Films/Documentaries about Artists

Some Films/Documentaries About Music and the Artists

Frank Zappa: 200 Motels ... a veritable day to day in LA Radio satire and then some!

Incredible String Band: Be Glad That The Song Has No Ending ... sadly thought as just a hippie nothing piece of crap. It says more about the poetry and the art in the band than otherwise, but the film maker owns the thing and does not "get it".

Damo Suzuki: Energy ... wonderful and then some. Many of us can not take the strength that it takes for what this man has done.

Gimme Danger - Iggy and the Stooges ... thoughtful and strong. And Iggy is very honest.

Janis: Little Girl Blue ... a sad documentary, but beautifully done, ending in a most beautiful song.

Miles Davis: Birth of Cool ... outstanding to watch and realize how important he was to improvisation, and took it to another level in music. Rock music still "doesn't get it".

Neil Young: Journeys ... nice ... and honest, even if out fo tune, the appreciation for an honest musician is a great thing.

Nick Drake: Under Review ... nice.

Produced by George Martin ... a very thoughtful take by the Maestro and his work with various artists and how he saw their music.

Stop Making Sense ... a nice film, but ... but ... but ... is there more other than the concert?

Sun Ra ... a really good take and view about the well known jazz guy. He was a really good musician to top it off.

The Last Days of the Fillmore ... Seeing this nowadays (2023) is very sad ... but remembering how much of that music is still not found anywhere in its entirety is the greatest murder the music business has created ever!

The Paul Butterfield Story ... a nice take on a very unusual person that did something he was not supposedly to do. 

PDQ Bach: We Have a Problem in Houston ... if you never saw a PDQ Bach show, at least this film will give you a great idea. Crazy and then some, but lots of fun!

Youseef N'Dour: Return to Goree ... a sad story, that goes back to the slavery days when they came to the Americas. Something that we ignore and tend to think is just a story.

Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind ... honest take on the singer and songwriter. He is strong and honest about it all even in his older days.

Mapplethorpe ... an artist in his own right that went with Patti Smith, but his work is insane, regardless of his adventures, and his "critique" of the NY Art Scene is something that folks at PA will run and hide from very quickly. It's what the wine glass ... is really about. The Art Scene there is/was "piss".

Robert Wyatt: Different Every Time ... far out book with incredible bits and pieces. Not for everyone.

Deke Leonard" Maximum Darkness-Man On the Road to Nowhere ... one of the saddest books about music and a band ... but there is a beauty in it, that is hard to describe and this band continued on and their sons took over it after a while. (Not in the book!)

Pamela Des Barres: I'm One With The Band and the follow up book ... in my opinion, this is not as honest a book as one would have liked or wanted. Maybe she wanted to make sure that the "stars" stayed clean, but we know better. The 2nd book is more about her marriage that did not go very far, and it is more honest, but even then, I think that too much of it is hidden. Maybe, some think it is for "good tastes" to keep it "clean" but in many ways, there is a side of the rock world that needs to be more exposed, even if in the end, those women will probably be destroyed.

Marianne Faithfull: An Autobiography ... a nice book, but I think that there is a lot missing here that is kept hidden. I think she still fancies herself an honest person with a lot of closets behind her that we can't see ... her face alone, and words, seem to show a lot more than the pastic face of a woman that was "corrupted" ... in her words.