Pretty Good

From my favorite movies..

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Let's see,I was 2 when all the events in this film went down. My older brother was 3 and oldest was almost 6. ....but! That in no way depletes how much we love this music & the time that it came from. In fact we've listened to the biggest of these acts since we were younger.As in most cases,I discovered this DVD gem at my local library and all I had to read on the back was Janis Joplin,Grateful Dead & The Band "live" and I had to see this. Last night (08/26/08) was the third time aboard for viewing.The performances by the headliners,as expected,are top notch and the lesser known Canadian acts here (from the DVD outtakes & extras)are interesting in their own way. Right now I have one their songs "Thirsty Boots" running in my head,a beautiful acoustic guitar ballad representative of the times.It's great to see The Band perform "The Wieght" after years of only hearing the studio version on the radio,as well as their version of Little Richard's " Slippin' & Slidin' ".The Grateful Dead are always good and for those of us not old enough then,it's kind of wild to see Jerry Garcia before the gray hair.Most incredible elements here are the cross country (Canada) train ride with these and other acts ,filmed for posterity & fun as well. The original "Party Train/Love Train". Seeing these folks jamming together (and other "activities" of the day) makes for a great window into the era. Present is Buddy Guy,Flying Burrito Brothers,Delany & Bonnie and others.The second and most significant element is Joplin herself. Her performances of "Tell Mama" & "Cry Baby" in the main movie are testament to her talent. She also has two more songs in the outtakes which are no less amazing.This was filmed exactly 3 months before her untimely passing at the age of 27. She performs last here on July 4th,1970 and in August she guested on The Dick Cavett Show....then was gone,on October 4th of a heroin overdose.In the ending credits,we hear the only "live" performance of "Me and Bobby McGee" before Joplin recorded it. We don't see her but it was recorded aboard the train while partying with the others. Otherwise,she never did get to perform it live in concert. The song hit #1 in early 1971,her second and only other top 40 hit.Overall,the fact that this entire collection sat on a shelf for 30 years makes it extra important that all this footage was finally "re-discovered" and given the royal treatment it deserves. Renewed through re-colorization and film cleaning techniques for DVD,it's great to see these former young dynamic artists looking so lively and fresh.Without any doubt,Ten stars! (END) Peace.

Festival Express (2003) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Highly entertaining and interesting documentary covering the Festival Express Tour of 1970. Basically the concert promoter got the bright idea to get various major acts to do a three show tour in Canada with the only hitch that they'd travel by train. With that in mind, the musical jams on the train were often times better than what showed up on stage. The Grateful Dead, The Band, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy, Sha Na Na and various others were on the bill and they all get plenty of screen time here. The documentary does a nice job at telling us what this festival was all about while at the same time delivering some wonderful musical performances including Joplin's show stealing Cry Baby. It's also interesting to hear why the concerts flopped. Why would this lineup lose money? Because of hippie protesters who started riots because the tickets were $14 and not free.

I was only 14 when these events took place. I didn't like most of the music then, I like slightly more of it now, but the point is that this movie is an amazing encapsulation of the peak of the hippie era and a lot of fun to watch. Where has this footage been hiding all these years? The director skillfully weaves the original shots (which look great, by the way, especially the colorful concert scenes) with current interviews with the surviving musicians. And after watching this film, it's a wonder that so many of them lived this long! As a musician, what I appreciated the most about it was how much this experience meant to those who participated. To be able to spend several days in a row with some of the most influential musicians of the time, hanging out, jamming informally, and sharing stories, would be a dream vacation for sure! The grateful looks on their faces as they recalled the trip says it all.The film also brings into focus the overriding silliness of the hippie years. The overuse of dangerous substances (which claimed Janis Joplin shortly after the tour), the anti-authoritarian posing (the idiot hippie ranting about "pigs," once thought daring and inflammatory, now just seems embarrassing), the greed (the audiences demanding a free concert), the REALLY BAD SHIRTLESS DANCING...yes, it's all here.And it's great to see Jerry Garcia looking so young, singing an old Gospel song about Jesus; Sneaky Pete Kleinow cutting some nice pedal steel solos; a very young, pimply, and utterly wasted Janis Joplin screeching away (never did understand how this was called "singing"); Sylvia's Tiny-Tim vibrato and comely red dress; and once again, all this very clear, colorful footage from the train, the countryside, and the concerts. If you want to see some of the big icons of 60s counter-cultural music just being themselves, check out FESTIVAL EXPRESS.

As a person who attended the Toronto show, not showing Traffic, who have rare video appearances, was a drawback. I was hoping they would be in the extras on the DVD. I remember hearing from people after the event that it could be called "the rip-off express". Nothing could be further from the truth. Saying to someone that I saw one of Janis's last performance is always a highlight. The movie did show a lot of the "bullshit of the day". I laughed then and did when I saw the film. I saw the film in its limited release, and three times as a DVD. As concert videos go, it is very good, as a view of the times, (good and bad) it is also very good.