Singer-songwriter Jason Isbell and GQ editor-in-chief Will Welch met in 2004, at what Jason says was “the lowest point of my life.” Since then, the two long-distance friends have seen each other through divorce, new marriages, career climbs, a cancer diagnosis and rehab. Jason quit drinking in 2012, and Will followed suit two years later—starting by calling Jason at a breaking point. “You getting sober was a big deal for me,” Jason says during their conversation. “It was the first time in my sobriety that I felt like, oh shit, somebody needs me and I can help.”
Martin Scorsese, Brian Grazer, and Ron Howard’s Doc On The Band Is Set For The Fall
Imagine Documentaries, White Pine Pictures, Bell Media Studios and Universal Music Canada’s Shed Creative have partnered on a feature documentary film, Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, about legendary musician and founding member of The Band, Robbie Robertson. The film is directed by Daniel Roher (Survivors Rowe) and will be executive produced by Martin Scorsese, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard.
The film is a confessional, cautionary, and occasionally humorous tale of Robertson’s young life and the creation of one of the most enduring groups in the history of popular music. Inspired by Robertson’s bestselling memoir, Testimony (Penguin/Random House, 2017), the film blends rare archival footage and interviews with many of Robbie Robertson’s friends and collaborators, including Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Martin Scorsese, Taj Mahal, Peter Gabriel, David Geffen and Ronnie Hawkins, among others.
“I’m honoured to have my memoir, Testimony, made into a documentary film by such an extraordinarily talented creative team,” said Robertson.
A half-Mohawk, half-Jewish kid from Toronto, Robbie Robertson got his break at 16 years old with Ronnie Hawkins’ The Hawks. He was Bob Dylan’s guitarist on the notorious 1966 “electric” world tour and as leader of The Band, collaborated on the ground-breaking Basement Tapes, inventing “Americana”, with songs like The Weight, Up on Cripple Creek, and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. The Band’s touring culminated with the seminal concert and film, The Last Waltz. With a career spanning over six decades, he is also known as a songwriter, producer, author and film composer; with collaborations such as director Martin Scorsese.
“Robbie and The Band are the stuff of rock n’ roll mythology,” said Imagine Documentaries President, Justin Wilkes. “As a Woodstock native, the Big Pink house loomed large in my cultural psyche growing up and like many, many others, the music sure made a lasting impression. The gospel according to Robbie is a wild, cinematic ride and we here at Imagine are honored to partner with Daniel and an illustrious band of producers in sharing Robbie’s story with the world.”
“It is an honour to be producing this theatrical documentary in exclusive collaboration with Robbie Robertson, the man who wrote the anthems of our generation, and continues to create extraordinary music today,” said Peter Raymont, President, White Pine Pictures.
“We are delighted to help bring the incredible story of one of Canada’s most revered artists to the screen, and look forward to welcoming it to our robust collection of music documentaries on Crave,” said Randy Lennox, President, Bell Media.
“Our focus is to find stories that are emotionally dynamic and have cultural weight behind them. Robbie’s story and career is just that and we’re thrilled to be partnering with Imagine to give this story the global platform that it deserves,” said Dave Harris, managing director, Shed Creative.
The film is being executive produced by Justin Wilkes and Sara Bernstein for Imagine Documentaries; White Pines Pictures’ president Peter Raymont, and Steve Ord; Jared Levine; Michael Levine; Bell Media president, Randy Lennox; Universal Music Canada president and CEO Jeffrey Remedios; and Shed Creative’s managing director Dave Harris. The film is set to be released theatrically in Fall 2019 and on Crave early next year.
The Rolling Stones Announce Rock and Roll Circus Box Set Out June 7
Recorded before a live audience in London in 1968, The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus was originally conceived as a BBC-TV special. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, it centers on the original line up of The Rolling Stones — Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman (with Nicky Hopkins and Rocky Dijon) — who serve as both the show’s hosts and featured attraction. For the first time in front of an audience, “The World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band” performs six Stones classics. The program also includes extraordinary performances by The Who, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, Yoko Ono, and The Dirty Mac. A ‘supergroup’ before the term had even been coined, the band was comprised of Eric Clapton (lead guitar), Keith Richards (bass), Mitch Mitchell of The Jimi Hendrix Experience (drums) and John Lennon on guitar and vocals.
