Long revered (and reviled) as the most dysfunctional funk band that ever was, Fishbone recently celebrated 30+ years of kidnappings, mental illness, and alcoholism with a concert at Amoeba to pimp the release of their tell-all documentary Everyday Sunshine.
The Electric Daisy Festival is quickly turning out to be the newest Coachella— a massive music extravaganza that has tapped the mainstream pulse of a nation’s youth, drawing in fans by more and more thousands each year.
But did you know it’s also likely to incite mass chaos and rioting in the streets – especially if those punk-ass raver kids ain’t happy?
Foo Fighters: Back And Forth is released on DVD this week. If you’re a fan of music and a good story, then seeing Foo Fighters: Back And Forth is essential viewing. ChinaShopMag got to hang out with the film’s director James Moll on the Universal Lot where his office is tucked behind the legendary Phantom of The Opera soundstage (oh it’s legendary alright! And possibly haunted). Hearing him speak about the art of film, it’s clear that James Moll loves his job! Which is handy when you make movies for a living.
When he first started working on the lot, he told me he’d take his lunch up to the Psycho house on the hill and eat it sitting on the porch, watching the tourists roll by on the Studio Tram. It’s a lovely view from up there he tells me. Today on our impromptu walking tour of the Universal Studios lot, Moll is posing for photos in front of the CSI set on stage 24. A Tram rolls by, and they start snapping fervently perhaps mistaking the director for a star of the crime scene show. Moll is working on his EGOT, so far nailing a few Emmys and an Oscar. The former for Best Documentary Feature for The Last Days in 1999. EGOT stands for Emmy-Grammy-Oscar-Tony. Tracy Jordan has one on 30 Rock. If James Moll keeps it up, he’ll have his EGOT soon enough.
Opting to not read the press release for the documentary 50 Cent: The Origin of Me before watching, it was a mystery whether the film was going to be yet another look into 50’s storied past in Jamaica, Queens or something entirely different. Thankfully this film, which is part of VH1’s “Rock Docs” series, leans heavily towards the latter category.
People can’t seem to stop talking about the Foo Fighters right now. Having been around for over 15 years, they still remain as relevant as ever. On Tuesday night at the closing of the SXSW Film Festival and Interactive activities in Austin the band premiered their latest endeavor, a documentary film called Foo Fighters Back and Forth.
After hearing about this project for the past 6 months I had some expectations. I knew the band was recording in Dave Grohl’s garage in his home on tape, with legendary producer Butch Vig at the helm. I knew that cameras where there for something like 3 months capturing the process. I also knew that they shot at least 5 hours of footage at the bands secret show at the Roxy Theatre last month. So my anticipation was that this film would focus on the latest and greatest antics and the making of a fresh but yet nostalgic process of writing a record.
I had the chance this week to see the controversial new Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams movie, Blue Valentine. The film centers upon the fragile marriage of Dean (Gosling) and Cindy (Williams) and the back and forth emotional struggle involved in trying to save what is left of their once passionate romance. The film teeters between the couple’s initial courtship and birth of their relationship and their modern day attempt to reconcile what is left of it. The plot eventually drives Dean and Cindy to check into a hotel for one night where they attempt a to revive the pulse of their love.
For those of you who don’t know the full story surrounding this film, it’s quite a tale. Michelle Williams was first presented with the Blue Valentine script back in 2003, and in 2008 received a phone call from director Derek Cianfrance saying the money for the film production had finally been secured. “I think I was 21 when I read it and I’m 30 now, so almost a third of my life has been devoted to making this movie,” Williams told Nightlife in her first network interview since the tragic death of Heath Ledger.
Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores” — self-designated pickers of recyclable materials.
Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives. Director Lucy Walker (DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND, BLINDSIGHT, COUNTDOWN TO ZERO) has great access to the entire process and, in the end, offers stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit.
The award winning film is currently screening at selected venues across the country and aboard including an open screening at Pepperdine University this Friday, Jan 21.
Check out the trailer to this inspiring film below.
“What is music?” is a question that seems to be on the mind (or meme) of a lot of people lately. Last year’s best selling book This Is You Brain On Music took a scientific shot at explaining the phenomenon of rhythm, tone and timbre while indie documentary The Heart Is A Drum Machine takes a far more anecdotal approach to the question. In fact, anecdotal is what defines this film (released on DVD last week), which culls together 70-plus minutes of interview footage with an eclectic assortment of music practitioners and enthusiasts that range from Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist John Frusciante and actress-turned-rocker Julliette Lewis to comedy team Tim and Eric and scientist Ann Druyan.
