There was a time when music was my life’s blood. Stealing my dad’s guitar and learning Beatles songs with the greatest hits song book and that blue greatest hits album and practice, when I really should have been studying. My first band, with like a hundred names. When I was with them, we started out as Necromancer. Then we saw a shift in the scene, Stryper appeared on our local video channel, so we then became Alpha Omega. This is when I moved south, when not why. It would take a year or two, but I eventually joined a band called Cry Wolf. We never left the garage. I had a teacher who took me under his wing and showed me how to actually make a couple of bucks at this thing I loved doing. I went to just about every show of his and he always let me sit in. I remember my first time on stage was this little restaurant with a southern theme, kinda. I mean it was literally called Scarlet Ohara’s, and there was a bar area in the back called Rhett Butler’s. never went back there and now I am curious. Any way Randy had this standing Thursday night gig. Alright confession this is going to be my second time on stage. The first was the previous Friday with Randy’s full band and I played keep your hands to yourself. I leave that out as I was so nervous and high on adrenaline, I have no idea how I did. So, at scarlets on Thursday was the solo acoustic gig I got the invite after my previous performance. Randy was not even my teacher…yet. this was junior year, and I spent every Thursday at this place. Sitting in mid-way through the second set doing three songs and getting a little more comfortable each week. After about a year of this I was able to finagle my own solo gig. That’s right I was Happy Hour at Cheech and Charlie’s Acapulco Grill. This was Friday’s three till seven. My PA was pieced together from radio shack and what me and some friends had access to. This was a radio club special. I would not have made this without Steve Baron and John Barone. These two are just great friends to have. That was senior year, and I would go on about a four-year hiatus. Then, while running a bar, the best thing happened. Our Wednesday night cancelled on Tuesday. I was able to piece together a little trio and took over the Wednesday. It was the best summer as that trio turned into this six-piece monster. We had a drummer and a separate percussionist. You know Cognos bongos those little hanging wind chimes things and of course everybody’s favorite COWBELL. Music was it for me in any form. So, if you are ready for the session then let’s start with five music movies.

Pure Country

What can you say about Pure Country? This movie fits in a very niche market. I like a little country from time to time, and I don’t mind saying it out loud. George Strait is one of the artists who was big when I had my last proper country phase. So that puts it in the mid-eighties. You know the Judds, Dwight Yokham, and Steve Earl. Is Steve Earl even country? I always feel like he is more southern rock at best. Don’t believe me? then check out Copperhead Road, Guitar Town is far too on the nose. This of course was when I was living with my dad who was working at a country radio station in central Florida. He was number one along the I-4 Corridor. Don’t mind me I am just going to brag a little bit. You hear this all the time after the ratings come out. My father was number one Overall. Meaning more radios were tuned to him between 6 and 10 am than any other station. It was a lot of fun, at times. I used work with him writing bits for the show. Most kids would go home and do homework, I did show prep, and I loved every bit of it. we would watch Headline news, back when they ran a solid half hour of news and then would repeat. We would record our comments and jokes. Then we would write up the scripts, not online like what I do here. Sometimes wed go prerecord stuff, you know celeb phone calls and what not. I was probably the only fourteen-year-old in 85 who knew who Andy Rooney was much less was able to do a passable impression. Remember when we used to talk about movies?

Pure Country, as a movie, is a fairly simple and often seen format. You got the big-time country singer, played here by George Strait, who is fed up with the big-time life. You know bigger venues, larger crowds, and more production in the show. As a onetime local musician, I can tell you most of us dream of that life exactly. This is the classic what happens when your dreams come true story. there is a disconnect from the audience. Dusty, George Strait’s character, simply walks away and heads home. Momma will make it better. Who amongst us has not had that hard time and just threw your hands up and went to momma’s house? If you haven’t its coming. He needs to reconnect with his own roots as well as where he is from. You know he needs to go home. You know some of his hits like All My Exes Live in Texas, the Chair, and of course my favorite Amarillo by Morning. I used to play this local bar as a solo act and this guy used to come in and request that one all the time. I finally learned it for him and always saved it till he got there. I hope Anton doing well.

Also, in this one we got the manager played by Lesley Ann Warren. You know her from Life Stinks with Mel Brooks, In Plane Sight, and of course we all remember her as Miss Scarlet in Clue. If you have not yet seen clue, what are you waiting for? Probably the best game adaptation on film. Lula is the manager that seems to be somewhat responsible for bringing Dusty to the forefront. She is the one that has developed the “show”.  The glitz the glam. She is also the A and R person too. She brings him new songs and seems to try to encourage the direction of the act as much as she can. Part of what Dusty is trying to get away from.

