Kneiss' Minature Golf

This is just a brief puff piece on Kriess' Miniature Golf Course outside Pittsburgh.

The course is actually two courses. One is a traditional course with typical course with nonmoving obstacles such as drop holes and inclines. The other is a hellaciously fun course with all sorts of moving obstacles such as bowling pins, a hole that circles around the course and a roulette wheel that picks your score.

Yes the cups lift the balls up

The course is a true blast.

It’s been in operation for almost 100 years and has been lovingly attended to by the same owner for the past 30. He just brought in the dragon from Staten Island last year.

We went on a Thursday afternoon during the NFL draft, and we were only one of two pairs on the course. My understanding is that on weekends and in the evenings the place is packed.

Highly recommended.

FOR INFORMATION ON THE COURSES GO HERE

The Living Dead Museum in Pittsburgh

 

If you get to Pittsburgh do make a trip to the Monroeville Mall where George A Romero’s Dawn of the Dead was filmed. The mall is largely the same as it was 1978, though the stores have changed and the ice rink is gone.

Anchoring the mall is the Living Dead Museum, a museum with artifacts from various Romero films. Yes, it had Dawn of the Dead material, but also Night of the Living Dead, Knightriders, Creepshow and others. The museum also has the shack from Evil Dead in it as well as other props from other zombie films. It’s a stunning collection of cool stuff, made all the more amazing in that almost everything there is home grown.

The Museum is run by Dave who has been out front every time we stop by. He is a font of information on all the Romero films. If you want to know about Romero and the films, this is the guy to ask. He also has a wicked sense of humor.

The museum is just the pivot point for Romero related events. Its the place that hosts Living Dead Weekened Monroeville which happens every June. It also is the place to find out about the Evans City Living Dead Weekend (that one is in the location where Night of the Living Dead was filmed)

The problem at the moment is that the mall is slated to close by April 2027 and be replaced by a Walmart Super Center and Sam’s Club to replace the one that is two minutes away. (To be honest the whole sale is hinky with the mall being sold to a straw bidder who bought it on behalf of Walmart , who I’m told was told they could not buy the property because of their plans.) Where the Museum  is going to go is still up in the air.

I’m told that the museum is a genuine tourist destination with its inclusion on the mall property being responsible for a bump up in Mall traffic.

I absolutely love Dave,  the museum and the mall so every trip to Pittsburgh results in a trip just to stop by and pay our respects.

Go see it soon before the evil Walmart forces it to move.

For information on the museum and gift shop go here.

If you want to see where George Romero's Dawn of the Dead was filmed plan your trip NOW

I am in Pittsburgh for the Drive In Monsterama in nearby Vandegrift PA and I stopped with my brother at the Monroeville Mall where George Romero filmed his DAWN OF THE DEAD.

The mall is a tourist attraction because of the film. It houses the the Living Dead Museum. It has a tribute to Romero at one end of the mall and Mr Rogers at the other. It also hosts several conventions geared to celebrating the Romero Dead films.

It was also sold recently....and the plans which were recently announced, sent shock waves throw the people in the mall this afternoon...

Apparently Walmart has bought the mall  and after not being specific as to plans recently announced that they will be bulldozing the mall before 2027. Originally I had been told that the city of Monroeville wanted to keep the mall intact, but that doesn't seem likely now. Walmart is going to use the property to build yet another mega center acccording to the tenents that I spoke with.

I don't know what the details are, I just know that the people who were in the Romero area of the Mall were upset at hearing the news.

I am mentioning this because if you ever wanted to go to the mall and walk where the zombies did, you go sooner than later

Yoko Kanno played New York City (finally) at Town Hall

This is not so much a review but a report of a fan getting to see one of his musical gods for the first time.

Yoko Kanno has finally played New York City. While Kanno had appeared at a 2023 concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of Cowboy Bebop to say thank you,  this was the first time she was on stage and played her music. It was a moment that rocked the world as people from across not only America but the globe treked to 43rd street to bask in the glow of the great one..

The concert opened with Logan Richardson and his band taking the stage. They blew threw eightpieces, adding people as they went. Nary a word was spoken as the band effortlessly moved from song to song, pausing only momentarily  to allow the packed house to express their approval.

I was with my friend Nora, a regular at jazz clubs at in Manhattan and she was  slipping compliments in between songs comparing Richards and his band to many of the great musicians playing today.

Things changed when Richardson stood up and introduced Yoko Kanno explaining how the concert came together and how he was in awe of being given the opportunity to put a band together for Kanno. Kanno’s arrival on stage, in a bright red dress,  was met with thunderous applause and a standing ovation. Kanno  smiled and thanked the audience before introducing the entire jazz band (though not Little Kruta the strings ensemble) individually and saying something about each person. While she had worked with some of the people before, it wasn’t everyone and yet she knew who everyone was.

Kanno then introduced the next song Piano Black before she receded to the side of the stage to dance and conduct.  Until the post Tank sequence of songs Kanno was purely a dancing conductor. After that she played the played the piano on several songs.

The evening  was a magical experience. Somehow this was the first time that Kanno was performing in New York, a fact that left many people around me feeling shocked. One would have thought that she would have been invited to play sooner. Personally I was feeling bad that I had missed her until finding out I never did.

The choice of songs was quite good. Honestly I’m such a fan of Kanno’s that there are a lot of other songs I would have loved to have heard played live, but not being happy is quibbling. The mere ability to see Ms Kanno live and in person was enough.

What I loved about the performance was that the performance was not by the numbers. This was not a recreation of the recordings but a live performance. Almost every song had improvisations. Any live performances I had seen of Kanno and her band The Seatbelts seemed to be less jazzy. For example while I’ve seen and heard numerous versions of Tank played live, this was the first time where the band improved and really grooved on it. All the songs were not a note for note recreations but something living and breathing in the moment.  All of the material, including the  songs performed by both Steve Conte  and Scott Matthews, took the versions the fans know and love and made them something special, something bigger and better.

It was wickedly cool and left me and everyone else at Town Hall wanting more..

What I want Ms Kanno to return to New York and do more nights, not just with a jazz band, but a symphony orchestra that can really allow the full extent of her musical prowess.

It was a night that is destined to become legendary.

