Review: A Mighty Wind

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 May 03 - 02:07 PM

Amazingly, this movie is still showing in Portland East at five (5) different times. When I was there at 3 pm there were thirty (30) other people of all ages laughing their sides out.

I'm now in the process of forming a support group for the fuller appreciation of "colors" in the world around us. Anyone want to join? We don't need any donations, yet, but you could always send a donation to Mudcat.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 May 03 - 01:12 PM

I was driving back from Toronto, and passed a gigantic movie multi-plex place near Newmarket, saw that "A Mighty Wind" was playing, and went in to see it.

Well, the movieplex itself was quite an experience. What you have in there is a total sensory assault from the word "go": Raving videogame machines (including one that requires the player to dance on a mini-disco floor to earn points...this guy played it three times in a row and was drenched with sweat by the end), blaring music from god knows how many speakers, giant hanging cartoon figures rotating around under the cathedral ceiling, shining glass and metal watchacallums overwhelming the visual apparatus on all sides, about 15 fast food outlets to stuff your face at, people in uniforms all over the place, and about 20 or so movies to go to....GAAAAHHHHHH!!! It was like a nightmare.

And it was as totally unlike folk music (or the old-time movie theaters of yore) as anything could be.

So, I bought my ticket and went into my little private section of the madhouse. It was nice inside there. These places have superb seating, I'll give 'em that. Much better than in the old movie houses.

Then I got to watch about 10 minutes of advertising for everything from designer jeans to hairspray. Oh joy.

Then I got to watch trailers for either six, seven, or eight movies that I don't EVER want to see! F**king unbelievable. I was beginning to wonder how long I had been there by this point, not having actually seen the movie I paid to see yet.

The trailers all had the same assh*le with the portentious voice (a half-whisper, combined with a steely delivery) who does the soundtrack on all movie trailers...he must make a fortune. Either that or they've cloned a whole bunch of him...

And then...at last...A Mighty Wind.

Well, it was very enjoyable. Quite funny too. And surprisingly, very touching in places. Catherine O'Hara just acted superbly...she couldn't have made it seem any realer. Eugene Levy's "Mitch" was a pathetic wreck of a man...but you could really relate to the connection between him and Mikki, and they did the songs very sweetly.

The funny thing is, I've always thought of myself as a "folkie", but the kind of folk music that is portrayed in this film...it was totally passe by 1962 as far as I was concerned! It was so incredibly corny...all those trios, quartets, quintets, neuftets, whatever...in their preppy suits...singing their corny songs about "the old grey goose she ain't what she used to be". Ay, yi, yi!

Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Buffy-Sainte Marie (and Lightfoot and Ian and Sylvia and many others) were in the process of replacing that archaic stuff with something utterly different and far more meaningful...and what they did between 1960 and now is "folk" to me.

So, it seems really funny to me that the word "folk" summons up in people's minds what was portrayed in "A Mighty Wind".

I think I'm gonna stop calling myself a "folksinger".

(Just kidding!)

Oh, and I was the ONE and ONLY person who went to see "A Mighty Wind" in Newmarket that day at that show. I had that little theatre space totally to myself. Accordingly, I booed the commercials, danced in the aisles, made gestures of praying desperately for release while the trailers were going, and applauded the projectors when they finally ended!

Next door was playing "The Matrix Reloaded", and I bet the room was absolutely crammed full of viewers, crunching their popcorn. I'll go later for that one, when the crowds have lessened. :-)

- LH

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: harpgirl
Date: 16 May 03 - 09:32 PM

I saw it tonight. This thread is way better than the movie. A twenty something girl next to me laughed through the entire movie. My son laughed. I tried to get him to leave but he wanted to see thw whole movie. He said, "Mom, you don't understand folk music like I do!" with a wry laugh!

I preferred the eminem movie, Eight Mile!

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 13 May 03 - 11:33 PM

marie-aine,

I want to see it again too. I think I will buy it when it comes out on DVD, it is worth watching many times over.