Probably the most shocking thing I discovered in this watch through is Kyle Chandler, you know Coach Taylor form Friday Night Lights the show, is in it and he looks more like Matt Saranson than Coach Taylor. Fun Fact I just discovered he was on an episode of China Beach as well as Tour of Duty, the two competing Viet Nam shows in the late eighties. He was also on Early Edition, Super Eight, and Argo. I love Argo! Buddy is the one who has written the new song for Dusty. Buddy is also kind of seeing Lula, Lesley Ann Warren’s Character. When Dusty walks off Lula actual puts Buddy on stage lip syncing for the show. I mean they cover him in smoke and keep the lights off of him as much as possible. After the show they rush him off and out before anyone can see it’s not actually George Strait, I mean Dusty. Really not sure why they did not just make it George Strait, I mean they kept Paul McCartney in Give my Regards to Broad Street. After a while Buddy decides to go public and reveals he has been on stage every night. Of course, all the news outlets pick up. I mean yeah this would be big news, plus you know it’s a movie and all.

Isabel Glasser plays Harley Tucker. Isabel Glasser was in Forever Young, the Enemy Within, and episodes of Law and Orders and NYPD Blue. Harley is the rodeo rider that Dusty falls for while on walkabout. They start a relationship and just as quickly Dusty must return to the road. He does leave tickets and sends a car for Harley and her brothers for the big show in Los Vegas.

Here is the deal. I watched this movie like twenty years ago, I may have even seen it in the theater. If you like country music this is alright. If you like George Strait, like my sister in-law, this movie is pretty good. Megan is more of a Garth Brooks fan I think, but I know we have bonded over our love of older country, by older I mean eighties. Although I do like some of that older, Marty Robins, Hank Senior, Willie Nelson, and Loretta Lynne, but our conversation seems to stay with that Judds, Alabama, Randy Travis, and Dolly Parton era. If you are a George Strait fan you are probably already writing an angry email about my lukewarm position on this movie. Is it great? Do you wonder why the academy skipped this? No, you don’t, but you know what it is? This is a good movie that is clearly promoting the new album. If you are a fan, you will love this. If you are not a fan this is probably not for you.

You are going to have to buy this on VUDU, amazon, iTunes and all the usual suspects. If you do not already own this, I would just wait for it to pop up somewhere. Like I said it is alright, but I cannot see spending the money if you are not a real big fan of George Strait. I mean my dad probably has this on VHS, DVD, and Blue Ray. He really likes George Strait is what I am saying.

Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

This has got to be the best Beatles movie to not feature any Beatles, unless you consider Billy Preston a Beatle, and I know a lot of people would say he was. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band puts together a great story, well a story, using Beatle’s songs and taking some license with them. This is balanced out by using what is probably the best Beatles cover band I have ever seen, and I mean that with nothing but love in my heart. Many of you may remember this from the early eighties, not sure if it actually exists beyond eighty-four. Just a wonderful cast of musicians and actors are here and at least two hit songs you will recognize off of this one. if you are a fan of some of these acts featured you may also know those versions as well.

We are going to start with some history. Turns out it was not the hard fighting troops who won the great war, which is World War one for the uninitiated, but rather a band leader from Heartland USA. That is correct folks the one and only Sergeant Pepper and his lonely-hearts club band were able to win the war with their music. Turns out this music seems to promote peace and harmony when ever it is heard. We get a nice montage of the band playing from the time just after the war all the way through to the nineteen fifties. This is several versions of the song Sgt. Pepper’s lonely hearts club band, but it is in the style of big band, for the twenties. Then you get the depression era version, and as we get to the fifties we lose Sgt. Pepper, august 10^th 1958. Then we arrive in the seventies when the reformation of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The band consists of Billy Shears and of course the Henderson are all there as well.

Heartland is a wonderful little town. Mr. Kite is the mayor and over sees not just the town but the Sgt. Pepper Museum where those original instruments are housed. These instruments, like I said before, bring peace and harmony, and they appear to protect the heartland from so many of the issues plaguing modern society. When Mean Mr. Mustard steals the instruments for the Future Villain Band. This will also allow our former real estate agent to over develop Heartland so he can make as much money as possible. The boys have been whisked away to LA to meet with the head of Big Deal Records and sign their deal. Leaving the heartland vulnerable to Mr. Mustard and FVB. Now it is on as the guys must retrieve the stolen instruments and set right the world once again.

