BEFORE: To be honest, my vision board never once contained THREE Springsteen-related documentaries - but today's film is another one that was left over from last year, it did arrive in time to make the Block, however I didn't really see the way to link it in, maybe because my focus last year was more on Elton John, the Beach Boys, Little Richard and Donna Summer. (Beatles and Stones are perennials, of course.) Probably if I'd really taken a look at the giant cast list here, I could have found a way to work it in - but still, what a difference a year makes, because since last year's block "Road Diary" got released, and PBS decided this spring to air that 1979 No Nukes concert, so there you go, this easily fits into a Springsteen mini-chain.
There are THREE docs this year with cast lists so large, they're basically making the whole thing possible - I could put them almost anywhere and they'd make the chain work. The tougher part this year was not just following the links, but also finding an order that made some sense and didn't jump around in subject matter TOO much - really, getting all the rock docs together would be enough for me, but if all the films about actors want to line up over THERE and all the films about cartoonists and animators gather over THERE, really, I'm ecstatic about the order I ended up with. Assuming the chain holds, of course.
Do I even need to say it? Bruce Springsteen carries over again from "The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts".
THE PLOT: Traces Van Zandt's career as a musician, activist and actor from New Jersey to stadiums around the world.
AFTER: OK, this is a LONG-ass documentary, it's two and a half hours long, did it really need to be? Well, yes and no. Van Zandt had a number of different careers, he kind of re-invented himself over and over again, and when one career path seemed like it was at an end, he found a new one or he invented a new one. And I kind of forgot that he was like the Bob Geldof for the anti-apartheid movement back when the world realized that South Africa didn't get the memo that it was the 20th century now, and widespread racial oppression just wasn't going to fly. Van Zandt got everyone who was anyone in the hip-hop, rap and soul genres together and recorded "Sun City", a single (and later an album) that targeted the businesses in that country which were supporting the racial policies of an unjust government, basically we all boycotted South Africa for a couple years and that economic pressure forced a change in their government - please note this is not to be taken as an endorsement of Trump's tariffs, I'm sure they'll end up being a financial disaster.
But it's a case where someone realized he had a power to organize a cause, he had the contacts to get other people involved, and he was motivated to try and make a change in the world. I'm not saying he did this alone, but he was the catalyst that got things moving, though he hadn't considered himself an activist before that time. When the South African government crumbled and Nelson Mandela was released from jail, that's known as a result. You never know that the mountain can be moved until someone tries to move it - also you never know what you can accomplish in your down time when the boss (or The Boss) lays you off.
That's section 2 of this doc, the "Revolution" segment, when Van Zandt thought his music career was over. After fixing Apartheid, then what? Section 3 is "Evolution", where he talks about just walking his dog for seven years. But then along came "The Sopranos", and his third career as an actor was born - it supposedly came about when Van Zandt was inducting The Rascals into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and talking directly to the camera in an off-hand but expressive style, and David Chase, the creator of the HBO series, was watching, and felt Van Zandt would make a great mobster. Van Zandt turned it down, because he didn't want to take a job away from a professional actor, so they created a new character for the show, and he was allowed to have input in creating Silvio Dante, the manager of the Bada Bing! club and a member of the Jersey mob.
The conflict, however, arose when "The Sopranos" still had a year or two to go, and Bruce also decided to put the band back together. I remember when Max Weinberg was leading the band on Conan O'Brien's show during his "extended vacation" from the E Street Band, and when Bruce called, well, he just had to leave. There must have been a clause in his contract that stated "if Bruce Springsteen wants to go on tour, then the party named herein is allowed to terminate his contract with NBC, immediately". (Actually, at first Weinberg took a 5-month break from late night TV to tour with Bruce in 2007, then came back and left Conan for good in 2010. Whatever.)
Again, full disclosure, I'm just a casual Bruce Springsteen fan, just the Greatest Hits album, no need to go beyond that - so I'm not really a Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes fan at all, I just don't really get it. But, you know, I'm not from Jersey, I just visit A.C. when I can, good buffets. (We might be due for a re-visit next year, honestly our last 2 visits were a bit underwhelming.). And Van Zandt's Disciples of Soul, well I don't even know what that band is all about, even after watching them play in this documentary. There's an oboe player, a guy with a mohawk, and I can't tell if they're playing rock or funk or soul or rofuso, some weird combination of all three. Really, I'm glad Stevie got invited back to play with Springsteen, it seems like that's where he gets to put his talents to their best use, although he also does seem to have his fingers in a lot of other pies, from music education to running his own record label and also some kind of syndicated radio show and I'm guessing probably some podcasting too.