The Set List:

COSMOS Cowboy Bebop

Odd Ones Cowboy Bebop

Slipper Sleaze Cowboy Bebop

The Egg and You Cowboy Bebop

Cat Blues Cowboy Bebop

Clutch Cowboy Bebop

AUTUMN IN GANYMEDE Cowboy Bebop

CAR 24 Cowboy Bebop

PIANO BLACK Cowboy Bebop

Time to Know / Be waltz Cowboy Bebop

Is it real? Cowboy Bebop

lithium flower Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone

Complex

Could You Bite the Hand? Wolf’s Rain

CALL ME CALL ME Cowboy Bebop

Waltz in High Socks Cowboy Bebop

High Heel Runaway Darker Than Black

Go Dark Darker Than Black

RUSH Cowboy Bebop

TANK! Cowboy Bebop

Gotta knock a little harder Cowboy Bebop

ENCORE:

Paradiso Wolf’s Rain

Green Bird + Piano Bar I Cowboy Bebop

All the photos are courtesy  of Anthony Mulchay and Town Hall

Peter Gutiérrez has two books out FROM BAD TO WORSE and THE TREES MELT LIKE CANDLES

 This is just a note to say that Unseen Films writer and friend Peter Gutierrez has just released two books and you should buy them.

FROM BAD TO WORSE is a collection of short stories that tell stories about things that go from bad to worse. They are a great collection of tales that get under you skin.

The second is the novella THE TREES MELT LIKE CANDLES. It's a dark tale of a reflection of a life gone sideways. It's a Lovecraftian tale that goes into places that are unexpected.

Both are genuinely really good and highly recommended.

To buy Peter's books from Amazon go here:

FROM TO TO WORSE

THE TREES MELT LIKE CANDLES

MIGRANT SEA (2024) Slamdance 2024

This is not going to be a full review, instead consider this a pointer.

MIGRANT SEA is a multimedia documentary that chronicles the path that some African’s are taking to cross the Mediterranean Ocean to get to Italy consisting of  short films, photos stories and audio documentaries. It’s a look at what the journey entails and how it affects everyone involved.

I was given access to the material pre festival, but because there is a lot of it I was only able to see a portion. What I’ve seen is excellent. Using it’s fragmented form it delves deeply into the situation and truly allows us to fully understand what is going on and who everyone is. Some times not having a to bend everything to a narrative thread works best because it allows things to be more fully explored.

If you have the time to really sit with it MIGRANT SEA is a must at Slamdance.

For more information on the project go here

The report on covering the red carpet for SHARI AND LAMB CHOP at DOC NYC

On Saturday I met Lamb Chop and Mallory Lewis, who took over being Lamb Chop’s companion. It was a day of craziness, only some of which I can share. I say that because there were a couple of things that were kind of outside of the public view that should remain there.

The meeting was the result of my covering the Red Carpet for the World Premiere of the film Shari and Lamb Chop about Mallory’s mom and her best know buddy.

I arrived early at New York’s Village East and after trying to find out where to go I was shuttle down stairs where I met Barbara Okun, Shari Lewis’s sister and a woman, who I have completely forgotten  the name of. We fell into a conversation about Shari, Mallory and Lamb Chop. Mostly I was asked to take pictures of the ladies with each other and Mallory because they wanted a keepsake.

Mallory arrived and we fell into a conversation. After instructions on how to shoot Lamb Chop she produced one of my heros from childhood and I began to lose it. It isn’t often you get to meet some you admired as a kid and have them turn out as something wonderful as you hoped. I got a kiss on the cheek and then had to pause taking pictures as I was overcome with emotion. (SadlyI never had the opportunity to get a picture with Lamb Chop)

I was shooting pictures like crazy with the family and kibutzing with them. It was delight.

And then we were all called over to the Red Carpet…. And then it got even crazier as the family and friends was expanded by the filmmakers, PR people, City Officials, members of the press and assorted other all wanting to have their picture taken with Mallory and Lamb Chop. I shot pictures of everyone, even after the other photographers  stopped.  I had to because Lamb Chop kept yelling to me..”Are you getting these pictures Steve?”  How could I not?

While I was hoping to get an interview with Lamb Chop it didn’t happen because too many people wanted to meet the little one. DJ Biggs started an interview that probably ran five minutes and took the netter part of an half an hour to do because everyone pulled Lamb Chop away. Yes the Festival got a minute long interview but that was because it was a just over a minutes.

Eventually everyone got pulled upstairs to the screening.

I didn’t go because I didn’t have a ticket and while I know I could have gotten into the Q&A I went home instead since I could get home at a reasonable hour if I did. (I got home about the time the Q&A would have ended)

Yes I am leaving details out. Partly because I don’t remember a few things, but mostly because some of it was just interacting “with family” . (None of it was bad)

I had a blast. Everyone was so welcoming.

While there is much I will remember about that night, I will always have the memory of Lamb Chop calling to me by name to make sure I got the shot. There is something magical about that.

Harkness plays Pianos in NYC Friday

 I’ve been told by a good friend that the one man band HARKNESS is performing in New York City on July 15th at Pianos - 158 Ludlow Street.

Harkness plays all the instruments himself and does all the vocals. 

The information that I was sent is as follows:

Listening to Harkness I was completely blown away by his grasp of vocal harmony and arranging. His songwriting and production is some of the best I've heard in years."

- Roger Manning (Beck, Jellyfish, TLQ)

HARKNESS, a one-man-band from Toronto, Canada, whose gift for rich production has turned heads the world-over, is coming to New York City to Pianos on July 15 to deliver a full-bodied soundscape. Dipping and ducking around 60s flair, while incorporating modern alternative rock and exciting musical experimentation.

HARKNESS has been tirelessly working in his home studio honing his songwriting and production skills. A self-produced multi-instrumentalist, HARKNESS - mystically clad in visor and gown - wears his inspiration from musical titans such as Brian Wilson, Prince, and Todd Rundgren on his sleeve.

He sings, plays guitar, bass, piano and drums, and produces everything himself. HARKNESS focuses only on real instrumentation to create lush, evocative, deeply human sonic scapes, with a fresh modern pop aesthetic which calls to mind Soft Bulletin era Flaming Lips.

His ambitious debut album The Occasion, was released last summer to an endless amount of rave reviews, from around the world, and continues still today.

His latest single Ciao To The Beauty was released two weeks ago, and the video single will have its premiere on MTV, starting Tuesday, June 21.  A new EP, with the same name as the single, will be released in September.

And there is a documentary being made on HARKNESS, directed/produced by Maria Markina for Storyline Entertainment.

If you want a taste of Harness’s music go here:

Bio here 

Website: https://harknessmusic.com/

Instagram: harknessmfa 

Facebook: harknessmfa

YouTube: Harkness MFA and CIAO TO BEAUTY the current single is here

Spotify: Harkness

Soundcloud: Harkness

A Story of Christmas Eve Part 2

This is the second Christmas story of the day. It’s what was happening at the Bully Building while the first story was happening.  If you read the first one and liked it you may like this one. If you hated it stop now just move on this is more of the same. Remember  this was written for friends and intended to pretty much amuse them. Randi, Eden, Nate, Hubert, John, Liz, Shelly and Bully are contributors to Unseen. Pink Bunny is a friend from online who posts to twitter as a bunny, Kitty Pryde is John and Randi’s cat. Marshall is Bully’s little sister and the bears ect are plushies that live with John and Randi.

