tagged w/ Music Documentary
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Merle Swordfish narrates his own short documentary of how and why he decided to fight back against the kids harrassing him nightly. He fought back without violence, he sang to his harrassers and they ran away!
Shot by Leona Sackaney Sweet with home dvd camera and edited, mixed, voiced and edited by Gordon King Welke and Leona Sackaney SweetMerle Swordfish narrates his own short documentary of how and why he decided to fight... more
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The lack of African-Americans in the world of rock-and-roll is explored in this documentary from director Raymond Gayle. Using interviews with bands such as Living Colour and Fishbone, the film attempts to figure out whether labels, musicians or fans are to blame for rock-music being a genre dominated by whites. Also featuring archival footage Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Jimi Hendrix. Electric Purgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker premiered at the San Francisco Black Film Festival.
Source: YoutubeThe lack of African-Americans in the world of rock-and-roll is explored in this... more
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If you liked our exclusive clips with Mason Jennings, check out Alex Simmons' beautiful photos from the shoot at Brushfire Records.
If you liked our exclusive clips with Mason Jennings, check out Alex Simmons'... more
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shana
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added this
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2 years ago
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Thanks, Billboard magazine (via Reuters) for the great write-up and review about Embedded:
It's an intriguing look at the thought process behind his charismatic onstage persona -- and it's all part of the debut episode of "Embedded," cable channel Current TV's hour-long music documentary program that airs weekly starting October 14...
In an era when networks are slashing production budgets in favor of cheaper, quick-hit reality programing and when informative TV music segments are rarely more than two minutes long, Current TV's "Embedded" is a throwback to a time of pre-YouTube attention spans.
Here's our little secret: It still doesn't have to be an expensive, big-budget production. Here at Music HQ we look at trade reports of big live concert documentaries or other cable network "vérité" programs with our jaws dropped.
Embedded is usually shot by a tiny crew (often only two producer-shooters working together in the field) and then finished by a small team in-house. It's the kind of bare bones, idea- and story-first ethic that has always been at the center of Current's TV making. Both our executive producer, Mark Rinehart, and senior producer Alex Simmons (our entire deployment to Japan to shoot Mos Def) came up through the ranks as VC2 (viewer-created content) producers. Mark was nominated Emmy for his work on our Burning Man coverage.
If we trade in anything—and if there's a lesson to be learned from Embedded for young filmmakers who are hardly all that much younger than our staff—it's access. Access is everything. Before he came to Current, our VP of Music, Davis Powers, booked bands for late night TV at Jimmy Kimmel Live. Other staffers have managed bands, are sought-after DJs, edited music magazines and generally spent their careers getting to know the bands and management teams of the artists they most respect. It's that mutual trust that unlocked hours and days with artists instead of the usual 15 minute drop-ins.
Or, as Billboard put it:
For the Mos Def episode of "Embedded," that meant spending seven days with him as he performed at venues in Tokyo and Osaka.
"When we're talking to these artists," Powers says, "the things that they don't think will be compelling are actually the things we hang on the most."Thanks, Billboard magazine (via Reuters) for the great write-up and review about... more
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shana
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added this
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2 years ago
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The best part about my job as online producer for Current Music is that I sit right here in the heart of the department, and since January I've had a front-row seat to watch the development of a new show unlike anything you've ever seen. Embedded, premiering on Wednesday, October 14, is the kind of TV any music fan dreams of—and though you have no real reason to believe me, I swear I'm saying that first and foremost as that lucky music fan, not because I work here. (Rolling Stone also picked us as one of their 50 reasons to watch TV. In one of the weirdest but most awesome and accurate reviews I've ever read about anything, they said, “If Animal Planet had a show that captured musicians in their natural habitats, it would look like this refreshingly raw documentary series.”)
I think Embedded could hold its own even if there were a dozen shows like it on the air, but there just aren't, not on Animal Planet or even MTV for that matter. Anyone who's gotten a glimpse at the inner workings of an entertainment publication or TV show has a laundry list of sad stories about how hard it is to actually document the life of a musician, to get enough time with an artist or a new album that you can actually feel justified in making a bold pronouncement, anointing a new heir or crowning a new queen.
Embedded is a descendant of the best of Current Music's short- and long-form content, all organized around a simple, essential set of principles: Intimate. Exclusive. Access. We aren't going into each part of the special with a set idea of what the story is. Instead we start with the artists we most respect and collaborate to create opportunities where we can film them on stage and off, in the moments when most other crews are kicked to the curb or put down their cameras. We spent a week on the ground in Japan with Mos Def, perched on Silversun Pickups' shoulder as they played "Swoon" for the first time in front of a live audience, and criss-crossed the country with Common as he worked harder than a campaigning politician to prove to new and old fans just how powerful he thinks music can be.
And true to Current's own hybrid heritage, we've been (if quietly) taking the temperature of online communities as we select which artists to work with, what to ask them that won't be the same 10 questions they've heard at any album release press junket, and how to use the best and smartest information on the web to make TV like you've never seen before. Instead of waiting for a polished produced piece, we posted clips from a secret tweet-up show with Amanda Palmer within the week and dropped three a capellas with Mos performing songs from "The Ecstatic" the week before that album dropped. I'm working to stack current.com/embedded with all the extras, inside information and interaction I've always wanted as a music fan. Plus there will be some incredible interactive features you won't see anywhere else—because the brainiacs behind Current.com had to invent them.
The worst part about my job is not yet being able to tell you every single thing about what you'll see on the six parts of Embedded. But here's a little tease, and leading up to October 14, we'll have a little more, and then (the part we're really looking forward to) we'll get to hear what you think of it all.
Be sure to join the Embedded Group at current.com so you don't miss any exclusive sneak peeks.
The best part about my job as online producer for Current Music is that I sit... more
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shana
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added this
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2 years ago
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