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: maire-aine
Date: 13 May 03 - 09:45 PM

I had last Friday off, so I went to see it; it was its first day in the Detroit area. I just loved it. It has some very funny scenes, but it was not at all cruel. Guest and his cohorts were very kind to the old folkies. I plan to see it again, because I know I missed a lot the first time.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From:
Date: 13 May 03 - 11:26 AM

Was watching Christopher Guest on Charlie Rose last night. VERY interesting. Had gone to a free showing last week of the show, and enjoyed it immensely. My friend, who IS one of those folkies from the 60s/70s, said she was going to run out of the theatre,if she saw herself in any of the characters. She did, but stayed to watch the whole thing. Laughing all the way.

Mr Guest said that he doesn't really "script" most of his movies. . He sets up a scene, with characters in place, tells the characters what the scene is to accomplish, and let them go at it. Before the movie even begins, he and the other writers, (in this case Eugene Levy), would come up with the basic scenes, and a thorough back-story for each character and how they interact with each other. All of the dialogue is generated on the fly, for freshness, right on the spot.

Apparently, the singing on stage was all done live, and by the actors themselves.

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 May 03 - 08:50 AM

And it's even a compelling enough film to make me want to reread this entire thread! Love to see this one with Frank, Rick, Peg et al.

Maybe I'll propose "A Mighty Wind Open-Mik Night" for our next monthly coffeehouse. A Parody of a parody of a...

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, who's still chuckling

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 May 03 - 06:25 PM

I did get to see it! Now I'll have to drag several other folks in to see it as a group experience. Maybe our group could do this instead of our regular Wednesday evening rehearsal/revearsal.

I disdained much of this music in the 1960's, so I loves to see it lampooned. But then I also got caught up with the group dynamics; some of it's extremely painful as well as funny if you've been through something similar.

Imagine another group doing the song your group was planning to do, and you're next up at the big concert!

I'm sure Mudcat will get a whole new list of lyric requests.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 12 May 03 - 06:09 PM

Doug R opened a new thread (now closed) because nothing came up for him in the DT. I checked. It doesn't come up on mighty. One thread comes up on mighty wind. Usually the shortest is the bestest, but not for this one.
When will it hit the rental shops?

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: PoppaGator
Date: 12 May 03 - 05:47 PM

The film *just* opened in New Orleans. I haven't seen it yet, but my 20-year-old son went over the weekend. Mike has a pretty sophisticated sense of humor, and is a big-time fan of all the previous films by this looney group. He enjoyed it, but said "I know I missed some of the jokes because I'm not familiar enough with what they're poking fun at." I think this is probably a testament to the subtlety of the film's approach, and I continue to look forward to seeing it. Probably within a couple of days.

Mike was reluctant to say too much, for fear of spoiling it for his mother and me, but did allow that Fred Willard was off-the-charts hilarious, continuing to outdo himself, and that Eugene Levy's character was so pathetic it almost wasn't funny -- with the emphasis on *almost*!

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: denise:^)
Date: 12 May 03 - 05:11 PM

I was looking forward to the concert in this movie, too!

The whole thing was just a lot more fun than I've had in a long time. I may even have to sneak back to the theater *before* it comes out on video...

Denise:^)
...still smiling over it all...

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: DonMeixner
Date: 12 May 03 - 04:58 PM

I have chuckled at all the paid reviewers who have release lots of type on this film and seemed to have missed the point. Obviously they weren't musicians or knew anything about folkmusic beyond the type of music so wonderfully skewered here.

One person said some people will just never get the point of this one. Roger Ebert cetainly never did.

I found myself forgetting this was a lampoon at one point. I was genuinely looking forward to this performance. While I enjoyed Best in SHow, I never cared for or became interested in those people on the screen. Not so with this one. At times it seemed as if I was watching two different films.

I agree with Seamus about the songs too. My band could do a serious job of Mighty Wind and some of our friends would never connect the song and the movie and they'd love it. We are after all just Kingston Trio clones with drums. (Andy Cooney called us The Irish Beachboys at on show we shared.)

Don

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Jim the Bart
Date: 12 May 03 - 04:58 PM

Got to agree about the soundtrack - it's terrific in its own way. The problem is that its so close to the real thing that most casual listeners (like my dearest wife and kids) can't tell the difference between the parody (a mighty wind)and the real thing (the albums Dad listens to when he'sworking in the basement).

