Two Essential Movies

Everybody in the cover band business ought to immediately rent these two movies: The Commitments and The Blues Brothers.

The bleak landscape of North Dublin produces some great music. Soul covers without pretense, just kind of taking Motown and Memphis and running them through the Irish boys. All of the interpersonal and personnel stuff is TRUE in this movie. I may cringe when they cut to the alto player and the sound track is playing a bari, but every musician I know can relate to the early rehearsals and the time they caught the trumpet player beneath the stairs with one of the singers.

Ray Charles' appearance as a pawnbroker with unexpected sight is alone worth the price of renting The Blues Brothers. That and his stirring rendition of "Shake Your Tailfeather" which has some altogether proloterian choreography.

We'll be convening this Sunday at my brothers house to work some canary tunes with the lovely and talented Janice Jean and a couple of new things I have up my sleeve. Just the rhythm section, the singers and me.

Meanwhile, I've Tivoed these two movies.