A word of warning the stories do not tie into each other perfectly. They are meant to be two views of insanity from two points of view.

If you enjoy it great, if not move on and reviews will be back tomorrow.

For now just know that the story is a gift for friends just because I thought it would make them (and maybe you) smile

 John had come up with the idea of a guys night in to counter balance the girls night out that Shelly, pink Bunny, Eden, Randi, Liz, and Kitty Pryde had planned at the all night Santa Tango down  at the Nighthawk. It was going to be Bully John, the Bears, the shark and some of the other plushies hanging out.  The idea was that everyone would hang out, tell bad jokes while they sip cherry wine, pretend to smoke chocolate cigars and do guy things. Instead of the Four Yorkshiremen it would be the ten Brooklynmen.

To round things out  John had invited a few others but everyone seemed to be busy. Hubert was on the other coast on a super-secret spy mission that no one was supposed to know about involving Northern Canadians trying to tunnel into the US via the north pole using tenacled creatures from another dimension. Nate declined because he was going to be leading Christmas service in the Chuck Jones Home for Reprobate Cartoon Characters.  As for Steve he wussed out because he didn’t want to be in Brooklyn, where the monsters live, after dark.

The whole "boys will be boys" telling lies  as they drank pretend Chateau de Chassilier went down the tubes when Shelly caught wind of the impending testosterone fueled evening and asked Marshal to stay home and keep things in check. It wasn’t that Marshal wasn’t capable of being an active participant to any insanity, she did love her heavy weapons after all, but Shelly felt her presence would just tone things down.

Marshal could feel the air leave the room when it announced she was staying home. However she didn’t mind because she had a few idea of her own to spice up the night. Marshal always had ideas, it was what made her so charming, and actually more dangerous than her brother Bully. She was the crazy one in the family, she just kept it inside  an put forward the thought she was a sweet little girl

Which was why as soon as the ladies had left the building Marshall hit all the guys with whip cream pies. All bets were off and a major tussle resulted. Some how in the middle of it the Christmas tree got knocked over and and john ended up tied up in Christmas tree lights.  The bears saw this and decided that they would sacrifice John to Magumba and started to set up an alter to the  god of the Dickies.  

Things were rapidly spiraling out of control which confused Bully to no end.

Marshall leapt up on the altar and shouted “Before we make a sacrifice we must dine on HoHo’s and YooHoo!”

“Yes!!!” Shouted the bears

John was even more confused and simply tried to say “Wait what?”  as he tried to figure out what in the hell had just happened.

“To the Bodega!” shouted Marshall. Everyone put on their coats and headed out the door, John still wrapped up in the tree lights, a living hopping Christmas tree.

It was at this point three things happened at exactly the same time.

First the door to the house slammed shut just as Marshall realized no one had taken the keys.

Secondly John said “you know Randi is not going to be happy about the mess or any impending sacrifice”

And lastly the monsters showed up – thus proving Steve was correct. (Though to be perfectly honest a great deal of discussion has gone into the matter of whether the monsters would have shown up if Steve wasn’t writing the story. Bully has speculated that this whole incident was wildly inflated by Steve because the fact that everyone stayed home watching RiffTrax, MST3k and the Mads and drinking hot cocoa and falling asleep, missing Santa and being woken up by a phone call about pancakes would have made a non-story. His attitude was he was perfectly fine with the monsters showing up in this version since the chicks dig it)

“OH MY GOD THEY HAVE NEIL” shouted Marshall as one of the beasties grabbed the English author and carried him off.

“Wait what?” Said John again as he desperately tried to parse out when Neil had entered the story.

Marshall debated pulling out her pocket pistol but knew that doing so was going to get them in trouble. If Randi heard gunfire as she was walking to the theater she would come home and ground Marshall because she was supposed to be calming things down, not escalating them into a firefight.

Oh the Humanity.

Springing into action Marshall ran over to john and climbed up to the top of his head.  John was completely confused by this but Marshall didn’t have time to explain. She pulled out her police whistle and blew it long and loud.

The conflict between plushies and monsters ceased as everyone looked to see what was going on.

“knock it off!” she screamed. “this is Christmas eve not a wrestling match”

Everyone took a step back and looked at the tiny stuffed bull.

“What if Santa saw you?”

A murmur of shoot ran through the collective crowd. It was followed by a round of apologies and recriminations and hugs as everyone asked for forgiveness. (Well not everyone, the one monster who carried Neil off was still missing- it was later discovered that Neil was forced to sign copies of every book in every edition  he ever wrong by the monster who was a superfan)

“I suspect that you guys are up for some boardgames and ice cream as we wait for Santa” said Marshall.

The monsters said they were.

“Good” said the bull in charge.”Now hel us figure out how to get back into the Bully Building.

One of the bears, nick named Captain Obvious, asked if they were sure the door was locked. Marshall turned the knob to show it was.

It was at this point that one of the monsters dressed on long brown robes stepped up and said “A Jedi does not need a key”. The other monsters began to groan as Luke tried to use the Force on the door.  When that didn’t work he had to be pulled away as he began kicking the door screaming “A JEDI WILL NOT BE DENIED!” and “OPEN DAMN YOU”

Dave, one of the uglier monsters leaned down and apologized to the plushies “Sorry, he gets in a mood…. And he’s seen Star Wars a couple times too many”

“Haven’t we all" said Bully.

Morty, one of the bigger monsters came over and joined the conversation “what if I pick up the building and shake it, maybe the keys will fall out a window.”

“It’s a nice idea” said Dave “But you’ll never get the building back on it’s foundation the right way”

‘I could if I was really really careful”

“I don’t think it will work. Its just one of the things that just can’t be fixed.”

“Kind of like the last trilogy”

And with that Luke attacked Dave and they started rolling down the block banging into parked cars.

Mrs Lynsky opened up her window and started screaming “Will you monsters be quiet – I just got my kids asleep and Santa’s coming.”

Dave and Luke stopped fighting and sheepishly slinked back up the street.

Outside the Bully building things were getting interesting as several of the neighbors were getting involved with trying to pick the lock. Several near fights almost broke out as several factions debated rather heatedly, the best way to open the door.

Into the commotion Peppa Pig road up on Fat Pony.