Truth be told none of this is really necessary. I mean yes, it is nice we get a through story and not just a series of live performances, but really this is a collection of music videos of various people trying their hand at covering Beatles songs. Some work some well, come up a little short. It is nice to see so many people in this movie who clearly are fans. I mean who is not a fan of the Beatles? Especially in the late seventies early eighties. The lonely-hearts club band is filled out with the Henderson brothers played by The Bee Gees. This is wonderful hearing these guys with harmonies in the Beatles songs. Just wonderful I do not think you could find a better group of the time to sing these wonderful songs. The head of the new Sgt. Peppers band is the one and only Billy Shear. Billy is played by Peter Frampton with all that blond curly hair. Again, an excellent vocal addition to this group. This is our core group. This is the Beatles cover band and they are great. I would have gone to see this line up play Beatles songs if it had been an option for me. We also get Mr. Kite played by George Burns. The old vaudeville performer turned comedian and song and dance man was well into his eighties in this movie. I remember every year in the early eighties we had the George Burns Birthday bash on tv everyone thinking it was the end for George. You know him most likely from the Oh God movies. When I die if George burns is not God, I will be very disappointed. He was also in seventeen again. The old guy and the young grandson do a freaky Friday swap. Very nice movie. I think there was two or three of these at the same time. Wasn’t there one with Dudley Moore and kirk Cameron out at about the same time? Like father like son, I think it was. Any way we get a nice jazz performance of Fixing a Hole from George Burns with a little soft shoe. It was snice to see and genuinely brought a smile to my face. We get Steve Martin as Dr. Maxwell Hammer. He does a spoken word version of Maxwell’s silver hammer that is exactly what you would expect from Steve martin. I loved him the Jerk and Parenthood. I am currently enjoying him in Only Murders in the Building with Martin Short and Selena Gomez. I swear that show is better than it has any right to be, love it. we have Alice Cooper working to brain wash the youth with his version of because. This is a creepy version of that song and very on brand for Alice Cooper. There is also Aerosmith doing their version of Come Together, a hit for them if I am not mistaken. It is the version most of us learned of that song before we played it like the Beatles did. Donald Pleasance plays B.D. Brockhurst. You know him as Dr. Lumas from Halloween as well as you are only live twice and the great escape. Here he has a bad toupee and does a spoken word version of I Want You / She’s So Heavy. I think this was the first place I heard this song. I like the original better, but this was my introduction. She’s Leaving Home is performed by the Bee Gees, Jay Macintosh and Josh Wheeler, but the voices are computerized and sounds like bad auto tune. Actually, they sound more like the Cylons from Battle Star Galactica. Kind of a touching scene that gets pulled down with the robots singing a heart felt song. There is a benefit concert to try and save Heartland. This is where we see Earth Wind and Fire performing Got to Get You into My Life. This would be the other hit most of us would recognize from the film. All hope is lost after the concert. Turns out Mean Mr. Mustard steals the money from the concert Strawberry Fields dies. We get this wonderful performance form Frampton and the Bee Gees doing you never give me your money and carry that weight. All is lost Billy Shears is about to end it by jumping to his death. This is when we find the final instrument and hear Billy Preston perform Get Back. During this song we save peter Frampton and bring back Strawberry Fields.

This movie is not the greatest thing ever made. This movie is not pushing any genres or boundaries. This film is a wonderful walk down memory lane. The Beatles had toured since the early sixties. Their last live performance was on the roof of apple records about a decade earlier. This film is an excellent tribute to a band that was the voice of a generation. This is just a warm fuzzy feeling. I dare you to not sing along with the songs when you watch this. This really is a fun one to have on the background while hanging out. All the performances are top notch, even if the story is weak but that is also still fun. They use song names and characters from songs and turn them into people. If you are a fan of the Beatles, or any of the groups listed, or just want to hear some alternate interpretations of popular Beatle’s songs then this is for you. This one you are going to have to buy. I would honestly say hold off and buy this for that Beatles fan in your life. They will most likely get a kick out of it.  

Graffiti Bridge

Any Prince fans? Don’t get too excited I am skipping the obvious choice of Purple Rain. I have worn that soundtrack out three different times and lost it when I loaned it out four times. So that is seven purchases. Come to think of it I do not actually own that soundtrack. Guess I got to buy it an eighth time. I love Prince, even if he makes me feel bad. There is nothing worse to me than wasted talent. When I see how talented Prince is, I feel bad. I really should have worked harder to be a better musician than I am. I mean I am, as Eddie Wilson would say, not bad. But we are not talking about me we are talking about Graffiti Bridge. The spiritual sequel to purple rain. You got a solid cast, some returning from Purple Rain, a passable story, and some really good music like you would expect from the purple one.

