The idea for “Rain on the Graves” — the latest single from Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson’s upcoming solo album, The Mandrake Project, out March 1 — came to him while visiting the resting place of poet William Wordsworth. He’d been invited to a wedding in England’s Lake District in 2012, and, knowing that Wordsworth wrote a lot of his verses in Grasmere, he decided to visit his stone cottage and the church where his body was interred.
“It was a gloomy day, and there was rain,” he tells Rolling Stone...
“It was a gloomy day, and there was rain,” he tells Rolling Stone...
- 1/25/2024
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Rolling Stone interview series Unknown Legends features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and veteran musicians who have toured and recorded alongside icons for years, if not decades. All are renowned in the business, but some are less well known to the general public. Here, these artists tell their complete stories, giving an up-close look at life on music’s A list. This edition features drummer Chuck Burgi.
Once a month for the past decade, almost without exception, a town car has pulled up to Billy Joel drummer Chuck...
Once a month for the past decade, almost without exception, a town car has pulled up to Billy Joel drummer Chuck...
- 6/10/2023
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
Rolling Stone‘s interview series King for a Day features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and singers who had the difficult job of fronting major rock bands after the departure of an iconic vocalist. Some of them stayed in their bands for years, while others lasted just a few months. In the end, however, they all found out that replacement singers can themselves be replaced. This edition features former Four Seasons singer Gerry Polci.
By the mid-Seventies, the once-unstoppable Four Seasons seemed like they were heading into oblivion.
By the mid-Seventies, the once-unstoppable Four Seasons seemed like they were heading into oblivion.
- 4/12/2023
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
Early rock & roll drummer Charles Connor — who played with Little Richard, Sam Cooke, and James Brown in the Fifties — died in his home in Glendale, California, after a battle with the brain disorder normal pressure hydrocephalus. He was 86.
“He was one of those drummers that was a bricklayer of creating that rock & roll genre,” his daughter, Queenie Connor Sonnefeld, told the Associated Press. “He played behind so many legendary musicians in the Fifties. He was a loving grandfather and was very proud of his family and took a lot of...
“He was one of those drummers that was a bricklayer of creating that rock & roll genre,” his daughter, Queenie Connor Sonnefeld, told the Associated Press. “He played behind so many legendary musicians in the Fifties. He was a loving grandfather and was very proud of his family and took a lot of...
- 8/3/2021
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
Rolling Stone interview series Unknown Legends features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and veteran musicians who have toured and recorded alongside icons for years, if not decades. All are renowned in the business, but some are less well known to the general public. Here, these artists tell their complete stories, giving an up close look at life on music’s A list. This edition features drummer and songwriter Joe Vitale.
Veteran drummer Joe Vitale was asleep for the night when Bob Dylan’s June 2020 interview with The New York Times went online,...
Veteran drummer Joe Vitale was asleep for the night when Bob Dylan’s June 2020 interview with The New York Times went online,...
- 8/27/2020
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
On the surface, AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck,” Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s “Blinded by the Light,” and Tom Jones’ “Valerie” have nothing in common. They were recorded in different decades, targeted at different demographics, and they don’t sound even remotely alike. But they all feature the drumming of Chris Slade, a journeyman Welsh musician who has also played with Olivia Newton-John, Tom Paxton, Uriah Heep, David Gilmour, the Firm, Gary Moore, and Asia.
He’s best known for joining AC/DC in 1989, just in time to play on their comeback LP,...
He’s best known for joining AC/DC in 1989, just in time to play on their comeback LP,...
- 8/12/2020
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
Tony Allen, the pioneering drummer who helped define Afrobeat during his tenure with Fela Kuti, died Thursday evening. He was 79.
Allen’s manager, Eric Trosser, confirmed the musician’s death to Rolling Stone, adding that Allen was taken to Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris, where he died of abdominal aortic aneurysm. “He was in great shape,” Trosser added to France 24. “It was quite sudden.” Sahara Reporters first reported Allen’s death.
As a member of Kuti’s band Africa 70, Allen helped revolutionize the art of drumming, simultaneously anchoring...
