"Shine A Woof"
Our internet has been crap this weekend. It worked for an hour or so yesterday, then again when i got home from the bar (yeah, i was totally toasted when i posted that), but it was down until just a short bit ago. Aggravating, to say the least. So, yesteday, i just did some stuff around the house and got the banking ready. After that, i headed down to the Ronnies IMAX to see the new Martin Scorsese/Rolling Stones concert film, "Shine A Light". i was actually surprised that the theatre was about 40% full, but that was cool. The movie started out with some background on how the set up the concert and there were bits of 40 year old interviews from the old day interspersed, but it was all about the music. Ronnie and Keef's guitars, Mick's voice, that instantly recognizable "ba-da-lump-bump-CRASH!" of Charlie Watts deceptively simple drum kit. To be honest, i grew up a Beatles fan and in those days it was often one or the other. But i think i just wasn't grown up enough for the Stones. And i still love it when a Beatles song comes on the radio. But when i have an option to play something, i'll more often than not opt for the Stones.
To be honest, though, i'm not sure that the IMAX format was really necessary for this film. i missed the U2-3D when it came around a month or so ago, but i can imagine that had the sweep and spectacle to justify it. This was just them in a small old theatre - the Beacon - in New York. They tried to hard to emphasis the guitar or vocal of whatever was on the screen at the time and that made it feel "forced". And Keef's rough-and-tumble face is really scary when it's 30 feet tall. But the music...oh, the music. And Mick just keeps on going. i really think this would play best on a regular screen, not the IMAX. This isn't the greatest concert film of all time - that would be Jonathan Demme's film of the Talking Heads, "Stop Making Sense" - but it was a damn good time. After the film, they were playing some of them in the studio rehearsing or warming up and it was kind of a cool way to wind down.
But this doofus straight guy and his friends started talking LOUD. i yelled, "EXCUSE ME!". Nothing. Then i went to "HEY! Shut the FUCK UP!!" That worked. Once the light came up, he said to one of the other guys, "i don't think they really meant it", but i said, "yeah, we really did" and we got into a shouting match "Man, you need a nap, if you wanna hear acoustic guitar go by a record" to which i responded "i paid to hear the Stones, not some dipshit cocksucker who don't know shit". He freaked. Straight boys just hate being called "cocksucker". i wear it as a badge of honor. i win.
And for our newer readers, i can refer you to my story of when i did security at a Stones concert back in 1995 in Hockenheim, Germany. That's me standing front and center and Mick and Ronnie up on the riser. You can read more about that here.