[Moshe]

American Music: Off the Record
January 1, 2008

Sonic Youth are among many musicians that contribute to the new film American Music: Off the Record. The film features theorists Noam Chomsky and Douglas Rushkoff in an interrogation of the American music industry. The film covers a great deal of ground from the authenticity of live music to the circumvention of the corporate machine by indie distribution, to the demise of the privately owned music store.
Release Date:10 January 2008 (USA)

 

Moshe

[Moshe]

http://www.kansascity.com/entertainm...ry/457194.html

Posted on Wed, Jan. 23, 2008
Musicians speak their minds to KC filmmaker who sees similarities in getting the art out



By ROBERT W. BUTLER
The Kansas City Star
Local filmmaker Ben Meade refers to his “American Music: Off the Record” as “the movie from hell.”
Not because he’s unhappy with the completed documentary, but because the massive undertaking threatened to eat him alive.
For this examination of how musicians are making an end run around the corporate-controlled music industry, Meade and his wife and colleague, Dianna Meade, attended more than 100 concerts to interview independent musicians about their work. The 90-minute film was whittled down from nearly 70 hours of footage.
“The independent filmmaker and the independent musician have a lot of the same problems,” Meade said. “How do you get your art out there? How do you get someone to listen to your music or watch your movie? Indie musicians are very reliant on festivals, as are indie filmmakers. There are a lot of similarities.”
The seed of the movie was planted a couple of years ago when the Meades went to a concert by bluesman Watermelon Slim at Knuckleheads Saloon here.
“I had a camera out in the car and just decided on the spur of the moment to interview Watermelon Slim about his life. Here’s this fantastic blues player who’s been nominated for Grammys but whose real job is driving a truck. Basically he sets up gigs along his truck routes.
“After the show I was watching him selling and signing CDs, spending time with the fans. And it occurred to me that back when I was a kid, the concert was to promote your record. But today a big musical act makes lots more money from performing live than from selling CDs. Today concerts are big spectacles, and often the music is an afterthought.
“Guys like Watermelon Slim, though, do it the old-fashioned way. They put on a show, sell the tickets for $7 or $8, and then sell their CDs to the fans.”
Knuckleheads owner Frank Hicks gave the Meades carte blanche to hang around his club, film performances and talk to any musician willing to be interviewed.
“With few exceptions, when I told the musicians what I was doing, they said yes,” Meade said. “And nobody asked me for any money. Which was exactly the opposite of what would have happened in the corporate music scene.”
The players who sat for Meade’s camera are a virtual who’s who of independent music: David Lindley, Ray Price, Les Paul, Little Feat, Richard Thompson, James McMurtry, War, Jackson Browne, Johnny Winter, Country Joe McDonald, Sonic Youth, Carlene Carter, Chubby Carrier, Chris Duarte, Rick Derringer, Billy Joe Shaver, Commander Cody, Roomful of Blues, Wanda Jackson. Also included are local performers such as the Elders, Danny Cox and Bob Walkenhorst.
The finished film, Meade said, is “for all those middle-aged Americans who grew up crazy about music.”
“The story that really reaches out and grabs you is about Iris DeMent,” he said, referring to the KC-based country singer-songwriter.
“I wanted to use one of Iris’ recordings, ‘Wasteland of the Free,’ and Warner Bros. Records wanted $35,000 to use it. I spoke to Iris who said, ‘Warners owns that recording, but I own the song. You come to my house, and we’ll film me singing it.’
“Which is what happened, and by the time she was done we were all crying. That experience sent a message to me. Iris was saying, ‘This is my song. How dare you?’ ”
Meade also interviewed social critics like Noam Chomsky and New York University’s Douglas Rushkoff about the consolidation of media power in the hands of just a few companies.
“When Chomsky wrote Manufacturing Consent in ’88 there were 28 media conglomerates in the U.S.,” Meade said. “Now there are five. And those five conglomerates are deciding what we hear on the radio.”
One of the film’s classic lines, Meade said, is delivered by country singer Leroy Parnell: “You’ve got a guy in Seattle programming music for a radio station in Baton Rouge. This guy doesn’t know what kind of music they like in Baton Rouge. He doesn’t even know what they eat.”
Meade has been making one film a year, but “American Music,” he said, “knocked me into the wall. It’s been a 22-month marathon.”
Editing all his footage proved a monumental task. “It’s unimaginable how many people I had to cut out of the movie to keep the running time to 90 minutes. But I’ll have great DVD extras.”
The movie debuted to much acclaim at the recent Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Arkansas. But Meade is already thinking about expanding the scope of the project.
“You could make a version of this film in any city in America, focusing just on the independent musicians in that town,” he said. “It could be a TV series. I think the film gives hope.”
He plans on releasing a soundtrack album with performances recorded during the shooting.
“You’d better believe the musicians will be paid for that,” Meade said.

movie premiere
“American Music: Off the Record” will have its Kansas City premiere at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Glenwood Arts Theatre, 95th and Metcalf. The event is a benefit for local musician Danny Cox, who recently lost his home in a fire.
Tickets cost $10 and are available at the theater. For more information go to fineartsgroup.com.

[tesla69]

I fucking loathe Rushkoff...his job is to destroy any meaning of value. For some reason, he's become one of the main arbitrator of contemporary culture.