[It’s Here!] A Music Fan’s Guide to the 2014 Independent Film Festival Boston
Posted on April 23, 2014 at 2:28 pm | No Comments
As warmer temps finally take hold in the Northeast, and the last of those nasty, dirt-colored snow piles fade from our streets, there’s only one thing that will get me to spend many springtime hours inside a darkened movie theatre: The annual return of the Independent Film Festival Boston.
Now in its 12th year, the esteemed 8-day, non-profit, all-volunteer film fest kicks off tonight at the Somerville Theatre with a screening of “Beneath The Harvest Sky”. That’s one of many movies I’m looking forward to this year (and not just because star Aiden Gillen – from the Wire & Game of Thrones – will be in attendance, along with the drama’s co-directors). Tickets for that are still on sale, but I can almost guarantee that won’t be the case at the door tonight. Each year, many films sell out in advance, so have a look at the lineup and make a plan, or better yet, grab a full festival badge and save yourself a little stress. Update: Full fest badges are sold out! All the more reason to pick up single tickets in advance, or at least arrive early for the stand-by lines.
As usual, the IFFBoston schedule has a strong musical component to it, both in subject matter and soundtracking, so I’ve pulled together my yearly guide to those particular flicks. Here are a dozen films showing between now and next Wednesday that either directly, or tangentially, involve makers of music…
A Music Fan’s Guide To IFFBoston 2014
THE MUSIC, LIFE & TIMES
OF GRANT HART
Directed by Gorman Bechard
Friday, April 25th at 7pm at the Brattle Theatre
Tickets / Synopsis
Of the 12 films listed here, this is the one I’ve been lucky enough to get a preview of, so I can guarantee the greatness. Obviously a must-see for fans of this former Hüsker Dü co-songwriter/singer/drummer and his seminal Minnesota trio, but it’s not just for the already-familiar – it’s a truly fascinating profile of a pure artist that stands on its own.
(for more of my thoughts, read this synopsis, which I contributed to the IFFBoston guide)
Directed by Mark Phinney
Friday, April 25th at 9:45pm at the Brattle Theatre
Tickets / Synopsis / Official Site / Facebook
A Boston production, through and through – made here, starring more than a few people who live here, and soundtracked by a whole bunch of area musicians, including the Beatings (who you can hear in the trailer below), M.G. Lederman, Mean Creek, Slowdim, The Milling Gowns, and more. Not only do we get the area premiere on Friday night, but many of the bands involved will perform at a Saturday afternoon show at O’Brien’s in Allston. Perfect post-film follow-up.
Directed by Stuart Murdoch (of Belle & Sebastian)
Sunday, April 27th at 8:30 PM at the Brattle
Tickets / Synopsis / Official Site / Facebook
Described as “a poignant coming-of-age story that doubles as an indie-pop musical”, Belle & Sebastian fans (myself included) have been waiting for this Stuart Murdoch-directed story for a very long time. Early reviews were mixed, and may depend on one’s tolerance for twee (or Belle & Sebastian’s catalog), but fortunately my tolerance for such things is very, very high. Bring it on, I say.
Directed by Colin Healey
Thursday, Apr 24th at 9:30 PM at the Somerville
*World Premiere* / Tickets / Synopsis
The lead character of this Pittsburgh-set drama, played by Rachel McKeon, is described as a “part-time Austin indie rocker — and full-time harbinger of chaos and destruction”. That’s enough of a hook to reel me in, especially knowing of one or two people who could star in this and turn it into a documentary.
THE STORY OF V66
Directed by Eric Green
Sunday, April 27th at 4pm at the Somerville
Tickets / Synopsis / Official Site
The story behind V66, a Boston-based music video channel that burned bright for 18 months in the mid-80s and disappeared. Locally-focused, the station was noted for broadcasting in real-time, playing lots of Boston bands, and making their audience a part of the programming (long before ‘social media’ and ‘customer-created content’ became a buzz-phrases). The film features a more than a few now-and-former Boston musicians, including Kay Hanley, Greg Hawkes, Ben Deily, and Dan Zanes, and even some friends (Cathy! Nick!). This screening is sure to be a fun one.
