Scott Von Doviak's Favorites:

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT (1979)



My first exposure to the Who was the 1982 HBO special The Who Rocks America, which was actually shot in Toronto at the final concert of their farewell tour. (That’s their first farewell tour, approximately 37 Who concert tours ago.) I had no idea at the time that this was quite possibly the worst performance they ever gave; I was just enthralled by the whole thing – the songs, the guitar windmilling, the microphone-swinging, and probably the hatred and self-loathing seething from Pete Townshend’s every pore. But it wasn’t until I tracked down a copy of The Kids Are Alright that I really experienced the Who in all their glory. Directed – or, more accurately, assembled – by Jeff Stein, who would go on to direct some of the seminal music videos of the 1980s, Kids is a scrapbook of television performances, promotional video, talk show appearances and assorted Who ephemera. It was exactly the right movie at the right time for any Who fanatic – the equivalent of a bootleg videocassette a few years before such things existed, and a perfect tribute to drummer Keith Moon, who died the year of its release. Watch the above clip from The Smothers Brothers Show carefully, and you can see the exact moment that Townshend’s hearing was damaged forever.

DON’T LOOK BACK (1967)/NO DIRECTION HOME (2005)





D.A. Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back has a deserved reputation as the seminal rockumentary, but to get a full picture of the mercurial Bobby D., it should be watched in tandem with Martin Scorsese’s retrospective documentary in which Dylan, er, looks back. Shot cinema verite style during Dylan’s 1965 tour of England, his last before going electric, Don’t Look Back captures a snapshot in time of the hipster-dandy version of the Bard on the verge of supernova pop stardom. He’s funny, snotty, weird, puckish, contrary and inscrutable, and he always carries a lightbulb. Scorsese’s film covers the same period, as well as Dylan’s early days and his first electric tour (using footage from the misbegotten Eat the Document), with the added perspective of a wizened, plain-spoken, remarkably straightforward Dylan. He doesn’t seem like a guy who’d have much patience for the brat with the giant lightbulb.

LOUDQUIETLOUD: A FILM ABOUT THE PIXIES (2006)



The heyday of the Pixies had long since passed when filmmakers Steve Cantor and Matthew Galkin decided to follow the iconic indie rock band of the 1980s from rehearsal halls to arenas on their recent reunion tour. While lead singer Charles Thompson had achieved some success as solo artist Frank Black, the rest of the band had struggled in the years since its breakup. As loudQUIETloud opens, Bassist Kim Deal is fresh out of rehab, guitarist Joey Santiago is scoring an independent film and drummer David Lovering is barely scraping by as a stage magician. The band members have never been particularly close; as one interested party notes, they may well be the four least communicative people on the planet. As a result, the fascinating loudQUIETloud plays a bit like the alt-rock version of the Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster, as the Pixies try to hold it together through mental breakdowns, family tragedies and those ever-popular musical differences.

Hayden Childs' Favorites:

DANIELSON: A FAMILY MOVIE (OR, MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE HERE) (2006)



Here’s an understatement for you: Danielson is an oddball band. Spurred on by a very positive review at Pitchfork, I bought the 2006 album Ships not long after its release, but I was completely unprepared for the bizarre melange of influences on the album: folk skronk with lightning-quick time changes and sudden silences, led by offputting squeaky vocals, as if Moby Grape were covering The Pixies while fronted by the muppet Beaker. Let’s just say I had a hard time finding a way into the band, so I rented the just-released documentary Danielson: A Family Movie. The movie has a lived-in feeling that shifts the strangeness to familiarity. Here’s some facts about Danielson and the Danielson Family: (1) the band is populated by siblings, spouses, and very close friends, (2) the band is led by the eldest sibling Daniel Smith, who formed the band as part of his senior thesis in art at Rutgers, (3) the band is explicitly Christian, if you can bother to parse the obscurant lyrics, (4) the band has a homemade-art aesthetic that includes matching outfits, synchronized dance movements, two drummers, and a giant cloth tree with holes for Daniel Smith to poke his head and arms through, allowing him to perform from within the tree like a born-again nature spirit. It’s weird, but also rather delightful in execution. The documentary has such a matter-of-fact way of dealing with the oddball Danielson path through life that they do feel like family by the end. The music makes sense. There is perhaps too much focus on how the band’s indie-rock fans feel about their Christianity (because, really, who cares?), but it’s a forgivable lapse. Extras on the DVD include a few of their silly, but also touching, videos.

I AM TRYING TO BREAK YOUR HEART: A MOVIE ABOUT WILCO (2002)



The story of Wilco’s 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is an archetypal rock fable: the band, signed to a major label, records an album that is too strange for the executives to understand. The label asks the band to modify their vision, to make something more commercial. The band sticks to their guns, and the label cuts the band loose. The band spends a little time in the wilderness, and finally another label picks the band up and releases the album. It’s a huge success. Now here’s the other side: this isn’t exactly what happened to Wilco. It’s close, sure. But there’s other forces at play. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is the story of Wilco in the wilderness, and it’s a time of great upheaval. The major battle in the story isn’t Wilco versus the record labels, but rather Wilco songwriter Jeff Tweedy versus Wilco guitarist/keyboardist/producer Jay Bennett. Bennett had arguably pushed Wilco in the creative direction that produced Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but Tweedy had a definite vision and as the album was recorded, he appeared to be moving towards the idea that his current bandmates were not up to meeting his vision. As the documentary starts, Tweedy has just replaced longtime drummer Ken Coomer with avant-rock guy Glenn Kotche. Tweedy goes on to ask another avant-rock guy, Jim O’Rourke, to remix the song “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart,” effectively making room for Bennett’s eventual ouster. It’s a fascinating look at the group dynamics behind the scenes, but probably most meaningful to fans of the band.

Click Here For Part One, Two, Three, Four, Five & Seven

Contributors: Scott Von Doviak, Hayden Childs