My favorite things - and there are so many - The comment by somebody at the pre-show party at the dead promoter's palacial digs: "Who said you can't make money in folk music" (or something to that effect). . .

The quaver in the high tenor of the Folksmen, so like Glenn Yarborough and the Limeliters. . .

The recording quality of the Mitch & Mickey songs; they are really tender, even if totally corny. Reminiscent of Richard & Mimi Farina. . .

The relentless cheerfulness of the (New) Main Street Singers, so like the Serendipity Singers, as they all acted out their assigned role in "Potatoes in the Paddy Wagon". Not to mention the shmaltz and corn that all those "demented 6th chords" or whatever added to "Never Did No Wandering". A band like that deserved a manager that never really liked folk music - and back in the day they inevitably ended up with one one. Too bad we never got to see them play behind the strippers, which was another one of those inevitable "career moves".

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: GUEST
Date: 12 May 03 - 04:21 PM

Charlie you may be too late. It's already in North Dakota

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 12 May 03 - 01:29 PM

Saw it with my son last night and we nearly peed our pants laughing.
Some really tender moments too with Levy and Catherine O'Hara, especially the rose and the non-kiss. I don't want to give too much away, but it's well worth seeing.
I think we've all encountered Bob Balaban's fussy concert organizer too.
I for one, am going to start doing some of the songs from the show without telling the audience where I got them, just to see if there are any flickers of recognition.....

Seamus

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 May 03 - 01:07 PM

Guest and Levy simply take reality a few steps over the line in these things. I swear to you that everyone in "Best in Show" is out there in the show dog world. If you have ever been involved in community theater or a town's anniversary celebration or even a yearly festival, then you know all those people in "Guffman."

The song lyrics remind me of a true story which makes the film even more real........Dave Van Ronk wrote what is to me one of his dumbest songs alternately known as "River Come Down" and "Bamboo" as it was called when recorded by PPM. It's a kinda' dumb thing at best. Anyway, it's the late sixties and I'm at our campus coffeehouse in Berea. Once a month we had these huge nights where we had kids from UK and EKU and anywhere else there as an open mic thing. WE had moved past PPM, liked Dylan's stuff, but were discovering Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson. A lot of the UK and EKU groups and singles were still in the hootenanny phase.

On this night,a trio was singing "Bamboo" which they had learned from PPM but somehow never tied the title to what they were singing and it resulted in a "Group Mondegreen" of sorts. The first verse is:

You take a stick of bamboo,
you take a stick of bamboo,
you take a stick of bamboo,
you throw it in the water,
Oh, oh, Hanaah.

........and then you repeat it again. I turned to Jeff next to me and said, "Are they saying bamboo or pepper?" He agreed it was pepper as well and we both cracked up. First, the song is stupid enough; why are you throwing bamboo in the water? But second, when did pepper start coming in sticks? And even if it did, would you have chunk of it with you at the river? And more to the point, didn't these people read the title and figure out that the word was bamboo? Obviously not. We talked to them later and the one guy insisted we were wrong!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: denise:^)
Date: 12 May 03 - 12:15 PM

I went last night with a group of about 8 of us from our folk group, and we were all amused! (My face was stiff for hours from laughing...)

A friend of ours warned us: "Be ready to really be 'bashed' in this film...," but I honestly don't think that all folk musicians were bashed any more than all married couples are 'bashed' in a film with silly couples, or all teachers are 'bashed' in a film with silly teachers, or--well, you get the picture! It was a funny film that revolved around trying to set up a memorial folk concert...   The lyrics to the 'folk' songs were a scream!)
"There's a puppy in the corner, and a kettle on the stove,
And a smelly old blanket that a Navajo wove..."

The only thing I can think of that's funnier than the film is that there REALLY IS a soundtrack CD, and people will buy it and listen! I may require medical attention the first time someone comes to the coffehouse and requests "There's a Kiss at the end of the Rainbow" or "Never Did No Ramblin'" -- I'm sure I'll bust a gut laughing!

I already know that I *have* to see this again!

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Amos
Date: 12 May 03 - 01:48 AM

Sure hope someone drags Kendall over to see it....


