Antonography and the Lost Sunday
So I spend an entire day watching the genre transcending, much hyped, some might say career making-breaking-makes yer heart be aching epic rockumentary Dig! yesterday. Yes, that would be me watching all three commentary tracks, bonus footage, trailers, interviews, live performances and more. Many many hours of my life were spent with Anton Newcombe (of the Brian Jonestown Massacre), Courtney Taylor Taylor (of the Dandy Warhols) their band mates, friends, labels, countless AR people who *almost* signed them and filmmaker Ondi Timoner. The movie is about two indie spirited west coast bands and how they deal with their passage into and around the ugly commercial industry of rock. It explores the lifestyle, integrity, values, psychology, philosophy, relationships and every day survival of these indie rock folk over a period of 7 years (sort of). It seems like really the question the film poses ultimately is whether or not Anton Alfred Newsombe is a genius. I am a fan of both bands and I don't really want to write a review, but I will say I enjoyed the film (especially while I was watching it) and it would be foolish to say it hasn't brought about more awareness of these two bands (although for better or worse I guess). I have to say I think Anton Newcombe was portrayed a little unfairly, but it makes for good theatre... except this is supposed to be a documentary right? R wants to call this style of documentary an "Antonography" (kind of the opposite of a hagiography). I think the definition would be something like "A film using the guise of documentary to exploit and misrepresent truths about an infamous, engaging or otherwise intriguing public figure in a style that appears earnest but is not entirely genuine".
Have you ever spent a whole day watching a movie? I'm like, shifting my weight around in timed intervals to avoid getting sores - I call that commitment. Or something. I'm not sure if I like BJM or the Dandies more now or if I'm just sorry I saw so much but really know so little.
As a side note - good friend K saw Dandies at the Red Hook Brewery last weekend and hung out with Courtney, inadvertently stole a cab from Zia and had a genuine rock star experience to get home (legal reasons forbid me from disclosing the details - but I was in awe). Sigh... so I guess those days aren't really over if you don't want them to be. Right? Right?
In the immortal words of J. Piven " I was just trying to get a little validation for my life. I guess I came up a bit SHORT! "
