Throughout the movie, there is an unexpressed gnawing at what was going on with Bruce and this is the movie’s biggest appeal. “The River” had been spun many times on my turntable as a teen so it was fitting for me that the film kicked off while winding up the tour supporting “The River”. He was primed to move into superstardom in 1981 with a follow up and everyone around him knew it. However; Bruce became introspective.
He had found a platform of expression. He was now sitting in a sweet spot yet demons lurked. He had the freedom to shift with a loyal articulate manager at his side equipped to handle pleas from a label excited to produce the next platinum record. Bruce revisited darkness from his early Nebraskan days.
The sound needed rawness not appealing to recording engineers. Technology’s limitations arose as a subtext. Emotions ran hot. The label was not. Events all unfolded with drama backstage.
In particular, actor Jeremy Strong (manager / producer) was outstanding. The movie is worthwhile because it goes to a place where we all long. That is, the deeper construct of our manifested selves.
There was much anticipation of the Tommy Emmanuel concert at Calgary’s Jack Singer concert hall. I literally felt giddy earlier this evening upon dressing in blazer and slacks wondering what exactly what was about to unfold. I have watched his youtube rendition of “Classical Gas” about 20 times and “Lewis and Clark” probably ten. I’ve listened to other players rave about his prowess on acoustic guitar. J.P. Cormier ranks him as the best in the world. Other youtubers also put him there.
Made a point of getting there early. I was by myself and envisioned some sharing among a kindred spirit in the lobby. I walked right in and chatted up William. He had just stumbled on his ticket and never heard of the guy. His party hadn’t yet arrived so I eagerly set William up for the evening at hand.
Sat next to Kevin. He was a mandolin player so that was cool. He had just heard Christie Lenee at a folk club here in town and came to know about Tommy via the Christie crowd. Surprisingly, the place was not sold out and the top floor bar was closed.
Unassuming is how I’d characterize his demeanour as he took the stage. He jumped right into lively new material from his latest album. This helped him shake off some nerves. He was a bit tight early into the first set and I was thinking about the sound. The Jack Singer concert hall is spectacular and is particularly amenable to acoustic sound yet he was running his signal through a PA. I knew in advance that this is his typical large auditorium set up and was slightly disappointed that he didn’t decide to just run via acoustic amp akin to Cormier.
“Angelina” and “Never Too Late” came up in the first set and they were both done beautifully. He plays from the heart and his stage show is fantastic. There were no shortage of fast lead lines in between ballads and he wowed the crowd with a demo of his one man band methodology. One song in particular ran half way through full of one note harmonics only. I wondered if he was going to strike a chord and he finally did. This was the talking point between Kevin and I at half time. The precision just to hit consecutive harmonics is tricky never mind half a song worth of them.
I had never heard the song “Eva Waits” and it was solemnly melodic stemming from the story of separated love at the Berlin wall. Despite being fully cognizant of his penchant for using a guitar top for percussion…he dazzled my mind by gymnastically eliciting every imaginable sound from a guitar fixed with a mic and pick up. This was breath taking for him and us.
Tommy didn’t disappoint by bringing his reknown Beatles Medley topped off with select lines from Classical Gas. The Billy Joel song “And So It Goes” was flawless and closed with a colorful story of the “added bridge”. Eric Clapton was on his mind so he brought out an old run down Maton specially equipped with effects in and ode a la creme de la Cream.
A Complete Unknown was released on Christmas day 2024 and it’s getting four stars out of five across the internet. As a guitar player myself, naturally I’m interested in the evolution of Bob Dylan’s early days so here I sat in Calgary’s Chinook Theatre for the 4pm Tuesday cheap seat.
Imagine being tasked the role of an eccentric who plays guitar but you don’t play guitar. You go to work and this is exactly what Timothee Chalomet had done very well in my opinion. He would have looked to the charisma or lack thereof in Dylan while researching his character. This of course was the most intriguing aspect of the movie for me. If you are familiar with Bob Dylan, you know of his monotone raspy delivery while being succinct in words. Bob Dylan has not been awarded a Nobel Prize in literature because of unpurposeful rhetoric. It is because of a capacity for drawing meaning from few words.
Critics may claim that plot was lacking but the appeal is in the persona. That is, that character who sits in the back corner of a bar with sunglasses on hoping to catch a nugget of inspiration from a mysterious fellow musician he had just met.
The volume of work is extraordinary and young ones bred on rap and raves stand perplexed by the intrigue but weren’t exposed to the political and social rawness of summer ’68. Folk was culturally more relevant then when metaphors were moving and norms had been evolving. This movie provides an imaginative glimpse into what it might have been like when a creative young man questioned values and tradition through song.
Time well spent in my opinion….but heh – I play guitar.
While you were watching the Oilers win game seven, I was at the movies taking in the tragic life of Amy Winehouse at Chinook Theatre. The best part was the phenomenal job done by Marisa Abela in the role. You really did pick up the veracity in Amy’s outlandish visceral personality but more astonishingly was the closeness in resembling her vocals – native accent aside.
The pundits of course are sounding off by the film’s shortcomings but the scene where she meets Blake is in and of itself worth the price of admission. Wouldn’t you all want to be as coy when by happenstance encounter a rising star sitting solo in a bar?
The striking affinity folks had with Winehouse was not only her amazing voice but her flaw filled persona from which fans found identify. The day labourer in us all sees a woman operating intuitively from instinct unbeknownst to consequences whilst we put fantasy first in a drama documentary pleading for an ultimate denouement other than her fate. Thankfully we were spared of a scene portraying her untimely death.
Marisa had spent months training her voice for this. Movie critics are all caught up in chronology, accuracy, and exploitation while missing the key success ingredient of the film, that being an Amy Winehouse characterization. The tragedy is worthy of publicity because her life and times were distinctive, emotionally wrought, colourful while dark, with lessons sewn sweepingly as her picturesque head dress.
It was disappointing to read about Juno award winning guitarist Oscar Lopez tonight (Oscar Lopez Story) in reference to his struggles to make living. He says he is not alone. Every living soul who has ever downloaded an album of his on Napster for free may want to pay him a visit at his car where he sleeps and chip in for a deposit on his next apartment. He has published 12 albums and is a “lively” performer. He’s become a casualty of the dysfunctional music industry and it’s a shame.
For some reason, you ascribe more value to the UFC and Mr. Beast than to a night on the town gettin’ down with your special someone. If you can get something for free because of an apparent immunity from prosecution…you take it irrespective of the longer term impact. You are hedonist to the detriment of a long term thriving culture. You have little persistence in focus in deriving art’s value due to haphazardness in seeking instant gratification. You lack appreciation for the work and practice deployed in order to present you with a meaningful experience with art. Finally, you lack empathy for the casualties flooding your society in concert (ironic pun) with your indifference.