The Kid, Prince, is on a mission of discovery. He has moved, allegedly, from the sex and rock aspect and is now looking more spiritual connection. Of course, with Prince you never stray too far from the rock, or the sexual. He wants something more from the music. Issue is his club is slowly dying as he does more and more spiritual music, but he is determined. Morris Day is more driven than he was in Purple Rain. He is buying as many clubs as he can. I love how this movie shows the best most awesomest downtown scene ever. You are lucky if you can find one or two clubs downtown with live music much less four, all next to each other, like in this movie. George Clinton owns one of the clubs as well as Mavis Staples, from the Staple Singers. You know Respect Yourself. Prince, uh I mean the kid, and Morris clearly are brothers, the bond is there. This is such a sequel to purple rain and these two bonded there and that bond continues, albeit strained, but it is there. We also get an Angel fallen from above here to keep these two on the same page. Morris wants to buy up all the clubs and control all of the scene. Not for promoting the music but for the money. Nothing wrong with money but in exclusion of all else? You may want to think a minute. Like I said this plot, not that important. The music, very much important.

So, we got Prince, who you know as mostly a musician.  Probably one of the most talented pop stars to exist. His first record, For You, he played almost all, if not all, the instruments. He is such a talent. Like I always say he makes me want to be a better guitar player than I am. I feel like I have let him down. Never met him but it is still there for me. You know Prince as the powerhouse musician hit maker from the eighties and nineties. Can I just say, if you listen, and I mean really listen to Prince, you are going to hear his genius. Half his record is pop and designed, I guarantee it was deliberately designed, to be pop hits. This obviously would make enough money that he could do the passion music. The deep dives and orchestration; the making it more than something you listened to, but something you felt, or better yet, would believe in. this movie shows a glimpse of, what I believe, was Prince’s religious connection to his music. Those deep tracks are far more than music and I beg you to sit with headphones and listen to them. not on your phone, in a dark room away from all distractions and listen, hear it, feel it, it will be so good for you spirit.

 Morris Day is back. Flashier than ever. I love this character in the Purple Rain, and I like him here too. Success has clearly gone to his head. You knew it would. Morris Day is larger than life, even if the rest of world is not fully aware of it. of course, it is. He is the big player in town. Most towns have two or three of these guys but here Morris is the boss of this town’s scene. There is one scene with dueling banjos playing as him and one of his friends are just throwing down hundred-dollar bills competing to see who is carrying more money. Obviously, Morris wins. You obviously know him from ALL the Prince movies. He was also in the Adventures of Ford Fairlane, an episode of 227 and the tv movie Heart and Soul. But where he shines brighter than anywhere is Morris Day.

Ingrid Chavez plays Aura, our angel fallen to aide man. We hear her voice, wispy and quiet, to keep us on track with the story, just in case you do not know what the story is. This is it. you know her from this and a music video. She is the connection Prince has been Looking for all this time. She is the music personified, and it hits you in the face.

I got to also add. Much of this looks great, very stylistic. It is also clearly shot on a back lot. Nothing wrong with that, it was a choice and I like it. my only real issue is graffiti bridge looks more like a pathway than a bridge. Would have been nice to see a bigger canvas for Prince to maybe honor his heroes but putting their lyrics up as the graffiti, but there I go again thinking I can make a hit movie.

This one is written and directed by Prince. So, the music is what is important to Prince, and you see that here. If you have seen Eddie and the Cruisers, then you know where Prince is. The music above all else, and this movie has music. I love music so very much. When I was younger, I would get laughed out of conversations about music by using the very accurate and under descriptive term of Musical Genius in referenced to Prince. It’s almost like the stares I get when I proclaim someone as Lindsey Buckingham good. Does Lindsay Buckingham, or Prince for that matter, ever show on the top five lists of guitar players? Stay tuned cause I got to believe there is someone crazy enough to do that list. Yes, there is a lot of pop hits here. Although many may not have charted as high as Prince would have liked. The big one you will remember is going to be Thieves in the Temple Tonight. I am not sure why, but that song hit me like a ton of guitars. It is probably one of my favorite Prince songs, and I will die on that hill. If you like Prince’s music, if you like Morris Day and hm hm Time, you need to see this. Some parts have not aged well, but overall, for the prince fan this is definitely one to check out. Not unlike Pure Country for George Strait fans. You can find this HBO/MAX with a subscription or purchase on VUDU, etc. etc. etc. Again, if you are a Prince fan you have most likely seen this. If you are not a Prince fan, but a musician or club owner, you might enjoy this. The songs are great, and it is really pretty to look at.

