Then there's my favorite "Ultimate Gig from Hell" movie, This is Spinal Tap. Not folkie, but definitely a scream. For those who haven't seen it, it's Rob Reiner's parody of "The Last Waltz", in which he plays producer/director Marti DiBergi who is making a movie of the disastrous American tour of his favorite heavy metal band, Spinal Tap ("the loudest band in England"). The band is made up of friends of Reiner's who actually used to get together and play; it was a running joke with them that eventually got made into a movie. The hapless Metal rockers do wonderful send-ups of that style of music (numbers like Working on the Sex Farm, Big Bottom, the pseudo-mystical Stonehenge number, etc.), the pretentiousness of the lead guitar player, the classic girlfriend of the lead vs. rest of the band conflict, and gigs from hell too numerous to mention. Even my died-in-the-wool folkie friends were reduced to helpless giggles by this one!

"My amp goes up to 11..."

"I think D minor is the saddest key.."

"Oh, he died in a tragic gardening accident..."