zeppelin in IMAX today and I really enjoyed and appreciated it.

It's a fun ride with brief overviews of all 4 members as they were growing up and musical influences. It then shows how each cut their teeth in the biz leading up to their formation a band. I had no idea how prolific as essentially kids John Paul Jones & Jimmy Page were as studio session musicians.

All 4 members (yes even Bonham) talk gleefully at how it all came together, recording their debut album and hitting the road primarily in the US to support it.

And support it they did with an epic 1969 while also working on Led Zep II. What a trip.

I thought it such a fun ride as they hit the dawn of '70s, that really at that point I was thinking that they should just end the movie right there.

And so they did. I should have paid more attention to the title. No rise and fall. Just up, up and away...

I would advocate anyone wishing to see it, do yourself a favor and seek it out in IMAX. The live footage is like being there. Aloha.



I expected William Miller to show up on the tour, but it was just before his time.

 

[Ope3]

I wasn't able to see The Grateful Dead Movie in IMAX but was able to enjoy it on a big screen in a small theater packed with lots of Deadheads.

My cousin and I probably brought down the average age a little bit. Restored and in a theater with great sound, it felt as though we were transported to Winterland.

 

[BleedGopher]

I'm really looking forward to this! Big fan of Counting Crows.


Go Counting Crows!!

 

[Ope3]

I'm really looking forward to this! Big fan of Counting Crows.


Go Counting Crows!!

When Cal came to the Bank the year it opened, my brother and I got there a bit early to walk around and check it out. We passed Adam Duritz on the plaza, he had small entourage of like 2 others with him.

 

[Ope3]

When I saw MACCA in Des Moines this past October there was a promo played before the show for the documentary Man on the Run.

I saw it in a theater last week. Capacity, 40. Sold Out except for a seat or two in the very front row. It will be on Prime later this week.

It chronicles McCartney from the day the Beatles broke up through the Wings era, which was just after Lennon's death in 1981.

While I did not learn much, I still found it quite enjoyable. There's lots of home movie footage going about his off the grid on his Scotland farm as he re-set for his solo then Wings run.

One thing I did not realize was that despite his best efforts to maintain Wings as a proper/stable band, it was was really just Paul, Linda & Denny Laine. The drummer and extra guitar players were a revolving door for highly qualified studio/touring musicians. Right out of the Spinal Tap playbook.

The biggest highlights for me were breaking down Band on the Run and Mull of Kintyre with the local bagpipe group.

Something reinforced was the friendly relationship/mentorship with Sean Ono Lennon.

Man on the Run review – archival delve into Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles era is a welcome revisit

After the Fab Four fell and Wings took flight, McCartney embodied a strange, stylised sense of uncool, which would become bestselling success. A new documentary of old material memorialises his second coming

www.theguardian.com

In the 1960s I am sure it was a trip to attend Beatles shows, but the technology did not exist to actually enjoy the music properly at any shows. By the time Wings hit their stride it had caught up, thanks to artists like The Who, Rolling Stones & Led Zeppelin. Wings Over America had to be a blast.