Crossroads

I remember when this one came out. My mom took me to see it. I forget exactly what movie influenced me on this, but I was sure it would be sold out. My mom does not like to get not the movies too early, she doesn’t want to fall asleep during the trailers, I guess. So, we get to the theater we get our tickets. Walk through the door and you can tell the trailers have already started. I just knew we were going to be the people looking for seats while people are trying to watch the previews. You know the people you look at and think “wow, someone can’t tell time”. Don’t worry. This was not an issue for us as there was no one in the theater. I do not mean there were very few people. I mean the theater was empty. It was just me and my mom. I knew right then and there that one day I would have a theater in my house. Of course, about twenty minutes in some one else came in.

Crossroads is a wonderful music movie. It has all the elements you are looking for in a good music movie. The music in this film is a bevy of artists that any self-respecting blues man should know. An underrated cast fills out this movie. I think they were all wonderful, but these were not big names at the time. I enjoy how this whole thing is shot and put together. I mean I would make a few tweaks, but that is really just style points more than anything. This movie would influence me, and my music taste, for years to come. The entire movie builds to a wonderful conclusion. For years this thing was on a loop in my vcr. It was one of two movies I owned, the other being top gun, so it was all I watched.

A good music movie, like any genre, has some signposts we need to see on our trip. First of all, I am thinking we need to bring something to the table to draw in the new fans who may not be up to speed on what is happening. This movie was really an introduction into blues music. The names they throw around alone will give you enough to listen to and find what you like. Son House, Skip James, Petey Wheatstraw, are probably some of the more obscure names in the film. We also hear about B. B. King, Muddy Waters, and Robert Johnson, Johnson will be our focus for this film.  You hear these names leave the theater and head to the music store in the mall and start buying their music. That would be the first time I bought King of the Delta Blues. My introduction to deep blues. We got a road trip, another signpost, as Eugene travels back down south with Willie Brown, aka Blind dog Fulton aka Smoke House Brown aka…well the list goes on and on. Nice shots of the country roads they are traveling. I would have like these shots to be extended and much wider but okay. We get the legend of it all, the next part of the puzzle. Robert Johnson is recognized as the first member of the twenty-seven club, in the modern era. The twenty-seven club goes way back well into the eight teen hundreds, and further if we looked. For our purposes we will focus on the modern era. Story goes like this. Robert Johnson was known as an okay player on the scene. He disappears for a year and returns doing things nobody had every heard anyone do with a guitar before. He had gone out to the crossroads and made a deal with the devil. According to the movie Johnson was given thirty songs, but only twenty-nine were ever recorded. So, Eugene is looking for anyone who may know the Lost Song. He finds Willie Brown, you know from Crossroads blues “you can run you can tell my friend boy Willie Brown”, Willie convinces Eugene he knows the song but has to be back in Mississippi before he will teach it to him. While on the road we meet up with the third person in our group, a runaway. She is tough and hard, but we get to know her and turns out she is just a kid, like Eugene. Our group now consists of an old man who was actually in a minimum-security prison nursing home. We gloss over the minimum ten-year sentence that Eugene is going to do when they find him, and they will as he was working there to get access to Willie Brown.  Eugene and Willie make it back down south to where Willie needs to be. This is what the entire movie was building to. Willie is looking to get out of his deal. No way that is happening. The Devil offers a contest with a guitar player, but willie plays harmonica. So, Eugene Volunteers to stand in. of course the whole thing comes down to Eugene making his deal with the devil on behalf of Willie. This final scene is a battle between Eugene and Jack Butler, played by Steve Vai. Steve Vai is one of the coolest players out there. He is so good he makes it look effortless. You watch him play, in this movie or anywhere, and that guitar is absolutely and extension of his being. I always feel like I am fighting with my guitar. It is on going battle of what I want it to do and what it is willing to allow me to play. It hurts a little bit I am not going to lie. So, road trip> check, Background and lore? Check. Prison break and high stakes? Check. Of course, our final show down? You know a music movie has to have that final big number and here it is a super-sized check mark. Word of caution just looking up the ending of crossroads on YouTube is not going to give you the same thrill as watching the entire film and earning the big finish. Trust me on this one.

Our cast here is very good. I like all three of our main cast, and that is really where we focus. Yes, we got a corrupt sheriff, yes, we got bartenders and motel men, but our cast is really our three leads and that is where the focus is.

First up we got Joe Seneca as Willie Brown. You know Joe Seneca from Silverado, Malcolm X and the Blob. I swear I have never seen him young. even in his younger roles I feel like he still looks pretty old. Not in a mean way he is just one of those actors that always plays that role. He plays Willie Brown and is sort of our guide through the music, the legend, and teaches us how to live on the road. He does his best to look after the other two in the group and at the same time seems let them make their own choices, and mistakes.

