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5.29.11
This is an Archival Site
There is now a new Rogovoy Report home



5.18.11
Weekend Preview May 19-24
Bob Dylan tributes, Deborah Voigt, Tom Paxton, Bill Kirchen, John Kirk and Trish Miller



5.18.11
Celebrating Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday in Style
Paying tribute to the greatest rock songwriter ever



5.17.11
FILM REVIEW: In a Better World and Of Gods and Men
Review by Seth Rogovoy



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5.12.11
Deborah Voigt Headlines Mahaiwe Gala
Opera star to sing arias, show tunes on Saturday, May 21



5.15.11
Famed Spiritual Teacher to Speak on Nonviolence
Mother Maya in free talk at Sruti Yoga in Great Barrington, Mass., on Friday May 20 at 7pm



5.12.11
Special Effects Wizard to Be Honored by Film Festival
Doug Trumbull to be Feted by BIFF



5.11.11
Weekend Preview May 12-16
Cultural Highlights of the Berkshire Weekend



6.4.09
Talk about a small world
Elaine and I grew up together, but only just recently met....



5.8.11
Berkshire Living to Cease Publication
A Farewell from Publisher Michael Zivyak



5.8.11
twiGs Branches Out
Lenox boutique launches new e-tail site



5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy



5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy



5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy



5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy





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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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