Yesterday was a pretty good day. First, I watched La Bamba on DVD. As i said yesterday, this is one of my favourite Rock 'n' Roll movies, and the DVD doesn't disappoint. They have a cast and crew commentary with Esai Morales (Bob), Lou Diamond Phillips (Ritchie), Director/Writer Luis Valdez and producer Stuart Benjamin. Then there is a second commentary by Taylor Hackford and Daniel Valdez, the two producers that really made this movie happen.
The movie itself? Always loved it. Great story, great music, and it looks great. Can't ask for more from a movie about music and the people who make it. I mentioned yesterday that Marshall Crenshaw's portrayal of Buddy Holly is fantastic. I also really enjoyed Brian Setzer's rendition of Eddie Cochran, a big hero of mine in my teen years (well, still love Eddie's music, who am I kidding, but when I was 17, I was obsessive about finding rare editions of Eddie Cochran albums in a way that no kid who grew up in the 80's normally would, but this was real rock and roll baby, and I wanted it from the source!). Howard Huntsberry's rendition of Lonely Teardrops by Jackie Wilson, is absolutely incredible though. He sounds like Jackie and he moves like Jackie. Such incredible attention to detail was paid in assembling the musicians for the movie. It's no small wonder that the soundtrack sold as well as it did. I know it spent a lot of time in my cassette deck from 1987 to 1989!
So, that was the morning. In the afternoon, Bill and I met up with Wally at his house and played some songs. We worked on a new original, Meet John Doe, which I wrote back in August (and detailed in this blog, just check the archives if you don't believe me;) ). Within about twenty minutes, we had made some substantial changes to sections of the song and it sounded great. The harmonies were all in place and instrumentally it had great energy. That's the thing about playing with great musicians, you can make things happen so easily.
I'm really loving the new material we've been working on. As much as I love some of our older songs, I really think that this new stuff has a great heart to it. I just love playing with these guys is what it comes down to!
The movie itself? Always loved it. Great story, great music, and it looks great. Can't ask for more from a movie about music and the people who make it. I mentioned yesterday that Marshall Crenshaw's portrayal of Buddy Holly is fantastic. I also really enjoyed Brian Setzer's rendition of Eddie Cochran, a big hero of mine in my teen years (well, still love Eddie's music, who am I kidding, but when I was 17, I was obsessive about finding rare editions of Eddie Cochran albums in a way that no kid who grew up in the 80's normally would, but this was real rock and roll baby, and I wanted it from the source!). Howard Huntsberry's rendition of Lonely Teardrops by Jackie Wilson, is absolutely incredible though. He sounds like Jackie and he moves like Jackie. Such incredible attention to detail was paid in assembling the musicians for the movie. It's no small wonder that the soundtrack sold as well as it did. I know it spent a lot of time in my cassette deck from 1987 to 1989!
So, that was the morning. In the afternoon, Bill and I met up with Wally at his house and played some songs. We worked on a new original, Meet John Doe, which I wrote back in August (and detailed in this blog, just check the archives if you don't believe me;) ). Within about twenty minutes, we had made some substantial changes to sections of the song and it sounded great. The harmonies were all in place and instrumentally it had great energy. That's the thing about playing with great musicians, you can make things happen so easily.
I'm really loving the new material we've been working on. As much as I love some of our older songs, I really think that this new stuff has a great heart to it. I just love playing with these guys is what it comes down to!
posted by Paul at
2:50 PM