The Limited Deluxe Edition gets released on June 7 and includes the film on Blu-Ray ray and DVD, plus the 2CD expanded soundtrack, and a perfect-bound 44-page book with custom foldout gatefold design. The book also includes David Dalton’s original 1969 Rolling Stone essay and on-set photographs by Mike Randolf. The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus soundtrack has been expanded to 28 tracks, received a new mix and 192k 24 bit HD restoration. Bonus material included by the late concert pianist Julius Katchen, three additional songs by Taj Mahal and never before heard recordings of The Dirty Mac performing The Beatles classic, “Revolution” and the aptly titled track “Warmup Jam.” Released for the first time on Vinyl as a 3 LP package, the remixed and remastered soundtrack will also be available on CD and all digital music services.
Mariah Carey’s Vocal Range, As Explained By Science
Mariah Carey has made a career out of hitting those impressive high notes. But how does she do it? That remains a mystery, but research suggests there might be another mammal in the animal kingdom who holds the key to teaching humans how to hit the high notes like Mariah.
Ani DiFranco reads from her “No Walls and the Recurring Dream” memoir
In her new memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream, Ani DiFranco recounts her early life from a place of hard-won wisdom, combining personal expression, the power of music, feminism, political activism, storytelling, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and much more into an inspiring whole. In these frank, honest, passionate, and often funny pages is the tale of one woman’s eventful and radical journey to the age of thirty. Ani’s coming of age story is defined by her ethos of fierce independence–from being an emancipated minor sleeping in a Buffalo bus station, to unwaveringly building a career through appearances at small clubs and festivals, to releasing her first album at the age of 18, to consciously rejecting the mainstream recording industry and creating her own label, Righteous Babe Records. In these pages, as in life, she never hesitates to question established rules and expectations, maintaining a level of artistic integrity that has inspired and challenged more than a few. Ani continues to be a major touring and recording artist as well as a celebrated activist and feminist, standing as living proof that you can overcome all personal and societal obstacles to be who you are and to follow your dreams.
Video: How To Be A DJ In Switzerland In 1973
Here we have a short video clip that shows a report from Switzerland’s first DJ training course in 1973. Not only did you have to do an exam in front of a panel of audio technicians and discotheque owners, you didn’t have Soundcloud to put your mixed tape on afterwards.
Video: “Lone Ranger” Student Art Film Featuring A Young Pete Townshend
Check out a really young Pete Townshend in Lone Ranger, a Royal College of Art Student film scripted and directed by Richard Stanley back in 1968. If you want to hear the music Townshend created for the movie, skip it to about 11 minutes in.
The board of the Film School tried to ban ‘Lone Ranger’ from a show at the British Film Institute. Thanks to the protests of Richar’s fellow students, it was reinstated. The film went on to win a Golden Hugo at the Chicago film festival, and a script prize at the Nyons Film Festival.
And Now, A 5-Year-Old Girl Doing A Drum Cover Of System Of A Down’s “Chop Suey”
Here’s your new super heroine, 5-year-old Eduarda Henklein.
Linda Perry: Making Hits Her Way. In Conversation with Rick Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell
Linda Perry is one of the only women considered a go-to producer in the music industry.
After finding success with her band 4 Non Blondes and their ubiquitous single, “What’s Up?” (1992) Perry went on to write and produce for other artists.
She’s worked with Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani, Celine Dion, Adele, James Blunt, Britney Spears. And reinvented the careers of Pink and Christina Aguilera.
Most recently she wrote with and produced a Dolly Parton record for the Netflix movie Dumplin’ — which earned her a nomination for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical at this year’s Grammys (she was the first woman nominated in 15 years).
There’s A New Led Zeppelin Offical Documentary Coming Out
Bring the Led Out. Now in post-production, the as yet untitled Led Zeppelin documentary, directed by Bernard MacMahon, celebrates the world’s best-selling rock band on their fiftieth anniversary. The documentary traces the journeys of the four members through the music scene of the 1960s, their meeting in the summer of 1968 for a rehearsal that will change the future of rock, and culminates in 1970 when their second album knocks The Beatles off the top of the charts and they become the number one band in the world.
With brand new interviews of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones, as well as rare archival interviews with the late John Bonham, this documentary will be the first of its kind; the Led Zeppelin story told through the words of the men that lived it, with no outside voices or conjecture. Featuring never before seen archive film and photographs, state of the art audio transfers of the band’s music, as well as the music that shaped their sound, this documentary will be the definitive telling of the birth of the world’s biggest selling rock band. It is the first and only time the band have participated in a documentary in fifty years.
Jimmy Page: “When I saw everything Bernard had done both visually and sonically on the remarkable achievement that is American Epic, I knew he would be qualified to tell our story.”
Robert Plant: “Seeing Will Shade, and so many other important early American musicians, brought to life on the big screen in American Epic inspired me to contribute to a very interesting and exciting story.”
John Paul Jones: “The time was right for us to tell our own story for the first time in our own words, and I think that this film will really bring that story to life.”