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