A

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Melani
Date: 12 May 03 - 12:57 AM

My favorite part of the concert was when the organizer warned the audience not to eat the flower arrangements.

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 11 May 03 - 10:17 PM

I was going to wait for the video, but I heard too many favourable reviews and decided to see it today. I loved it. Levy stole the show, although I thought the Bohners were great too. I'm sure that I missed a lot of the in jokes that Rick and others here got, but still, I thought it was very very funny.

Lars didn't get his Crane shot, he's in good company.

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 May 03 - 11:22 AM

This flick has finally made Portland, ME, where it will tread water for at least 24 hours before racing off to North Dakota.

Gotta rush!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 11 May 03 - 01:18 AM

PS: No, 'Spaw, but that's only because I don't believe they exist. But I confess that I feel a little depressed whenever I see a charango. The poor little feller never had a chance...

And don't get me started on a ukelin.

Aloha,
Mark
(who should probably talk to somebody about this...)

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 11 May 03 - 12:50 AM

Nerd, I think the movie wasn't intending to show the whole concert. That would have ruined the movie in my opinion. Folk music was one element of the movie. Guest couldn't make the movie to appeal solely to folk music fans or it would have been a bomb.

As it exists, there were enough subtle references.   The Weaver's documentary "Wasn't That A Time" was obviously the inspiration for the Folksman "reunion" rehearsal at the picnic.    I even saw elements of "The Ballad of Rambling Jack" documentary when the Folksmen were driving around lost in NYC.   If you saw "Rambling Jack" you might remember the scene where he was trying to find his old home and driving around without a clue. The songs that we heard in film were PERFECT satires on the folk tunes of that era.   "Blood on the Coal" is every disaster ballad rolled into one. Check out the CD - it is a hoot!

I can't wait for the DVD. I am sure there will be more outakes and perhaps entire songs. If you check out A Mighty Wind's website you will find a number of outtakes.

It really was a warm and funny film. Not a sidesplitter like the others, but a film that will make you laugh if you have a sense of humor and don't take things too seriously.

Ron

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 10 May 03 - 11:30 PM

Yeah, and you should see what I'm like with help...

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 May 03 - 11:08 PM

Mark, you are a hoot all by yourself!

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 May 03 - 09:54 PM

Geez Mark, I bet a tiple put you into the psych ward!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 10 May 03 - 08:29 PM

You know, I'm surprised that no Mudcatters have commented on the fact that Guest makes all these movies and stuff and never even signs in as a member. I mean, what's he afraid of?

Aloha,
Mark

PS, Frank, I remember watching the New Christy Minstrels on the "Hootenanny" TV show (I must have been about 8 or 9) and thinking, "Wow, that guy is playing a tambourine on a stick!" Of course, the first time I ever saw somebody playing a mandolin was when I was in medical school and saw a performance by a student/resident bluegrass band. I was familiar with 12-string guitars, so I thought that this must be an 8-string ukulele. Sort of a visual Mondegreen, I guess.

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Nerd
Date: 10 May 03 - 01:11 AM

Ron, He could have read the label, but even though the word Linda is singing is a declension of "Mbube," which is the Zulu word for "lion," it doesn't sound like it. It sounds more like "Wimoweh."

Don, I agree. In fact, by cutting between the singers onstage and the backstage antics, but leaving the stage performances audible in the background, they not only short shrift the audience on the stage performance, they also make a disastrous continuity blunder: we hear the entirety of the concert in real time, whether we see the onstage part or the backstage part. It is impossible, with the sound of the concert playing as an unbroken flow, that there were more somgs that we just didn't hear. Which means this was a twenty-minute concert in which each act did an opener and a closer and that's it! Oops!

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: DonMeixner
Date: 09 May 03 - 09:53 PM

Just saw this film. Liked it a lot. My only complaint: Not enough of the stage performance.

Don

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: reggie miles
Date: 29 Apr 03 - 09:25 PM

I saw the song that the trio performed on Mad TV and I'm sorry, but I failed to see or hear a great deal of humor there. I wanted more than just passable folk music and sixties costuming. I recognized two of the three guys from that group from their work in other films. I've seen them in better roles. I read a review/interview posted in a local paper the next day that explained that much of the character development and humor was improvised by the individual actors and not part of any team writing effort. The actors explained in the article how much fun they had doing it that way. While I'm certain they did indeed have fun working together that way, I don't think their efforts were effective. While watching the Mad TV spot I found myself waiting for something really funny to happen and it never showed. If the spot on Mad is any example of what takes place during the rest of the film I don't think I'll be joining some of the rest of you at the movies for this one.

