John Fahey documentary everywhere!

AVAILABLE AROUND THE PLANET!

As you might be aware, Tamarack Productions released In Search of Blind Joe Death – The Saga of John Fahey in 2012. I’m happy to report that the film is now available in various formats all over Planet Earth. This follows a fabulous Festival run in countries including Argentina, Australia, Denmark, France, Italy and throughout the Canada, the UK and the USA.

In Canada + USA on iTunes.

Download elsewhere from MusicFilmWeb

http://musicfilmweb.tv/film/in-search-of-blind-joe-death-the-saga-of-john-fahey

DVDs with EXTRAS First Run Features USA

http://firstrunfeatures.com/johnfaheydvd.html

VTape in Canada

http://www.vtape.org/video?vi=7781

Reviews

“If you didn’t already admire Fahey’s music, you may be searching for more of it after seeing this documentary.” -The New York Times

“”Excellent! Newcomers and fans alike will find a lot to treasure here.” -Film Journal

“Eclectic, haunting, engaging.” -The Village Voice

“As spare and intimate and engaging as some of Fahey’s finest recordings.” -Willamette Weekly

“Mesmerizing.” -This Week in New York

“In Search of Joe Blind Death is an admirable success. John Fahey, heavy-lidded eyes and Muppet-like voice, stays weird (and weirdly fascinating) throughout.” -Cinema Sentries

“The documentary casts a lingering spell, drawing you into its richly textured reveries with gorgeous new cinematography, archival footage, current-day storytellers and even artful animation.”-Blues Rag

“This guitar master combined folk, blues, avant-garde, and ambient music into an otherworldly style, inspiring everyone from Sonic Youth to Sufjan Stevens.” -Pitchfork

Follow us!

Twitter @JohnFaheyfilm

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/In-Search-of-Blind-Joe-Death-The-Saga-of-John-Fahey/363977931483?ref=ts&fref=ts

Enjoy!

James Cullingham, director/producer

25 Years of Tamarack Productions 1989-2014

Greetings & Salutations from Toronto!

Pleased to let all know that 2014 marks 25 years for Tamarack Productions. The company began in 1989 to produce the documentary series As Long As The Rivers Flow about Aboriginal issues in Canada. Our current productionIn Search of Blind Joe Death – The Saga of John Fahey has been screened on four continents, aired on BBC and will be coming soon to iTunes.

It’s been a good trip so far! To mark our 25th anniversary, we introduce a new website. Thanks to Jamie Chirico of Toronto for her design chops.J

Welcome to the Super Bowl - Richard Sherman

“I don’t hate it enough not to love it.” So said a wag about professional football earlier in the 2013-2014 National Football League (NFL) season. The remark followed a barrage of stories about concussions and the news broke of murder charges against one time New England Patriots’ tight end Aaron Hernandez. The statement well expresses the love/hate relationship the thinking NFL fan (such as this writer) has with the sport. It features many of the world’s greatest athletes in a brilliantly marketed display of imponderable skill and sometimes frightening violence. On the field and off its young stars often behave as rich, absurdly privileged athletes who put their health at stake for their livelihood are wont to do. It’s not always pretty.

The incidence of concussions and the severity of other injuries underscores a fundamental truth about the NFL: if you play, you will get hurt.  Those of us who watch the NFL regularly live with an uneasy contradiction. We enjoy a brutal game which can inflict permanent physical and mental damage on its participants.

The NFL is far and away America’s most popular professional sport. Major League Baseball still lays claim to the moniker of being “America’s pastime,” but audiences for the NFL swamp that of both Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the United States, the National Hockey League (NHL) and Major League Soccer (MLS) are sideshows in comparison.

On the eve of Super Bowl week, one name has cut through all the noise and chatter about the NFL for football fan and non-football fan alike: Richard Sherman.

A week ago, Sherman made an extraordinarily athletic and exquisitely timed deflection to break up what would have been a last gasp, game-winning pass from the San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick to his receiver Michael Crabtree. Watching that play in slow motion is like watching the athlete as Nureyev. With the game on the line, Sherman elevated himself far off the ground while running at full speed and artfully raised one hand to deflect the ball away from Crabtree and into the hands of Sherman’s teammate for a game winning interception. Sherman made a breathtakingly superb play. But the real drama was yet to come. Sherman, to use the vernacular, proceeded to go off on prime time TV. First he made a choke sign with his hands around his neck while glowering at Kaepernick the San Francisco star who had just been victimized – not by his own bad play, but by a superior one from Sherman. Sherman then visibly taunted a disconsolate Crabtree slapping him on the bum and screaming into the ear hole of his helmet. In return, Sherman received a poke in the face-mask from Crabtree. Sherman was penalized for his taunt, but with 22 seconds remaining on the clock, all his Seattle Seahawks needed to do was run out the clock to victory and a berth in the Super Bowl.