But again, this doc is much too long, what it really needed was some more editing. We don't need to hear from EVERYONE who was involved in the Sun City project, we can hear from a few of them and get the idea. I know this section was really important, but still, it could have used some trimming. Same with the first section, the start-up of the Asbury scene and the years spent with Southside Johnny, trim that and the Sun City stuff and you could probably get this beast of a thing down to two hours even, just saying.
I've never met Van Zandt, never been to a Springsteen concert, hell I've been to Atlantic City many times and never felt the need to swing by Asbury Park and see the Stone Pony. But I feel a strange kinship with him now that I know his story. No, I never toppled the authoritarian goverment of an African nation, but I worked my way through the NYC animation scene in a way not unlike how he navigated his way through the music scene - he's just way way more successful at things than I've been. He worked with Springsteen for 15 years and when he felt like maybe his opinions weren't being listened to, he walked away from that band. I worked for a top-name animator for 31 years, and when I felt like my opinions weren't being listened to, I quit that job to prove a point. So I understand when you're someone's right-hand man for a very long time, you love that person and you hate him at the same time. Little annoyances probably just became big ones over time, and so Van Zandt pivoted and ran his own band, got into acting, got into political causes, he charted a new path and did what interested him or what he felt he had to do, and right now I just have to figure out what it is I want to do, whether that's getting a job doing captioning or try to find voice work or finally get on Jeopardy!, really I just need to pick something and work at it to see what I'm capable of. So I'm inspired by tonight's doc, I just need to apply the Little Steven method to my own life, maybe.
Hey, just a thought here, but since Trump just got nominated by Netanyahu for a Nobel Peace Prize (allegedly, though I'd like to check the paperwork on this...) maybe there's a sudden need for other candidates so we can make sure that Trump doesn't actually win the damn thing - anyone out there willing to nominate Steven Van Zandt for his efforts to help end Apartheid? I know it's been a while, but so what? Some kind of recognition might be welcome, even if it's long overdue.
Directed by Bill Teck
Also starring Steven Van Zandt, (also carrying over from "The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts"), Jackson Browne (ditto), Arthur Baker, Jeff Barry (last seen in "Dreamland"), Nicole Barsalona, Ruben Blades (last seen in "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice"), Gary U.S. Bonds (last seen in "Blues Brothers 2000"), Bono (last seen in "Wham!"), Bill Bradley, Edward Brigati, Bob Clearmountain, David Chase (last seen in "The Many Saints of Newark"), Jay Cocks, Chris Columbus (last seen in "Rent"), Palmyra Delran, Michael Des Barres (last seen in "Mulholland Drive"), Dion DiMucci, Lance Freed, David Fricke, Peter Gabriel (last seen in "Nothing Compares"), Gary Gersh, Scott Greenstein, Jimmy Iovine (last seen in "Sheryl"), Joan Jett (last seen in "Dare to Be Different"), Kenny Laguna (ditto), Scott Kempner, Jon Landau (last seen in "Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band"), Darlene Love (last seen in "The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two"), Southside Johnny Lyon, Jesse Malin, Zou Zou Mansour, Paul McCartney (last seen in "Stan Lee"), Melle Mel (last seen in "Quincy"), Willie Nile, Vincent Pastore (last seen in "Night Falls on Manhattan"), Hart Perry, Richard Plepler, Billy Rapaport, Chita Rivera (last seen in "Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story"), Joe Roth, Rich Russo, Richie Sambora, Ted Sarandos, Scorpio, Mike Stoller, Pat Thrall, Zoe Thrall, Gary Trew, Billy Van Zandt, Maureen Van Zandt, Eddie Vedder (last seen in "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop"), Peter Wolf (last seen in "Faye"), Bill Wyman (last seen in "Little Richard: I Am Everything")