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 29 Apr 03 - 06:45 PM

Nerd, my mistake for calling it a field recording. It was a 78 that Alan Lomax received and gave to Seeger to listen to. While Seeger did have trouble making out the words, I'm not sure why he didn't read the record label!

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Nerd
Date: 29 Apr 03 - 03:54 AM

It may be true, by the way, that the movie is not sharply critical enough. But the lyrics are. Listen to "Never Did No Wanderin'"; it's all about not having had any of the iconic experiences folksingers sing about. By using such evocative imagery as "the dance of the telephone poles" and "the singing of the driving wheel," it just underscores how easy it is to put such imagery in songs and still be totally clueless about the lives you're singing about. Basically, this song points out how empty of authentic experience such "folksinging" is. Other songs, too ("Old Joe's Place," "Skeletons of Quinto," etc) make explicit mention of not having actually had the experiences they are about, so much so that it becomes a unifying theme to the soundtrack.

BTW, the soundtrack album is worth it just for their cover of "Start Me Up"; listen to the end, it's a riot!

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Nerd
Date: 28 Apr 03 - 03:49 PM

Re: A Mighty Wind: It's great, and the soundtrack CD equally hilarious!

Re: Mbube, Pete Seeger did not intentionally change the words; he had no idea what the words were. He was brought a 78 of Solomon Linda (not Jonathan Linder) singing the original, which was essentially improvised in the studio. He couldn't make out the words, which are in Zulu and essentially mean "Hey Lion, you are a lion," and therefore sang "a wimoweh" instead. The original was not a field recording, but a very early South African pop recording (which is, of course, a minor distinction), but the song was definitley composed by Linda. Actually, the Weavers' version has very few words, and is mostly swooping wordless vocals of the "OOOHHH-AAAHHH" sort. The familiar "Lion Sleeps Tonight" words were added later.

Pete instructed his publisher to send his half of the royalties to Linda, but didn't really verify that the latter had done so; he did not, therefore, "make sure" that the royalties reached Linda. Moreover, because the rights to the original had been bought by the publisher and not by Pete, Pete was only entitled to royalties from the Weavers' version; the publisher, under the assumed name "Paul Campbell" took the rest, and may have swiped most of Pete's share, too, though the legal proof of this is damnably hard to establish (Linda's South African lawyer may have feathered his nest too). The bottom line was that Linda and his children got a few thousand bucks, and they all died relatively poor--though Linda made decent prize money singing competitively until shortly before his death.

Sorry to be a downer, but the story is pretty sordid. None of it, though, was Pete's fault; it was the unjust roll of the dice that most Black South Africans were given.

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Amos
Date: 28 Apr 03 - 12:30 PM

Denise:

Don't let it bother you love -- I can't count the number of things I missed because I basically wasn't born yet -- everyone's got some....

:>)


A

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: denise:^)
Date: 28 Apr 03 - 12:23 PM

I can't wait for it to finally show up around here...

I missed the folk music scene the first time around, basically because I wasn't born yet...
Still, I'm thinking it must be some prescribed course of study: first Kingston Trio, then on to the next, and the next... I went the whole way through all the groups, right up to the present! (I picked them all up at used record stores when I became interested in folk music. Funny how they sounded okay at first, and then started sounding hokey, and I'd move on to the next--kinda like my own personal "folk scare!")
Reading these posts reminded me of one of those old Kingston Trio albums. I can't remember what song it was, but one of the guys was introducing it, and he says, in quite a serious and scholarly tone of voice, "It was ORIGINALLY a love song, and possibly a lullaby BEFORE THAT..."
Guest could have lifted that line right off the album and put it into the movie!
Gotta see it...

Denise:^)

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Frankham
Date: 28 Apr 03 - 09:53 AM

Ron, I don't think Pete misinterpreted "Wimoweh". He did change the words though so that people could sing the song easier. "Mbumuba" would be harder to sing. He even made sure that the royalties reached Johnathan Linder, the source for the song.

