Movie of the Week: Desperate Man Blues (2003)

A look at famed 78 RPM record collector, Joe Bussard, and the wild, weird, world of 78 collectors. From 2003.

Movie of the Week: The Fog of War (2003)

Documentary about Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations, who subsequently became president of the World Bank. The documentary combines an interview with Mr. McNamara discussing some of the tragedies and glories of the 20th Century, archival footage, documents, and an original score by Philip Glass. Hat tip to Glen E. Friedman.

Movie of the Week: It's Everything, And Then It's Gone (2003)

We get the weekend movies off to a start today with a documentary about an often ignored former hotbed of punk & new wave, Akron, OH. Ohio in general was pretty good for rock & roll bands, but Akron specifically was really good. Bands that came from there, or had origins there (new wave or otherwise), include Devo, the Black Keys, the James Gang, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders (check the lyrics to "My City Was Gone"), The Cramps, and quite a few others...(Rubber City Rebels anyone?). Throw in Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, and the list gets really impressive.

Anyway, It's Everything, And Then It's Gone tells the story of Akron, and its really good. So watch it.

In the early 1970s, rubber was still king in Akron, Ohio. But just a few short years later, Akron's most important product was, ever so briefly, music. In the mid-1970s, a group of local bands took over an old rubber workers' hang-out in downtown Akron called The Crypt and created a mix of punk and art rock that came to be known as "the Akron Sound." And for a while, it was almost "the next big thing." Almost.

It's Everything, and Then It's Gone, a Western Reserve PBS production written and directed by Phil Hoffman., takes viewers back to a time when the music really did mean everything. And for the men and women in these local bands, it was a way out of the factory.

For more info, click here.

The Stooges - Live in Detroit - 2003

Its hard to believe this show is eight years old already...even so, to me, the experience of the Stooges, live or otherwise, can be life changing. This is the sound of freedom. Purchase on DVD.

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