Friday, December 12, 2008

cadillac records

the largest blues cd collection this side of the missisippi is under siege. Should i protect my fragile ego and go see cadillac records? or should i rest, resigned to the fact that hollywood probably messed up my dream? am i compelled to see it because my record collection is probably half made up of the brother's (one Len, is famous, the other two were in the background) chess records, and cobra records and all the other blues labels that tried to imitate them, or do i want to see it because i know the story and muddy waters, the true father of rock n' roll will be in it? it seems so close, not yet dead enough for a movie. and why is beyonce' singing etta james while etta is still alive? so, i have mixed emotions. but that is nothing new. anytime hollywood touches anything i have mixed emotions. supposedly there will be another movie out this spring about chess records. one of them will be good, and the other will be better. I wonder which one?

it is not that hollywood is so bad. Ok, maybe they are bad. they control entertainment in America. they have defined what is funny and what is not funny to most americans. I remember Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid. Famous scene. Butch and Sundance are compelled to jump off a huge cliff to escape the federales and they both jump and yell "Shiiiiiiiit." This cracked audiences up for years. To me this was not funny. What else are you supposed to yell? the idea of yelling profanity in a crowded theatre was new to the 70's so this became a punch line in a thousand movies afterward until it finally reached the tipping point. no more humor. no matter how raunchy. no matter how funny. hollywood had brought profanity to the mainstream and the original purveyors, the lenny bruces, the richard pryors were already at the mercy of a more powerful show stealer.

the point it that if hollywood is going to bring chess records to the forefront, where they rightfully belong, then it will be on hollywood's terms. not the way it really went down. not even with the original voices...why is beyonce singing etta james while etta is still alive?

1 comment:

Mary Gem # 5 :) said...

Jackie:
What? Are you writing short stories? Is Cadillac Records a new movie?
Mary