Frank

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Amos
Date: 28 Apr 03 - 02:53 AM

I gotta tell ya folks, it has been 6 hours since the movie got out and I am STILL laughing. The sound track music started playing int he theater 20 minutes before the film, the screen still dark, and I was in stitiches by the time the movie started just listening to the lyrics. It is one dry, subtle take-off, rip-off, twist and spoof after another from end to end and I was glad I was sitting alone so I wouldn't be embarassing anyone with the spontaneous chortles I kept springing. It was a pure hoot and I am very glad I went.

"Gee -- when you put it like that, it's almost like poetry!"

Guest is purely amazing, amazing. I love his ass.

A

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: GUEST,John Bauman
Date: 26 Apr 03 - 04:46 PM

I thought "Best of Show" was a riot! Funny thing...

I'm REALLY into the "dog world" -- I participate in agility and obedience and am a member of two obedience/training clubs.

Interesting observation -- the "dog people" all seemed to think the movie was as funny as I......

......but they failed to see themselves in it.


hmmmmmmm.

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: JJ
Date: 26 Apr 03 - 08:26 AM

Well, Ron, maybe... But Begley's character supposed to be from-Sweden Swedish!

"I would love to see Crabbetown in the autumn..."

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 07:37 PM

JJ - Begley's mispronunciation was probably part of the joke. Think of all those crappy songs that were sung in other languages by such folksingers. Do you think they took the time to learn the proper pronunciation?

Remember the story of Wimoweh - Pete Seeger misinterpreted the field recording he heard of the original.

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: catspaw49
Date: 25 Apr 03 - 05:07 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Steve-o
Date: 22 Apr 03 - 12:55 PM

I agree- it was a "charmer", but not enough bite for me. They missed a whole bunch of characters that should have been there- for example, where was the guy who dressed up in his business suit and went down to some big office building to spend his day writing "folk songs"?? Anyway, as Frank said, Guest and Levy sure did a great job of both writing and playing the music. The insipid, knuckleheaded Main Street Singers (playing the part of the group we used to call the "Crusty Nostrils") were quite perfect. Most of the instruments were correct, as noted, with the glaring exception of the Ovation. Nick Reynolds played a 4-string Martin- I couldn't see clearly if that was the type in the movie. Fun, really well-done movie, but I wanted a lot more satire.

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: JJ
Date: 22 Apr 03 - 08:51 AM

My Swedish friend Birgitta writes:

"Hur aer laeget lilla gumman" (How's It Hangin' Grandma) is colloquial Swedish and idiomatically correct. So much so that the Guest/Levy writing team must have asked someone who grew up in Sweden to give them the wording.

But Ed Begley pronounces it so badly that it took me several viewings of the trailer to get it. That's my only beef with the movie -- couldn't they have taken the trouble to get him to say it right? I mean, he's an *actor*, surely he took Dialects and Accents 101 or whatever in college...

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Melani
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 10:36 PM

I saw Ebert & Roeper's review the other night. Roger said it wasn't as satirical as it might be because it was too close to reality. I gotta admit, some of the guys looked AWFULLY familiar. But then, Garrison Keillor once did a skit about a church youth group doing folk performances that was the story of my teenaged life. Our biggest hit show was at the state mental hospital...

I played the Kingston Trio's version of "Santy Anna" for my daughter, who learned traditional chanteys at the Hyde Street Pier Chantey Sing. She rolled on the floor in hysterics. But the other night, as I was singing it, I realized that that was where I learned "The Greenland Fisheries", and I'm still using the same words. Oh well, I guess we can't escape our past.

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Frankham
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 06:51 PM

A tenor guitar by Folksmen was used ala KT.   Was it Nick Reynolds played it or Bob Shane? (Can't remember). They looked to be Martins which would be consistent. There were two types of banjos, one long neck Seeger style (definitely in the period) and a resonator type.