The young runaway is played by Jami Gertz. I had such a crush on her. You know her from Square Pegs, less than zero, and Lost Boys. I think most guys my age had a crush on her. She is our runaway. She is also a dose of reality for Eugene. Early on she is pretty sure that Willie has just conned Eugene into breaking him out and he is not actually the Willie Brown he claims to be. Then we get a scene in this classic Mississippi Juke Joint. I mean it is in town across the street from the country bar but looks like a tin roofed shack out in the cypress tree laden edge of the swamp. Willie and Eugene are on stage and someone in the crowd declares that he is in fact Willie Brown. This is enough for our runaway to now be on Willie’s side. Eventually she leaves the group to head west for her dancing gig. Very sad scene. Most of the movie at this time that had a scene like this would end with our love interest returning to the true love. Not crossroads. There is Eugene standing in the rain looking mournfully down the two-lane highway rain coming down. She is gone, and she is not coming back. this is tough to watch. You expect the normal ending, and you get this more realistic one instead. Nice surprise. ++

Eugene is played Ralph Macchio. You know the Karate Kid, as well as The Outsiders, and Teachers. He plays a student from Juilliard music school in New York. At the time they did not have a guitar program, which was created for the movie. I had a friend who was in New York and went to Juilliard and asked about their guitar program. He said the lady up front told him “We do not have a guitar program, but if we did it would be the best.”. love that. Eugene is from Long Island and is a classical student at Juilliard. This gets played for laughs all through the movie. I love the little jokes about “I’m the bluesman he’s form long island” or “ooh, long island. The famous breeding ground for bluesman” just those little rips you throw at a friend. Very real.

I would like to add that here we get Joe Morton in the first thing I remember seeing him in. here he plays the devil’s assistant. He is actually the one who makes the deal with willie and takes his last two dollars as well. you know Joe Morton from Terminator 2, American Gangster, and Eureka. I love him in Eureka such a good and decent person. The devil is actually played by Robert Judd. On IMDB this is one of two movies he was in, the other was Fight for your life. Of course, once again I have to mention Steve Vai as jack butler. You know Steve Vai from his many solo compositions as well as having worked with David Lee Roth, and also with Frank Zappa as well. a wonderful musician. You need to check out his work beyond this movie. This movie opened me up to several new artists and would shape my musical tastes for decades. Deep delta blues like Robert Johnson. The more popular city styles with B.B. King. The technical precision to playing like Steve Vai. It is all here. I have worn out several copies of this soundtrack. I have worn out several copies of albums from various artists that are featured here. For the music alone this is one you got to see. The music the scenery the writing the actin. It is all wonderful. You will have to find this on VUDU for purchase. Obviously check the others as well, like amazon iTunes, and google play all have it. it is worth the buy, at least for me. In case you did not pick up on it I LOVE THIS MOVIE!

Almost Famous

I started by giving you some of my humble beginnings in music. Trust, I know who I am. I know where I have been. I am about to tell you the story of the summer of ninety-five. Yes, it is going to sound completely unreal, but this was the summer I lived like a rock star for three months. I got to play with an idol of mine growing up. A local man named Screemin Jerry Leeman. I would see him when I was in high school, he was only a few years older than me at the time, but he looked like he had it. This man was making a living playing music. I spent months following him around. Summer of ninety-five we played together. We did shows, nothing official. I’d sits in at his gigs he’d sit in at mine. Seemed like we would always get together at the end of the night though.  I was treated like royalty at all the clubs. Out every night. I mean I ran a bar and a band so the promoting alone was a party everyday. Being on the scene and being seen were key. I used bypass lines and covers. There were nights I felt like DeNiro in Goodfellas. Money to spend and never thinking tomorrow would get here. Just like Bob Dylan said” there was music in the cafés at night and revolution in the air”. That would be what I will refer to as my last summer. Not a care in the world except where we were all going to be playing next. The band was the Outlaw Troubadours. We started as three acoustic guitars. You know the Crosby Stills Nash thing, and we fought a little like them too. The music though, oh the music we made was just what my spirit needed. Now we did not do our own stuff we did all covers. Even as we grew and changed. So, the start was Me, on twelve strings. I had been playing about a decade at this point. Matt was a guy I met at Sweet Street Café open mic. He had a conservatory education in music, think Eugene from Crossroads. He could play anything. One night as the place was closing down this guy actually blew up the Star Spangle Banner Hendrix style. A handful of us witnessed it and I swear to you it was one of the best things I had every seen or heard live. Doug, Big Chief. Doug stood a solid six foot six and had this deep booming voice. every story he told just got better, and bigger every time he told it. The only thing I can honestly say I know that is true of Doug is that he was in fact a bluesman. He could play anything you threw at him. If he couldn’t he’d keep time on deadened strings. Guitar as a percussion instrument. Doug had this wonderful ability to make up songs about people on the spot. He could go around the bar with everyone that had been listening to us and make up a verse for each of them, which he did more than once. This is what it was all about for me. Matt left, and really who remembers why. We brought in a bass player, percussionist, and a drummer, who I think was only a junior in high school, and that was the core. Yes, we had this guy with a tribal drum that sat in. A singer from another band would commonly play mandolin with us. We used to do this blue grass style version of AC/DC’s Shook Me All Night Long that I loved.  People would line up to see us. We started from an open mic and moved on to packed house after packed house. We played moon-fest that year, the biggest venue I have ever played. They shut down a downtown area for a Halloween Street party in West Palm Beach. This was the pinnacle of my music career. What a blast! The real beauty here was music was everywhere. You go anywhere and the next thing you know the guitars were out and people were singing and playing. We had a guy with a studio in his garage. We would pile in there around midnight, one in the morning, and not leave till lunch time the next day. I would love to get my hands on some of those session tapes. I mean it was my rock and roll dream, and I loved it.

