Music Documentary Project: Late April Update

. . . because you all cared.

Here's the latest in my COVID-caused quest to watch 100 music documentaries. Or at least "a bunch," to clarify the metric.

Five more down. Not that many, but none of them were abbreviated, and in fact, one was a big 'un.  I'm still loving the genre, although anything more than two music docs in a row starts to get a wee bit monotonous, so either turning off the tube or switching to something sports or idiocy-related is a help.  But there's so much good stuff out there, and that keeps me tuning in.

Sound City (2013)

Dave Grohl's ode to the beloved, trashed music studio in Van Nuys, CA. Perfect to watch right after the Rumours doc, since Mick Fleetwood met Lindsey Buckingham right there in the studio, and the rest was history -- including the recording of the ensuing Fleetwood Mac album, which put Sound City on the map. Stories and interviewees aligned nicely. Beyond that small component, a great visual history of a recording studio through the years. Nevermind, Pinkerton, Neil Young, tons of Petty, and many more. Fun fact: Rick Springfield's guitar work wasn't up to snuff, so Pat Benatar's axe man Neil Giraldo sat in and helped make "Jessie's Girl" famous.

Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns (2003)

Rob and I traveled to Silver Spring, Maryland exactly one time together. In 2003, we went to the AFI Silver Theater to take in this documentary. He and I have each seen They Might Be Giants live a number of times -- well into the double-digits, and many of times we saw them together. Terrific, fun, band. The stories in this one are amusing but not shocking, which, if you know the band, is... not shocking. The production herein is slightly lower-grade than some of the other documentaries I've seen, which is just perfect for two guys who used to perform with a guitar, accordion, keys, stick, vocals, a drum track, and no other performers onstage. But the Johns are great humans and great performers, there are goofy segments interspersed, and this was well worth another viewing after 17 years. Best scene was when the Johns talk about each other -- a rare getting of the chills in an otherwise quirky little piece. And Dial-a-Song was the coolest thing ever.

If I Leave Here Tomorrow (2018)

Gone with the Wind: The Remarkable Rise and Tragic Fall of Lynyrd Skynyrd (2015)

Yeah, that's right. I watched four and a half hours of content surrounding a band that -- for all appropriate purposes -- ceased to be four years and one month after the release of their first album. I first watched the shorter, more recent, and better-publicized doc; I'd seen parts of its 3-hour mammoth predecessor, so I got a hankering and took it down next. That's a whole mess o' Skynyrd.  Which was better? They're both solid, for sure. Last man standing Gary Rossington was only interviewed in If I Leave Here Tomorrow, which is both good and bad. I'll leave it at this -- for coming in at "just" 95 minutes, the shorter doc has some strange filler like interviewing people in bars who cover Skynyrd.

Unlike TR, I do love this band, and have since high school. Jam band folks prefer the Allmans, rock-song aficionados go the route of Lynyrd Skynyrd. The story intrigues, and while nobody is going to follow suit and watch these back-to-back like I did, it was worth doing. Different takes on the same events were interesting, and more is better when you dig a band. And Ronnie was a fucking tour de force. 

It Might Get Loud (2008)

For the unfamiliar, this was Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White getting together to talk about guitars and guitaring, play some stuff, and have some fun.  Backstory content was included, and that might have been the best part. Three generations (or eras) of rock and roll are represented, three upbringings, three styles, and it's all good fun -- for the music geek. Folks external to that category might be slightly less enthralled. Random amusement: The Edge playing and singing the Ramones tune "Glad to See You Go" from his revisited high school locker room. Fun fact: Jimmy Page played on Shirley Bassey's Goldfinger theme song.

More soon to come! 

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We reached 20 posts again this month. Fine work, team.

Putting Our Stamp, Totally Convincingly, On Unlimited New Things

(and creating new acronyms)

Dork Rock and Art Rap

Young man grows up on the south side of Chicago, raised in that city's rap tradition, develops a keen social conscience and forges his own path as an artist. Familiar story, to some degree, following the example of Common and Kanye, among others.

This one, though, has a twist that spins it directly into G:TB's wheelhouse. (I miss The Wheelhouse, for what it's worth.) Open Mike Eagle's favorite band as a young man was They Might Be Giants. And it wasn't just an infatuation. As you can see in the clip below, Mike deeply embraced the dork-rock pioneers' message and music.



I've been a TMBG fan from way back. When I was 18, I saw the band at the old 9:30 Club, in what was my first club show. (I was there with my then-21 year-old girlfriend. Did I mention that my girlfriend was 21? That was cool.) I've since seen TMBG at least ten times in all sorts of venues, and never been disappointed by one of their live shows.

And now I've got to find a way to see Open Mike Eagle, who's art-rap style is a liquid, lyrical, and hypnotic flow. Check out Ziggy Starfish (Anti-Anxiety Raps) from his 2015 A Special Episode EP. His newly-released record, Hella Personal Film Festival is getting some Spotify run in my house, too.