Got to have a banjo in the Main Street Singers along with the guitars.
The vocal arrangements were actually quite good, nice spread and skillfully done. The voices were good but this is true with the groups that Sparks and others put together. The music was just plain funny in that it caught the musical cliches of the period. The "oohs" and "doohs" in the background while the vocal was in progress were hilarious, I thought. Got the feeling that the soundtrack contained overdubs to suggest larger than life arrangements. Also, the typical hokey endings with a big crescendo and finish ala 1940's pop vocal groups were a nice touch.

THe patter used by the groups was similar to what Gibson and Camp as well as others such as Bud and Trav used to use at the Gate of Horn. You even hear the far-out commentary in the patter used by some contemporary singer/songwriters when introducing their material. The innocent, ludicrous attempts at profundity, cliches about pseudo-humanitarianism and "serious" intimacy was caught beautifully. Every coffee house in the country must have it's own Mitch.

Ovation guitars weren't in vogue then. didn't see 'em.

There were apparently instrumenalist consultants to show the cast how to play the instruments but I'll bet a lot of the sound was pre-recorded or dubbed in.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: voyager
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 05:28 PM

TOPIC = GUITAR ENSEMBLES
Frankham's Remarks --
"It brought back memories of The New Christy Minstrels,(early John
Denver)(Barry McGuire) Back Porch Majority, Serendipity Singers,
Rooftop Singers (yes there was a little sendup in there with the 12
string), Limelighters, KT, Up With People, Brothers Four"

This posting has a couple of themes....

   1. Loved "A Mighty Wind" and it made me wonder
       For a 'neuf-tet' like the New Main Street Singers
       would the instrumentalists play the same guitar model?

   2. What models of guitar did anyone notice?

   3. What type of arranging is required for projecting more than
       3 acoustic guitarists in a full-ensemble sound?

   4. Hypothetical answer to #1-3 - OVATION GUITARS?

"Never Did No Wandering" <-- Not!
voyager
FSGW Ghetto.

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 03:54 PM

Outstanding review Frank...and Peg's post following is an excellent piece as well. Both lead me to say something that I think Guest is absolutely sure of.

I don't think he believes he's making films for the masses nor does he think he's in the art film business with a tiny market either. I think he views his audience as he probably see himself. People of above average intelligence who appreciate subtle humor as muc as a belly laugh. He knows it's necessary to have some knowledge of the subject being lampooned, but at the same time knows that only a limited knowledge is required. He walks a fine line in the subject matter knowing that while many may recognize something for what it is, others see it only as he presents it nd are still capable of getting the joke. Hence the non-use of folks like Doc Watson.

It isn't needed to be a serious rocker to grin, chuckle, squirm, and laugh at Spinal Tap. Community theatre isn't a prerequisite for "Guffman." Many of my friends wished he's done deeper stuff with Best In Show yet to do more would have required an audience knowledge much higher than he wanted to rely on. I think he relies on the intelligence of the audience to take in the jokes and the only slighly overdrawn characters. Those characters are often people we KNOW to some degree or another and the improv/build your own character style and dialogue is what makes the stuff so damn funny! Someone mentioned Fred Willard's "usual schtick"......Although I agree it's a well used persona of his, it fit well into the bozo he played in Guffman and it was perfect for taking the piss out of Joe Garagiola in Best In Show. Many were familiar with Joe G's narrations of the Westminster Kennel Club show and Fred really did one helluva' job!

I figure this will hit the HBO/Showtime circuit within a few months as did BIS.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Peg
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 12:29 PM

thanks Frank for all that wonderful "insider" information!

I had thought of "Up With People" when confronted with he new main Street Singers too...

I think one reason there are mixed reviews about this is that a lot of critics simply may not be familiar with this particular segment of the "folk scene." (I know I'm not, but didn't try to pretend I was in my review either).

I remember the early buzz about this film and people were speculating about which artists wuld be spoofed and for the most part were thinking of people like the Guthries, the Seegers, Leadbelly, Doc watson, Dylan, Baez, Joni Mithcell, Crosby, Stills and Nash, etc. But this bland and white-bready sort of folk, as non-political as one can get, that is sent up in the film, does not have quite the familiarity of the folk-rock stuff...so I also think people who are lukewarm abotu it were expecting something rather different than what they got.