So why walk down this memory lane? Almost Famous, that’s why. The movie not my music career. Almost Famous seems to almost hit beat for beat the outline of the hero’s journey from Joseph Campbell. The story is wonderful adventure and coming of age story, literally for all involved but we focus on a young journalist coming into his own. The music in this movie is worth the price of admission alone not mention that several of the actors are definitely firing on all cylinders with this one. A great film if you love music, a better film if you ever had a band, and still a better film to remember if you, like me, were in fact almost famous. Sorry I know that was cheesy, but it had to be done. It’s the only way to describe that.

So, our movie starts off with the normal world. We see young William Miller in his normal, well normal for him, life. His mom has clearly taken charge of his education and the snippets of that we see show she is taking an unconventional approach but is hitting the right notes. We see William go from kid to high school student where it is revealed he is much younger than anyone thinks. I got lost on the math, but I think he is about three years behind his peers. So as a freshman in high school he is about ten years old. When we see him before his journey properly starts, he is roughly fifteen, as a senior in high school. The call to adventure starts easy enough he is given the assignment of writing a thousand words on Black Sabbath. He goes to the concert then tries getting backstage. He does finally get back after proving to the opening act, Stillwater, that he is a fan of theirs. While backstage he never gets his interview with Black Sabbath.

He does eventually get a call from Rolling Stone magazine. This is his true call to adventure. He is to go on the road with Stillwater and get an interview with the entire band. Of course, the lead singer has no issue pontificating poetically practically the entire time. Our hero is now traveling with the band, the underworld. The dark place beyond where most do not travel. There he encounters the lovable rogue, the Guitarist for the band, he also encounters a series of muses, the Band-aids. A small group of well groupies, but do not call them that. They are very clear they are not groupies. They are fans of the music and seem to perform some were between muse and siren really. These girls take a shine to our hero and their leader, Penny Lane, helps him on his quest. The entire process keeps dragging on as the guitarist keeps pushing off the interview. Young William is not deterred as he continues. He knows he needs the elixir, the interview, to succeed and will not leave this place without it. everything finally comes to a head, as it does on the road. It is quite clear this band is not going to make it. it is quite clear these young ladies, the band aids, are not going to come out of this undamaged. Even our hero will be forever changed but he proceeds onward with his adventure. Until, without the interview, William is called back to Rolling Stone where he eventually turns in the best piece ever written in the history of rock writing. Only to have the guitar player, the rogue, deny the entire story. this is the soft ending. Looks like all is lost for everyone involved. I will not spoil the ending. This is worth your time and the trip is definitely worth it.

This cast is wonderful! It is a whose who of nineties film, in a good way. Everybody here is literally firing on all cylinders. Not a bad performance anywhere on screen. From the silent drummer played by John Fedevich, to the wonderful over the top trying so hard to be cool road manager played by Jimmy Fallon. Everynody is excellent here. Forgive me if I do not name them all as I would like to keep this episode less than ten hours.

Our hero William Miller is played by Patrick Fugit. He nails this sort of unsure lacking in self confidence but not afraid to go forward writer to perfection. You get a sense that while he does not say much it is because he is taking it all in. just soaking it all up to be used later, article follow up piece or you know maybe a movie later in life. Wink wink nudge nudge. You will know Patrick Fugit from his work in Saved! Cinema Verité, and Gone Girl. Just a wonderful actor.