Things took a bizarre turn when the game ended. FOX television had angled to interview Sherman live on the field before the players returned to their dressing rooms. The play-by-play announcers introduced broadcaster Erin Andrews standing by in a mêlée of players, team officials and camera people with a dreadlocked, helmetless Sherman for his instant post-game comments. Instead of humbly thanking the lord and his teammates in the well rehearsed and terminally boring patter practised by many professional athletes, Sherman bellowed that he was the best defender in the NFL, that the 49ers were stupid to challenge him and that Crabtree was a chump who got what he deserved. A visibly shaken Ms. Andrews stepped back from the voluble Mr. Sherman and gave the spotlight back to the lads upstairs. It was extraordinary unscripted television. For what it’s worth, Sherman is African American. Ms. Andrews is Caucasian and considerably smaller. In their brief interview, Sherman appeared almost deranged, extremely angry, arrogant and, frankly, more than a little frightening. His appearance immediately sparked a firestorm in the Twittersphere and about 72 hours of blanket coverage in sports and news coverage across the United States, Canada and beyond.

Hours later Sherman penned “For Those Who Think I’m A Thug or Worse…” an article for si.com, the hugely popular Sports Illustrated website. Sherman has been an occasional si.com contributor throughout the season. A calm, reflective Sherman explained his actions as part of the heat of the game, “To those who would call me a thug or worse because I show passion on a football field—don’t judge a person’s character by what they do between the lines. Judge a man by what he does off the field, what he does for his community, what he does for his family.” The next day, Sherman held court in a press conference. He was rational, articulate and basically non-contrite. In contrast to his outburst with the unfortunate Andrews, Sherman exhibited some warmth and considerable intelligence. In sum, this is one complex and often extremely media savvy dude. I suspect he will have the charm offensive in full gear on media day prior to the Super Bowl.

I say thanks to Richard Sherman. He gave us a pull-back-the-curtains-on-the-Wizard glimpse into the NFL. It’s a tough game played by very tough men. However distasteful his triumphal, adrenaline stoked, macho outburst to Andrews was, it’s refreshing that he did not merely fall on his sword afterward in a pathetic, well-rehearsed apology. Sherman said in effect, ‘it’s all part of the game, man – play on!’ By accounts of those who work with him, including Peter King, Sherman’s editor at si.com and a justifiably respected dean of football writers, Sherman actually is an exceptionally bright young man who happens to be a great football player.

Off the field, management of NFL teams, the players themselves and television networks generally manage to present an image of fine young men that’s often at odds with the realities of a brutal, extravagantly financed game. Not all its athletes are stellar citizens. Imagine that. Whatever Sherman’s crimes are, surely they pale in comparison to other events surrounding the NFL this season. The aforementioned Hernandez stands accused of murder. Days prior to the Seahawks’ victory over the 49ers, former star defensive back and broadcaster Darren Sharper was arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of rape. Reports state that New Orleans police are also investigating Sharper for sexual assault.

Oliver Stone’s feature film Any Given Sunday as well as the feature and seriesFriday Night Lights from producer/director Peter Berg illuminate the realities of football as an essential aspect of deep America from dusty high school fields in Texas to the professional gridiron. In his recent outburst Richard Sherman gave us a strong dose of the raw reality behind the usual NFL marketing and spin.

- This article was originally published by The Journal of Wild Culture. -

http://www.wildculture.com/article/richard-sherman-being-himself/1357

In Search of Blind Joe Death - year in review

It’s been a wonderful year. In 2013 In Search of Blind Joe Death – The Saga of John Fahey screened in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Spain, the United States and Uruguay.

The film was broadcast in Canada by Blue Ant Media networks AUX and HIFI and in the UK on BBC Four.

Thanks to audiences everywhere for their amazing support!

The fun resumes January 9, in Cagliari, Sardinia as part of a tour of Italy with screenings and live music which began in early December.

DVDs are available in Canada from VTape.org ; in the USA fromFirstRunFeatures.com ; elsewhere please e-mail info.tamarack@rogers.com

For VOD outside Canada and the USA MusicFilmweb.com

from The Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/in-search-of-blind-joe-death-documentary-spotlights-legendary-area-guitarist-john-fahey/2013/10/24/fd22e8b2-3cc8-11e3-b0e7-716179a2c2c7_story.html

The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/nov/26/john-fahey-blues-folk-guitar-pioneer

http://www.johnfaheyfilm.com
Facebook http://on.fb.me/faheyfilm
Twitter @JohnFaheyfilm

 

Best of 2013

Presenting a somewhat random and certainly subjective list of stuff that moved and impressed me most in the past year:

Best rock ‘n roll moment – Patti Smith spits on the Massey Hall stage, Toronto

Best concert – Brian Wilson + Jeff Beck, Sony Centre, Toronto

Runner up – The Master Musicians of Jajouka, Villa Medici, Roma

Best performance – Wilco + Feist + Richard Thompson doing Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne”, Molson Ampitheatre, Toronto

