This project was done with humor, truth, and sarcasm. At the University of California, Santa Cruz, UCSC, where I went to college, there were many fans of The Grateful Dead. They called themselves Deadheads. I had not heard of the band before attending the school. I listened to the music, and I didn't understand why people felt so passionately about the band. I was intrigued. So in 1986, I decided to try and understand these people and the music they loved, and to create a video of my quest. This documentary project is the result. Enjoy.
One of the most recognizable figures in contemporary music, Beyoncé rose to fame as the central member of pop-R&B group Destiny's Child before embarking on a multi-platinum, record-breaking solo career in 2001. Booming record sales, Grammy awards, movie roles, and marriage to rapper & CEO Jay-Z, combined to heighten her profile in the 2000s. Billboard named her female artist of the decade, while the R.I.A.A. acknowledged that, through 64 gold and platinum certifications, she was the decade's top-selling artist. Once she released her fifth solo album in 2013, it was evident that the singer, songwriter, and dancer wasn't merely an entertainer but a progressive artist as well. Get lost in the ultimate story of modern day superstardom, as we take you through the incredible Journey of Beyoncé.
Lucifer incites Heaven’s wrath by dispatching train cars of condemned souls a-crashin’ through the pearly gates. As God plots to put an end to the rebellious deeds, a fable is told, and the midway gets set for a fateful reunion between God’s Agent and Hell’s Painted Doll, promising to make sinner and saint alike scream Alleluia!
A musical journey through the swamps of the Louisiana Bayou, the juke joints of the Mississippi Delta and Moonshine soaked BBQs in the North Mississippi Hill Country. Visiting the last original blues devils, many in their 80's, still living in the deep south, working without management and touring the Chitlin' Circuit. Let Bobby Rush, Barbara Lynn, Henry Gray, Carol Fran, Lazy Lester, Bilbo Walker, RL Boyce, Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes, Lil Buck Sinegal, LC Ulmer and their friends awaken the blues in all of us.
The Godfather of electronic music is on a one-way trip to crack America, returning to the studio for the first time in nearly a decade. Android is a celebration of a music-making pioneer and the love story that helped him turn his life around.
The Broken Spoke has hosted country greats like George Strait, Willie Nelson, Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, George Jones, and Roy Acuff. A profile of “the last of the true Texas dance halls” and the tenacious family keeping it alive amid rapid urban growth.
As glam rock's most flamboyant survivors, X Japan ignited a musical revolution in Japan during the late '80s with their melodic metal. Twenty years after their tragic dissolution, X Japan’s leader, Yoshiki, battles with physical and spiritual demons alongside prejudices of the West to bring their music to the world.
An intimate look at the lives and legacies of piano player Pinetop Perkins, drummer Willie 'Big Eyes' Smith and guitarist Hubert Sumlin, all Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf sidemen. The film captures some of the last interviews and their final live performances together, before their deaths in 2011. The historic live shows are accompanied by performances and personal insights from many of the blues and rock stars these legendary sidemen inspired including; Bonnie Raitt, Gregg Allman, Derek Trucks, Shemekia Copeland, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Joe Perry, Joe Bonamassa and Johnny Winter.
Faced with a crossroads in her life, Aubrey reflects on her experiences in joining the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and how they have strengthened her and her family through their challenges.
One of the most popular rockers of the 1950s and early 60s, Fats Domino and his record sales were rivaled then only by Elvis Presley. With his boogie-woogie piano playing rooted in blues, rhythm & blues, and jazz, he became one of the inventors, along with Presley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard, of rock ‘n’ roll, a revolutionary genre that united young black and white audiences.
In 1984, American heavy metal band Twisted Sister became a global sensation. For 30 years, they been synonymous with hairspray, women's clothing and tasteless album covers. Until now. Ten years ago, director Andrew Horn was granted access to the archives of Twisted Sister founder Jay French and he explores the decade that preceded their breakthrough.
A young woman struggles to move on with her life after the death of her husband, an acclaimed folk singer, when a brash New York writer forces her to confront her loss and the ambiguous circumstances of his death.
Art, obsession and anxiety permeate a dilapidated Manhattan loft building in Mid-century: The first movie to use photographer W. Eugene Smith's massive, fly-on-the-wall archive of photos and audio tapes documenting the likes of jazz greats Thelonious Monk, Zoot Sims, Jimmy Giuffre, Hall Overton and others at work and play in the Sixth Avenue wreck that was Smith's home and studio from 1957 through the '60s.
The Dollyrots' first live concert film: Live in Los Angeles captures the exuberant duo in top form on a 2015 tour of the USA, with their toddler son along for the adventure & in support of a catalog spanning 15 years and 5 albums. From a single special concert performance filmed at the World-famous Roxy in their hometown of Los Angeles in Sep 2015.
'At the end of the day, it remains a secret why some can conduct and others can’t', Sir Georg Solti once said. CONDUCT! explores this secret. The struggle of five young artists for success at the International Conductors Competition in Frankfurt provides real-life drama that tests not only musical abilities but, above all, characters. CONDUCT! explores the secret of conducting with a unique intensity that culminates in a great showdown at Frankfurt’s Opera.
In 1980s Communist Czechoslovakia an emerging generation took inspiration from alternative culture to create their own worldview, politics and eventually, a revolution. 25 years later, this unique generational perspective is explored for the first time.
Documentary looking back at the West Coast group who invented gangster rap. The original lineup of N.W.A consisted of Dr Dre, Ice Cube and Eazy-E, all of whom went on to be successful in their own right. The documentary looks at how the group influenced the world of rap music as well as the controversial life and death of Eazy-E and the career developments of Ice Cube and Dr Dre.