Before diving into tonight's TV Party, I'd like to shout out Pencilstorm movie critic Rob Braithwaite for successfully watching and reviewing 366 movies in a single year. If you haven't checked it out, click here for a starters guide, and click here for his and Ricki C's top ten movies of 2016. Great stuff. Please share it with your movie-loving friends before the Oscars.
Along those lines, this week's TV Party will focus on great moments from the best rock docs. I'm no film expert but CD1025 Brian Phillips and myself did host a three year rock n roll movie series at the Gateway Film Center called "Reelin' and Rockin," so I have a little background in the area. Click here for a recap of the first two years
Still, thanks to everybody who chipped in with ideas online to knock the rust off my brain. I couldn't always find the scene I was looking for but I gave it a good try. Whatever, it's late, I've had beers, it's time for a TV PARTY!!!!!!!!!! Engage rabbit hole.... NOW.
So let's start with the best. "Hail, Hail Rock n Roll" is a must watch. And the behind the scenes footage is ESSENTIAL viewing. The League Bowlers used to recreate the moment below before playing Oh Carol. I think the crowd thought we were really fighting. Ah, good times.
Good thing the guys in Brian Jonestown Massacre never backed up Chuck. "You broke my sitar, motherfucker." I think I have a pretty good idea where Mr. Berry would have broken that sitar.
Pretty dark stuff, which obviously takes us to the darkest scene from the darkest rock doc ever. I recently finished the book Altamont. and it's the perfect companion piece for Gimme Shelter. Lots of things went wrong. Oh, and could somebody please get that dog off the stage?
But Gimme Shelter wasn't all bad doses and pool cue beat downs at the hands of the Hells Angels. There were fun moments too. I LOVE this scene. Just another band loving their brand new song.
Moving on.. I couldn't find just one good scene from this Ramones doc. but it's one of my favorites. Put a camera on Johnny, Dee Dee, Joey or Tommy and it's always cinema gold.
Ramones: The End of the Century Watch it now..
Speaking of pure gold, Keith Moon is the gold standard of pure cinema gold. Again, I couldn't find just one good scene from The Kids Are Alright (the movie of the same name mucks things up) but this is a really great compilation of Moon stuff with many from the famous Doc.
And thinking of dysfunctional but talented people.. This scene of the late, great Jay Bennett and Jeff Tweedy trying to finish a mix is cringe-worthy and brilliant. I thought the editing process in this flick was unfair to Jay. I wrote about it once. Click here to read When Wilco Stopped Being a Band and Became a Brand. Great movie though.
This movie and the Dylan auto bio "Chronicles" made me a bigger fan of Bob than his records ever did. The guy was fearless.
Along those lines, I was never a big Metallica fan until I saw this movie. Still not sure I count as a real fan of the band, but I am a fan of Lars Ulrich after watching this. Actually, the book of the same name explains how Lars had final cut, and he left in the less flattering stuff, much to the dismay of the band's management who were afraid it would hurt the band's carefully-crafted tough guy image. Who wants to watch a metal band go through therapy together? Turns out, everybody. Mucho respect amigo.
Ok, I'm trying to find the scene from Tom Petty Running Down a Dream where Tom curses out some sleezy A&R guy trying to get a song placed on the Roger McQuinn album he is working on. I don't seem to have the skills to find it, but here is the trailer and the whole flick is fantastic. And how the hell did they get all that early film footage? I don't have video of my son's last birthday.
To wrap up, shout out to Biggie on this one. The Making of Pump by Aerosmith was released only on VHS before reality TV became a thing. Watershed watched it in the van many, many times back in the day. Part 3: It's fascinating watching a band as big as Aerosmith still battling their company-man producer who is obviously only interested in turning out profitable product under budget and on time. "I think we should focus on the A list..."
Part 4: I miss this Steven Tyler.
Colin Gawel has to go to bed now. He has to open Colin's Coffee in the morning.