Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey - in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero - brings heartache and torment.
Longing to experience more of life, twentysomething preacher's daughter Angie strikes out on her own for the very first time and joins a traveling gospel show.
Young, gifted and black! In an act of self-empowerment, a group of young Black people, mainly first and second generation immigrants from the Caribbean, have occupied the public space of the Toronto underground to perform their agitprop concept of edutainment – poets, rappers, singers and musicians.
Fraternity brothers enter one of their own into a scholarship lottery after a women's college insults them. Though the Zeta boys are celebrated for their comedy drag revue, staying undercover as a woman at an all-girls' school wasn't part of the rehearsal!
Robert Mugge's 1986 film provides a full-blooded portrait of the Latino singer, actor, bandleader, and composer. Blades' Panama homeland, his Harvard Master's degree, and a New York performance with his band Seis de Solar all serve as stops on this biographical journey.
The death of punk icon and X-Ray Spex front-woman Poly Styrene sends her daughter on a journey through her mother's archives in this intimate documentary.
'Country: Portraits of an American Sound' is a documentary film that explores the history and culture of country music through the lens of photography, which has portrayed the ideals, lifestyle and personalities of country music artists for over 80 years. The film features imagery and commentary from Grand Ole Opry photographer Les Leverett, the late celebrity photographer Leigh Wiener, documentary photographer Henry Horenstein, iconic music photographers Henry Diltz and Raeanne Rubenstein, and contemporary photographers David McClister and Michael Wilson. Over a dozen country music artists also appear, including Rosanne Cash, Roy Clark, Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett, Charley Pride, LeAnn Rimes, Kenny Rogers, Tanya Tucker, The Band Perry and Keith Urban. The film weaves iconic images, historical footage and over 25 country music hits into a dynamic look at this uniquely American sound.
Todd Rundgren performed Todd live in its entirety for the first time ever, as part a special limited six-date sold-out tour (the Healing album was also performed, which will be a subsequent stand-alone live DVD/CD release). The September 14 date at Philadelphia’s Keswick Theater, in Rundgren’s hometown, was videotaped and is being released as both a live DVD by S’More Entertainment and a live audio CD by sibling RockBeat Records. Joining him onstage were Utopia’s Kasim Sulton (bass), The Cars’ Greg Hawkes (keyboards), The Tubes’ Prairie Prince (drums), Guitar Player Magazine’s editor Jesse Gress (guitar), Bobby Strickland (sax) and a full choir.
Rhythm and Blues Revue is a plotless variety show, one of several compiled for theatrical exhibition from the made-for-television short films produced by Snader and Studio Telescriptions, with newly-filmed host segments by Willie Bryant. Originally 86 minutes, the "short" version available on public domain collections and websites is missing a reel
"The Jersey Sound" is a love letter to New Jersey's diverse music scene. It captures its rich history through untold stories and intimate interviews while paying homage to legendary icons who have called Jersey home. It's an attitude.
A film review drawing on archive concert film of Black Sabbath in performance and documentary footage from television and radio archives around the world.
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.
After a tragic event, a sheltered young woman seeks the comfort of some long-forgotten scary story records from her youth. The specter of losing her family home and a string of crimes in her neighborhood propel her toward a dark obsession with the frightening tales. Eerily, they begin to reveal occult truths and hint at a violent, inescapable fate. Like a disease, the stories begin to infect others who enter her world, creating disturbing encounters that bring her to the threshold of terror.
An Asian family celebrating at a Chinese restaurant for their daughter's engagement joyfully sing karaoke on stage when suddenly a group of racist hecklers shout at them. The head of the family, usually quiet and reserved, gets up on stage to sing next.Through a dreamscape fantasy and a montage of childhood flashbacks, the father is transformed into mega pop star "Baba", and finds his courage to be the force needed for good. He snaps back to reality, back to the restaurant, and back to the hecklers in the room. With a newfound sense of urgency, the father confronts the hecklers and rallies the entire restaurant of onlookers to boot them out.
Bruno, in his thirties and in desperate need of a purpose, ends up homeless after a breakup. Without despairing and under the watchful eye of his motherly big sister, this sawmill worker will find the drive to put his beloved blue suit back on and to rekindle an old flame.
An electrifying glimpse into the complex life and thrilling, unparalleled performances of rock and roll's first and wildest practitioner: Jerry Lee Lewis.