Allen’s manager, Eric Trosser, confirmed the musician’s death to Rolling Stone, adding that Allen was taken to Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris, where he died of abdominal aortic aneurysm. “He was in great shape,” Trosser added to France 24. “It was quite sudden.” Sahara Reporters first reported Allen’s death.
As a member of Kuti’s band Africa 70, Allen helped revolutionize the art of drumming, simultaneously anchoring...
- 4/30/2020
- by Daniel Kreps and Elias Leight
- Rollingstone.com
Drummer Biff Adam, who was an integral member of Merle Haggard’s legendary backing band for four decades, and also served as the singer’s publicist and bus driver for several years, died Saturday, March 7th, after battling congestive heart failure. Adam’s daughters, Debi Stalder and Connie Ishman, shared the news on the drummer’s Facebook page over the weekend. He was 83.
In addition to backing Haggard on his albums throughout the Seventies and beyond, Adam and his fellow Strangers recorded a string of albums under their band name,...
In addition to backing Haggard on his albums throughout the Seventies and beyond, Adam and his fellow Strangers recorded a string of albums under their band name,...
- 3/9/2020
- by Stephen L. Betts
- Rollingstone.com
Jean-Paul Gaster still remembers the moment he realized the first heavy-metal band were playing jazz.
Growing up near Washington, D.C., the drummer — who for nearly 30 years has brought a loose-limbed swagger to the rhythms of esteemed hard-rock band Clutch — would sit with his father and watch live concerts on public television. Performances by big-band jazz greats Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa made a particularly strong impression on him.
A few years later, heavier sounds came onto his radar via bands like Black Sabbath and Zz Top. At first, Gaster...
Growing up near Washington, D.C., the drummer — who for nearly 30 years has brought a loose-limbed swagger to the rhythms of esteemed hard-rock band Clutch — would sit with his father and watch live concerts on public television. Performances by big-band jazz greats Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa made a particularly strong impression on him.
A few years later, heavier sounds came onto his radar via bands like Black Sabbath and Zz Top. At first, Gaster...
- 2/12/2020
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
Neil Peart, whose drum theatrics and iconoclastic lyrics fueled the Canadian rock trio Rush to international fame, died Tuesday in Santa Monica after a long battle with brain cancer. He was 67. His longtime bandmates Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson confirmed the news today on social media.
Neil Peart September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020 pic.twitter.com/NivX2RhiB8
— Rush (@rushtheband) January 10, 2020
Ontario native Peart wrote the lyrics to most of Rush’s songs and is widely considered among the greatest drummers in rock ‘n’ roll history. Known for his wild fills, massive drum kit and steely onstage demeanor. “The Professor” joined bassist Lee and guitarist Lifeson in Rush after its first album in 1974, and the band would go one to sell millions of records worldwide. He retired from the group weeks after it played its final show on August 1, 2015, at the Forum near Los Angeles, capping its 40th anniversary tour.
Rush is a...
Neil Peart September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020 pic.twitter.com/NivX2RhiB8
— Rush (@rushtheband) January 10, 2020
Ontario native Peart wrote the lyrics to most of Rush’s songs and is widely considered among the greatest drummers in rock ‘n’ roll history. Known for his wild fills, massive drum kit and steely onstage demeanor. “The Professor” joined bassist Lee and guitarist Lifeson in Rush after its first album in 1974, and the band would go one to sell millions of records worldwide. He retired from the group weeks after it played its final show on August 1, 2015, at the Forum near Los Angeles, capping its 40th anniversary tour.
Rush is a...
- 1/10/2020
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Dick Dale, “the King of the Surf Guitar,” has died at the age of 81.
California Rocker first reported that Dale died Sunday. His bassist Sam Bolle confirmed Dale’s death to the Guardian. No cause of death was revealed, but the guitarist suffered from health issues in recent years. In 2010, Dale said he was battling rectal cancer, and in an interview that went viral, Dale said in 2015 that “I can’t stop touring because I will die” due to medical expenses stemming from cancer treatment, diabetes and renal failure. “I...