(L’ÉCUME DES JOURS / France)
Directed by Michel Gondry
Wednesday, April 30th at 7:30pm at the Coolidge
*Closing Night Film* / Tickets / Synopsis
While Michel Gondry’s filmmaking is generally hit-or-miss (Eternal Sunshine: the best, Be Kind Rewind: the worst), he can be counted on for an interesting use of music. His latest, a French language film starring Romain Duris and Audrey Tautou, will close out IFFBoston 2014 next Wednesday, and judging from the soundtrack details, it’s no exception (though I may have to take a bathroom break when that dreadful Lumineers song comes on).
Directed by Steve Tozzi
Sunday, April 27th at 8:15pm at the Somerville
*World Premiere* / Tickets / Synopsis / Official Site / Facebook
Pulling from the synopsis: “…the gritty story of City Gardens, one of New Jersey’s most infamous clubs and its larger than life promoter, Randy Now.” I first became aware of this film a couple months back when Vulture interviewed Jon Stewart about his time as a bartender there back in the mid-80s, then again when Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers appeared on the Daily Show with author Amy Yates Wuelfing, who just released “No Slam Dancing, No Stage Diving, No Spikes”, an oral history of the fabled venue. The list of talking heads in the film is top notch: Along with Stewart, there’s Dean Ween, Jack Irons, Milo Auckerman, Jello Biafra, Henry Rollins, Al Jourgensen, and Ian MacKaye. That’s one seriously stacked lineup.
Directed by Jon Lefkovitz
Friday, April 25th at 9:15pm
Tickets / Synopsis / Official Site / Facebook
If you were assuming from the title that this would be Beatles-related, well, you’d be right. It focuses on my personal fave of the fabulous four – John Lennon – and uses audio and transcripts to reconstruct two interviews with him and Yoko Ono (one in 1970, one in 1980), contrasting and combining them to paint what, one hopes, is a unique portrait of the man – something that’s not easy to do nowadays. The tagline sums it up nicely: “Ten Years – Two Interviews – One Lennon”.
Directed by Alex Steyermark
Sunday, April 27th at 5:30pm
Tickets / Synopsis / Official Site / Facebook
Lifting from the synopsis: “The 78 Project is on a journey across America to make one-of-a-kind 78rpm records with musicians in their hometowns using a 1930s Presto direct-to-disc recorder. With one microphone. With one blank disc. In one 3-minute take.” Inspired by the travels of the legendary Alan Lomax, the film documents an ambitious new exercise in audio archiving.
THE LEGEND OF SHEP GORDON
Directed by Mike Myers
Sunday, April 27th at 1pm at the Somerville
Tickets / Synopsis / IMDB
Yes, the director is that Mike Myers. And his subject, Shep Gordon, looks to have had a hell of a life on Earth so far, managing artists as varied as Alice Cooper, Blondie, Pink Floyd, and Luther Vandross before moving on to handling celebrity chefs. Many of his famous friends and clients hold forth in the film, including Cooper, Michael Douglas, Emeril Lagasse, Anne Murray, Willie Nelson, and Sylvester Stallone. If that ain’t a true mix of personalities, I don’t know what is.
Directed by Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard
Saturday, April 26th at 10pm at the Brattle
Tickets / Synopsis / Official Site / Facebook
Nick Cave gets the documentary treatment, although it being Nick Cave, it does things a bit differently than your standard rock doc. From the synopsis: “This innovative drama/documentary features Cave as both subject and co-conspirator, intimately documenting his artistic process and combining it with a fictional staged narrative of his 20,000th day on Earth.” In other words, don’t go into it looking to uncover exactly what makes Nick Cave tick. Besides, do you really want to know?
(VI ÄR BÄST! / Sweden)
Directed by Lukas Moodysson
Saturday, April 26th at 2:30pm at the Somerville
Tickets / Synopsis / IMDB
The trailer for this Swedish-language film is all I needed to add it to my screening schedule. It’s described as “an energetic rough and tumble story of three rebellious teenage girls who form a punk rock band to defy the stifling conformity of early-1980s Stockholm.” Count me in.
If you’re looking for more viewing tips beyond my music-centric ones above, surf on over to read Ty Burr and Peter Keough’s recommendations at the Boston Globe, Norm Schrager’s choices at Meet Me In The Lobby, and Erin Trahan’s piece on this year’s short films over at WBUR.
As you fest, make sure to keep tabs on IFFBoston’s Facebook page and Twitter feed for the latest updates, like this list of filmmakers who will be appearing at certain screenings, which is always one of my favorite aspects of festival. Tonight: Carcetti in the house! See you there.
