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T O P I C R E V I E W
lemonade kid
Posted - 07/04/2011 : 02:12:03 This note to me from RW....kindly said I could post it.....
Caught the film over the weekend in San Luis Obispo (odd that it's not yet playing in Santa Barbara), and it was excellent. Granted that as a pretty major fan, I was at least a bit biased in wanting it to be good, but I was really pleased with it; it played to about a three quarters full house and received substantial applause at the conclusion. Filled with tons of vintage clips I'd never seen before, many of which were performance pieces, lots of vintage Phil on-camera interviews, and also contemporary interviews with virtually everyone who played key roles in his life; brother Michael (can't recall if I ever mentioned that I've known Michael since the seventies and have had him in the studio on the air with me a few times), lots of great stuff from his friend Andy Wickham, both Jim and Jean Glover (still my favorite version of "Crucifixion,") his former manager Arthur Gorson, his sister Sonny, wife Alice, and daughter Meegan, Joan Baez, and many others. Some uncomfortable, unsettling footage of Phil in full "John Train" mode, seemingly totally disconnected from reality, but also a beautiful solo acoustic rendering of the "Crucifixion," accompanying the story of Phil playing that song for Bobby Kennedy on the 1968 campaign trail, shortly before his assassination. Probably the most revealing thing for me was the opportunity to view (and hear) live performance clips that were filmed after the mugging incident in Africa that damaged his vocal chords; the shocker for me was that I'd expected his voice to be just gone, a rasp at best, and that turned out not to be the case at all. He could still sing, but sadly, his problems with alcohol, combined with the bi-polar/manic depressive thing just looked to be insurmountable. Obviously, no happy ending in this movie, but it does at least conclude on the "up" note from those who knew him best, that he would be pretty pleased to see the extent to which he is both remembered and respected today. In a lot of ways, similar in tone and style to the recent "Troubadours" film, which I also recommend. I think it's already out on DVD. When you do see that one ("Troubadours") you'll recognize a couple of segments where when somebody turns a car radio on, it's B. Mitchel Reed on the air on KMET, both taken from the "Underground Radio" CD that I produced. Hope the Phil film makes it to a theatre near you soon; either way, it should show up on DVD before long.
-RW
Looking forward to this one! As I know rocker and many here are!
_____________________________________________ Letting your freak flag fly is a state of mind, not a fashion statement. -lk