Best fiction films – Blue Jasmine; Gravity; Philomena; Prisoners; Unforgiven (Japanese version)

Best actors – Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis); Jake Gyllenhaal (Prisoners); Ken Watanabe (Unforgiven)

Best actresses – Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine); Judy Dench (Philomena), Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)

Best nonfiction film – El Alcalde http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2248996/

Best Canadian Journalism – The Toronto Star for its coverage of Rob Ford

Best Canadian social sciences peer reviewed article – Ian Mosby,“Administering Colonial Science: Nutrition Research and Human Biomedical Experimentation in Aboriginal Communities and Residential Schools, 1942–1952″ Histoire sociale/Social history, Volume 46, Number 91, Mai-May 2013

Happy New Year and best wishes for 2014!

Thinking of Rob Ford

As Rob Ford careers along his disastrous course, people the world over ask themselves, ‘What the heck is going on in Toronto?’ How could a city touted as a global model of good sense, safe streets and multiculturalism elect an unsavory buffoon like Ford as mayor? As a citizen of Toronto for most of my life, I shall attempt to respond.

First an etymological note: a few days after the events of November 18th, by which time Ford’s powers and budget had been seriously contained by city council, I dare say the coast is clearing somewhat. BRAVO, city council! Consequently, I have personally chosen to restore to the city its proper name , Toronto. ‘otnorot’ – which I’ve employed for the last year or so as the Ford catastrophe gathered momentum was chosen to suggest the backward state of our politics. I hereby set it aside. Hopefully, for good.

A wee summary of events for international readers. Ford, a long-serving city councilperson, was elected mayor in 2010. He replaced the outgoing mayor by campaigning on a tax cutting, pro-automobile campaign. His rule has been controversial all the while due to his strong views and belligerence. He withstood a conflict of interest civil suit. In May 2013, a video was shown to some members of the media that seemed to show Ford smoking crack cocaine. He denied the allegation. In recent weeks, Toronto police acknowledged the video’s existence and revealed they had been investigating Ford’s ties to criminals. Within days, Ford admitted to smoking the crack and drunk driving. He instantly became an international news phenomenon. He refuses to resign, but Toronto city council has severely limited his authority.

The gong show that provided fodder to comics and, found its way to international newscasts and late night American talk shows has abated for now. However, the positive developments of the past week do not mean that Ford is gone. I’m somewhat disturbed that the mayor’s antics provided comic relief. There’s nothing funny about Ford’s record on public transportation and affordable housing. The fact appears to be that his core supporters are sticking with him even though city council, including the majority of his principal allies, have deserted him. He adamantly refuses to step aside, even temporarily. It would appear that unless he is charged with a criminal offence or his health fails, he will be running for re-election in October 2014. More disturbingly, polls released in recent days suggest that he retains significant popular approval. Huh? Yes, you read correctly. Rob Ford, now exposed as a serial liar, having admitted to smoking crack cocaine and driving a car under the influence of alcohol while in office, retains an approval rating of just over 40 per cent.

How do we make sense of this? Jerôme Lussier with l’actualité, a French language Canadian magazine, has argued that Ford presents a particular sort of political attraction. (http://bit.ly/1e95Doo) Rather than offering voters a vision of something bigger and better than themselves, Ford’s very appeal is based in his loutish, inarticulate, ill-disciplined, taunting, uncivil manner. His political essence perhaps encourages voters to subconsciously feel that their own weaknesses and their own anger at shadowy elites are OK. His banality appeals.

Ford taps a resentment of elites even though he personally is privileged. People don’t want to believe that strong man politics works, but obviously it can. In his bumptious way, Ford exhibits some of the bullying, resilient characteristics of right-wing populism that produces a Berlusconi or even Mussolini during his rise to power. Such politicians can muster enormous support and devotion among their followers. Ford is a Toronto mutation of the theme. In his 2010 campaign, Ford made false claims about the level of immigration in Toronto. He was caught in lies about previous problems with alcohol and marijuana and about a public confrontation at a professional hockey game. He won the election.

The mystery of his appeal may also lie in some other unpleasant truths about Toronto. Ford reflects powerful sentiments of anti-environmentalism. While teaching at the University of Toronto, the great cultural theorist and scholar Northrop Frye wrote about ‘a garrison mentality’ at work in the collective Canadian psyche. I suspect that the impulse remains operational in Toronto and can provide for political success. In that 2010 election, Ford campaigned overtly against the expansion of effective public transportation and improving conditions for bicyclists.

In fact, Ford’s overt campaign against above-ground public transportation is one reason for the support he continues to enjoy. Toronto is a city of car addicts. The use of public transportation is a marker of class distinction in a way it no longer is in London, Paris or New York. Even avowed environmentalists routinely use cars in the downtown area. Ford and his ilk stoke the perception that public transportation is for the poor. The message is simple: if you’re a winner, you drive a fossil fuel burning car. In this respect, Ford’s signature shiny black Cadillac Escalade sports utility vehicle means he’s not so much an exception as an exemplar of deeply held civic mores and economic ambitions.

Unlike Copenhagen or Montréal, Toronto is distinctly unfriendly to the bicyclist despite enjoying favourable weather for about eight months of the year. There is precisely one street in the downtown core with a safe dedicated bike lane. Like the solitary wind turbine just west of downtown, that lonely bike lane bears testimony to a city where environmentalism is often more marketing tool and political rhetoric than a lived experience. In that light, it’s not surprising that Rob Ford found fertile ground for his mayoral ambitions.

In addition to dismissing bicyclists as losers, Ford also made political hay in opposing a fully funded proposal for light rail transit (LRT) to Scarborough, an eastern suburb of Toronto, in favour of a subway. The plan that Ford quashed would have seen that LRT already under construction with a proposed completion date of 2015. The new subway plan that he championed will not be completed until at least 2023, at a much greater cost and requiring a municipal tax hike. Yet, Ford is lauded by himself and his supporters a champion of the taxpayer’s best interest. Tellingly, Ford did not act alone in this subway fiasco. Council helped him reverse earlier plans. The same Liberal provincial government that now has taken its distance from Ford over his personal misbehaviour cynically supported his subway plan in order to win a by-election in the area. In 2013 in Toronto politics, that kind of thinking that says that  ‘roads are for cars and trucks’ is a winning strategy – with or without Ford.

First time visitors to the city who are  flying in from abroad are often surprised to learn there is no rail link between the airport and the city. As they enter the downtown area via limousine or taxi along a crumbling elevated expressway, they will pass by, to these eyes,  a rapidly expanding, hideous array of steel and glass condos and office towers that crowd the shore of Lake Ontario cutting the lake from sight of average Toronto citizens. Such developments are precisely the visible signs of supposed economic progress that fuel the politics of a Rob Ford. Garrison mentality indeed.

There is much to like about Toronto. We enjoy relative multicultural harmony. The arts scene is exciting. Our streets are extraordinarily safe and peaceful by global standards. Unlike some American cities, Toronto has many fine, diverse neighbourhoods in the downtown area. This was true before Ford’s 2010 election and remains so. What has been lost due to Ford? Meaningful progress on public transportation has been severely curtailed. A tone of civility and intelligence has been tarnished as a bullying, antagonistic style of leadership found a path to political success.

There’s no question that Ford is weakened…at least for now. Even the governing federal Canadian Tories have cut bait. Employment Minister Jason Kenney, one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s most trusted colleagues and an architect of the Conservatives’ successful wooing of voters in immigrant communities in the Toronto suburbs, asked Ford to resign. In his remarks en français, Kenney called the Ford situation “bordélique” which means extremely slovenly and inappropriate, but translates literally as ‘like a bordello’. A few days earlier, Harper had released a statement that called the Ford matter “troubling”.

Ford recently told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that he had experienced a ‘Jesus moment’ and that voters would be presented with a new man in time for his 2014 campaign for re-election. The potential redemption of Rob Ford will focus the challenge of the true meaning and real appeal of his politics. From my vantage point, the outcome is very uncertain.

-30-

This article was originally published in The Journal of Wild Culturehttp://www.wildculture.com/article/understanding-rob-ford-political-animal/1332

En

Brian Wilson + Jeff Beck, Sony Centre, Toronto 26/10/13

This was a marvelous, even astonishing, concert – a marriage of experimentalism and pure pop genius. Some delights: multi-part vocal harmonies layered in Beck instrumentals; and Beck’s guitar replacing lead vocal parts on passages of Wilson’s masterwork “Smile.” I suspect some critics will attack the concept as just too loopy. I wouldn’t agree.

Beck remains a guitar powerhouse. His “Little Wing” and “A Day in the Life” will reverberate in my ears and soul for many a day to come.

The erstwhile Beach Boys Al Jardine and David L. Marks added a distinctive flavour to sometimes  seven part harmonies by the 11 piece band doing BB classics. during the Wilson set.  This band just flat rocks out and sings beautifully. The late Dennis Wilson’s “Little Bird”, sung by Marks, and a heavy duty “Sail on Sailor” with Brian Wilson in full rock ‘n roll voice were highlights.

The bands combined for about 45 minutes of a concert that was well over 2 hours in length. The challenging material worked best. It would have been great to hear Jeff Beck on some of Wilson’s re-interpretations of Gershwin tunes. Also, it disappointed mildly that Beck did not essay the classic instrumentals from “Pet Sounds”.

Overall however, this was a musical night to remember. Two legends surrounded by brilliant musicians finding new means to challenge each other and satisfy a very appreciative audience.

 

John Fahey documentary UPDATE Autumn 2013

Autumnal Greetings from Tamarack Productions World HQ!!!

Pleased to offer this wee update on the continuing progress of In Search of Blind Joe Death – The Saga of John Fahey

This evening the film screens for a fourth time in the past year in London, UK  at Goldsmiths, University of London. The film will be followed by live music and a discussion with a music journalist and anthropologist.

The film appears at WOMEX World Music Expo in Cardiff, Wales, Oct. 23-27.

The doc is slated for broadcast by BBC4 in December.

The USA theatrical release continues with upcoming screenings in California, Massachusetts, New Mexico and North Carolina. (We at World HQ are particularly excited about the Albuquerque screening – that city is also the title of our favourite Neil Young song!) Our John Fahey film is screened in tandem with Approximately Nels Cline, a  fine film about the guitarist Cline.
http://www.firstrunfeatures/guitarinnovators

An Italian tour of the film begins in Rome on November 14 and Udine on December 13 with a Verona screening date TBA.

We will soon confirm dates for screenings in Pune, India. Stay tuned.

The film appears this month in Montevideo, Uruguay as it continues its journey with BAFICI Itinerante, a touring best of Festival from BAFICI 2013 (Buenos Aires Festival of Independent Cinema) where the film had its South American premiere in April.

Closer to home, the film will screen at Toronto Reel Indie Film Festival RiFF on October 19.

The DVD with extras including performances by Fahey, Chris Funk of The Decemberists, vinyl maven Joe Bussard and an extended interview segment with Pete Townshend will be available in mid-November.
Canada – VTape
USA – First Run Features
Other territories –  Tamarack Productions

We salute you!

Happy trails,
James Cullingham
director/producer
In Search of Blind Joe Death – The Saga of John Fahey
http://www.johnfaheyfilm.com
Facebook http://on.fb.me/faheyfilm
Twitter @JohnFaheyfilm
http://www.tamarackproductions.com

John Fahey film opening in NYC 16/08/13

COME SEE OUR FILM IN NEW YORK CITY!!! “In Search of Blind Joe Death – The Saga of John Fahey” starts its American theatrical run at Cinema Village in Greenwich Village August 16-22. Our effort is twinned with a boffo film about guitarist Nels Cline.

If you’re in NYC, I hope to see you over the weekend of the 16th. If you’re not in those environs, please tell every living soul you know near NYC about it!!! If you’re aware of a potential USA booking, contact Paul Marchant paul@firstrunfeatures.com Please “friend” the page on Facebook http://on.fb.me/faheyfilm and Twitter away @JohnFaheyFilm Here’s the skinny on the USA release:

http://firstrunfeatures.com/guitarinnovators/

Ciao,

James Cullingham

director.producer,executive producer In Search of Blind Joe Death – The Saga of John Fahey

Tamarack Productions, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Planet Earth.

Blind Joe Death Goes Abroad

In Search of Blind Joe Death – The Saga of John Fahey, Tamarack Productions documentary film about the late American guitarist, composer, author and provocateur, continues to gain international attention. In April, the film will have its South American premiere at the Buenos Aires Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI) and will also screen at the Belfast Film Festival in Northern Ireland. Last month, it was shown at the Glasgow Film Festival.

In the summer, the film will screen in Madrid at the Transmissions Film and Music Festival; at La chaise (les tabourets) in Paris; and in Copenhagen at the Danish Film Institute/Cinematheque. It will also be featured at the Revelation Perth Film Festival in Australia. Additional screenings are anticipated in Australia.

This follows a string of screenings in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Blind Joe Death had its world premiere at Raindance Film Festival in London; its Canadian premiere at Vancouver International Film Festival; and the USA premiere at Mill Valley Film Festival near San Francisco. The film will be shown on BBC next autumn. In Canada, it will be broadcast by networks of Blue Ant Media. The film was produced with the creative participation of  the School of Creative Arts and Animation of Seneca College of Toronto

Fahey (1939-2001) is known as the godfather of American primitive guitar. His approach to blues, Brazilian, Appalachian, European classical, Gothic industrial ambiance and Indian music influenced many musicians including Pete Townshend of The Who, Joey Burns of Calexico and Chris Funk of The Decemberists who all appear in the film.

Canadian distribution: V Tape. USA: First Run Features. UK/Europe/Australia bookings: a better noise, Newcastle upon Tyne.

For further information contact:

James Cullingham director/producer

James.tamarack@rogers.com (416)312-1841

www.johnfaheyfilm.com

Facebook http://on.fb.me/faheyfilm

Twitter @JohnFaheyFilm

Best of 2012

This is somewhat random in that the following is restricted to what I saw and read. So while this is hardly an exhaustive selection, I suggest all these works merit our careful attention.

If you’ll indulge me further, here’s the best of what I saw or read in 2012:

Best feature film“The Master”, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson; strong runner-up “Argo” ,dir. Ben Affleck (the new Clint Eastwood).