[Nac Blogiversary] 14 Live Covers for 14 Long Years
Posted on February 15, 2014 at 8:18 pm | No Comments
While the exact born-on-date of the Almanac is a nebulous one – Is it when I first started sharing songs? Or using an actual blogging platform? Or writing mostly about music? – I decided long ago to settle on the most solid one of record: February 15th, 2000 – the day I registered this URL and began uploading content. Whatever this place was back then is a distant cry from whatever it is today, and even from what it was in 2003, when I began frequent music-centric updates. Lately, it’s the “frequent” part that’s changed the most.
But I’m still around, still sharing songs and news from bands I love, still plugging away. Sure, it’s become more quick-shots on Facebook and Twitter than longer posts here, but I’ve resisted the occasional temptation to shutter this place completely. “The blog is dead, long live the blog“, they say. This post-Chromewaves world is a lonely place, but I’m hanging on.
For kicks, here’s the ‘Nac by the numbers…
Number of years gone by: 14
Number of published posts: 1,117
Number of current draft posts in progress: 42
Number of stale, out-of-date draft posts I’ve deleted: &infin
Number of live sets I’ve shared: ~ 300
Number of live sets I’ve recorded but not had time to share: 312
Number of Tweets: 5,225
Number of Twitter followers: 3,149
Number of Twitter followers that are probably bots: 50%
Number of Facebook followers: 1,046
Number of the Almanac on the Hype Machine‘s blog tracker: 31
Number of those 31 original blogs the Hype Machine is still tracking: 7
Number of band/promo emails I get every day on average: over 60
Number of those emails that include the word “remix”: at least 50%
Number of daily promo emails that are relevant or of interest to me: maybe 5?
It’s those last three stats that have been slowly draining the life outta me. More than a decade of doing this means the Almanac has ended up on every music-related mailing in existence – it’s a constant deluge that has worn me down and drawn me ever closer to closing up shop. They come faster than I can send unsubscribe requests, and more importantly, I can’t possibly listen to all the songs that come my way. I’ve had to master a jaded zen-like state when going through my inbox, and keep my fingers crossed that I don’t miss something truly great.
But I’m not here to whine, I’m here to celebrate. Or at least acknowledge this slightly notable passage of time. So I’ve thrown together 14 covers from live sets I haven’t had time to share over the past few years, along with a photo from each show, and a few words. Dig in, there are some special songs below…
From an acoustic set for Record Store Day, April 21st, 2012 at Newbury Comics in Norwood, MA. He was joined by his wife Emily Roberts on backing vocals and (her uncle?) Sippy Roberts on slide guitar.
Stinson’s reunited Replacements have announced a few more festival appearances this year, but I’ve still got my hopes up for an eventual Boston show. ICYMI, grab my recording of their first reunion appearance at last year’s Riot Fest Toronto.
It’s been awhile since Death Cab For Cutie hit the road, in fact I think this series of special shows backed by the Magik*Magik Orchestra in Spring 2012 was the last proper tour (they played the Wang in Boston with Low on 4/21/12). This cover was a nice surprise during the stripped down part of their set, and was well before Lou Reed passed and sparked a rash of VU covers.
The DCFC machine is gearing back up after helping Barsuk Records celebrate their 15th birthday a few months back, and they’ll return to town for the Boston Calling fest in May. I’m assuming we’ll get some new album news before too long.
During that Death Cab break, but before the Postal Service reunited in 2013, Ben Gibbard did some solo shows in support of his “Former Lives” LP, including a stop at the Somerville Theatre on Sunday, November 4th, 2012. Not sure if he pulled out a geographically-specific cover at every show, but this classic Lemonheads cut was a nice nod to Boston.
Another high point of the Barsuk celebration in Seattle last November was John Roderick and his Long Winters reuniting to perform the “When I Pretend To Fall” album in its entirety. It was glorious, and made me even more hungry for a proper new LW record, as if that was possible. Roderick’s been performing solo sporadically since their previous LP (in 2006!), and this Neutral Milk Hotel cover was played at the Paradise in Boston on Friday, June 1st, 2012.