Peppa and Pony were confused by the commotion going on around them. When they got to the stairs  she walked up the stairs saying “excuse me” as she went. She then took out her key and opened the door and she and pony walked into the building letting the door close behind her.

The street went dead silent as everyone stared at the door for a good long while.

Marshall continued to stare as she took out he cellphone and called Peppa.

“hello”

“Peppa?”

“ Hi Marshal.. Why are you calling me? Why don’t you come in?”

“Could you open the door please?”

“Forgot your key?”

“Everyone did.”

“ Give me a moment”

A few moments later Peppa opened the door  and everyone, John and Bull and the boys, and the monsters and the neighbors all piled in to the Bully Building.

John and bully started to pull the ice cream and fixings out of the fridge and cabinets while Marshal and Peppa took Fat Pony to get more ice cream and stuff, because there were a lot of people and monsters and everyone wanted some.

As everyone worked on Sundays the bears took out the big screen  and set up the projector. They were going to have everyone watch Cinema Titanic’s Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Santa, who had some how slipped in when no one was looking said that he approved as he curled up off to one side to watch the show.

Bully took the two remaining bowls around to make sure that Neil and the monster who kidnapped him got some ice cream, but seeing that they were no where around quietly slipped one Sunday in his bowl and the other into John’s because that’s what best friends do.

“Don’t tell,” whipered Bully

“I won’t,Thank you” said John

And with that one of the bears hit the button and everyone got lost watching a holiday classic.

A Story of Christmas Eve (Part 1)

Reviews re taking the day off today. Instead I’m presenting two related stories one now and one later on today.

And this means that most of you can skip them and just move on.  It’s not that I don’t think you’ll be interested but more that you won’t know what to make of them. They are stories written for friends and intended to pretty much amuse them. Randi, Eden, Nate, Hubert, Shelly and Bully are contributors to Unseen. Pink Bunny is a friend from online who posts to twitter as a bunny, Kitty Pryde is John and Randi’s cat. Liz is  the infamous chanteuse Liz Whittemore. The references are to people and things that make sense (sort of) to them. Though if you’ve read any of the previous stories I’ve posted over the years you’ll know that the inclusion of angels makes perfect sense. It’s a mix of reality and flights of fantasy.

The second story is what was, in theory, happening when these events were going on. It’s tangentially related and more insanity.

And now a little nothing written to amuse friends in the holiday season.

It was partly Hubert’s fault.  He had been emailing back and forth with Kitty Pryde, Bully’s feline sidekick, discussing all of the great things to do in Brooklyn for the holidays and he mentioned Bela Tarr’s seven plus hour Satantango was playing Christmas Eve at the Nighthawk Cinema down the street from the Bully Building. Unfortunately autocorrect changed it to Santa’s Tango so Kitty thought it was a seven hour holiday dance movie.  Kitty then sent out a notice for a girls night out and everyone went to spend Christmas Eve watch some dancing.

The multi-hour bleak look at life was too much for everyone.

Kitty and Pink Bunny retreated to the bar and were downing margaritas. Shelly was sound asleep in the back row of the theater. Randi, Eden and Liz wandered off to god knows where giggling like little girls. Marshall  was the only one to come out reasonably okay since she was too young to drink, she stayed home and played checkers with her brother and watched Klaus on Netflix.

Kitty was feeling rather depressed since she had arranged the night that had fallen off the table. Pink was doing her best to keep her spirits up and kept feeding her fruity drinks.

“We should wake Shelly” said Kitty “She likes fruity fish drinks”

“Let her sleep” Said Pink. “”She’s been working hard making sure Bully stays out of trouble so Santa brings him something”

Kitty drank a bit more.

Pink watched her friend. She felt bad that her friend was feeling bad because the night went banana shaped. She ordered some tuna canapes figuring it was going to help her friend feel better but Kitty hardly touched them.

People came and went while Kitty sulked.

Pink excused herself and went to the ladies room. She whipped out he flip phone and called Marshall.

“Hey cutie-how goes” she asked.

“good. I’m letting Bully win. What’s up? Movie not what you expected?”

“Not really. Listen, did the ladies go back there? They wandered off a bit ago and I don’t know where they went?”

“They aren’t here. I mean they could have gone to the Bully cave, Eden always liked the sound system down there but I don’t hear  any music”

“Okay.”

“I’ll let you know if they show up.

“Thanks”

Pink flushed for no reason and headed back to her friend. The tuna was gone, as were all the nuts and the chocolate pretzels.

“Easy killer” pink said sliding in next to her friend” you don’t want to lose that girlish figure.”

Kitty laughed. Pink hoped that was a good sign.

Kitty opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out because there was a  big commotion coming down the hall. Voices, musical notes and glowing.

Pink groaned, she knew that light and it wasn’t always a good thing….

Through the door crashed five angels, three women and scraggly looking author. The angels had instruments, the women had big sticks and the author had beard and moustache.

Randi, Liz and Eden stepped over to their friends. “Ladies meet the angels.”

The angels bowed and said hello in thick Irish tones.

Kitty and Pink said “hello”

“And of course you know Neil” said Eden.

Pink jumped down and gave Neil a hug. Neil hugged her back.

“good to see you” he said.

“Its been too long”

“It has”.

Neil leaned down to Pink “why am I here?” he asked.

“Beats me” She replied. She looked up at the three ladies.  “What is all this?”

Pink noticed the angels were setting up their instruments.

“A Punk Irish Angel Folk Band” said Eden.

“ They don’t look particularly punk” slurred Kitty who had wandered over to the band.

“You should see where we’re pierced” said one of the angel’s with thick Irish accent.

“More to the point do you know what it takes to pierce an angel” said another with an equally thick accent. “The pain and suffering would curl your hair”

Kitty paused.

And then with a “Three Two One lets Jam”, the angels started off on bouncy reel. It was, as you might expect a heavenly thing.  No one who heard it could not be moving. 

Liz moved to the bandstand and started to belt out an Irish punk folk classic

Randi leaned down to Kitty, “you wanted to dance so we found them playing outside the park and invited them to come and play.”

People started coming out of the theaters and the ushers were dancing. Actually before long everyone was dancing.

The manager half wandered, half danced over. “What is all this?” he said indicating  the angels and the dancing.

“Angels” said Randi.

“I can see that. This is movie theater….”

“Not any more. At least not tonight” said Eden as she adjusted her crown,  and step danced to the bar.

The manage shook his head and just went with it.

Neil looked around. He felt out of sorts. “ What am I doing here?” he murmured.

“Dancing” said pink as she took his hand and began to move him around the floor.

Randi took Kitty’s hand and the started to move around the room.

