[music] Twenty feet from stardom...?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqVB20kuV10&feature=share
Last year, courtesy of my beloved Tracy Sheridan, I actually went to a movie theatre and watched a movie in what, for me, are borderline dangerous surroundings. If the MS kicks in, I need to be on the outside of the row so that I can get out in a hurry, or as fast as ataxia or myokimia will allow. Plus, you know, perfume. Dust. All kinds of little hazard zones.
But we went to see "Twenty Feet From Stardom". It went on to get itself an Oscar. And I have mixed feelings about it, and did then, and said so.
Because what the hell? Was there not a single Caucasian backup singer worthy of the filmmakers' notice?
I submit that you can be white and have made a significant contribution. Just click on the link above and crank it, if you don't believe me.
The vid above has one of the greatest of the backup singers - Kathi McDonald - getting her turn in the spotlight, at a New Years Eve show at the Oakland Colisseum, 1982. Kathi had a set of pipes that could damned well match Etta James. She sang backup with everyone, from Leon Russell to the Stones. A monster voice. In her own way, unique. The performance here will grab you by the scruff of the neck, pull you up in your seat, and bitschlap the living fuck out of you. And you will want more.
She received no mention anywhere in "Twenty Feet." Not a word. Um - what the hell?
Mind you, the singers that did - Merry Clayton, Darlene Love, Lisa K. Fisher, Tata Vega, and of course the original Brown Sugar herself, Claudia Lennear - are all mindblowing. No argument there. They're legends for a reason.
But where is some mention of Kathi? Where is Rosemary Butler, whose pure gorgeous voice gave all that amazing texture to Bonnie Raitt, Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt? Where is Marcy Levy, without whom I doubt Eric Clapton from the mid-seventies on would have been half as memorable? Go find Clapton at Live Aid and watch "She's Waiting". I rest my case.
My point is that, if the makers had wanted to make a documentary that dealt purely with the way gospel influenced singers, who then influenced other popular music, the omission of any of the above would have been at least comprehensible to me. But that was never mentioned or indicated during the film. It was very telling that, while they spoke several times in the film with Sting's female backup singer, I have no clue what her name is, because it was buried somewhere in the credits. Why yes, she's Caucasian and she sings, twenty feet from Sting's stardom. Invisible or unimportant, apparently.
So yes, I have very mixed feelings about the film. And I'm soothing my soul by listening to Kathi, to Rosemary, to Marcy singing "The Core" with Clapton.
(Oh, and the piano on the vid above is gorgeous. So is the man playing it. So there.)
Last year, courtesy of my beloved Tracy Sheridan, I actually went to a movie theatre and watched a movie in what, for me, are borderline dangerous surroundings. If the MS kicks in, I need to be on the outside of the row so that I can get out in a hurry, or as fast as ataxia or myokimia will allow. Plus, you know, perfume. Dust. All kinds of little hazard zones.
But we went to see "Twenty Feet From Stardom". It went on to get itself an Oscar. And I have mixed feelings about it, and did then, and said so.
Because what the hell? Was there not a single Caucasian backup singer worthy of the filmmakers' notice?
I submit that you can be white and have made a significant contribution. Just click on the link above and crank it, if you don't believe me.
The vid above has one of the greatest of the backup singers - Kathi McDonald - getting her turn in the spotlight, at a New Years Eve show at the Oakland Colisseum, 1982. Kathi had a set of pipes that could damned well match Etta James. She sang backup with everyone, from Leon Russell to the Stones. A monster voice. In her own way, unique. The performance here will grab you by the scruff of the neck, pull you up in your seat, and bitschlap the living fuck out of you. And you will want more.
She received no mention anywhere in "Twenty Feet." Not a word. Um - what the hell?
Mind you, the singers that did - Merry Clayton, Darlene Love, Lisa K. Fisher, Tata Vega, and of course the original Brown Sugar herself, Claudia Lennear - are all mindblowing. No argument there. They're legends for a reason.
But where is some mention of Kathi? Where is Rosemary Butler, whose pure gorgeous voice gave all that amazing texture to Bonnie Raitt, Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt? Where is Marcy Levy, without whom I doubt Eric Clapton from the mid-seventies on would have been half as memorable? Go find Clapton at Live Aid and watch "She's Waiting". I rest my case.
My point is that, if the makers had wanted to make a documentary that dealt purely with the way gospel influenced singers, who then influenced other popular music, the omission of any of the above would have been at least comprehensible to me. But that was never mentioned or indicated during the film. It was very telling that, while they spoke several times in the film with Sting's female backup singer, I have no clue what her name is, because it was buried somewhere in the credits. Why yes, she's Caucasian and she sings, twenty feet from Sting's stardom. Invisible or unimportant, apparently.
So yes, I have very mixed feelings about the film. And I'm soothing my soul by listening to Kathi, to Rosemary, to Marcy singing "The Core" with Clapton.
(Oh, and the piano on the vid above is gorgeous. So is the man playing it. So there.)