Do It Again

Good news for those who missed our IFFBoston screening or simply want to, er, do it again…

The film has been selected to screen at the Roxbury International Film Festival, which takes place July 29 through August 1. Films at RIFF are shown at a range of locations, from the Museum of Fine Arts to Northeastern to the Roxbury Center for Arts at Hibernian Hall. It’s still too early to know the where and when. I’ll let you know as soon as we get details. Also, we’re also working on a screening or two at the Brattle for sometime later this year.

By Adam Gold
Having just posted a fairly lukewarm review of The White Stripes doc — playing tonight, at the Nashville Film Festival — I decided I’d rather end the work week (and this late-Friday blogging spree) by singing praises as opposed to saying nays. Unlike that sleepy Stripes road movie, Robert Patton-Spruill’s documentation of Boston Globe reporter Geoff Edgers’ quest to reunite The Kinks is fantastic. It shows tomorrow night at 9:20 p.m., and 2 p.m. on Tuesday, in Green Hills. Here’s what I had to say about it in the Scene’s film festival guide:

A document of Boston Globe reporter Geoff Edgers’ mission impossible to reunite The Kinks, Robert Patton-Spruill’s Do It Again is a must see for any die-hard rock ‘n’ roll fan. By telling The Kinks’ story through the eyes of a super-fan — seamlessly inter-cut with archival footage and wall-to-wall audio — the movie engrosses the viewer with a three-dimensional take on rock music, encompassing themes of stardom, fandom, brotherhood and the love, hate and maddening obsession that binds them, while firmly establishing the band’s rightful place as a rock ‘n’ roll cornerstone. In the process of pursuing an unlikely sit-down with Ray Davies, Edgers manages to land interviews with the likes of Sting, Clive Davis, Paul Weller, Robyn Hitchcock, Peter Buck, Warren Zanes and Zooey Deschanel, and he picks their brains on the influence of The Kinks, the complicated interpersonal relationships that come with playing in a band, and the general pathology of rock musicians — before goading them into jamming with him on a Kinks song, with amusingly varying degrees of success.

This review is a piece of art in itself, with language blasting forward with little regard for slow readers. And I even get called “a cute poster boy for the mentally insane.”

Now the going gets weird. Certainly, I knew the News & Observer, in my beloved Raleigh, was writing a profile. But somehow, seeing it in e-print is a different matter. I worked at the N & O for five-plus years. That’s what makes being profiled by the N & O so surreal. It’s a great story by Josh Shaffer, though I may be biased. At least Rob gets to call me annoying, though it should be noted that he was suffering from a bout of food poisoning on the day of his interview. (Okay. The intestinal issues had nothing to do with his assessment.)

So with less than a week before our Full Frame screening which, I have to confess, petrifies me – Fletcher Hall has something like 1,000 seats – we have begun our media campaign in the Tarheel state. Now buy another ticket!

Sir Walter Raleigh

Way back when, I introduced myself to Mike Gent, a member of the Figgs who, people told me, was a massive Kinks fan. People were right. This guy could play “Out of the Wardrobe” off the top of his head. I knew I needed him to be part of “Do It Again.”

At a certain point, struggling to come up with enough cash to pay for all of the original master recordings I wanted, I asked Mike for a favor. I wanted to use “Victoria” in the film, but I wasn’t impressed by a cover version Cracker had recorded. Gent obliged. He went into Moontower and cranked out a smoking cover. Not only that, he played all of the instruments.

Then he did “Big Sky.” Scott Janovitz assisted on some backing vocals, but again, it was all Gent. “Big Sky” is not an easy song to cover. The other versions I’ve heard – by Matthew Sweet and Yo La Tengo, to name two – are passable but are too soft. They also fail to capture the almost sloppy crunch of Mick Avory’s drumming. Gent did. I’ve got proof.

Sadly, you won’t hear that proof in our festival version of “Do It Again.” A licensing challenge left me subbing out his covers of “Victoria” and “Big Sky.” It is genuinely one of my big regrets.

That’s why we’re looking to press a few promo 45s – that’s a record, boys and girls – of Gent’s versions. We’re not going to sell them. But we will give a few away if we can raise enough to press the records. And this won’t be just a slice of vinyl in a white sleeve. Dave Plunkert, the master artist responsible for the fantastic “Do It Again” poster, has agreed to design a custom sleeve. We’ll number the first 50 and Plunkert and Gent will sign ‘em before they go out. I’ll sign it as well, if you request that, though I’m not sure why you’d want my John Hancock on the record. After all, I can’t play the drums.

So that’s the Big Sky challenge. If 20 of you contribute $50 each, we’ll be able to pay for the record (Victoria/Big Sky) and sleeve and you’ll get a numbered, sonic piece of art. Send your payment to gedgers@mac.com at paypal.com or write me directly to make alternative arrangements.

This festival process really is a lot like applying to college, except instead of pinpointing 5 or 8 schools, you go out and apply to 20, 25 or 30. And some of ‘em might be in Budapest. And there are no safety schools, only places less competitive than, say, Sundance or Toronto. That means every day can be filled with either rejections or acceptances. The key, psychologically, is to not get overly invested in either.

In that spirit, I share good news. We’ve been invited to show “Do It Again” at the Washington DC International Film Festival. The festival runs April 15-25. We still don’t know our screening date or whether we’ll be brought down to introduce the film. But we’re glad to be filling up the calendar with another respected festival.

The Daily Tiger, the official IFFR paper, has an interview with me about “Do It Again.” My favorite part: The writer calling the film “poignant.” I looked it up. That’s positive.

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