BEFORE: See, I told you I'd get back to Black History topics - for the next four films, you can find me at the intersection of Black History, documentaries, and music legends. Keith Richards carries over again from "Sheryl", and this film aired on PBS, it was on their "American Masters" series a year or so back - either that or on "Great Performances". I've learned to keep an eye on both series, because PBS shows dub to DVD very well. The "P" stands for "Public" so the film belongs to all of us, really.
THE PLOT: In 1957 Buddy Guy left Louisiana and set out for Chicago and its vibrant blues scene, where he played his way into the clubs, cut records, gigged with other greats, influenced new generations of musicians and collected nine Grammys along the way. Guy (now 84) looks back at his life, providing valuable insight into his music while leaving room for some memorable anecdotes.
AFTER: The first time I heard anything played by Buddy Guy was on a PBS Special called "The Beatles Songbook" - this would have been back in 1993, and I was totally into covers of Beatles songs. I was planning on researching all of them - ALL OF THEM - and maybe writing a book about them, listing them, rating them, I spent a lot of money on various CDs with instrumental versions of Beatles songs and most of them are still unopened and in a pile in my basement. But I caught the TV special because my favorite a capella group, The Bobs, performed "Strawberry Fields Forever". The rumor was that they wanted to sing "Come Together", but Dr. John was performing and wanted to cover the same song, so they worked up an arrangement of "Strawberry Fields Forever" on the spot - that takes talent. Anyway, Dr. John did "Come Together" and "Get Back", Nils Lofgren covered "Anytime at All" and "Don't Let Me Down", Los Lobos sang "Tomorrow Never Knows", and Buddy Guy, of course, covered "Yer Blues". Check it out on YouTube if you get a chance.
Time went by, and that was all I knew about Buddy Guy for years, until I started collecting more CDs of covers and he popped up on tribute albums to Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones. Then once I started watching 300 movies a year and he popped up in various documentaries about rock and soul music. I am not surprised and also relieved to find out that Buddy is still around, and is literally the LAST guy left from that generation of blues guitar musicians. So parts of this doc tended to get a little bit repetitive - and THEN Muddy Waters died....and THEN Stevie Ray Vaughan died... and THEN B.B. King died... but hey, that's the history of blues music, essentially.
Of course, there's the history of Rock artists (mostly white guys) stealing stuff from blues artists (mostly black guys, and one black Guy). When Jimi Hendrix wanted to pick the guitar with his teeth and play the guitar over his head, he got that from Buddy Guy. When the Stones wanted to get really into the blues, they went to see Buddy Guy play (and Howlin' Wolf, and Muddy Waters...) and when Led Zeppelin wanted to make a hit record, they just stole from everybody (EXCEPT Buddy Guy) and didn't credit any of the songwriters. "Whole Lotta Love" is just Willie Dixon's song "You Need Love", "The Lemon Song" is just Howlin' Wolf's song "Killin' Floor", "Bring It on Home" is Willie Dixon again, and so on. Just Google "Led Zeppelin stealing black music" and follow the links.
Look, blues music really isn't my thing, but then tennis isn't really my sport, either. But Buddy and this title of the film explain it - the blues is a form of therapy for a whole class of people. If you sing the blues, then you feel better, in the same way that talking to a mental health professional can help you come to terms with your problems. And if you can make a little money at the same time, all the better. I prefer rock to blues, but so much of rock CAME from the blues that I have to at least acknowledge that, unlike Page and Plant. So long live the last of the Chicago bluesmen, I'm glad he finally got some Grammy Awards, and got to perform at the White House for Obama. I hope I don't see Buddy Guy trending on Twitter any time soon, because I know what that will probably mean - and if that happens next week, I'll feel like I jinxed him, and then I'll have to dedicate my next Movie Year to him.
Also starring Buddy Guy (last seen in "Shine a Light"), Eric Clapton (also carrying over from "Sheryl"), Gary Clark Jr., Tom Hambridge, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, John Mayer, Carlos Santana (last seen in "McEnroe")
with archive footage of David Bowie (last seen in "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story"), Phil Collins (last seen in "Under the Volcano"), Willie Dixon, Jerry Garcia (last seen in "Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind"), John Lee Hooker, Lightnin Hopkins (last seen in "Count Me In"), Howlin' Wolf (ditto), Muddy Waters (ditto), Mick Jagger (also carrying over from "Sheryl"), Charlie Watts (ditto), Ronnie Wood (ditto), Brian Jones (last seen in "The Velvet Underground"), Janis Joplin (last seen in "Z.Z. Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas"), B.B. King (last seen in "When We Were Kings"), Barack Obama (last seen in "Citizen Ashe"), Michelle Obama (last seen in "Space Jam: A New Legacy"), Big Mama Thornton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Junior Wells.
RATING: 6 out of 10 salami sandwiches made by Muddy Waters
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