Daniel Lanois Movie "This is What Is" LA Premiere

So many thoughts came to mind while watching the deep, sensitive and slow musical performances in the new Daniel Lanois movie which I saw last night at its L.A. Premiere at the respected art house the Vista Theatre. It has been 25 years that I have been listening to his music, and he is still one of my favorites for many reasons that did not appear in the long documentary of his working life!

Brady Blades, Sr. joined the band for a song:




First, the music. The event opened with Lanois and his bandmate Brian Blades on guitar and drums, with Daryl Johnson and another dude I can't remember on vocals and keyboards. They opened with the great song "The Messenger" and played a few others including a great jamming version of "The Maker." I smiled during that song thinking of Willie Nelson and Jerry Garcia's versions and how the song has had a good run with a certain part of the public. As Lanois said in the film, their versions are validation.

At the end of the mini-set, Billy Bob Thornton came out and joined Lanois for an unbelievable rendition of the monologue from Sling Blade, with Lanois accompanying him on some of his most subtle, dynamic, simple, rhythmic, loose, amazing guitar playing. To see a movie star perform like that with live music is rare and it was awesome. Reminded me that I worked that great soundtrack and set up the first in-store at Hear Music in Santa Monica. You could argue the whole thing, tied in with a KCRW appearance helped launch the store in L.A. and gave all involved, which didn't include Starbuck's at the time, a sense of the possibilities.

Please see below for my Daniel Lanois' greatest hits list!

And he seems to need it even with all the success. Why else make a movie that shows a lot of jamming on unknown compositions and very little about his actual process, the talent that went into making him successful. It can be seen indirectly for the most part -- his guitar playing is clearly a big part of U2's sound, just based on listening to him. We see him and U2 jamming for like a minute in the movie. It was shocking how little his three biggest acts -- U2, Gabriel and Dylan -- were in the movie. He must be pissed at Peter Gabriel, the dude was barely mentioned and his So was the album that broke Lanois as a producer (without Eno).

Eno is the whole movie, of course. His bathroom interview with Lanois, apparently while on the bowl, is fascinating and inspiring. He says it's important to show that great works and results come from the smallest, nothing ideas and that it would give people confidence to know that they have that ability too, that there is no magic or secret to what they do. Eno points out that he has always gone out of his way to show his process. Lanois gives a glimpse of a childhood newspaper clipping about him playing guitar for 53 hours straight -- the only reference to the long hours of trial and error with the studio and his instrument to get where he is today.

Two moments where he was being a genius producer: conducting the band behind Aaron Neville as he sang "With God on Our Side" and singing the melody by heart from one of the collaborations with Eno and Harold Budd by heart as they played the actual recording. He has an amazing ear, a great sense of melody, etc.

Lanois quotes Dylan as telling him "you can't buy feel." But if you have some major dough and a decent band, you can rent it out from Daniel Lanois!

Some of my favorite Lanois albums, and I've been listening for 25 years now include:

On Land - first appearance on an Eno album

Apollo - Atmospheres and Soundtracks

The Pearl - Second album w/Eno gets him shared billing (Eno/Lanois with Harold Budd)

U2's breakthrough The Unforgettable Fire

Canadian pre-fame: The Parachute Club, Martha and the Muffins

Peter Gabriel So - one of the best albums by one of the best artists ever

Bob Dylan Oh Mercy - the comeback by one of the best artists ever

Neville Brothers - best, most representative recording (not "Don't Know Much") under their own name. (Try Wild Tchopitoulas for great results)

U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind - again, the comeback is the hardest thing in showbiz and they came back all the way with this one.

Willie Nelson - Teatro - First Willie album I promoted and a great album too.

and Willie always gets the last word!

Americana Music Steps Up; Sundance Preview

earbender applauds the Americana Music Association for choosing to recognize Martin Luther King Day for the first time this year! I really noticed when the Americana chart didn't come through yesterday (after bristling all the years it came in like clockwork on MLK day). I am pleased they stunted reports to honor those who honor the man, I feel like Stevie Wonder (left) having his song "Happy Birthday" come true.



But Stevie Wonder will never be on the Americana chart. I think there is room for more blues, reggae, r&b and jazz -- some of our best American art -- among the white singer songwriters on the charts, and in the culture of college and community radio. That's my spiel since 1984 or so and I'm sticking to it. Black Americana is a genre I named a few years ago in response to the Gavin Americana which had shown a similar lack of inclusiveness.

I am attending my second Sundance Festival this week, with an ever growing number of music artists, managers and marketers present. Is there a term for the assault on the senses of texts, twitters, street teams, bloggers, reality tv crews, news crews, reporters and whatnot yet? I hope to contribute some updates, so stay tuned.

There is a great music presence in some of the movies I highlighted including CSNY Deja Vu (directed by Bernard Shakey), Amy Redford's Guitar, Patti Smith, and the one I'm most excited about, Anvil: The Story of Anvil. Hit any of the links to learn more naturally.

I'm into environmental documentaries and Yung Chang's Up the Yangtze about the Three Gorges Damn that will result in 2 million being relocated and the landscape being changed forever. The film is about a farewell cruise to take one last look before it all goes away.

btw, charity: water is something I heard about at Sundance last year, an organization dedicated to bringing clean water to people who need it. Here's an update from Scott Harrison.

A few others include Michael Keaton's directorial debut Merry Gentleman, Jonathan Levine's second film The Wackness, stars Ben Kingsley (to busy for Cleaver though), Green Porno by Isabella Rosselini, Hell Ride, Transsiberian (a Hitchcock-esque thriller starring our buddy Woody Harrelson, Morgan Spurlock's Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, DeNiro in What Just Happened? or many others I haven't mentioned here.

