Scratch is a feature-length film/ DVD that explores the world of the hip-hop DJ. From the birth of hip-hop, when pioneering DJ’s began extending breaks on their party records (which helped inspire break dancing and rap), to the invention of scratching and beat-juggling vinyl, to its recent explosion as a musical movement called turntablism, it’s a story of unknown
Performing Arts - Page 5
Scratch
Before the Music Dies (B4MD)
Ever since MTV arrived in our living rooms, there has been an inordinate amount of emphasis on beauty and youth and appearance – none of which enters our consciousness through our ears. Never have so few companies controlled so much of the music played on the radio and for sale at retail stores. At the same time, there are more bands and more ways to discover
Young@Heart
The questions start as soon as you know that Young@Heart is about a group of singing senior citizens as they prepare for and then perform a concert with a repertoire consisting of songs by the likes of Coldplay, Sonic Youth, and James Brown. Can this premise, basically a novelty, sustain itself for nearly two hours? Will the director give in to the temptation to make it schmaltzy
Shine a Light
Martin Scorsese’s Shine a Light may be the most intimate documentary ever made about a live rock ‘n’ roll concert. Certainly it has the best coverage of the performances onstage. Working with cinematographer Robert Richardson, Scorsese deployed a team of nine other cinematographers, all of them Oscar winners or nominees, to blanket a live September 2006
The Future Is Unwritten
When the Clash was labeled The Only Band That Matters, it may have been record company hype, but when I was a teenager, there was probably no band that mattered more to me. The idealism, the earnest anger, the democratic, sometimes clumsy way of mixing styles and sounds — I am almost as susceptible to it now as I was at 15. This is all by way
Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who
Like that of a lasting marriage, the story of a long-established rock band is necessarily laden with drama. The Who, now in their fifth decade, have had their share and more — almost, it seems, from Day One of their existence. Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who takes us through a tale of rich artistic growth, as well as severe internal dissention, ego explosions,
Show Business: The Road to Broadway
The documentary Show Business: The Road to Broadway journeys behind the scenes of four Broadway productions mounted during the 2003-4 theatrical season that ultimately garnered nominations for Best Musical: Wicked, the Rosie O’Donnell/Boy George collaboration Taboo, Tony Kushner’s Caroline, or Change and the iconoclastic puppet review Avenue
Elvis: That’s the Way It Is
In 1970, Elvis Presley seemed stalled on the comeback treadmill: Not quite part of the rock ‘n’ roll scene that was then dominated by the Beatles and Rolling Stones, nor part of the burgeoning ’50s revival movement. He was a man who needed to do it his way, and his 1970 tour of duty in the Las Vegas Hilton International Hotel — at the time and for many years to
Mad Hot Ballroom
Mad Hot Ballroom is the new Spellbound, a thoroughly charming, uplifting, and inspiring documentary that celebrates youthful perseverance. In contrast to the pressure-cooker setting of the national spelling bee, though, filmmakers Marilyn Agrelo and Amy Sewell chronicle the annual fifth-grade ballroom dancing competition in New York City’s public school system,
Shut Up and Sing
This Chicks flick by Barbara Kopple (Academy Award winner for Harlan County, U.S.A.) and Cecilia Peck is powerful testament to the inconvenient truth that free speech can come at a very high cost. The Dixie Chicks, Texas-based and one of country music’s most successful acts, found out just how costly it was in the weeks following a March 10, 2003, concert in London.