Key in guiding our young hero and encouraging him to live is his sister Anita Miller, played by Zoe Deschanel. She is not here much. A little in the beginning and a return home at the end. Her limited time on screen is very impactful for the story. she is the one that pushes mom to reveal William’s true age, and I do not think we ever get that answer. You know Zoe from Elf, Bridge to Terabithia, and Yes Man, just to name a few.

Frances McDormand is always great. You know her from Fargo, Raising Arizona, and my favorite she did six episodes of Hill Street Blues as an attorney that was just wonderful. Here she is the protective mother, maybe a little overprotective. I love the running joke through out the movie. She lectures, not in a mean or bad way but a mom way, every one of the people from the tour she talks to. They all respond to young William the same way “Dude, I talked to your mom. She kinda freaked me out, man. “. She is perfect in this film, and this is not even her best performance. Again, she is AWESOME, just other things are awesomer. What it’s a word. Just don’t use it in scrabble.

My heart broke while I viewed the movie for this episode. Phillip Seymore Hoffman, who I first saw on a Law and Order, plays Lester Bangs the editor of the Detroit based Creem magazine. He gives William his first job that really kicks off the journey. Then he spends the rest of this film being a mentor and adviser of sorts. His scenes are wonderful. I love Hoffman and I miss him. You know him form Twister, Scent of a Woman, Mission Impossible Three, Capote, The Master, and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. And a ton of other things. I will always watch this man he was a master and we lost him far too soon.

The band in this film is excellent. Billy Crudup plays Russel Hammond the guitar player. A bit roguish and evasive about the interview. He is about the music and reveals that he feels as if he is beyond the band itself but stays out of loyalty and responsibility. If he leaves how will these guys make a living, he ponders in one scene. Now I never realize it is Billy Crudup until I see his name in the end credits. Try as I might to see him in the film once I have seen his name in the opening credits. He is always so good and just sort of becomes the character. You know him from Watchmen, Sleepers, and looking over his imdb page I am just now realizing he is also in Mission Impossible III. Yep, that’s him apparently. Sorry about that Mr. Crudup. I believe you are these characters. I could stand next to you in an elevator and fail to properly thank you for the wonderful entertainment you have given us.

Jason Lee, I always recognize. I love Jason lee from all the Kevin Smith Films, My Name is Earl, great show if you have not seen it see it, and Vanilla Sky. I love the characters he plays and here is probably the best have ever seen him. Not just because he nails having LSS, lead singer syndrome, but because he feels like a lead singer. He is instantly threatened by the journalist, the enemy he calls him, you also sense his jealousy of the guitar player, he knows Russel is too good for the band, and really anyone or anything that threatens what power he has in the band. This role is one that if you have very been in a band, you know this guy. Maybe not your singer but you have seen them out there. Just a stellar performance.

Having been a musician I have seen muses pop up and disappear for people. Male female does not matter. These are the people that are put in your path to aide you, if you will pay attention, to gaining that next level. Penny Lane is such a character. She appears from darkness as if she as materialized from an ethereal plane at the start of the film. Kate Hudson plays this party shaper muse to perfection. She plans for everyone. Her and William are going to spend a year in Morocco. She sets up another year of college with someone else. She is a dreamer and throws those dreams out for any and all to grab. Like I said next level if you see it happening. If not, you stay on your square and do not move forward. You know Kate Hudson from How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, 200 cigarettes and Raising Hellen. I do have to mention the remaining band aids here Fairuza Balk plays Sapphire, Bijou Phillips plays Estrella Star, and Anna Paquin is Polexia Aphrodisia.

Yes, I like this movie. Yes, you will like this movie. If you like music, this movie is for you. if you like writing, you will like this movie. If you have ever been in a band, you will like this movie. If you have ever been, you know…almost famous then you too will like this movie. I have only met one man who did not care for this movie. My father did not seem to like this one. of course, he was actually regionally famous. He likes the music but does not get why I like it so much. Check this one out. You can find it if you have a subscription to Starz, it is streaming there. Otherwise, you will need to head over to VUDU et al and purchase. I say buy it! The joy it has brought me makes me surprised I do not have it in anything but DVD, which I will be fixing really soon.

There are five music movies I like. Did I miss yours? Don’t worry I am already planning a volume 2. Let me know what you think using #thatandadollarpodcast. Follow me on twitter at @thatandadollar. Also, on Instagram @a_guy_named_chuck. If you would like to support this one-man operation please leave me a tip at buymeacoffee.com/thatandadollar. Please be sure to check out the podcast, That and a Dollar… , where ever you enjoy your podcasts. As always, I am a guy named chuck and that and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee.