What began as a Black 47 performance, shot at Connolly's pub in New York City's most vibrant hub, Times Square, on that locale's biggest day of the year, New Year's Eve, turned into something much more. Using early footage of "the best live band on the planet," interviews with band members and the audience, and the riotous performance itself, Black 47 at Connolly's weaves together a history of the band's beginnings, and by extension, a rich underlay of Irish-American history and the Diaspora.
This film, from the makers of Eric Clapton - The 1960s Review, follows Clapton's bold musical journey through the seventies. Featuring new and archive interviews, rare performance footage, contributions from the likes of Bonnie Bramlett, Bobby Whitlock, The Albert Brothers , George Terry, Willie Perkins, Bill Halverson, Clapton biographer Marc Roberty and others, plus a host of other features.
Dark City Beneath The Beat is an audiovisual experience that defines the soundscape of Baltimore city. Inspired by an all original Baltimore club music soundtrack, the film spotlights local club artists, DJs, dancers, producers, and Baltimore’s budding creative community as they are realizing their life dreams. Rhythmic and raw, these stories illustrate the unique characteristics of the city’s landscape and social climate through music, poetry, and dance. From the city’s social climate to its creative LGBTQ community, Dark City Beneath The Beat showcases Baltimore club music as a positive subculture in a city overshadowed by trauma, drugs, and violence.
In this Baden-Baden concert, Simon Rattle presents a sonorous snapshot of the European music scene in the early 20th century. It includes Richard Strauss’s self-confidently impressive Don Juan, sumptuous songs by Alban Berg, Ravel’s overwhelmingly sensual song cycle Shéhérazade and finally Stravinsky’s both groundbreaking and nostalgic Petrushka. The star guest is the Latvian mezzosoprano Elina Garanca.
The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit explores the landmark influence of Detroit’s innovative jazz musicians. Framed by Detroit’s dramatic rise and fall as an industrial power and its dynamic Black community, the documentary weaves a compelling tapestry. Great jazz musicians roll off Detroit’s assembly line—nurtured by profound mentorship and the resiliency of a city that never quits.
Analyzing the long and influential career of "Man in Black" Johnny Cash, this rockumentary draws on commentary from rock journalists and working musicians, rare footage and interviews with Cash himself to chart the course of his rise in the industry. Highlights include performances of "I Walk the Line," "The Man in Black," "Folsom Prison Blues," "There You Go," "Big River" and "Ghost Riders in the Sky."
Miya Masaoka uses music to interact with plants and insects; Jon Rose turns fences into musical instruments with a violin bow in conflict zones ranging from the Australian outback to Israel; John Luther Adams translates geophysical phenomena in Alaska into music; and Bob Ostertag explores socio-political issues through processes as diverse as transcribing riots into string quartets, and creating live cinema with garbage. By contrasting the creative paths of these artists, and a connection between them by the world renowned Kronos Quartet, the film explores music not as a form of entertainment, career, or even self-expression, but as a tool to develop more deeply meaningful relationships with people and the complexities of the world they live in.
In 1976 the pianist, entertainer and one of the biggest stars of the day, published a coffee table book about his collection of homes, jewellery and costumes called The Things I Love. This DVD is nothing more-nor-less than precisely that, as told to the acclaimed film-maker Tony Palmer. Liberace himself takes us on a guided tour of his Hollywood and Palm Springs homes and his treasured possessions.
American Artifact chronicles the rise of American rock poster art since it's birth in the'60s. Award-winning director, Merle Becker crosses the country interviewing the rock poster artists from the different eras to discover that America is currently in the midst of a 21st century "rock poster art movement", where thousands of artists around the country are doing silk screened rock poster art inspired by their local scene, the music of our time, and the spirit of our era.
Pick It Up! is an independent documentary film about the rise in popularity of ska music in the 1990s and the subsequent return to the underground. The film features members of Reel Big Fish, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, No Doubt, Sublime, Save Ferris, Goldfinger, The Specials, Less Than Jake, Hepcat and many more.
'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.
Abbey is seen a rare 1991 performance at the Promenade Theater in New York. She is at once beautiful, insightful and at the top of her musical gifts. The appearance represents the beginning of a great comeback that has since established her as a legendary jazz vocalist and composer.
From their early formation in Philadelphia’s underground music scene, to their business partnership with a local, independent record label, filmmaker Justin J. Jackson’s documentary Rosetta: Audio/Visual chronicles the musical accomplishments, monetary struggles, and intimate friendships of blue-collar, do-it-yourself, post-metal band Rosetta. Every album is a creative milestone, each tour a test of faith. Four years in the making, Rosetta: Audio/Visual tells the story of emotional and material sacrifice made by an electronics technician, high school civics teacher, coffee shop barista, and martial arts instructor in order to achieve financial control and artistic freedom.
It seems everyone thinks rock-star Brad Stanley died of a heroin overdose. Everyone that is except for Brian. Don't let his guitar string salesman facade fool you. Brian used to play for the "B-movie Nightmares", but quit before they got big. Now the TV news says Brad OD'd, but Brian's going to find out what really happened. Was it a simple overdose or was there foul play? And if there was foul play, then who's to blame? A jaded drummer? A Korean Cowboy? A Satanic Ronald Reagan?! Brian asks "just one more thing" [ala Columbo] in his quest to seek out the truth. But no one said it'd be just another leisurely Sunday murder mystery. And it certainly won't be as polite.