I would agree the humor is not as accessible and universal as Best in Show or Spinal Tap...but to me this shows these filmmakers and actors can achieve great things even with more obscure material. Seems to me they had a soft spot for this particular era...

I think they should do a film on the pagan community next!

peg

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Frankham
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 12:05 PM

We saw it yesterday. It brought back memories of The New Christy Minstrels,(early John Denver)(Barry McGuire) Back Porch Majority, Serendipity Singers, Rooftop Singers (yes there was a little sendup in there with the 12 string), Limelighters, KT, Up With People, Brothers Four and a look-alike for Peter Yarrow and Bob Gibson in the Folksmen. Ramblin Sandy Pitnick was there. I have actually heard the diatribe against "commercialism" by one of these types of groups.

I disagree with the reviewer for the NY Times. There was a great political sendup in that Randy Sparks et. al. including many of the folk icons were not political in the least. They were show biz figures who found a way to the market. That was one of the points of the movie. Even "Kwinto"(quinto for Fifth Brigade)by the "historian" in the Folksmen drawn from the Spanish Civil War made that point cleanly.

One hilarious moment is when the Main Street Singers do an intense pseudo-Lonesome Travler type song and end up with the major chord (a hoky arrangment device used ad nauseum in those days) had me on the floor.

Mitch and Mickey were composite Roman-a-clefs which it would not be prudent for me to mention. They were very touching in their innocence. The cult-like call of the performers to the stage to see if Mitch and Mickey would kiss at the end reminds me of the nonsensical discussions people would have in Cambridge about Joan Baez's love life. The question offered in those days was "does Joan really know love?"

There was a peculiar little magazine in the Fifties (a throwaway mimeod thing) called Gardy-Loo floating around the streets of Greenwich Village Washington Square that had a gossipy quality not unlike the mindless banter in the movie groups' rehearsals. I think the film makers did their research well. They might have been there.

I remember Randy Sparks' Ledbetters in LA as well as Doug Westons' Troubador where I was an erstwhile musical consultant for an ill- fated group called the Men which later shrivelled into the Association. I remember a squeaky clean John Denver in the New Christy Minstrels. Irving Steinbloom might have been a sanitized version of the late Al Grossman or a sendup of Harold Leventhal (though both were and are more astute music people then Steinbloom and family. The stage set with it's significant Arch at Washington Square was a nice touch.

There was the obligatory scholar who gave his bearded erudition on the folk scene as well.

The movie caught the innocence of that time. The obligatory reunion concert says much for the drippy nostalgia that many "folkies" have.
There was no malice in the movie though, which I respected. The lyrics for the send-up songs were quite clever. They had a kind of banality that one even hears today in the guise of "folk music". I love this mis-appropriated bad rhyme scheme of "e-qual-i-tee" in the song Mighty Wind.

It seemed to me that I had met all of those people personally in my travels from LA to NY to Boston to Chicago. Love to get my friend Erik Darling's take on the movie since he was a part of that scene for a while with the Tarriers and the Rooftops. The movie could have used Al Arkin who could have put a great comic edge into it.

The picture is a "hoot" in every sense of the word. I liked the audience animal calls lead by the songleading Folksmen. They weren't as funny as Lou Gottlieb, though. i remember Lou's take on the "autonomous C chord". He spoofed himself and the pop-folkie revival while he was taking part in it.

All in all, it was fun. Not as satirical as it could have been had they consulted above mentioned people such as Arkin, Darling and some others. Will Holt, Jean Raskin and others could have added a touch or two. Actually, the practitioners of the commercial folkie scene could have added their own touches. Trav Edmondsen could give them some funny stuff.

They could have Alan Lomax's drunken ranting and raving at Bud and Trav at the Village Gate or Alan and Al Grossman wrestling at Newport like folk sumi wrestlers over the amplification of Paul Butterfield. But these are topics for another film. Maybe they should have a sequel. I'd go. It was Positively Fourth Street.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Review: A Mighty Wind
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 08:59 AM

Maybe I missed the whole point of The Songcatcher. Was it also supposed to be a satire?

Well, I might as well wait for the video/DVD. That's the only way I ever got to see Cold Comfort Farm, based on a wonderful 1920's satirical book by Stella Gibbons.

Charley Noble