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)

I Really Enjoy This

I mean come on.  So much to like.

Untitled . . . or Monkey Wrench, Whichever

Gheorgheness occurring is worth celebrating these days, what with some decidedly un-gheorghey people barking most loudly.

Dave Grohl did a cool thing, one which probably didn't require a large degree of skin off his back, but (a) plenty of folks in his position don't do that and (b) it was still very kind and very thoughtful.

Personal backstory: I don't boycott many things in my life, in part because I enjoy a lot of stuff and in part because I don't have the will power to see it through.  But I boycotted Dave Grohl for a while.

I formally abstained from the Wendy's on Lee Highway in Arlington when I was living with Rob (when he boycotted Best Buy).  They mangled every drive-thru order, just total and complete ineptitude.  Never to my advantage.  I let them off the hook in 1996, and on the very first run-through they forgot my order of chili.  I don't eat much fast food these days, but since that night that particular Wendy's has had a lifetime ban.

I have consistently forbidden myself to frequent Paul's Deli in Williamsburg, Virginia since 1989. Our fraternity was banned from entering for a semester for throwing snowballs at the place during an inter-frat pelting one snowstorm in late '88, my freshman year. Banned in a really heavy-handed manner by the owner, George.  Then he proclaimed in the spring that we were once again allowed to resume spending our limited funds at his establishment.  Didn't go over well.

A huge group of our gang rolled into Paul's one afternoon.  George was all smiles, very welcoming.  Everyone lined up and ordered sandwiches one by one, and ordered some pitchers.  The sandwiches were being made.  The pitchers were all poured.  And just as it was time to pay, one of our most smart-assed brethren said for all to hear, "Eh . . . let's go over to College [the adjacent, rival deli]."  Mass exodus.  Permanent ban of our fraternity!

The permanence of that ban was severely tested.  George forgot about it after some years.  Meanwhile, some of our less-imbued fratres caved very early.  Others over time.  I have never purchased food or drink there since, and although I don't really care at all, I'll go ahead and take advantage of the opportunity to mockingly question any of our vintage who do.

Worth noting that George bought the College Delly some years back.  Point totally moot at this point.  But still . . .

In 1997 or 1998, I was living in Arlington, fairly newly married.  Sitting on the couch and watching Kilborn interview Dave Grohl on the "Daily Show" prequel.  Kilborn asked Grohl what kind of music he listened to, other than that which he created.

Out of nowhere, utterly unprovoked, Dave Grohl responds:

"Why, what do you listen to, Craig?  Bruce Springsteen?  because if he's the Boss, then I quit!"

I remember shouting angrily and shaking my fist -- with no one around.  Always a bad sign.

That was it.  The boycott was on.  I told Evan and he would have boycotted Grohl and the Foo Fighters as well, if he had been otherwise interested in that band at all.

That ban lasted for a few years.  Signifying nothing, of course, but it was the principle.  Those years were the apex of my chronic CD-buying time, and I steadfastly refused to buy their album.

Sometime after acknowledging that "My Hero" and "Everlong" were great tunes and I was only impacting myself with the ban, I later broke down and eventually bought The Colour and the Shape.

Used.  Ha ha!!  Take that, Dave Grohl!

Over time, of course, Mr. Grohl cemented his reputation as a top-shelf music composer and performer, as well as an all-around great dude.  No more boycotts.

Makes you think, though -- did my punishment help turn him into who he is today?  One has to wonder.

Fast forward to now.  Among a number of other cool things, Dave Grohl reached out to a mourning fan and did this:

Dave Grohl Sends Heartfelt Note to Husband of Fan who Died of Cancer 

The band is expected to dedicate 'Everlong' to his late wife at Glastonbury.

Dave Grohl has a big heart, as he proved yet again by sending a touching note to the husband of UK Foo Fighters fan who recently died of cancer. 

 The woman, Laura Plane, suffered an eight-year battle with the disease before she died last year. She and her husband Jon were huge Foo fans. When they were married, they danced to the band’s song “Everlong” for their first dance and they had planned to attend a Foo Fighters gig to celebrate their 10th anniversary. But Laura was too ill to make the show. So her husband posted a note to the band to ask them to play “Everlong” at Glastonbury festival in her honor. 

After the post went viral Grohl wrote a response to Plane on a piece of scrap paper: “Jon – Dave here,” he wrote. “Heard about Laura. Sending you much love and hope and light. Will be thinking of you at Glasto. Take care mate.”

Full article here.

Kudos to Dave Grohl and the gheorgheness he brings on a pretty routine basis.

The Sublime, Beautiful Dave Grohl

The arc of the Foo Fighters' story is long, but it bends towards humanity.

Back in July, we told you about the seemingly quixotic attempt by a thousand Italian musicians to get the Foos' attention. Organized by Fabio Zaffagnini, the group performance caught Dave Grohl's attention, and the band promised to come to the small northern Italian city to perform a show. They made good on that promise on November 3.

What a show it appears to have been.

In nice piece of theatrical symmetry, the band opened the show with 'Learn to Fly'.



A moved Grohl thanked the crowd the musicians, saying "I fucking cried", when describing his reaction the first time he saw the group video.



Grohl dedicated 'My Hero' to Zaffagnini, and the joy and pure happiness on the latter's face tells you that we might be seeing the best moment of his life. And what happens from the 5:30 mark or so is just a brilliantly human moment. It made me happy to see it.



Finally, the band invited one of the stars of the original video, a mohawked drummer, to sit in on the skins while Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins handled lead vocals on Queen/Bowie's 'Under Pressure'.



There's so much to love here. Not the least of which is Dave Grohl's essential decency. Long may he rock.