5.11.08
What I'm Reading
Martin Amis, Bob Dylan books, Richard Price
5.11.08
How I'm Feeling
Need a replacement for lower back
5.8.08
Weekend Highlights May 9-11
THE ROGOVOY REPORT
5.6.08
[PRESS RELEASE] Pinchas Zukerman daughter Natalia to headline at Club Helsinki
Coming to Great Barrington, Mass., nightclub on May 18
5.2.08
Singer/composer Jenny Scheinman at MASS MoCA is weekend's top pick
Preview by SETH ROGOVOY, Berkshire Living Magazine
4.25.08
[FILM REVIEW] Shine a Light (The Rolling Stones)
review by SETH ROGOVOY, Berkshire Living Magazine
4.17.08
[FILM REVIEW] The Counterfeiters
review by SETH ROGOVOY, Berkshire Living Magazine
4.11.08
Klezmatics do Woody Guthrie's Jewish songs
Weekend highlights, April 11-13
3.17.08
GOLEM returns to Club Helsinki for PURIM this Friday night
Press Release from Club Helsinki
7.1.07
[PERFORMANCE ART REVIEW] Aurelia Thierree at Jacob's Pillow
Review by Seth Rogovoy, BERKSHIRE LIVING
2.25.08
Richard Thompson, America, and Madeline Peyroux added to Mahaiwe lineup this spring
Mahaiwe press release
2.25.08
Dennis Prager to make the case for Judaism at Berkshire South
Simulcast of lecture at NY's 92nd St. Y
2.24.08
[MUSIC REVIEW] Urban vs. Pastoral Music at the Mahaiwe courtesy of Close Encounters with Music
Review by Seth Rogovoy, BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
2.18.08
[THEATER REVIEW] TRUMBO at Barrington Stage
Review by Seth Rogovoy, BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
2.18.08
[MUSIC REVIEW] Sarah Aroeste's neo-Ladino at Club Helsinki
Review by Seth Rogovoy, BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
2.18.08
[MUSIC REVIEW] Sarah Aroeste's neo-Ladino at Club Helsinki
Review by Seth Rogovoy, BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
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[FILM REVIEW] Shine a Light (The Rolling Stones)
4.25.08
SHINE A LIGHT
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Starring the Rolling Stones, with Bill Clinton, Buddy Guy, Jack White, Christina Aguilera, and Martin Scorsese
Review by SETH ROGOVOY, editor-in-chief and critic-at-large, BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
Martin Scorsese has always been obsessed with rock music. It often plays a major role, akin to a lead actor, in his films, and he often uses his cinematic skills to document rock ‘n’ roll, most notably in the concert film of The Band’s star-studded farewell concert, The Last Waltz, and in the Bob Dylan documentary, No Direction Home. And few remember that one of his earliest professional gigs was working on the film crew that shot the landmark Woodstock Festival in 1969.
Scorsese’s latest cinematic rock effort turns his focus to his favorite rock band of all time, the Rolling Stones. I’ve never been a huge fan. Sure, I’ve seen them in a concert about a half dozen times, and been listening to them for at least forty years. But I never liked Mick Jagger much. I always thought the group would be so much more interesting, musically and otherwise, if Keith Richards were the lead singer. (Check out his solo album, Talk Is Cheap, to see what I mean.)
In any case, Scorsese’s film made me into an instant convert. I’m definitely a fan of today’s Rolling Stones, the most improbably old teenage bar band in the world. Scorsese’s camera caresses the peaks and valleys, the crags and sags, the wrinkles and lines, of Mick and Keith’s faces and arms, while the group performs a show ten times more dynamic than most groups half their age, amidst the very
Last Waltz-like backdrop of New York’s Beacon Theatre. The music is compelling, especially an unplugged, nearly orchestral version of “As Tears Go By,” as well as many of their greatest hits and a few obscurities, and the
soundtrack heightens the crackling intensity of Keith and Ronnie Wood's electric guitars.
Guest stars Jack White, Christina Aguilera and Buddy Guy especially (reprising the cred-establishing the role of token black bluesman Muddy Waters played in The Last Waltz), add a little context to the proceedings, but overall Scorsese has captured the Mick and Keith show, and in doing so explains a lot about what makes them so alluring well into their sixth decade, when they are preposterously too old to be doing what they do.
What they are doing is all written on Keith's face. They are having the time of their lives. They're having a blast doing the same thing they've been doing for nearly fifty years. If the tension of the early days, fueled by drugs and alcohol, is mostly gone, it's been replaced by a camaraderie and a sheer love of the music -- and a pride in excelling with minimal tools and talents.
The film runs this week at the Triplex in Great Barrington.
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