Best non-fiction film: “Cuates de Australia” dir, Everardo Gonz (“Drought”en inglés) – a documentary about a community in northern México besieged by drought and globalization; runner-up “The Law In These Parts” dir. Ra’anan Alexandrowicz – a courageous, intellectually rigorous film in which the director stages a devastatingly clever mock trial of the very Israeli jurists and military governors who have built ‘legal’ bulwarks to justify Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967.

Best Fiction Book: “War and Peace”, Leo Tolstoy. I finally read it this year. Having done so, I figure it would be the best novel any year since Leo coughed it up in 1869 except perhaps “Madame Bovary” or “Oliver Twist”. Tolstoy manages to describe the most intimate and sweeping epochal events of human experience simultaneously. He was a genius. His novel about Napoleon’s doomed invasion of Russia reads like an account of current events.

Best Non-Fiction book“A Geography of Blood – Unearthing Memory from a Prairie Landscape”, by Candace Savage. The sort of  history/geography/environmental study Canadians and Americans generally don’t want to know about told with great verve. In this case, people are reading it. Ms. Savage is winning awards. Her slim, powerful, elegantly written and researched effort is truly mind expanding.  “There are a lot of things nobody talks about in the imposition of colonial power.” -Keith Bell, companion of Candace Savage-

Robbie Robertson "how to become clairvoyant"

Overdue, but what the heck, good music always deserves a nod:

Regarding Robbie Robertson’s CD from last year, “how to become clairvoyant” – after a careful listening or six, what’s revealed, to me, at least: “When The Night Was Young” just might be his best post-Band song; “Tango for Django” is great. I wish he’d make an instrumental album! At the same time, it must be said that his singing throughout is often quite affecting, even just right. For those who grew up with the tremendous vocal solo work by his mates and harmonization in The Band, who knew? Finally, I’m delighted to report that Robertson finally nixed the gauze-like production value that mars some of his earlier solo work. I can hear his guitars!!!! Pick on Robbie, pick on!

 

An Open Letter to Loaf Fans

Item:  Toronto Maple Loafs fail to make the Stanley Cup playoffs for the 7th consecutive year.

Memo to Loaf fans in the so-called ‘Loaf Nation’: it is SERIOUSLY time to get a life. Believe this: the team will not win a Stanley Cup in your lifetimes; heck, it might not even make the playoffs. A proposed cure – anytime you want to root for the Loafs think of 300 pound+ Toronto Mayor Rob Ford naked. Then move on.

PS If you are a self confessed member of Loaf Nation and you voted for Ford, there is probably no hope for your recovery.

Toronto: Year of the Bully

Rob Ford has been mayor of the city I live in for over a year now. It’s an odd experience.  You see I am convinced that Rob Ford doesn’t even like Toronto.

When he’s not insulting his opponents for being “left of Stalin”, Ford simply lets his brother pile on the dirt.  Can you think of another city in North America, in which the mayor’s henchman, in this case, his brother Doug, would gratuitously goad a leading cultural figure such as Margaret Atwood? Wouldn’t a writer of Atwood’s stature be part of the Toronto brand to any sensible mayor?

In recent days, Ford has insisted he’s restricting development of public transit to the building of subways. This in opposition to any credible analysis of Toronto gridlock and even, recently, to the dismay of some of his own followers on city council as well as the head of the Toronto Transit Commission. Some even believe the mayor overstepped his legal authority in signing a death warrant for a long negotiated transit plan that sat on his desk when he assumed power.

As he travels into work from the western edge of the city in Etobicoke in his now famous van, Ford must be blind to the prevailing situation. In his warped perception, the answer to too many cars is… more cars.

Ford knows his constituency: a  largely suburban based pocket of resentments about taxes and elites that’s an approximation of the American ‘Tea Party’. Yes, the city requires better management. It also requires a twenty-first century system of public transit. It also cries out for a political discourse based on more than posturing and bullying.

A lot can be learned about politicians by observing how they address their own. Ford uses The Toronto Sun newspaper and right-leaning talk radio to deliver the raw meat to his true believers. His self congratulatory year end interview to the Sun (Dec. 18, 2011) and the infamous Stalin comparison on AM640 in Toronto are classics of a kind.

Some commentators, like the Star’s Chris Hume, believe that the bully has had his day and that his powers will be circumscribed by council. I’m not so sure. His cringe worthy public weight loss campaign is a publicity master stroke.  And, above all, let’s not forget that this is the city that elected Mr. Ford in late October 2010.

What I do know is when Toronto’s competitors are getting in stride with a human agenda for the twenty-first century, our mayor is determined to go backwards. Ford’s election was an embarrassment to progressives in 2010. He shows no signs of changing his stripes even as he gets leaner.

Top Docs

In recent days, I had occasion to see both “Surviving Progress” and “Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie.” Both films rail against unbridled development and warn of the possibility of ecological catastrophe.

“Progress…” is based on ideas in a book and series of lectures by Ronald Wright. It’s a BIG IDEAS film which is threaded neatly with stunning visuals and provocative commentary from Wright and the likes of Margaret Atwood and the aforementioned Suzuki, among other deep thinkers.