Kitty’s mood brightened.

By the time the third song had kicked in the movies continued to run but no one was watching. Everyone was dancing

Everyone except Shelly who was still curled up in the back of the theater for she was a really tired little otter.

I should point out that somewhere along the way Santa slipped in.  No one was quite sure where or when but he was there a good long while blowing sax.  At one point he stepped off the miraculously appeared band stand to dance with Kitty. As you probably figured it was a tango.

Somewhere just after dawn, when the sun wasn’t quite up Shelly woke up. Looking around the theater she wondered where everyone had gotten to. 

Shelly stepped out of the theater. The hall was eerily quiet. There was no one around.

She knew something had happened since the lights were on, but what?

She moved slowly down the hall waiting for something to jump out at her. 

A line of glasses and bottle of champagne started in the floor. Shelly decided to follow it.  It lead to the bar…

Slowly opening the door she expected to find a scene of carnage but not what she found….

Bodies everywhere. It looked like a dance party had exploded and bodies were everywhere. Shelly was worried that they were dead but then she heard the sound od Pink Bunny snoring and she knew everyone was sleeping.

Shelly waded into the room. Who were all these people? Why were there angels on the bandstand? More to the point what the hell was Neil doing here?

Unsure of what she should do she stepped outside and called Nate. Nate was a minister and he’d know how to handle a room full of sleeping people and angels.

“Nate?”

“Shelly? Are you okay?”

“There’s a room full of people and angels and I don’t know what to do.”

“Who are the people?”

“Eden, Pink, Kitty, Liz, some people from the neighborhood and Neil”

“Neil? What the hell is Neil doing there?”

“ I don’t know. We went to the movies last night, I fell asleep and when I woke up I found a room full of angels. What do I do?”

“ See who wants to get pancakes and go to the diner. Just be sure to call Bully and John….”

“And Marshall”

“And Marshall. When they’ve had coffee you can find out what happened.”

“Okay. Thank you”

“Merry Christmas. Shelly”

“Merry Christmas Nate”

“And take a picture- I need to see this.”

“Will do."

Nate hung up

Shelly snapped a picture. Then said “ Who wants pancakes?”

The angels stood up and indicated they were in.

Slowly everyone else slowly got to their feet and said they were in too.

And with that everyone filed out of the Nighthawk and headed down to the Purity Diner. The angels playing Christmas tunes as they went.

As they walked Shelly called Bully and he said he was in  and that he had something really cool to tell them.

And it wasn’t long before the party continued as everyone from the Nighthawk met up with everyone from the apartment and half of Park Slope at the Little Purity Diner for a big Christmas Day brunch that lasted until late in the evening with no one going home and everyone just hanging out with all their friends… even Neil who final understood why he was there.

Shock Cinema or What is Steve reading?

Over 25 years ago Steven Puchalski started publishing Shock Cinema and he is still going strong. I have been a reader for decades. I would pick up an issue here and there depending upon when I saw one at a newsstand and the go through it for films I had to run down.

Over time the magazine drifted from just being a collection of reviews into a full on movie magazine specializing in anything not big and Hollywood. Reading the magazine was, and still is an education because Puchalski had such a wide spectrum of interests that you always ran into something that intrigued you enough to try and track it down.

Recently with the Covid crap I have been getting back to a point where I can do more reading. With less films being flung my way I am reading more. Since my library is largely in storage due to shifting rooms around, I have been looking for things to read and I recently pulled out an old issue of Shock Cinema.  I was instantly in heaven all over again.

What delighted me was the easy mix of facts and discussion. The reviews looked at the films as something more than just a thing to be reviewed, but as a living breathing animal. The discussion did talk about quality and if it as worth seeing but also tossed out facts about the films and the filmmakers that you simply don't get with most reviews today. Puchalski and the others know what they are talking about. They are just happening upon a film because it was sent to them, but because they are in love with the form. Facts drip out about the people connected with whatever they are talking about not because they looked them up, but because the genuinely know the works of whomever, or whatever  they are talking about.

Rereading some of the interviews realized that the interviewers ability to talk to a subject about their entire career, often with more detail than the subject, was something I strove to do with my interviews here at Unseen. I want to know as much about a subject as I can before I talk to them. While I may not be as successful as those at Shock Cinema, at least I'm aiming to copy the best.

When I finished the magazine I also realized that I needed to get all the back issues. There were bits and pieces in the magazine that I wish I had had available to me recently. With Covid altering the release schedules I have some reviews of some older films lined up and I wish I could have had the context the Shock Cinema reviews and interviews could have given.  Additionally I was also having a blast rereading and finding new films to track down or revisit. To that end I ordered the entire run of the magazine (in a couple of orders). Clearly my dance card will be full for several weeks.

One of the things I have loved about reading the early early issues from the mid-1990's is the pleas to information on getting good copies of many films we now have readily available. Films that are mainstays of Asian Cinema are talked about being sourced from convention dealers or odd sources. Everything is VHS and there is no internet. Oh how things have changed.

Do yourself a favor and get some issues. All the information can be had here. The list of available issues is there. What I love, and what pushed me toward getting the run is the website has a listing from issue 4 until 54 what everything that is reviewed, who is interviewed or discussed. Look it over and you will find just how wide their net is.

I can't recommend them enough.

Stay At Home Festival Bonus Film: The Last Broadcast

Not really a film but a 1980's radio broadcast about the end of the world.

Angels for the New Year

Please excuse this little story. I felt the need to write another one for Randi

Danny was often asked why angels drank- was it because, as Ben Franklin said God gave us beer because he loved us, or was there some other reason? Danny would always say that he didn't know, but he did. One cannot tend bar for as long as he had with out the ability to glean some information from his patrons.

Angels drank because of the pain. They didn't ever come out and say it, but Danny knew. Yea, they were higher beings. Yea, they knew that in the end it would all be alright, but coming here, coming to earth, required a bit of a change. Pure holy matter became partial material and so they felt pain. Not the pain of existence, they were too holy and too immortal for that, rather the pain of others, of those they helped and comforted. Compassion came at a cost. And even though they knew the pain would pass both for the afflicted and themselves, there were limits. The weight of the world was heavy, but nowhere near as heavy as the pain of one lost individual.

Angels drank to easy the pain of the world that they had taken on themselves.

It was always a long night when the angels showed up. Danny knew they had had a bad night when they came in. They tended not to go to the same place over and over again. They didn't want to be gawked at or challenged. They just wanted to come in and drink and "be forgotten even if they couldn't forget."  Danny didn't know what that meant. An angel had said it to him when he asked them why they kept coming back.  Danny's place let them be forgotten. He suspected that meant something to them, but to him it just sounded odd.