California Rocker first reported that Dale died Sunday. His bassist Sam Bolle confirmed Dale’s death to the Guardian. No cause of death was revealed, but the guitarist suffered from health issues in recent years. In 2010, Dale said he was battling rectal cancer, and in an interview that went viral, Dale said in 2015 that “I can’t stop touring because I will die” due to medical expenses stemming from cancer treatment, diabetes and renal failure. “I...
- 3/17/2019
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Exclusive: Netflix has acquired Quincy, the documentary about legendary composer/producer Quincy Jones that was directed by his daughter Rashida Jones and Alan Hicks. Netflix has set a global release for September 21, and will give the film a limited theatrical release as well. The film is produced by Paula DuPré Pesmen and executive produced by Jane Rosenthal and Berry Welsh from Tribeca Productions and Adam Fell from Quincy Jones Productions.
The docu is an intimate look into the life of an icon who has been a force in music and pop culture for decades, transcending racial and cultural boundaries. He started as a trumpeter, pianist and arranger for bandleader Lionel Hampton, and right out of college was arranging songs for artists including Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa, and Ray Charles. He has been a mentor to artists from Michael Jackson to Lesley Gore, Oprah Winfrey...
The docu is an intimate look into the life of an icon who has been a force in music and pop culture for decades, transcending racial and cultural boundaries. He started as a trumpeter, pianist and arranger for bandleader Lionel Hampton, and right out of college was arranging songs for artists including Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa, and Ray Charles. He has been a mentor to artists from Michael Jackson to Lesley Gore, Oprah Winfrey...
- 8/1/2018
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
If indie games are an interest of yours, it's likely that you've heard of Cuphead. It's a game with animation that harkens back to the styling of 1930s cartoons, and its animation style alone was enough to spark the interests of many gamers back in 2014 when it was announced. With its release coming in just under two weeks, Studio Mdhr, the team behind the game's creation, has released a musical piece called Floral Fury. What goes into making the music that will accompany Cuphead's stunning hand drawn art style? We've got some behind the scenes footage of the music in action, so come on in and check it out!
On Friday, Studio Mdhr, the team behind the highly-anticipated game “Cuphead” released “Floral Fury,” the first track from the game’s soundtrack composed by Kris Maddigan. Check out the behind the scenes look at the creation of the track as part...
On Friday, Studio Mdhr, the team behind the highly-anticipated game “Cuphead” released “Floral Fury,” the first track from the game’s soundtrack composed by Kris Maddigan. Check out the behind the scenes look at the creation of the track as part...
- 9/18/2017
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Amber Hall)
- Cinelinx
The Foo Fighters' much-anticipated HBO musical travelogue Sonic Highways premiered Friday night with Dave Grohl and company visiting Chicago to pen a musical love letter to the Windy City. Grohl's journey as he crafts the Foo Fighters' new album city by city is at the heart of the series, and in the first episode we get to witness how the band goes from unloading their equipment to "Something From Nothing" in just a week. Sonic Highways also provides a remarkably comprehensive look at a city's music history through...
- 10/18/2014
- Rollingstone.com
Robert Pattinson ‘Life’: Pattinson to play James Dean photographer and travel companion Dennis Stock Robert Pattinson is keeping himself busy. Pattinson is reportedly going to play Life magazine photographer Dennis Stock in the aptly titled Life, to be directed by Anton Corbijn, himself a photographer. Dane DeHaan is slated to co-star as Stock’s traveling companion and photographic subject James Dean. The screenplay, chronicling the relationship between the young photographer and the Hollywood-legend-to-be, is by Luke Davies. (Photo: Robert Pattinson.) According to The Hollywood Reporter, Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, among whose producing credits are Tom Hooper’s Best Picture Academy Award winner The King’s Speech and the Steve McQueen / Michael Fassbender sex addiction drama Shame, will bring Life to life (sorry, I couldn’t resist) via See Saw Films. FilmNation will reportedly be looking for foreign buyers at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival. As per the Reporter, Life...
- 9/6/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Drummer Carl Palmer, founding member of "Emerson Lake & Palmer" is the subject of the new instructional DVD, "Carl Palmer Drum Solos", due for release February 22, 2011, by Music Video Distributors (Mvd).
The video is a unique study of Palmer's drum solos from the "Brain Salad Surgery" era of Elp, through his years with both "Asia" and his own band, capturing three classic Palmer solos from different eras, at speeds of 25%, 50% and 100%. By watching solos in the slowest motion, drummers can peek into Palmer's methods.
The DVD also comes with note-for-note sheet music transcriptions of each solo, downloadable with Adobe Reader.
"It enables other drummers to get inside how I have crafted and arranged my solos over the years," said Palmer. "A drum solo is an extremely personal work of art, but others can learn from it and develop their own percussive expressions."
The idea for the DVD was conceived by fellow drummer Eric Fischer,...
The video is a unique study of Palmer's drum solos from the "Brain Salad Surgery" era of Elp, through his years with both "Asia" and his own band, capturing three classic Palmer solos from different eras, at speeds of 25%, 50% and 100%. By watching solos in the slowest motion, drummers can peek into Palmer's methods.
The DVD also comes with note-for-note sheet music transcriptions of each solo, downloadable with Adobe Reader.
"It enables other drummers to get inside how I have crafted and arranged my solos over the years," said Palmer. "A drum solo is an extremely personal work of art, but others can learn from it and develop their own percussive expressions."
The idea for the DVD was conceived by fellow drummer Eric Fischer,...
- 1/12/2011
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Many a tear has to fall but it's all in the game... September 24th is the centennial birthday of my late father, the songwriter Carl Sigman (1909-2000), who wrote nearly a thousand songs, including "It's All In The Game," "(Where Do I Begin) Love Story," "Ebb Tide," "What Now, My Love," "Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)" and "Arrivederci, Roma." In the first of two parts, I offer some fun facts and observations on his first half-century. Also born in 1909: Johnny Mercer, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Maybelle Carter, Burl Ives, Colonel Tom Parker and, absurdly, Eugene Ionesco. Johnny Mercer, the genteel Georgian who would become one of the greatest American songwriters, lived down the street from my dad in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, and became his mentor. Johnny would show up at the Sigman apartment most nights around dinnertime...
- 9/8/2009
- by Michael Sigman
- Huffington Post
The greatest female jazz sing ers of all time? According to experts interviewed in "Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer," they are Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Ms. O'Day, the only white chick in the bunch.
Just why O'Day is ranked in such stellar company is on ample view in the worshipful film.
Clips of her performing go back to her days with jazz giants Gene Krupa, Stan Kenton and Roy Eldridge. An early scene shows her with Louis Armstrong.
Just why O'Day is ranked in such stellar company is on ample view in the worshipful film.
Clips of her performing go back to her days with jazz giants Gene Krupa, Stan Kenton and Roy Eldridge. An early scene shows her with Louis Armstrong.
- 8/15/2008
- by By V.A. MUSETTO
- NYPost.com
Mill Valley Film Festival
AOD Prods.
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Anita O'Day, a singer whose captivating stage presence, rich smoky voice, sophisticated good looks and unique phrasing made her a performer who inspired ecstatic joy and awe, was considered the only white female singer in the same jazz league as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan, though she was never as well known.
That she failed to attain the fame of the aforementioned greats or that her career never reached the same heights was in part because of her being her own worst enemy. This and more is discussed by a roster of record industry professionals, jazz critics and friends who sing her praises in Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer, an engaging if less than revelatory documentary, from Robbie Cavolina (O'Day's former manager) and Ian McCrudden, which covers her seven-decade career and was screened at the Mill Valley Film Festival.
For those who read her frank autobiography, "High Times, Hard Times", there's little new here. But the docu, which should have a good run on the festival circuit and a second life on television broadcast, will introduce O'Day to the uninitiated and make fans nostalgic for her smooth, feeling delivery, tough-girl demeanor and technical prowess.
O'Day's famous lightning-fast rhythmic delivery was fueled, in no small measure, by bouts of alcoholism and a 20-year heroin addiction that nearly killed her. Most of the money she earned went directly into her arm or into the system of drummer and fellow junkie John Poole, who died from an overdose.
The filmmakers incorporate grainy TV kinescopes of interviews with Dick Cavett and David Frost -- she turns around and turns it on when confronted by a judgmental Bryant Gumbel -- testimonials from those who knew her and excerpts from conversations with O'Day, shot in disconcerting extreme close-up shortly before her death last year at 87.
But it's rare clips of her singing solo or along with Stan Kenton, Hoagy Carmichael, Roy Eldridge, Gene Krupa or Louis Armstrong that grab the spotlight. This includes footage of her memorable, show-stopping rendition of Sweet Georgia Brown at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. High as a kite and dressed in a chic, white-fringed black hat and matching dress, she's a sight to behold and a supreme pleasure to hear.
AOD Prods.
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Anita O'Day, a singer whose captivating stage presence, rich smoky voice, sophisticated good looks and unique phrasing made her a performer who inspired ecstatic joy and awe, was considered the only white female singer in the same jazz league as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan, though she was never as well known.
That she failed to attain the fame of the aforementioned greats or that her career never reached the same heights was in part because of her being her own worst enemy. This and more is discussed by a roster of record industry professionals, jazz critics and friends who sing her praises in Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer, an engaging if less than revelatory documentary, from Robbie Cavolina (O'Day's former manager) and Ian McCrudden, which covers her seven-decade career and was screened at the Mill Valley Film Festival.
For those who read her frank autobiography, "High Times, Hard Times", there's little new here. But the docu, which should have a good run on the festival circuit and a second life on television broadcast, will introduce O'Day to the uninitiated and make fans nostalgic for her smooth, feeling delivery, tough-girl demeanor and technical prowess.
O'Day's famous lightning-fast rhythmic delivery was fueled, in no small measure, by bouts of alcoholism and a 20-year heroin addiction that nearly killed her. Most of the money she earned went directly into her arm or into the system of drummer and fellow junkie John Poole, who died from an overdose.
The filmmakers incorporate grainy TV kinescopes of interviews with Dick Cavett and David Frost -- she turns around and turns it on when confronted by a judgmental Bryant Gumbel -- testimonials from those who knew her and excerpts from conversations with O'Day, shot in disconcerting extreme close-up shortly before her death last year at 87.
But it's rare clips of her singing solo or along with Stan Kenton, Hoagy Carmichael, Roy Eldridge, Gene Krupa or Louis Armstrong that grab the spotlight. This includes footage of her memorable, show-stopping rendition of Sweet Georgia Brown at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. High as a kite and dressed in a chic, white-fringed black hat and matching dress, she's a sight to behold and a supreme pleasure to hear.
- 11/2/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
How does that law about 1,000 monkeys with typewriters go? If you leave them alone long enough, one will eventually type "Hamlet"? Well, it might be stretching that law to apply it to 1,000 "turnstylists." If you line them up with enough records to scratch, spin or twist, it's unlikely that they would even come up with a rumble of percussive creativity that you could fit onto the tip of a drumstick of Ginger Baker, Joe Morello, Gene Krupa or even Ringo Starr.
When viewing "Scratch", which played in the documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival, it's hard not to think you're watching a "This Is Spinal Tap" sendup of the accomplished world of hip-hop DJs, guys who developed the "art" of scratching records and jiggling vinyl in such a way as to win acclaim and stardom. From the filmmaking team that made "Hype", a well-wrought documentary that chronicled the grunge movement a few years back, "Scratch" traces this record-wreckers phenomenon, spinning forth from its inspirations for br eak dancing up to the more recent craze of "turntablism."
Whatever one might think of this kind of artistry, this straight-on document is a well-wrought film. For those of you who don't watch MTV with any regularity, "Scratch" is a nonjudgmental, generous glimpse into this modern-day entertainment form. Admittedly, these gratings and scratchings infuse the music with a different tonal quality and texture. They do dredge up certain textural sounds -- castanets, snare drums, glockenspiels.
In this supportive depiction of the proclaimed artistry of the hip-hop DJ, the filmmakers intersperse, among the scratchings, interviews with the "artists," including Grand Wizard Theodore, who, according to the cognoscenti, "invented" the idea of scratching a record by moving it back and forth.
There's also some keen commentary from Afrika Bambaataa, who returned to the South Bronx from a high school trip to Africa and formed the Zulu Nation, bringing together graffiti practitioners, break dancers, rappers and, as we see here, the DJs. Such other luminaries of hip-hop as Jazzy Jay and Grand Mixer DXT also lend their aesthetic insights. These guys wax passionately on the creative essence of turntablism.
Not surprisingly, we find it's a pretty populist and readily accessible calling: Anybody with a new -- or even an old -- record turntable and a pile of old records to scratch, plus the urge to make grating sounds, can satisfy their inspirations immediately. Best yet about this art form, there's not even a 10-easy-lessons course to send away for. In the same manner, a toddler with access to a bunch of pots, pans and spoons could attain the distinction of being as talented a percussionist and performance stylist of the various artists presented here.
Admittedly, it's hard to keep a straight face through some of the more "Spinal Tap"-ish interviews, especially when one of the "artists" talks about practicing all day, from sunup to sundown in his mama's house, perfecting his wrist flicks and needle rubs.
Verbal rim shots aside, there's something to be said for this racket, err, music; also, there's some showmanship involved, including some DJs who spin and twirl. They've got game, if not necessarily music, and one only goes to hope that someday Allen Iverson brings not only his court sense but also his lyrical sensibilities to this special artistic world. Like most specialized callings, there are also some smug self-flagellations, especially the pomposity of one particular creative guru who painstakingly scouts heaps of old records, like some sort of musical anthropologist finding just the right old Clyde McCoy to scratch the heck out of.
SCRATCH
A Doug Pray film
Producers: Brad Blondheim, Ernest Meza
Director-editor: Doug Pray
Story structure: Brad Blondheim
Executiv e producers: Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes
Director of photography: Robert Bennett
Co-producer: Heidi Rataj Addison
Associate producer: John Carluccio
Music supervisors: Carol Sue Baker, Jonathan Hafter
Sound design, editorial, re-recording mixer: David Bartlett
Creative adviser: Grand Mixer DXT
Color/stereo
Running time -- 85 minutes
No MPAA rating...
When viewing "Scratch", which played in the documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival, it's hard not to think you're watching a "This Is Spinal Tap" sendup of the accomplished world of hip-hop DJs, guys who developed the "art" of scratching records and jiggling vinyl in such a way as to win acclaim and stardom. From the filmmaking team that made "Hype", a well-wrought documentary that chronicled the grunge movement a few years back, "Scratch" traces this record-wreckers phenomenon, spinning forth from its inspirations for br eak dancing up to the more recent craze of "turntablism."
Whatever one might think of this kind of artistry, this straight-on document is a well-wrought film. For those of you who don't watch MTV with any regularity, "Scratch" is a nonjudgmental, generous glimpse into this modern-day entertainment form. Admittedly, these gratings and scratchings infuse the music with a different tonal quality and texture. They do dredge up certain textural sounds -- castanets, snare drums, glockenspiels.
In this supportive depiction of the proclaimed artistry of the hip-hop DJ, the filmmakers intersperse, among the scratchings, interviews with the "artists," including Grand Wizard Theodore, who, according to the cognoscenti, "invented" the idea of scratching a record by moving it back and forth.
There's also some keen commentary from Afrika Bambaataa, who returned to the South Bronx from a high school trip to Africa and formed the Zulu Nation, bringing together graffiti practitioners, break dancers, rappers and, as we see here, the DJs. Such other luminaries of hip-hop as Jazzy Jay and Grand Mixer DXT also lend their aesthetic insights. These guys wax passionately on the creative essence of turntablism.
Not surprisingly, we find it's a pretty populist and readily accessible calling: Anybody with a new -- or even an old -- record turntable and a pile of old records to scratch, plus the urge to make grating sounds, can satisfy their inspirations immediately. Best yet about this art form, there's not even a 10-easy-lessons course to send away for. In the same manner, a toddler with access to a bunch of pots, pans and spoons could attain the distinction of being as talented a percussionist and performance stylist of the various artists presented here.
Admittedly, it's hard to keep a straight face through some of the more "Spinal Tap"-ish interviews, especially when one of the "artists" talks about practicing all day, from sunup to sundown in his mama's house, perfecting his wrist flicks and needle rubs.
Verbal rim shots aside, there's something to be said for this racket, err, music; also, there's some showmanship involved, including some DJs who spin and twirl. They've got game, if not necessarily music, and one only goes to hope that someday Allen Iverson brings not only his court sense but also his lyrical sensibilities to this special artistic world. Like most specialized callings, there are also some smug self-flagellations, especially the pomposity of one particular creative guru who painstakingly scouts heaps of old records, like some sort of musical anthropologist finding just the right old Clyde McCoy to scratch the heck out of.
SCRATCH
A Doug Pray film
Producers: Brad Blondheim, Ernest Meza
Director-editor: Doug Pray
Story structure: Brad Blondheim
Executiv e producers: Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes
Director of photography: Robert Bennett
Co-producer: Heidi Rataj Addison
Associate producer: John Carluccio
Music supervisors: Carol Sue Baker, Jonathan Hafter
Sound design, editorial, re-recording mixer: David Bartlett
Creative adviser: Grand Mixer DXT
Color/stereo
Running time -- 85 minutes
No MPAA rating...
How does that law about 1,000 monkeys with typewriters go? If you leave them alone long enough, one will eventually type "Hamlet"? Well, it might be stretching that law to apply it to 1,000 "turnstylists." If you line them up with enough records to scratch, spin or twist, it's unlikely that they would even come up with a rumble of percussive creativity that you could fit onto the tip of a drumstick of Ginger Baker, Joe Morello, Gene Krupa or even Ringo Starr.
When viewing "Scratch", which played in the documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival, it's hard not to think you're watching a "This Is Spinal Tap" sendup of the accomplished world of hip-hop DJs, guys who developed the "art" of scratching records and jiggling vinyl in such a way as to win acclaim and stardom. From the filmmaking team that made "Hype", a well-wrought documentary that chronicled the grunge movement a few years back, "Scratch" traces this record-wreckers phenomenon, spinning forth from its inspirations for br eak dancing up to the more recent craze of "turntablism."
Whatever one might think of this kind of artistry, this straight-on document is a well-wrought film. For those of you who don't watch MTV with any regularity, "Scratch" is a nonjudgmental, generous glimpse into this modern-day entertainment form. Admittedly, these gratings and scratchings infuse the music with a different tonal quality and texture. They do dredge up certain textural sounds -- castanets, snare drums, glockenspiels.
In this supportive depiction of the proclaimed artistry of the hip-hop DJ, the filmmakers intersperse, among the scratchings, interviews with the "artists," including Grand Wizard Theodore, who, according to the cognoscenti, "invented" the idea of scratching a record by moving it back and forth.
There's also some keen commentary from Afrika Bambaataa, who returned to the South Bronx from a high school trip to Africa and formed the Zulu Nation, bringing together graffiti practitioners, break dancers, rappers and, as we see here, the DJs. Such other luminaries of hip-hop as Jazzy Jay and Grand Mixer DXT also lend their aesthetic insights. These guys wax passionately on the creative essence of turntablism.
Not surprisingly, we find it's a pretty populist and readily accessible calling: Anybody with a new -- or even an old -- record turntable and a pile of old records to scratch, plus the urge to make grating sounds, can satisfy their inspirations immediately. Best yet about this art form, there's not even a 10-easy-lessons course to send away for. In the same manner, a toddler with access to a bunch of pots, pans and spoons could attain the distinction of being as talented a percussionist and performance stylist of the various artists presented here.
Admittedly, it's hard to keep a straight face through some of the more "Spinal Tap"-ish interviews, especially when one of the "artists" talks about practicing all day, from sunup to sundown in his mama's house, perfecting his wrist flicks and needle rubs.
