Flaming Lips Subject Of New Film Documentary
The Flaming Lips are the subject of the new documentary My Life With the Fearless Freaks, due out on DVD from Shout Films on March 23rd.
Taking its name from a Sunday youth football team on which Lips frontman Wayne Coyne played with his brothers, The Fearless Freaks explores the evolution of the Oklahoma band. In particular it focuses on the families and life experiences that shaped members Coyne, drummer Steven Drodz and bassist Michael Ivins.
“I started in Wayne’s neighborhood and really tried to tell the story of how he grew up because he has so many older brothers that were a huge influence on his life,” says director Bradley Beesley, whose previous credits include Lips’ videos, as well as documentaries about Oklahoma catfishing and blues label Fat Possum Records. “They shaped the music that he listened to and his early career drawing, and playing guitar, and going to concerts, and doing drugs.”
Beesley is a longtime associate of the Lips, and they were comfortable enough to let him film very personal moments. “I’ve got some pretty intimate footage of Steven using drugs and talking about how drugs destroyed his life, as they’re destroying his life,” Beesley says. “It’s not like a VH1 thing where the guy talks about shooting up like ten years ago. I was capturing it literally as he was shooting up.”
In addition to such gritty scenes, Freaks includes cameos from Beck, Jack White, Mercury Rev’s Jonathan Donahue, Juliette Lewis and Liz Phair, as well as outtakes from the long-awaited Lips movie Christmas on Mars (due out December 2005). The film also features four new Flaming Lips songs made specifically for the film.
“It’s a cool film,” says Coyne. “When you get to appear inside someone’s life I don’t think it would even matter who they are. I think if you followed anybody around for eleven years and talked to their relatives and were there when poignant things in their life happened, it wouldn’t matter who you are, it’d be interesting.”
Beesley and Coyne hope to have Freaks make its cinematic premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in January, or at the South by Southwest Music/Film Festival in Austin, Texas, in March.
Source rollingstone.com.
The White Stripes Hitting The Big Screen
On December 7th, the White Stripes will release Under Blackpool Lights, a live DVD filmed during the band’s January performance at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England. Select U.S. theaters will screen the film — along with bonus scenes not available on the DVD — on December 9th. The film was directed by Dick Carruthers, who has chronicled the live performances of the Rolling Stones, Oasis and Led Zeppelin.
“They’re quite unique, I can safely say,” Carruthers reports of frontman Jack White and drummer Meg White. “The way that they play, the sounds that they make and the relationship between them, which is both strong and ambiguous at the same time — it’s quite a powerful combination.”
The seventy-five-minute film includes staples like “Seven Nation Army” and “Hotel Yorba,” as well as the band’s cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” Much of the footage was shot on Super 8, which deliberately gives the movie a dated, grainy look. “The texture and color of the film itself becomes an expression of the White Stripes’ sound, which is raw, retro and iconoclastic,” says Carruthers, who adds that many of the comedic moments and extras on the DVD were Jack White’s ideas.
This past spring, the White Stripes pulled the plug on another concert film, George Roca’s Nobody Knows How to Talk to Children. The group had the documentary, culled from of a string of 2002 gigs at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, banned from circulation after its premiere at the Seattle Film Festival, citing disappointment with the look and sound of the movie. “They rigorously adhere to their aesthetic,” says Carruthers.
As for Blackpool’s single night on the big screen, Carruthers is excited, announcing, “It’s a beast in the cinema.”
The White Stripes’ Under Blackpool Lights December 9th screenings
New York, Empire 25
Burbank, CA, Burbank 14
Chicago, River East 21
Springfield, PA, Marple 10
San Francisco, Van Ness 14
Boston, Fenway 13
Washington, DC, Mazza Gallerie 7
Atlanta, Phillips Plaza Mall
Livonia, MI, Laurel Park 10
Seattle, Pacific Place
Edina, MN, Southdale Center
Westminster, Co, Westminister Promedade 24
San Diego, Mission Valley 20
Source rollingstone.com.
The Duo Heading To Japan With Dirty Dozen Brass Band
The Duo, featuring Joe Russo and Marco Benevento have announced a string of shows in the Far East. The Duo have been invited by SMASH to support the Dirty Dozen Brass Band in Japan for 5 peformances from February 24th through March 1st of 2005. This tour will coincide with the Japanese release of our upcoming release on ropeadope records.
In other Duo news, the drums and organ combo will be playing a New Years run with special guest Mike Gordon on bass 12/28/04 to 1/1/2005.
For more info, please check the band’s website.
Assembly Of Dust + Jazz Mandolin Project Feat. Jon Fishman To Play New England NYE Shows
Reid Geneuar & the Assembly of Dust have annonced they will be playing a two night New Year’s Eve Bash At The Paradise Theater in Boston, MA. Touring in support of their latest release -The Honest Hour – the disc’s nine original songs are a mix of new Assembly of Dust songs and re-imagined versions of songs Genauer wrote with his former band, Strangefolk.
For more information visit the band’s website at www.assemblyofdust.com
In other New England new year’s eve news, The Jazz Mandolin Project featuring Jon Fishman will be playing a Dec. 31 gig at the new Higher Ground music club in South Burlington, VT. For more info- check the venues website at www.highergroundmusic.com
Dave Matthews Band Releasing San Fran Live Show
Dave Matthews Band has confirmed that its Sept. 12 free show in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park will be the second in its Live Trax series of self-released live albums. No release date has yet been unveiled for the show, which can be purchased as a 3-CD set or MP3 and FLAC digital downloads via the band’s official Web site.
The performance featured airings of the new songs “Joyride,” “Hello Again” and “Sugar Will,” the latter featuring Carlos Santana. Fans who pre-order the show online will be entered to win a framed, autographed concert poster.
DMB kicked off the Live Trax series earlier this month with the release of a Dec. 8, 1998, show from Worcester, Mass., which featured guest spots by guitarist Tim Reynolds and banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck.
Source billboard.com.
Rock Posters Of Jon Kovach
The Posters of Jon Kovach will be showcased as part of the Picturesque Photography & Gifts Art show starating November 12th in Pittsburgh, PA. In addition to poster art, Kovach works in photography, graphic design and video. For more information on his work, please visit his website.
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy: Live
With the likes of The Brian Setzer Orchestra and The Cherry Poppin
Brian Wilson: SMiLE
Built around Brian Wilson and lyricist Bert Parks’ hash affairs in the late 60’s. SMiLE[/o] was partially built and then tucked away with the psychological madness that would later haunt Wilson. As the follow-up to the iconic Beach Boys album Pet Sounds, SMiLE was to be the American Sgt. Pepper’s, a recording that set the standard for pop albums.