alright…forget everything you’ve ever watched….buy Guided By Voices live at Austin City Limits….if you need proof that this is the best music DVD ever fast forward to the encore…where a 250 pound man jumps on Bob Pollard like a baby koala…and then Robert during mid microphone twirl inadvertently hits his guitarist on the head without ever realizing what has happened…the guitarist drops to his knees in the crowd and a fan lights up a cigarette for him….despite the fact that the band probably consumed more beer that night than province consumes in one day (which is more than some small countries consume in a year) they still manage to put on a truly amazing show….we should all aspire to having Robert Pollards liver….

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…and the scene where Levon Helm lights a match for his cigarette, lights Robbie Robertson’s cigarette first, has a conversation with the interviewer, then lights his cigarette just before the match burns down to his fingers all the while without once looking at the match….

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Also, as far as Music doc’s/films go…

*”All Tomorrow’s Parties” – Brilliant little film helmed by Vincent Moon, mainly composed of fan footage of the ATP festival – includes amazing performances by some of the greatest bands/artists on the planet i.e. Daniel Johnston, Lightning Bolt, The Gossip, Grizzly Bear, The Boredoms, Battles, Animal Collective, Les Savy Fav, The Dirty Three, Shellac etc…

*Also, I know it’s cliche but “The Last Waltz” (The Band) – it’s been hailed as the greatest music film of all time but as I watch it here tonight again for the nth time I realize that the acclaim may be true base solely on Richard Manuel’s facial expressions and answers to the interview questions….

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You might want to take a look at “Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story” as well; it’s a documentary about musicians who rook innocent people into paying $200 to have a “professional band” record their poetry as pop songs, no matter how disjointed or uncommercial the source material is. Also, there’s a winningly bashful guy named Caglar Juan Singletary who designed his own martial art and wrote a completely heartfelt song about having a crush on Annie Oakley. Absolutely nothing else like it in the world.

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“Fearless Freaks” – five stars in my book – i’m watching it right now as i write this for the n-th time. The Flaming Lips are truly one of the most creative and underrated bands of the century along with Guided By Voices and the Minutemen. Here are some other great music doc’s to check out if you liked “Fearless Freaks”

“The Devil and Daniel Johnston” – Daniel Johnston
“We Jam Econo” – The Minutemen
“Loud Quiet Loud” – The Pixies

On a bit of a different note I also enjoyed
“The Power of Song” – Pete Seeger
“Just An American Boy” – Steve Earle
“The Complete Earl Scruggs” – Earl Scruggs
for anyone who’s into bluegrass/roots/folk

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