Just got home from seeing this totally enjoyable movie. Enjoyable from many angles.
First time flmmaker Todd Kwait tells his personal story from his first knowledge, in the '90s, of Gus Cannon, learned from his teen idol, John Sebastion, through his enjoyably obsessive quest of everything he could learn about Gus Cannon and the jug band scene of the '20s.
Along the way he also learns a great deal about the jug band revivalists of the '60s and we hear their own stories and passions about the music in many interviews and performances. I was sitting directly behind Jim Kweskin, with his wife and Geoff Muldaur to his right, Chris Strachwitz to his left, Maria Muldaur in front of Chris. I tried to catch a glimpse of Geoff's face at particularly intense moments (the film was dedicated to Fritz Richmond, of whom there was much footage) and often caught him glancing at Jim with a grin or a knowing look. One high point was some footage of a very young Fritz saying '"Well, if you looked at me, you might think I was a freak. Well maybe I am, maybe not. But if I pick up a jug and start blowing into it, you KNOW I'm a freak." Geoff shouted "Yeah" to the heavens and turned to Jim saying, "That's it!"
We feel Todd's enthusiasm when his idol, John Sebastion, expresses his interest in getting involved in the process and they meet in Greenwich Village. We follow him as he travels to various sites in the jug band past, looking (unsuccessfully) for Noah Lewis' grave, poking around a shack where Lewis lived for his later years and touring the ruins of Minglewood, the ghost of a mill town on the river near Memphis. Footage of discovering Gus Cannon's grave was provided by Delmark Goldfarb, who was also interviewed. I met Delmark last year at the Portland Waterfront Blues Fest, where he had set up the Fritz Tribute that the Hohoppas played in, and we were talking with others outside the theatre before the show, when Kweskin and Muldaur pulled up in taxis and joined the discussion.
Todd also looks for the future of jug band music, first by following John, Jim and Geoff to the Yokahama Jug Fest, where some very intense performances in Japanese are seen, including a group dressed in chefs outfits, the Southern Chefs, playing Banjolere(?), with about 4 banjos and 3 jugs. Those folks are very into this music and the audiences were young and mostly women it seemed. Second, by interviewing the members of the Sankofa Strings (now the Carolina Chocolate Drops).
It was a good choice to follow his own path of discovery as it kept the narrative personal and made it more than a straight documentary. It also made it alright that the movie didn't try to cover every aspect of the early scene (for instance the MJB was only covered briefly) because Todd was following his own muse. For me, there was more to be learned about the '60s than the '20s but I'm sure many will learn a lot about both eras.
Some of the '60s footage was just too much! Sebastian on autoharp leading the Loving Spoonfull doing Jug Band Music, early footage of the Kweskin band featuring the enigmatic Mel Lyman singing on one song (damn, I can't remember the song now) and the young and lovely Maria Muldaur singing another. Heck, they were all so young. As usual, there wasn't time to present whole songs, and I was left wondering where I could get ahold of the full length footage. (Todd?)
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and the event, except for one small issue: I'm sensitive to jiggly camera work and there were stretches of hand held footage, which gave much of the road trips and backstage footage a nice "home movie" feel, but left me feeling a little nauseous. A minor note and something that probably doesn't effect most.
Some of our PT friends had cameos as interviewees or performers: Paul Rachel and Annie Raines, Maria, of course, and David Evans sang a jug band song, with a harp player, sitting in the Mississippi woods.
As I said, the film was dedicated to Fritz Richmond and there was much footage of him performing on jug and washtub as well as some very touching footage of him in the latter stages of the cancer that took him, culminating in a poignant moment saying that someone else was going to have to take up the task of carrying jug band music forward 'cause he'd gone as far as he could. Whew.
A must see for anyone interested in this music!
All for now.
John C.
First time flmmaker Todd Kwait tells his personal story from his first knowledge, in the '90s, of Gus Cannon, learned from his teen idol, John Sebastion, through his enjoyably obsessive quest of everything he could learn about Gus Cannon and the jug band scene of the '20s.
Along the way he also learns a great deal about the jug band revivalists of the '60s and we hear their own stories and passions about the music in many interviews and performances. I was sitting directly behind Jim Kweskin, with his wife and Geoff Muldaur to his right, Chris Strachwitz to his left, Maria Muldaur in front of Chris. I tried to catch a glimpse of Geoff's face at particularly intense moments (the film was dedicated to Fritz Richmond, of whom there was much footage) and often caught him glancing at Jim with a grin or a knowing look. One high point was some footage of a very young Fritz saying '"Well, if you looked at me, you might think I was a freak. Well maybe I am, maybe not. But if I pick up a jug and start blowing into it, you KNOW I'm a freak." Geoff shouted "Yeah" to the heavens and turned to Jim saying, "That's it!"
We feel Todd's enthusiasm when his idol, John Sebastion, expresses his interest in getting involved in the process and they meet in Greenwich Village. We follow him as he travels to various sites in the jug band past, looking (unsuccessfully) for Noah Lewis' grave, poking around a shack where Lewis lived for his later years and touring the ruins of Minglewood, the ghost of a mill town on the river near Memphis. Footage of discovering Gus Cannon's grave was provided by Delmark Goldfarb, who was also interviewed. I met Delmark last year at the Portland Waterfront Blues Fest, where he had set up the Fritz Tribute that the Hohoppas played in, and we were talking with others outside the theatre before the show, when Kweskin and Muldaur pulled up in taxis and joined the discussion.
Todd also looks for the future of jug band music, first by following John, Jim and Geoff to the Yokahama Jug Fest, where some very intense performances in Japanese are seen, including a group dressed in chefs outfits, the Southern Chefs, playing Banjolere(?), with about 4 banjos and 3 jugs. Those folks are very into this music and the audiences were young and mostly women it seemed. Second, by interviewing the members of the Sankofa Strings (now the Carolina Chocolate Drops).
It was a good choice to follow his own path of discovery as it kept the narrative personal and made it more than a straight documentary. It also made it alright that the movie didn't try to cover every aspect of the early scene (for instance the MJB was only covered briefly) because Todd was following his own muse. For me, there was more to be learned about the '60s than the '20s but I'm sure many will learn a lot about both eras.
Some of the '60s footage was just too much! Sebastian on autoharp leading the Loving Spoonfull doing Jug Band Music, early footage of the Kweskin band featuring the enigmatic Mel Lyman singing on one song (damn, I can't remember the song now) and the young and lovely Maria Muldaur singing another. Heck, they were all so young. As usual, there wasn't time to present whole songs, and I was left wondering where I could get ahold of the full length footage. (Todd?)
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and the event, except for one small issue: I'm sensitive to jiggly camera work and there were stretches of hand held footage, which gave much of the road trips and backstage footage a nice "home movie" feel, but left me feeling a little nauseous. A minor note and something that probably doesn't effect most.
Some of our PT friends had cameos as interviewees or performers: Paul Rachel and Annie Raines, Maria, of course, and David Evans sang a jug band song, with a harp player, sitting in the Mississippi woods.
As I said, the film was dedicated to Fritz Richmond and there was much footage of him performing on jug and washtub as well as some very touching footage of him in the latter stages of the cancer that took him, culminating in a poignant moment saying that someone else was going to have to take up the task of carrying jug band music forward 'cause he'd gone as far as he could. Whew.
A must see for anyone interested in this music!
All for now.
John C.