Tag: Taylor Hackford

CHUCK BERRY HAIL! HAIL! ROCK ‘N’ ROLL Screens Thursday March 8th at Schlafly Bottleworks


CHUCK BERRY HAIL! HAIL! ROCK ‘N’ ROLL screens Thursday March 8th at 7:00pm at Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest Avenue Maplewood, MO 63143). This is part of the A FILM SERIES “Culture Shock” Film Fest which has moved to the second Thursday of every month. 


On October, 18th 1986, on the sixtieth birthday of Chuck Berry, there was a concert at the Fox Theater in his hometown Saint Louis. With CHUCK BERRY HAIL! HAIL! ROCK ‘N’ ROLL, director Taylor Hackford does a phenomenal job in this movie. Chuck Berry, one of the most complicated and conflicted figures in the history of rock and pop music is rich territory and Hackford managed to catch Berry in all of his many guises – charming, professional, intelligent, thoughtful, bitter, petulant, unprofessional, difficult, and combative. What really marks this movie as a superior documentary is Hackford refusal to judge Berry to focus on just documenting the man and his behavior in a variety of situations and from a variety of sources. There really is no ax-grinding going on in this movie and there is no whitewashing – everything is what it is whether it’s Berry in a touching scene with his mother and father or it’s Berry in a petulant rehearsal stare-down with Keith Richards when Berry isn’t getting his way.


Hackford’s other great achievement in this movie is the excellent recording of Berry’s 60th Anniversary Concert, the predominate reason for the whole project and the involvement of other pop/rock music notables at the Fox Theatre. Backed by Keith Richards, Johnnie Johnson (Berry’s pianist and forgotten early influence), Steve Jordan, Bobby Keys, Robert Cray, and Joey Spaminato, Berry performs a spectacular show. Hackford catches the performer’s excitement, the crowd’s excitement, and Berry’s energy and showmanship in a way those of us too young to have seen or heard Berry can begin to understand why he serves a such a seminal influence in pop and rock music.


The movie is full of entertaining nuggets. Hackford’s interviews with Keith Richards are fascinating. Richards’ comments are just insightful about Berry, the influence of Berry’s music, and the influence of Johnson of Berry’s songs; they’re also fascinating in just watching and listening to Richards himself – part mystic, part philosopher, part drunk. Also particularly interesting is a three-way conversation between Berry, Little Richard, and Bo Diddly who go into great detail about their early careers, music, business, and how racism negatively affected their careers and their recognition as the earliest purveyors of rock and roll.


I think this movie is interesting regardless of whether your actually interested in Berry beforehand or not. It is as fine a documentary that any director could produce and you should catch CHUCK BERRY HAIL! HAIL! ROCK ‘N’ ROLL March 8th when it screens at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood.

A Facebook invite for the event can be found HERE
https://www.facebook.com/events/197087531044314/


$6 for the screening. A yummy variety of food from Schlafly’s kitchen is available as are plenty of pints of their famous home-brewed suds.

“Culture Shock” is the name of a film series here in St. Louis that is the cornerstone project of a social enterprise that is an ongoing source of support for Helping Kids Together(http://www.helpingkidstogether.com/) a St. Louis based social enterprise dedicated to building cultural diversity and social awareness among young people through the arts and active living.

The films featured for “Culture Shock” demonstrate an artistic representation of culture shock materialized through mixed genre and budgets spanning music, film and theater. Through ‘A Film Series’ working relationship with Schlafly Bottleworks, they seek to provide film lovers with an offbeat mix of dinner and a movie opportunities.

The Academy To Hold Special Screening Of AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN – Richard Gere & Louis Gossett, Jr. Scheduled To Appear

Actors Richard Gere and Louis Gossett, Jr. will be special guests at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ screening of “An Officer and a Gentleman,” in celebration of Paramount Pictures’ 100th anniversary, on Tuesday, June 12, at 7 p.m. at the Academy Theater at Lighthouse International in New York City. Gere and Gossett will participate in an onstage post-screening discussion.

Directed by Taylor Hackford from a script by Douglas Day Stewart, “An Officer and a Gentleman” tells the story of a young man’s journey to chart a different path in his life by enlisting in the Navy Aviation Officer Candidate School. Through the obstacles Zack Mayo faces along the way, including a budding romance with local girl Paula Pokrifki and an ongoing conflict with his drill instructor, Zack learns important life lessons about becoming an officer…and a gentleman.