A lot of stuff with the angels was odd and that was just the way it was. He didn't ask and they didn't say. He just let them be and that was why they kept coming back.

It was almost day light on New Year's Day and the angels were still hanging in. They had come in just after midnight and took up at the far end of the bar. They didn't have to order, Danny knew what to bring. He kept bringing it when ever the mood turn dour or the singing became too melancholy. Another round brought cheers and laughs and jokes.

Danny wanted to go home but as much as as the world needed the angels they needed him. He was the one man who let them be and asked for nothing, so they kept coming back, not night after night but now and again, and almost every New Year. They came when the world seemed like shit and their rounds were too much. Too much or just when they needed a friendly face.

It was always toughest on New Years. The world ached to start over- to start fresh- the mass of humanity would throw off their pain and suffering and hope for a better tomorrow. For one night they would let go of the pain and pray that tomorrow was going to be better. It might be, it might not but for that one night the angels would go out and take away the pain, as much as they could. They would help humanity feel at least a little better. They knew they couldn't get to everyone but to anyone they could they would give a fighting chance for a better time to come.

It was a terrible thing to do to one's self but it was what they were born to do. So when the rounds were done they would drink and heal and sing and forget.

Danny didn't envy them, but he loved and cherished them and their friendship. Yea they tipped big, but that wasn't why he stayed open, he stayed because they were his friends and if the roles were reversed he knew they would do the same, not because they were born to but because it was what friends did.

Sometime after the world was awake the angels began to file out.

"Danny, my friend" said one of the host as he headed to the door."Any man who spends New Year's with the angels is truly blessed"

"Is that true?" Asked the barkeep

The angel shrugged "Maybe, possibly. Who knows?"

Danny smiled at the angel, who smiled back.

"What I do know is that any man with at least one good friend is blessed. I would say you have a few."

"And you have at least one."

The angel smiled broader. He then nodded and walked out.

Danny locked the door behind him and then headed home to bed looking forward to what the New Year would bring.

Once more help PR person extraordinaire Kaila Hier return to the US and bring us all movies

Kaila, Pierre the Lama and Leah Shore

Kaila Heir still can't come to the US and she still needs some help getting unbanned.

Below is a repost of the original appeal I put up in April when it was hoped that Kaila would be able to work things out reasonably quickly but because things have slowed down in part because of the way the government works and in part because Trump's Administration have shifted the rules she's still stuck on the outside looking in.

Because You Caring where her original appeal went down and because more money is required, Kaila has set up a GoFund me page. Because things have changed and this new appeal has gone live I'm reposting the original piece I did in the hope that you will find it in your heart to throw Kaila some cash and thus continue to have really cool films brought to your attention.

I need to take a minute out and ask that you help an acquaintance and more importantly a major connection for my cinematic addition, Kaila Hier. Kaila is a PR person who has been feeding many of us in the Unseen Films family films for several years thanks to her connection to great film festivals such as Fantasia, Final Girls Berlin and the Boston Underground Film Festivals. She has been responsible for our discovering a lot of films which are now near and dear to our hearts. She is a sweet and lovely person and someday I home to meet her in real life.

Kaila, is not based in the United States and because of the nature she goes where the work takes her which is around the world, often working on several projects globally at the same time from a remote location. During a stay in the US which wasn't listed as a business trip she sent off some business emails and the US government took exception and banned her from entering the US country for five years. (You can read the details here). Its bullshit of course, especially in this interconnected world, but as a result she can’t come to the US.

As things stand she has an attorney who said she can appeal the ban but she needs the money to file for the appeal and to pay for the fees required to file the papers. To that end she has set up a You Caring page in order to pay for the costs.

I know that a lot of you like what we do here at Unseen Films. You like that we reveal all of these crazy little films you’ve never heard of. You love that we open your horizons well if you want to make sure we can continue to have as wide a view of cinema as possible we need you to click and give a couple of bucks to help make it so Kaila can be back into the US. Make it easier for her to come here and do what she is really good at which is spread the word on festivals and films we all need to be seeing.

Now I know many of you can’t afford to do anything big time. I'm not asking for a huge donation. I know you are barely getting by, but if I can ask you to just take the cost of a cup of coffee, just one cup, and send it to Kaila you’ll be helping keep Unseen, and thus yourself well stocked with cinematic treasures. Seriously t’s any small gesture, and nothing more from a lot of really good people will result in the long run with lots of new films for you to see and marvel at.(Trust me Kaila is really good at finding really good films to rep and share)

So if you can please take a minute and give a couple of bucks so Kaila can keep sending us movies which will broaden our horizons and make the world a better place.

Thanks.

To donate or to read about what exactly happened and why Kaila was banned go here.

A story for Randi on Christmas Eve

This is a Christmas story I wrote for Randi. It harkens back to when she and I were going out and every year I tried to write her a story for Christmas. Some were short stories and some were essentially novels, they usually had something to do with Christmas and sometimes they didn’t. They were not high art just written just to amuse the love of my life. For better or worse some of the best writing I ever did was contained in those stories. I still refer to bits I came up with and the characters that fill them in the fragments I now occasionally scribble in half used notebooks.

You really don’t need to know any of that but it might help to know that the main character, a young woman named Fen (aka Fenchurch) is the heroine of the tales. She is a grand adventurer through time and space more often than not at the whim of time and space itself. I mention this because it puts a stray comment into context. Also in context is the fact I tend to have a repeated motif of angels getting drunk at a bar. If you remember the one other story of mine that appeared here at Unseen involved angels getting drunk at a poetry reading.

The last bit of context and the only thing you really need to know about the story is that the Mark Knopfler song referenced is called The Ragpicker’s Dream. The song can be found here and you should probably give it a listen so you get an sense of the dance at the end.

That is it. And this the story- a small trifle written to amuse a friend and nothing more.


Fenchurch was holed up in a dark corner of the bar nursing a too big double. She hadn’t been expecting to find the bar open on Christmas Eve but there it was so she wandered in, and saw why Danny had chosen to skip midnight mass- a band of angels were ponied up to the bar. As everyone knows Angeles tip big and on this holiest of nights you can’t get much closer to God than his heavenly host, so he stayed open and hummed along to the tunes.

It was a quiet night for the most part. The sound system had Christmas classics playing, mostly Bing and Perry and those sort of things. All low key. It was the sort of night where even Brenda Lee was going to be too rockin'. There were a couple of rowdy college kids at a table to the right of the bar but a withering look from one of the glowing beings had put the literal fear of god into them.

