A propos of nothing.
I Am Everything
Hell yeah, I’m in! Anything more cringe than Pat motherfucking Boone singing “Tutti Frutti?”
Produced by Bungalow Media + Entertainment for CNN Films and HBO Max, in association with Rolling Stone Films, director Lisa Cortés’ Sundance opening night documentary LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard’s complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon’s life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions. In interviews with family, musicians, and cutting-edge Black and queer scholars, the film reveals how Richard created an art form for ultimate self-expression, yet what he gave to the world he was never able to give to himself. Throughout his life, Richard careened like a shiny cracked pinball between God, sex and rock n’ roll. The world tried to put him in a box, but Richard was an omni being who contained multitudes – he was unabashedly everything. Directed by Lisa Cortés, LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING is produced by Robert Friedman, Cortés, Liz Yale Marsh and Caryn Capotosto and Executive Produced by Dee Rees.
I Hope They Consulted Fat Elvis
I haven’t watched many of these, and almost always prefer footage of the original artists to their biopics. From Vince Mancini’s The Academy Can’t Quit Biopics, Even When They’re Bad:
Biopics now seem to exist somewhere outside of movies, belonging more to public relations; flashy advertisements for their stars and validations of their subjects’ legacies. Missing is the expectation that we’re actually going to gain any insight about their subjects… So it is we’ve gotten decidedly un-illuminating, subject-friendly portrayals such as Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman.
No Matter How Hard You Try
You’re not going to make Crocs cool. I somehow got subscribed to a ridiculously overpriced MAN’S MAN clothing and apparel site (Huckberry – the name says it all) not too long ago. Their copywriters breathlessly oversell everything, but this one really made me chuckle.
Crocs are the shoes that can bring everyone together—from the creative directors we follow for style tips, to our parents, to our buddy who’s really into bowhunting. Over the past couple years, their unreasonably comfy slip-ons have floated into our everyday footwear rotations and aren’t leaving anytime soon. Which is why we’ve been looking forward to their new batch of near-weightless clogs outfitted for the colder months with all-terrain soles, cozy sherpa linings, and Realtree and Mossy Oak camo.
No.
Weekend Viewing?
Available for streaming on Apple TV+ October 15.
The Velvet Underground created a new sound that changed the world of music, cementing its place as one of rock and roll’s most revered bands. Directed with the era’s avant-garde spirit by Todd Haynes, this kaleidoscopic oral history combines exclusive interviews with dazzling archival footage.
And this again, just because it kills me every time …
What Goes On In Your Mind
I’ve been binging on documentaries lately, and this looks like another good one. I got into the VU around the same time I was getting into R.E.M., so it was kind of like listening to the student and the teacher at the same time. I mean these guys, and Nico + Warhol, were pretty out there, but they put together some good records.
I never really was big on Lou Reed solo, in fact, my dumb ass didn’t even know he was in the VU until a few years later.