On the heels of his star-making role in “American Gigolo” (1980), Gere solidified his standing as a leading man in the role of Zack, with Debra Winger playing girlfriend Paula and Gossett delivering an Academy Award®-winning performance as Sergeant Emil Foley. This love story also boasts the Academy Award-winning song “Up Where We Belong,” with lyrics by Will Jennings and music by Jack Nitzsche and Buffy Sainte-Marie. The song was performed by the legendary Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes.

This screening is presented courtesy of Lorimar Productions/Paramount Pictures.

Tickets for “An Officer and a Gentleman” are on sale now at Oscars.org, by mail and at the Academy Theater Box Office (open Tuesday and Thursday, 2–5 p.m.). Tickets are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID.

The Academy Theater is located at 111 East 59th Street in New York City. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Ticketed seating is unreserved. For more information, visit www.oscars.org or call (212) 821-9251.

St. Louis Filmmaker Art Holliday’s JOHNNIE BE GOOD Fundraising Concert w/Conan O’Brien Band Members‏

JOHNNIE BE GOOD Fundraising Efforts

Music documentary on Rock-n-Roll Hall of Famer Johnnie Johnson gets fundraising concert with Conan O’Brien musicians & a tax deductible crowd-funding site on IndieGoGo

ST. LOUIS: Filmmaker Art Holliday is hosting a September 19th fundraising concert “Johnnie’s Jam: A Tribute to Johnnie Johnson” at The Sheldon for his music documentary JOHNNIE BE GOOD, the story of St. Louis native and Rock-n-Roll Hall of Famer Johnnie Johnson. This film is also featured on the site IndieGoGo where people can “buy” various tax deductible items from the film while helping Mr. Holliday build up the funds needed to finish the film.

“Johnnie’s Jam” features Conan O’Brien musicians as well as Holliday’s discussion on his seven year documentary project about the life and music of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician Johnnie Johnson and show excerpts from the film-in-progress. LA singer/songwriter Dona Oxford will open the evening with the Johnnie Johnson Band.

Before they joined Conan O’Brien’s band, guitarist Jimmy Vivino, bassist Mike Merritt, and drummer James Wormworth toured internationally and recorded with Johnnie Johnson. These world class musicians will perform at The Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Blvd, St. Louis on September 19th at 7 p.m. Tax deductible tickets can be purchased at Metrotix (314-534-1111  or Metrotix.com).

Jimmy Vivino, Mike Merritt, and James Wormworth have performed with the likes of B.B.King, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Branford Marsalis, Robert Palmer, Pete Townsend, Bruce Springsteen, Tony Bennett, James Brown, Phoebe Snow, Cissy Houston, Al Kooper, The New York Rock and Soul Revue with Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, Levon Helm, Wynton Marsalis, Cyndi Lauper, Keith Richards, Rufus Wainwright, Bo Diddley, Trisha Yearwood, Michael McDonald, and Isaac Hayes.

Dona Oxford was a protégé and great friend of Johnnie. Every musician on stage September 19th will have a direct link to Johnnie Johnson and they’ll share their stories about the man behind the legend behind the music.

Synopsis:

On New Year’s Eve 1952, band leader Johnnie Johnson hired a guitar player he admired named Chuck Berry and they became two of the creators of rock and roll, influencing The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. JOHNNIE BE GOOD is the story of the complicated relationship between two Rock and Roll Hall Famers: Chuck Berry, the brilliant lyricist and businessman, and piano man Johnnie Johnson, a master boogie woogie and blues keyboardist, complimented each other perfectly and collaborated on hits such as “Maybellene”, “Rock and Roll Music”, “No Particular Place to Go”, and “Roll Over Beethoven”. Only Berry’s name appeared on the writing credits and it will always be contested how many of Berry’s songs should have been co-credited to Johnson. Not even a lawsuit settled the debate. Eight members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame conducted interviews for JOHNNIE BE GOOD: Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Bob Weir, the late Bo Diddley, Joe Perry, and John Sebastian.

Money can’t buy happiness, but can buy a music documentary! For anything from photos, cds and signed copies of the script all the way up to producer’s credit in the film, fans can help finish JOHNNIE BE GOOD. The script is being edited and a rough cut put together while Holliday gives IndieGoGo a “go” to raise the $15,000 online to finish the film and begin entering festivals and submitting to distributors. For more on the documentary JOHNNIE BE GOOD, visit the film’s official site, like it on Facebook and follow it on Twitter.

Promote your business & help finish our film! Put an ad in the program for “Johnnie’s Jam” at The Sheldon. 1/4 page: $35, 1/2 page: $60, Full Page: $100. If interested, please contact Marla: m.stoker@att.net and she’ll set you up! Hey…it’s an advertising cost so you can use it as a tax deduction!