Fen liked it quiet. It had been a crazy holiday season for reasons that eluded her, mostly having to do with other people’s crazy need to create the feeling of false nostalgia you get from holiday songs. Long ago Fen stopped worrying about recreating something that never was. She supposed that she had seen enough in her trips around the universe that she could accept the wonders before her without question-after all she was sitting in a bar in Iowa with a bunch of angels which, if you thought about it, was somehow magical.

Fen took to doodling on he napkin, more abstracts than anything concrete. She found herself humming along to some odd ball Mitch Miller tune as she drew.

Then she looked up. There were raised voices at the bar. A heated argument was getting loud. Fen was a tad confused since while she had seen more than her share of drunk angels she had never seen one raise their voice. The fact that two were speaking very loudly was really strange- she wondered what could have caused it….

And then she caught it, they were arguing the merits of various Christmas Carols. They were trying to, very loudly, as loudly as angel can get, which is loud, convince each other what the best Christmas song was.

Fen was amused.

And then she got up and walked to the bar, and then behind it. Danny didn’t pay her any mind as she unhooked the sound system and plugged in her phone. Danny was too engrossed in the argument happening mere inches from him.  Fen then hit play and the familiar picking of Mark Knopfler filled the room.

“When Jack Frost Came for Christmas
With a brass monkey date...” Knopfler sang and the room went silent.

Fen walked around the bar and took the hand of one of the angels and began to dance with them,  swaying in the waltz time. The others watched for a moment before they paired up and joined them. At the table to right, where the college kids whispered,  the gentlemen bowed to the ladies and then escorted them to the dance floor.

Danny just sat on his stool and smiled. As the song wound down he hit repeat and the dancing continued as he poured shots of the good stuff for everyone. He motioned to the dancers about the drinks but they kept dancing so he hit repeat again and let them dance some more.

As the song finally ended  the dancers broke off and took their drinks- all except Fen and her partner who did one more turn of the dance floor before bowing to the crowd, who applauded.

Danny refilled the glasses “ This may not be the milk of human kindness…”

“But it’ll do.” said a an angel.

“Yes it’ll do. And merry to Christmas to all”

“And to all a good night” everyone said before they downed their drinks and cheered.

Help PR person extraordinaire Kaila Hier return to the US and bring us all movies

That's Kaila in the middle

I need to take a minute out and ask that you help an acquaintance and more importantly a major connection for my cinematic addition, Kaila Hier. Kaila is a PR person who has been feeding many of us in the Unseen Films family films for several years thanks to her connection to great film festivals such as Fantasia, Final Girls Berlin and the Boston Underground Film Festivals. She  has been responsible for our discovering a lot of films which are now near and dear to our hearts. She is a sweet and lovely person and someday I home to meet her in real life.

Kaila, is not based in the United States and because of the nature she goes where the work takes her which is around the world, often working on several projects globally at the same time from a remote location. During a stay in the US which wasn't listed as a business trip she sent off some business emails and the US government took exception and banned her from entering the US country for five years. (You can read the details here). Its bullshit of course, especially in this interconnected world, but as a result she can’t come to the US.

As things stand she has an attorney who said she can appeal the ban but she needs the money to file for the appeal and to pay for the fees required to file the papers. To that end she has set up a You Caring page in order to pay for the costs.

I know that a lot of you like what we do here at Unseen Films. You like that we reveal all of these crazy little films you’ve never heard of. You love that we open your horizons well if you want to make sure we can continue to have as wide a view of cinema as possible we need you to click and give a couple of bucks to help make it so Kaila can be back into the US.  Make it easier for her to come here and do what she is really good at which is spread the word on festivals and films we all need to be seeing.

Now I know many of you can’t afford to do anything big time. I'm not asking for a huge donation. I know you are barely getting by, but if I can ask you to just take the cost of a cup of coffee, just one cup,  and send it to Kaila you’ll be helping keep Unseen, and thus yourself well stocked with cinematic treasures. Seriously t’s any small gesture, and nothing more from a lot of really good people will result in the long run with lots of new films for you to see and marvel at.(Trust me Kaila is really good at finding really good films to rep and share)

So if you can please take a minute and give a couple of bucks so Kaila can keep sending  us movies which will broaden our horizons and make the world a better place.

Thanks.

To donate or to read about what exactly happened and why Kaila was banned go here.

A parrothead looks at Escape to Margaritaville on Broadway

I saw Escape to Margaritaville on Broadway the other night. Because I had heard bits of the score on Jimmy Bufett’s radio station I was wary going in. They had rewritten some songs which didn’t always work. However as much as wary as I was of going I did have a good time. Taking it on its own terms it’s a fun evening. Its far from earth shaking but fun.

That said I have issues... and if you don’t want to know stop reading

While the cast is fine, the set looks good but the show is largely a mess beyond that.

The book is not really good. It’s a boy and girl meet on vacation tale that we’ve seen before but they have twisted and turned every action and every line of dialog to get in the maximum number of puns and references to Jimmy Buffett songs to the point of being distracting. Its designed to bring maximum joy to well versed Parrotheads. So much so that while I and many others laughed and giggled at all the references and the song lyrics turned into lines of dialog many others looked quizzical at why some people were laughing or clapping at a reference.

While jukebox musicals are often cash grabs, designed to make money on nostalgia, if done right (Ring of Fire, Mamma Mia) they don’t feel mechanical . Escape to Margaritaville is incredibly mechanical. While most certainly entertains, it plays like most Jimmy Buffett concerts over the last decade or so, as a mechanical money machine PT Barnum would be proud of. There is no pretense here to be anything more than being good enough to get people coming through the door to sing the songs and buy 11 dollar beers and 16 dollar margaritas from Buffett’s companies.

The biggest problem is that the score is large weak. Its not that the original songs are bad rather that most of the songs have been rewritten- some like It’s My Job to the point where you wonder why the hell they even bothered (if it wasn't a Buffett song this still born bastard version would have been tossed out) . Other songs are barely used with only a couple of lines fleetingly going by before disappearing. I understand modifying some of the songs to fit the play but they did it to almost every song. This is a jukebox musical where they removed chunks of the reason people were there. How can we sing along when we don’t know the words, only the melodies

That said when the songs work (they are the ones largely left alone)the show soars. Margaritaville is a wonderful ending to Act One. Cheeseburger in Paradise is perfectly used to describe one characters need for real food. Tin Cup Chalice, a song I’ve never been a big fan of, is so good it’s now become a favorite. And then there is He Went to Paris had me and several other people around me crying. It’s one of the best moments I’ve ever had in the theater. Most of the rest were okay or serviceable - but ultimately why didn't they just do new songs since they could have done more if the songs were not used as punchlines.

