Below is the letter I sent to the NY Times---I guess my take, as you know is different. We shall see if "The Gray Lady" prints it since it disagrees with their reviewer---who I can only assume is a newer and younger one never having seen her by-line before.

I would that Jim Brown has seen this letter and appreciated it since he was not thrilled with the review either.

See Below:

Bill Hahn




To the Editor (Arts & Leisure)

It seems to me that Laura Kern has missed the point of the film in her very condescending review. This piece should not be compared to A Mighty Wind but rather to Wasn't That A Time. Jim Brown did not,"...beat the odds"(re:satire), as Ms Kern states, since this work had nothing at all to do with A Mighty Wind.

It is a tribute---plain and simple--to an idealist who was also a businessman and had interests and feelings for people and music that transcended "folk " music. To compare Harold Leventhal to any character in A Mighty Wind does a great disservice to his memory and shows the lack of understanding of the reviewer to the topic she writes about.

The comment,"...younger ones who got their introduction to folk music from Mr. Guest will find only middling interest" (paraphrase) shows that   Ms. Kern did not get a good look at the audience shots in Jim Brown's film. Seems she missed the mix of generations. Both on stage and in the audience.

As to her comment about A Mighty Wind and its wonderful comedic content; a subjective thought delivered as fact. There are those, myself included, that found the film quite inane and more of a send-up of PBS fund raisers featuring aging singers with bad hair pieces.