Verbal rim shots aside, there's something to be said for this racket, err, music; also, there's some showmanship involved, including some DJs who spin and twirl. They've got game, if not necessarily music, and one only goes to hope that someday Allen Iverson brings not only his court sense but also his lyrical sensibilities to this special artistic world. Like most specialized callings, there are also some smug self-flagellations, especially the pomposity of one particular creative guru who painstakingly scouts heaps of old records, like some sort of musical anthropologist finding just the right old Clyde McCoy to scratch the heck out of.
SCRATCH
A Doug Pray film
Producers: Brad Blondheim, Ernest Meza
Director-editor: Doug Pray
Story structure: Brad Blondheim
Executiv e producers: Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes
Director of photography: Robert Bennett
Co-producer: Heidi Rataj Addison
Associate producer: John Carluccio
Music supervisors: Carol Sue Baker, Jonathan Hafter
Sound design, editorial, re-recording mixer: David Bartlett
Creative adviser: Grand Mixer DXT
Color/stereo
Running time -- 85 minutes
No MPAA rating...
When viewing "Scratch", which played in the documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival, it's hard not to think you're watching a "This Is Spinal Tap" sendup of the accomplished world of hip-hop DJs, guys who developed the "art" of scratching records and jiggling vinyl in such a way as to win acclaim and stardom. From the filmmaking team that made "Hype", a well-wrought documentary that chronicled the grunge movement a few years back, "Scratch" traces this record-wreckers phenomenon, spinning forth from its inspirations for br eak dancing up to the more recent craze of "turntablism."
Whatever one might think of this kind of artistry, this straight-on document is a well-wrought film. For those of you who don't watch MTV with any regularity, "Scratch" is a nonjudgmental, generous glimpse into this modern-day entertainment form. Admittedly, these gratings and scratchings infuse the music with a different tonal quality and texture. They do dredge up certain textural sounds -- castanets, snare drums, glockenspiels.
In this supportive depiction of the proclaimed artistry of the hip-hop DJ, the filmmakers intersperse, among the scratchings, interviews with the "artists," including Grand Wizard Theodore, who, according to the cognoscenti, "invented" the idea of scratching a record by moving it back and forth.
There's also some keen commentary from Afrika Bambaataa, who returned to the South Bronx from a high school trip to Africa and formed the Zulu Nation, bringing together graffiti practitioners, break dancers, rappers and, as we see here, the DJs. Such other luminaries of hip-hop as Jazzy Jay and Grand Mixer DXT also lend their aesthetic insights. These guys wax passionately on the creative essence of turntablism.
Not surprisingly, we find it's a pretty populist and readily accessible calling: Anybody with a new -- or even an old -- record turntable and a pile of old records to scratch, plus the urge to make grating sounds, can satisfy their inspirations immediately. Best yet about this art form, there's not even a 10-easy-lessons course to send away for. In the same manner, a toddler with access to a bunch of pots, pans and spoons could attain the distinction of being as talented a percussionist and performance stylist of the various artists presented here.
Admittedly, it's hard to keep a straight face through some of the more "Spinal Tap"-ish interviews, especially when one of the "artists" talks about practicing all day, from sunup to sundown in his mama's house, perfecting his wrist flicks and needle rubs.
Verbal rim shots aside, there's something to be said for this racket, err, music; also, there's some showmanship involved, including some DJs who spin and twirl. They've got game, if not necessarily music, and one only goes to hope that someday Allen Iverson brings not only his court sense but also his lyrical sensibilities to this special artistic world. Like most specialized callings, there are also some smug self-flagellations, especially the pomposity of one particular creative guru who painstakingly scouts heaps of old records, like some sort of musical anthropologist finding just the right old Clyde McCoy to scratch the heck out of.
SCRATCH
A Doug Pray film
Producers: Brad Blondheim, Ernest Meza
Director-editor: Doug Pray
Story structure: Brad Blondheim
Executiv e producers: Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes
Director of photography: Robert Bennett
Co-producer: Heidi Rataj Addison
Associate producer: John Carluccio
Music supervisors: Carol Sue Baker, Jonathan Hafter
Sound design, editorial, re-recording mixer: David Bartlett
Creative adviser: Grand Mixer DXT
Color/stereo
Running time -- 85 minutes
No MPAA rating...
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.