I do have to say the altered One Particular Harbor which I disliked when I heard it on Sirus/XM is great in context and is perfectly used with the changes fitting how it’s used.

As a real show it's not very good. Yes I had, and you will have, a good time. Yes I sang along, even with the heavy handed Why Don’t We Get Drunk sing along (which perplexed many in the audience). And yes I did Fins at the end (restrained myself during the show). Yes I left smiling, but thinking “yea well that was a thing” rather than needing to go back. I also wondered how I would have felt had the tickets not been discounted.

And no I can’t shake the feeling that its nothing but a money grab for the Buffett machine from top to bottom since all of the alcohol being sold and all the souvenirs are from Buffett's companies. It’s a kind of empty parrothead Disney.

Forgive me for bitching but I've seen a lot of jukebox musicals over the last 20 years of theater going and this is the first one that kind of missed the point with rewriting the songs almost to oblivion and then struggling badly to really link them

Yes I had a good time- and had there not been four or five moments where they got it dead nuts right I would have left it there but god damn it the show squanders what could have and should have been one of the best jukebox musicals to make something that is just okay and will probably last as long as a long vacation.

Thoughts on Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia at Brooklyn Academy of Music

Seeing Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia at the Brooklyn Academy of Music was one of those moments where you could feel the world shift with in you. It was a magical experience that seemed to change the very core of your being.

Entering the theater we were given while shrouds to drape over our shoulders. We were going on a journey and we had to dress appropriately. We then witnessed a procession as the performers and others walked through the audience and up and around on the stage. Snaking around and behind the stage they picked up “packages” and then brought them to the foot of the stage where a young woman arranged them. The musicians, dancers and chorus then took their places and the performance began.

Mixing dance, music and film the Howard Gillman Opera House was turned into a large place of mourning. Traditional Cambodian instruments mixed with a chamber orchestra and the voices of a chorus and solo singers to tell the story of the lost and the survivors of the Khmer Rouge. Faces of the lost, of the war, of the killing fields and the sky filled not only the screen over the stage but the walls of the opera house- We couldn’t look away- we were in that place…

On the stage the offerings were rearranged. People danced, and moved.

In the audience the universe shifted, our souls traveled. We mourned those we lost but never met. We celebrated those that survived and bore witness.

This was a performance that transcended the earthy notion of a kind of requiem mass to be a universal healing rite.

And when it was done and we filed out we were all given envelopes with a picture of one of the dead. A reminder of the evening and of the loss of a life.

Words cannot express what happened Friday night. It was more than theater, more than cultural rite. It was something greater. It was something almost other worldly and glorious.

Tribeca 2017 Opening Night CLIVE DAVIS: THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES (2017) and concert

Allow me a moment to gloat- if you weren't at Radio City Wednesday night you missed an amazing experience. It was the opening night of this years Tribeca Film Festival where the World Premiere of the film CLIVE DAVIS: THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES occurred and it was followed by a concert that rocked the house and scared me because the top balcony Chocko and myself  were on was moving with everyone dancing.

As everyone filed in we got to watch the red carpet arrivals on the big screens on either side of the stage. When show time arrived Governor Andrew Cuomo came out and made some remarks indicating that the reason a film festival that is supposed to be set in the TRIangle BElow CAnal is now in the TRIangle BElow CAnada because it has grown so big.

This was followed by Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal who made some remarks before introducing the producers and director of the film- who simply said enjoy before the lights went down and the film started

The biggest laugh of the night was unintentional and came when a promotional film from United Airlines played. No one knew what airline the promo was for but when the United name came up the audience exploded with laughter. It continued into the film until the sound of Janis Joplin singing was heard.

I don't know what to say about CLIVE DAVIS: THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES beyond that is what it is- a recounting our our lives through the music one man helped to make. This portrait of the accidental record executive who changed the music industry forever (it all used to be stuff like Mitch Miller) by signing Janis Joplin will have you replaying your entire life in your head. I'm serious Davis is pretty much responsible for everything you love music-wise because he has his fingers into everything or because what he had brought to audiences changed the world. From Janis to Bruce to Puffy to Whitney to Alan Jackson to Santana to (fill in the blank) Davis is everywhere.

To be honest the film is conventional in it's construction and doesn't really dwell on the mistakes he made.  However with someone like Davis, whose accomplishments could film ten hours of film the removal of his misses is minor when many of his hits are glossed over.

In talking about the film after it was over the only problem with it is that the film's second half has a bit too much on Whitney Huston which cuts into everything else Davis has done. Its a minor quibble and is the only think keeping this from being a perfect nostalgia machine.

And that is what this film is- a cinematic wave of nostalgia- it is a film that allows us to replay the Soundtrack of your life.

After the film there was a wonderful concert where friends and artists who worked with Clive played for his, and our, entertainment.

It began with Barry Manilow playing a medley of his hits, all of which were picked by Davis for Manilow. It was a kick as start and made you wonder how you would top it? I mean things were starting on such a high level there was nowhere to go...

Right?

Wrong.

Jennifer Hudson came out to sing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. It was one of the best versions, if not the best I've ever heard. There was no where to go...until she opened the Whitney Huston Songbook and ricked the house. She walked into the crowd to dance with Clive before heading back to the stage...and as the audience went nuts and the band played she announced she was done and walked off....mic drop...there was no where to go...

Earth Wind and Fire had to follow and after moment or two  to get up to speed they had the audience dancing in the aisles. I was terrified because the top  balcony Chocko and I were sitting in was noticeably moving with everyone dancing.

As weird as it may sound but the appearance of Kenny G to play with the group for one song made the audience go crazy. While that may sound weird you have to realize that Kenny delighted everyone during his appearances in the documentary.

After Earth Wind and Fire came Dionne Warwick. Warwick was a bit of a let down. While she was fine on some levels she didn't have the passion that the preceding three performers had.

Carly Simon came out next to do a version of  Coming Around Again. Simon's performance was quite good but it took a bizarre twist as the Itsy Bitsy Spider portion of the song went on and on and on...

Whoopi Goldberg who was doing the intros tried to explain it but it still was an odd moment.

And then there was Aretha.

What can I say but wow.

Despite having an upper respiratory infection she showed up and nailed it. She tore through Natural Woman and Freeway of Love. What absolutely delighted me was she sounded wonderful.  I say this because the last time she was promoting an album she was showing up on various TV programs to sing and she sounded less than perfect.  Last night she was note perfect despite the illness.

When it was done Chocko and myself wander out into the night but not before pausing, as many people who were at the concert were doing, to take pictures of the marquee to remember a truly spectacular night at the movies.