Suzuki will be well known to Canadian readers – he’s been the leading figure in Canadian environmental and scientific broadcast journalism for decades. The film sprouts evocatively from clips from a ‘legacy’ lecture Suzuki delivered as he reached his 70s and began to scale back his public life. Like “Progress…”, this film, superbly directed by Sturla Gunnarsson, also touches on  ideas about the folly of limitless growth and the arrogance of contemporary economics.

The Suzuki film is remarkable for its intelligence, intimacy and sensitivity in revealing private aspects of a very public man. The film follows the arc of Suzuki’s life from forced removals of Japanese Canadian citizens during World War II, to the legacy of the nuclear bomb at Hiroshima, the American civil rights movement and aboriginal protests in Canada.

 

The Pulitzer Goes To...

If you are interested in hockey, player safety and a lamentable silence in most Canadian journalism, rush to read The New York Times brilliant and disturbing series, “Punched Out: The Life and Death of a Hockey Enforcer”, about Derek Boogaard.

Writer John Branch and a team of  ‘New Media’ story tellers have spun a profound tale about the ill-fated, late NHL ‘enforcer’ Boogaard. Many Canadian sports journalists, and seemingly all broadcasting entities in the country, led lamentably by the  juvenile Hockey Night broadcasts on the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,  condone fighting in the NHL.  It’s past time to read a deep account of how one hockey player’s life was ruined by the absurdist, lethal culture of fighting in hockey.

Kickstarter: funding a film about John Fahey

Dear Readers,

As you may have noticed earlier on this blog, I am directing and producing a film about the wondrous guitarist, composer and provocateur John Fahey.

http://www.johnfaheyfilm.com

I am delighted to report that our project is now up on Kickstarter – a very cool, successful on-line financing tool for artistic endeavours. We seek completion financing for this worthy documentary film project.

Please check this link:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/963556219/in-search-of-blind-joe-death-the-saga-of-john-fahe

Consider your options. Please alert friends, music lovers and any relations who support the arts. We have until Bastille Day to raise US$25k

Ciao,

James Cullingham, president, Tamarack Productions

Fare-thee-Well Owsley Stanley

One of the twentieth century’s great social revolutionaries died last week in Australia.  Owsley Stanley, sometimes called Bear, the chemical enthusiast who turned LSD into an affordable commodity in synch with San Francisco’s ‘Summer of Love’ period, fatally crashed his vehicle in a remote region of the country.

‘Owsley’, as he was known to hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people whose lives were marked by ‘acid’, charted a bizarre, bumpy course as psychic traveling companion to the likes of author Ken Kesey and members of the Grateful Dead. His was a remarkably American journey – a product of wealth and the military who mastered dance, reinvented the staging of live rock ‘n’ roll along with his buddies in The Dead, unleashed a chemical torrent and, got, at least temporarily, rich in the process.

The waves emanating from San Francisco, almost half century ago, traveled through time and space.  They splashed upon drowsy Toronto where even high school students at a private Catholic school heard of the legendary Bear and might have means to sample the sort of chemical wares that traveled eastward.

Jerry Garcia, the aforementioned Kesey, John Lennon, the journalists Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson are but a few of the lives that Owsley Stanley affected deeply. His death – far, far from the locale of his dizzying rise to musical and pharmaceutical influence – is truly a milestone in the cultural history of our times.

The man who helped create the unparalleled Grateful Dead sound and image archive was responsible for compiling a Grateful Dead release during the band’s early prime.  I listened to Bear’s Choice (1970) yesterday. Made as a showcase for the Dead’s original organist/vocalist, the late blues shouter Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan, the album now serves as a fitting memento to both McKernan and Owsley Stanley.  Side One is acoustic. At a time when it was hardly predictable or safely cool for a full-on ‘psychedelic’ band to go ‘unplugged’, The Dead had begun doing traditional blues and Appalachian tunes during their opening sets.  Side Two is strictly classic electric Chicago style blues featuring ‘Pigpen’s’ astonishing vocal and harmonica chops.  It’s a charming, very odd, idiosyncratic selection from a band which was then renowned for playing 3-4 hour fast-paced, electric and sometimes highly improvisational shows.

Mr. Stanley, tip of the hat! Yours was indeed a long, strange trip.

Recommended listening:  Bear’s Choice and Anthem of the Sun, the Grateful Dead.

John Fahey - In Search of Blind Joe Death

John Fahey (1939-2001) is one of the world’s great guitarists. The father of ‘American primitive guitar’, a unique blending of classic guitar styles with Delta Blues and Appalachian influences, Fahey is a transformational figure in modern music.  He’s the subject of Tamarack Productions’ latest film “In Search of Blind Joe Death: The Saga of John Fahey.” The film will be released this autumn, 2011.