Click here for U23D - but beware, the trailer is half credits - still, my guess is it's much better than Rattle and Hum. Larry Mullen on Elvis' bike, not cool. At least they stayed away for 20 years. I'm looking forward to anything U2, especially the Patti Smith documentary (because Bono sounds vocally inspired by her to me).

I will report back in a few days!

earbender 2007 in review/2008 preview

While most of the news from the music world has been doom over the past year, there were some bright spots and plenty to look forward to in the future. Pete Townshend's appearance at SXSW was something to be inspired by. He basically said that he is still doing things the old way on tour with the Who, but is also into the immediacy and freedom represented by what has come to be known as "Music 2.0." I am a bit scared of his computer, but I think he has the right idea.

The earbender ten has always been a multi-experience list. It's not a buying guide, but a living guide.

John Rosenfelder's Top Ten of 2007

1. Curb Your Enthusiasm featuring Larry David, especially the episode where Leon recommends that Larry "become another motherfucker." I was very skeptical about this story line at the start of the season, but Larry (and especially the brilliant JB Smoove as Leon) sure taught me a lesson at the end.



2. Spider-Man 3
As part of Film Week, I attended a premiere of the latest installment in the Bronx of all places. In some ways, the movies limit my imagination compared to the comic books, but it is nice to recognize scenes from the strips, which is a nice reason to see a Spider-Man movie where I know the story already for the most part. The Sandman in the sewer was straight out of Spider-Man #36. The movies are great and I'm also very into seeing Spider-Man on billboards and other advertising. I was so blown away by the co-branding on Spider-Man 3, I almost started a special edition of The Rosenfelder Index for its debut hype.

3. Of Montreal at Sundance, in the middle of the street, performing for the kids and execs. I was very into their album "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?", so to see them chop it up on "Happy" and a few originals during soundcheck was great. Here's a bit of them doing "We Were Born the Mutants Again with Leafling." It starts out distorted but gets awesome about a minute in.



4. Kanye West "Graduation" album

5. Chanteuses: Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight for a few weeks at least, same w/new Suzanne Vega "Frank and Ava." Also from my back pages: PJ Harvey - White Chalk. Hats off to a nice result for Amy Winehouse. How often does the Winner of SXSW end up in the Top 40, let alone the cover of the NY Post, Rolling Stone, etc. Not to mention, she's English! Unfortunately it's more for her behavior than her music but at least the public and the media care about a rock star acting like a rock star.

6. Movie, Soundtrack and Concert: I'm Not There
After years of effort, Randall Poster and Jim Dunbar, along with Todd Haynes and Jeff Rosen, breathe new life into Dylan's catalog and his long and winding life story as an artist with a broad range of great artists. The concert at the Beacon Theatre and the after-party was a Hollywood night in NYC, as well. The quality and depth of the album and movie will be dissected for years to come, just like Bob himself.

7. Missed Classic Rock Reunions: The Police, Genesis, Van Halen, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, The Eagles, Led Zeppelin. I didn't see any of these shows but I did happen to catch The Musical Box do an amazing recreation of the 1973 Genesis tour, complete w/costumes, between-song patter and a great set list. They should give out deodorant to the fans, though.

8. Pete Townshend was inspirational at SXSW, however. His dual career direction (the conventional reunion tour with the Who and his web activities/club gigs) is a sensible approach for us old record guys too.

9. The Robot Guitar by Gibson is a fascinating instrument, and the biggest jump in electric guitar technology since the Roland GR-1 synthesizer in the 1980s. It will be interesting to see how the video game generation of guitar fans will approach the real thing. I was having a blast playing Guitar Hero with Jason Hradil and Eric Molk from Sony one night and just as I thought about getting my own, I realized that I can play a real guitar. I wonder if this will create more interest in guitar and rock music over the next 5 years or so. Considering we can see Lewis Hamilton's growth documented from a remote controlled car to a go-kart to a Formula One racer in 15 years, wouldn't it be great if a generation of Jimmy Pages and Keith Richardses grew from Guitar Hero's influence? The Robot Guitar might be a nice mix of fantasy and reality for them.

Speaking of guitar heroes, one of the great moments of 2007 was witnessing a very intimate hang between Les Paul and Willie Nelson outside Annie Balliro's Hard Rock Cafe event for Farm Aid and Willie's Peace Research Institute. They had a good hang and when Les bailed for his Iridium show, Willie kept repeating "That was Les Paul."

***See you on the second generation (with another price break!): The iPhone

10. U2 Joshua Tree Reissue
The best of the best comes back to remind us how great they have were, and for how long they have kept it going. There is no U2 reunion -- they have never broken up! I am thrilled they have reunited with Eno/Lanois again and expect their next one to be great. Came with a great 2.0 promo from iLike.com featuring a great interview with Bono recorded on a camera phone.

11. Missed reality shows: A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, Bret Michaels, Peter Brady, Scott Baio.

12. Prince for all his 2.0 moves. As talented as he is as a writer, producer and performer (hello, the Super Bowl appearance was amazing), Prince has also set the pace business-wise from the earliest days of his career. London Times giveaway, shutting down bloggers... Maybe he is on Music version 3.0 by now!

13. Robin Quivers - because no one ever puts the great Howard Stern on any lists and that means Robin does even worse. I love the show but I want to give her credit for cracking me up and being pretty on tv too. I love Artie Lange a lot and was pleased to meet him backstage with Amy Salit (who was doing the usual post-appearance NY guest list hang) at the benefit for crazy cabbie.

*** The new Bionic Woman was utterly disappointing as was Fantastic Four 2: The Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Farewell Phil Rizzuto. The Scooter was a big part of our lives for over 30 years and I will miss him and always remember him.


2008 things to look forward to:
Iron Man
new u2 album
Willie's 75th birthday box set
A new US president
Amy Winehouse gets teeth