with archive footage of Roy Bittan, Clarence Clemons, Danny Federici, Garry Tallent, Max Weinberg (all carrying over from "The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts"), Stiv Bators (last seen in "Tapeheads"), Jeff Beck (last seen in "Moonage Daydream"), Lou Reed (ditto), Pat Benatar, Chuck Berry (last seen in "Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind"), Dick Clark (ditto), Little Richard (ditto), Elvis Presley (ditto), Ed Sullivan (ditto), Steve Biko, Julian Bond (last seen in "John Lewis; Good Trouble"), Jon Bon Jovi (last seen in "Moonlight and Valentino"), Pat Boone (last seen in "Little Richard: I Am Everything"), Bo Diddley (ditto), Alan Freed (ditto), Nona Hendryx (ditto), Brian Jones (ditto), Keith Richards (ditto), Lorraine Bracco (last seen in "Nonnas"), Dominic Chianese (also last seen in "Night Falls on Manhattan"), Jimmy Cliff, George Clinton (last seen in "Bitchin': The Sound and Fury of Rick James"), Lol Creme, Adam Curry (last seen in "Zappa"), Miles Davis (last seen in "Listening to Kenny G"), Sammy Davis Jr. (last seen in "Brats"), Phil Donahue (ditto), David Letterman (ditto), Dean Martin (ditto), Robert De Niro (also last seen in "Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story"), Jonathan Demme, Johnny Depp (also last seen in "Faye"), Lee Dorsey, Bob Dylan (last seen in "Remastered: Tricky Dick and the Man in Black"), Edie Falco (last seen in "Fool's Paradise"), Henry Fonda (last seen in "Call Me Kate"), James Gandolfini (last seen in "The Drop"), Peter Garrett, Kevin Godley, Jeff Goldblum (last seen in "Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story"), Mark J. Goodman, Wavy Gravy (last seen in "We Blew It"), Daryl Hall (last seen in "The Greatest Night in Pop"), John Oates (ditto), George Harrison (also last seen in "Stan Lee"), Ringo Starr (ditto), Herbie Hancock (last seen in "Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President"), Debbie Harry (last seen in "Personality Crisis: One Night Only"), Abbie Hoffman (ditto), David Johansen (ditto), Chrissie Hynde (last seen in "McEnroe"), Michael Imperioli (last seen in "The Night We Never Met"), Mick Jagger (last seen in "Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes"), John Lennon (ditto), Ronald Reagan (ditto), Frank Sinatra (ditto), Peter Jennings (last seen in "Dark Waters"), Varnell Johnson, Stanley Jordan, Eddie Kendricks (last seen in "Hitsville: The Making of Motown"), Jim Kerr (also last seen in "Dare to Be Different"), Bruno Kirby (last seen in "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life"), Patti LaBelle (last seen in "Beauty"), Spike Lee (last seen in "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over"), Nils Lofgren (also last seen in "Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band"), Patti Scialfa (ditto), Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, Nancy Marchand (last seen in "Regarding Henry"), Dave Marsh, Michael Monroe, Sam Moore, Tom Morello (last seen in "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves"), Eddie Murphy (last seen in "Daddy Day Care"), Conan O'Brien (last seen in "Trainwreck: Poop Cruise"), Iggy Pop (last seen in "David Bowie: Out of This World"), Steve Popovich, Margaret Potter, Tom Potter, Dave Prater, Bonnie Raitt (also last seen in "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice"), Joey Ramone (last seen in "Rock 'n' Roll High School"), David Ruffin, Run-D.M.C., Danny Schecter, Steve Schirripa (last seen in "Wonder Wheel"), Tony Sirico (ditto), Gil Scott-Heron (last seen in "Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives"), Paul Shaffer (last seen in "Bathtubs Over Broadway"), Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Nancy Sinatra (last seen in "Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me"), Ronnie Spector (last seen in "The Wrecking Crew!"), Zak Starkey, James Stewart (last seen in "Shining Through"), Pete Townshend (last seen in "The Beach Boys"), John Ventimiglia (last seen in "The Phenom"), Charlie Watts (last seen in "The Stones and Brian Jones"), Brian Williams (last seen in "Inside Job"), Charlie Wilson, Bobby Womack (last seen in "Muscle Shoals"), Ronnie Wood (last seen in "Belushi"),
RATING: 6 out of 10 colorful bandannas (they never really explain his reason for wearing them, but you can find it pretty easily online)
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