Musicians such as Pete Townshend of The WhoJoey Burns of Calexico, the pianist George Winston and Chris Funk of The Decemberists pay tribute to Fahey’s influence in our documentary.  We follow Fahey’s trail from his beginnings in Takoma Park, a Washington D.C. suburb, to California where he recorded some of his most memorable music, and to Oregon, where Fahey spent the last twenty years of his life.

John Fahey was a trickster, a raconteur, a wonderful writer, a self taught naturalist (with a particular interest in turtles!), a fount of knowledge about American and other musics, and, above all, a brilliant composer and guitar player.

My own saga with John Fahey began in 1982 with a radio documentary I produced about him for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.  Ever since, I’ve been inspired by his music, comforted by his bent humour and fascinated by his ever rippling artistic legacy. This labour of love will be completed this autumn – I can’t wait for you to see it.

Thanks to the John Fahey Trust, Oregon Public Television, Executive Producer JoAnn McCaig of Calgary, the School of Communication Arts of Seneca College in Toronto and American consulting producer Doug Whyte of Portland, Oregon for their invaluable assistance in bringing this dream ever closer to light.

Please follow the ongoing production of the film at

http://www.johnfaheyfilm.com

and

on the “In Search of Blind Joe Death: The Saga of John Fahey” page on that ‘social network’ we’re all aware of.

We are seeking completion financing for the film. So if you have a few $$$ to spare, please contribute to the production through PayPal at james.tamarack@rogers.com

We will also be launching a Kickstarter fund raising campaign shortly.

Stay tuned!

James Cullingham, Director/Producer, “In Search of Blind Joe Death: The Saga of John Fahey

...and The Oscar goes to...

It’s almost Oscar night.  Accordingly, here are this filmmaker’s final thoughts in the run-up. These entirely subjective predilections – how could they be anything but? – are also somewhat selective.  I proffer my assessment based on categories in which I watched a majority of nominated films. Vamonos!

Black SwanThe King’s Speech, True Grit and Winter’s Bone are all highly commendable. Winter’s Bone is the best,  but it won’t win because it’s about the unspeakable – poverty and ignorance in America – it’s damn sad and almost no one saw it. I go with the worthy Black Swan by default.

Best Director:  tough call, but Darren Aronofsky gets the nod for visualizing artistry, horror, psychological trauma and sexuality in Black Swan.

I’d have never believed anyone but Natalie Portman should win Oscar for Best Actress out of Black Swan.  Then I saw Winter’s Bone.  Please, oh puh-leeez! Give this award to Jennifer Lawrence for her jaw-dropping, intense, yet nuanced, performance.

Colin Firth is wonderful in The King’s Speech.  Jeff Bridges is an American original, as much and as great as Clint Eastwood or Brian Wilson. Bridges proved it again in True Grit. However, Javier Bardem is incandescent inBiutiful.  Bardem deserves the Oscar.

Best Supporting Actress: the then thirteen-year-old Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit. It’s the wrong category because her character carries the narrative of the film, but this is one Steinfeld can actually win.  You go, girl!

Best Supporting Actor: Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech. Caveat – I say this without having seen Christian Bale’s performance in The Fighter. People I respect greatly tell me that Bale is a deserving winner. However, Oscar would not go wrong with the extraordinary Man from Oz.

Incendies, directed by Quebecois filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, is perhaps the best film of all. I hope it wins the Best Foreign Language Film categoryIt would put Villeneuve in the deserved company of Quebec film making greats like Denys Arcand, Claude Jutra and Jean-Claude Lauzon.  Further, as the Middle East blows up and transforms before our eyes, Incendies, likeWinter’s Bone, in its gaze into modern tribalism, is the most timely of fictional films. From the same category, Biutiful may have confounded the critics, but Mexico’s Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu remains one of the world’s great filmmakers. His latest film was, in my view, underrated. However, give the statue to Villeneuve. Right now!

Best adapted screenplay:  While I hate to deny Winter’s Bone anything, I give the nod to Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for having the genitalia and creativity to re-adapt, in an entirely different way, a work that had already won an Oscar for a previous version starring John Wayne.  That’s chutzpa.

Best cinematography: Matthew Libatique, Black Swan

Best Film Editing: Andrew Weisblum, Black Swan

Final thoughts:

1. The Social Network is widely nominated.  To me, as I’ve written earlier in this blog, that picture is a television movie-of-the-week in disguise. I don’t get it, but I know I’m in a small minority.  The film will win in at least one category. That will be me cringing.

2. A few years back, Clint Eastwood could do no wrong. He was on a deserved Oscar roll. In 2010, he released Hereafter, one of that great filmmakers most original works. Hmmm…I guess even Clint gets a slap now and again. I’d encourage you to  see Hereafter and judge for yourself whether it was worthy of Oscar nominations. I surely think so.

3. The Town, directed by Ben Affleck, also deserved a better fate.  If Affleck keeps working at that level, it won’t be long before Oscar notices.