The Unfettered Critic – Dec 2023/Jan 2024

We have good news and bad news.  Or, more accurately, good news and sad news.

We’re wildly happy that Jacksonville is home to the Britt Music and Arts Festival, and felt thrilled throughout the recent season as Executive Director Abby McKee handily demonstrated her prowess at the helm. Yet there’s no way that even she can executive direct our Oregon winter from decrescendoing (Look—we used a fourteen letter word!) into the wet and cold now impacting our lovely, but exposed, musical venue.

Hence (Cool word, huh?), just for a while, the Mighty Ship of Britt has pulled into its berth. Sad.

But we promised good news too, right? So…

… Are you ready to Rock’n’Roll?

With little to occupy ourselves during this downward drift, we’ve pulled together a gaggle of rockin’ musical movies to modify moods (ours and yours) while we await the great Britt Spring Awakening.

We could choose among dozens of films, from concerts, to documentaries, to fictional stories. But since we’re in charge here…these are the nominees:

Almost Famous (2000): This semi-autobiographical tale of writer/director Cameron Crowe’s teenage years as a rock reporter for Rolling Stone magazine is a delight. The naïve young protagonist is dispatched on-the-road with a band called Stillwater (a composite of the Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and more). The music’s great, the performances even greater.

A Hard Day’s Night (1964): The Beatles were just grabbing the top rung of fame’s ladder when United Artists had a truly bright idea: create a film about their adventures on the road. It could have deteriorated into a corny attempt to cash in on the Fab Four’s fame; but in the capable hands of cutting-edge director Richard Lester and writer Alun Owen, it succeeded in capturing each individual band member’s appeal and cheeky senses of humor. It’s rightfully recognized as one of the most influential musicals in history.

This Is Spinal Tap (1984): By scrutinizing the exploits of a pseudo “heavy metal” band, director Rob Reiner pokes wicked fun at the rockumentary film genre (think Gimme Shelter on a terribly embarrassing day for the Stones), with such monumental hits as “Big Bottom” and “Sex Farm.” This one goes to eleven!

La Bamba (1987): This bio pic of rocker Ritchie Valens features Lou Diamond Phillips in a star-making performance. Valens’ exhilarating rise in fame and tragic death at the age of seventeen (in a plane crash along with fellow musicians Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper, J.P. Richardson) inspired Don McLean to call it “The Day the Music Died” in his song “American Pie.”  We call it a great movie.

Woodstock (1969): Imagine you’d planned a party for a few friends…and 400,000 crashed the gates. The best musicians of the era performed for the amazingly peaceful crowd. And, oh yeah, there was a lot of rain. Woodstock presents a defining moment in counterculture history, simultaneously depicting one of the grandest music festivals ever.

The Last Waltz (1978): An up-close visit with the band known as The Band on their last day as a band, in what we think of as the best rockumentary of all. With Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, and many more friends sharing the stage, this Martin Scorsese-directed gem defines Rock’n’Roll as the genre we wouldn’t want to live without.

So here we are, waiting for snow that hasn’t yet fallen to finally melt so we can make our way to the venue on the hill and celebrate music in our own Southern Oregon way. Just think of how good it will be!

There certainly ain’t nothing sad about that!