[MP3] Tanya Donelly & Buffalo Tom – “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”
(live Tom Petty/Steve Nicks cover)
This show was something really special – a small room full of friends and fans gathered together for Chris Toppin’s (Fuzzy) birthday party at the Midway in Jamaica Plain on Nov. 9th, 2012. So many great moments on the stage that night, including this team up of Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses/Belly) and Buffalo Tom to serve up some Heartbreaking.
Tanya has been releasing a string of excellent digital EPs called the Swan Song Series, and she’ll be hitting the stage opening for her old band Throwing Muses for a few shows next month. Buffalo Tom is hibernating, but Bill Janovitz has been offering up some great new solo songs since the year started. Here’s hoping they keep coming.
[MP3] Ted Leo – “Freeway” (live Aimee Mann cover)
[MP3] Ted Leo – “Hybrid Moments / Me & Mia” (live Misfits cover & TL original)
This show was a ridiculous amount of fun. Just after Boston cops started cracking down hard on local house shows, Ted Leo played this one in a Brighton living room on Monday, November 26, 2012. It was crammed, and incident free (unless you count overly-drunk-local-band-guy or overly-intrusive-photographer), and an absolute blast. Ted pulled out a few covers, as he is wont to do, including a song by his then-tourmate/now-bandmate (in The Both) Aimee Mann. The kids didn’t know what hit ’em, but I ate it up. He whipped out a Misfits cut to rile us up (it did – singalong!), segueing straight into TL/Rx classic “Me & Mia”, when the show hit a crushing crescendo. Bent Shapes opened up. It ruled.
Ted & Aimee will release their self-titled debut album as The Both in mid-April, and will hit the road in support, including a stop at the Paradise in Boston on April 25th.
Well, this was an odd one. J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. in a shoe store on Boston’s Newbury Street. With (bad) free beer and chips. He probably got paid in purple Doc Martens. This strange scene was on 12/6/2012.
This was a bittersweet moment, but mostly sweet, during Sleepyhead’s set at the Sinclair in Cambridge on May 10th, 2013, just a few weeks after Game Theory’s Scott Miller passed away. Not sure how many in the crowd got the gesture, but I damn well did. This cover was actually the b-side of one of the great indie singles of all time, Sleepyhead’s 1992 (!) “Punk Rock City USA” 7-inch.
Sleepyhead’s long-in-the-making next LP will be out in April on Carrot Top Records. Can’t wait.
After seeing that Sleepyhead set, and most of Buffalo Tom’s, at the Sinclair, I raced across the river to try and catch some of Telekinesis at Brighton Music Hall in Allston. Made it in time to see a handful of songs, including this ace cover of one of my favorite INXS tracks. Wish I’d been able to see the whole show, but even a little Telekinesis goes a long way.
Oh, Quasi, how I love thee. Two people who project more joyful noise and energy from the stage than most quintets ever could. This Elvis Costello cover came near the end of their fantastic set at Great Scott in Allston on Thursday, October 17th of last year. Their latest LP is last year’s “Mole City”, and you should own it.
Not only did we get a Heart cover during Neko Case’s set at the Orpheum on November 1st, but we got two, back to back. First Kelly Hogan handled lead vocals on an amazing “Barracuda” (that riff!), then Neko stepped up to tackle this one. The crowd was rightly, happily surprised when the second song started up, but the band may have been smiling more than we were. And that’s saying a lot.
When I was out at that Barsuk anniversary bash in Seattle back in November, new duo Minor Alps (Matthew Caws of Nada Surf and Juliana Hatfield) remarked that their set was the first time they’d ever played in front of people. It kicked off a cross-country trip that brought them to the Sinclair in Cambridge two weeks later (11/23/13) for the final show of their inaugural tour. Grateful I was able to see the first and last stops, especially glad that they learned and played one of my favorite Robyn Hitchcock tracks, the gorgeous “Airscape“.
As much as I love Chris Brokaw’s original songs, and as many times as I’ve seen him, I will never tire of hearing him run through Wussy’s wonderful “Crooked”. This particular rendition was by request, played at an uber-intimate house show in Watertown, MA last month (1/4/14). If you’re wondering why we were so quiet in our appreciation at the end, well, there was a baby asleep upstairs. There’s no better reason for repressed enthusiasm.
As always, thanks for following along, especially those of you who have been stopping by for years. Without getting too sentimental or self-deprecating, I’ll admit that it still surprises me that anyone still reads my ramblings, and every lingering eye and ear is appreciated. Cheers.