RE: IMGL Chicago Screening

[Joe Armendariz <joe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

is super stoked...finally going to see IMGL tonight in Santa Barbara!


-----Original Message-----
From: admins-zeppelin@xxxxxxxx [mailto:admins-zeppelin@xxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 
Wyatt Brake
Sent: Sunday, September 06, 2009 10:36 AM
To: FBO
Subject: IMGL Chicago Screening

Finally got the chance to see It Might Get Loud Friday night at the
Century theater and thought I'd share some impressions.

First of all, we were "late" getting to the theater.  To be clear, we
arrived twenty minutes before showtime (6:40 for a 7pm showtime), but
when you go to movies in downtown Chicago - that will normally
guarantee that you'll be sitting in the first three rows.  However,
when I rushed in, I discovered that there were only about ten people
in the whole place.  When the movie started, there were probably less
than thirty.  Granted, this was the second weekend for a documentary
film, but still... somewhat disheartening.

To the film itself - I think it lived up to my expectations.  I
expected to like it a lot, but to wish there was more of Page in it...
and that's pretty much what happened.  The director/editor did a good
job balancing the three performers and their stories, attempting to
illustrate common themes where they existed.  Sometimes this became
frustrating when the shifts were particularly rapid (generally I was
frustrated when the narrative would cut away from Page), but I
understand that they were obviously trying to tie the three together
and also to not lose the interest of anyone in the audience who was
not a fan of all three.

I obviously came to the movie as a huge Jimmy Page fan first and
foremost, but I had respect for The Edge and was already a casual fan
of Jack White's White Stripes and Raconteurs (I own some White
Stripes, both Raconteurs albums, and have seen the Raconteurs live at
two different festivals; haven't heard The Dead Weather yet.  My wife
is a big fan of U2 and I do enjoy some of their music).  I would say
just about everyone can approach the film expecting to have their
level of respect for all three guitarists increase.  This was true of
me anyway.

I found it interesting that all three guitarists had a vision for what
they wanted to achieve when they started out, but that they also had a
very clear idea of what their burgeoning style would *reject*.  In
Jimmy's case, it was the saccharine 'pop crap' and stilted material
that never took any chances, never accelerated.  In Edge's case, it
was the Spinal Tap-era of rock, the time of 15-minute guitar and drum
solos, of bands looking down on and having contempt for their
audience.  Of course, implicit in his condemnation of the Spinal Tap
era and extended soloing is a condemnation of 'dinosaur rock' that
Zeppelin came to embody in their later years, with the 1977 tour being
the height of this excess.  We've all seen Spinal Tap and noted some
similarities with Zep and rock of that time period, and some of that
criticism was merited.  The Edge came up embracing the punk movement
that was a rejection of Zeppelin.  Jack White pretty much comes right
out and expresses his disgust with over-production, computerization,
dependence on effects, and all music lacking in passion.  Implicit in
this is a rejection of The Edge's over-reliance on effects and embrace
of technology.  You get the feeling that Jack White would like to
throw every instrument out that was made after 1960 or perhaps
earlier.

When the three guitarists interact, I felt that Page and The Edge had
respect for each other and for Jack White, but I could see White kind
of grimace when he grudgingly had to play along with The Edge's
song... it was pretty funny.  White really seemed to have a bit of a
chip on his shoulder, although growing up in Detroit as the youngest
of ten kids would probably have that effect on a lot of people.  All
three guys come from compelling backgrounds, and you get a sense that
they all had to work for their success.  Though they obviously have
inherent talent, they still had to struggle and practice, which is
probably a pretty good message for anyone taking along their budding
musician children with them to see this movie.  As someone else
already mentioned, you start to see why Jack White playing drums in
his new band makes sense - it was in fact his first instrument.  The
Edge doesn't seem to have played with anyone else other than the three
other guys in U2, which is pretty remarkable even if you don't happen
to like their music.

The segments with Page will always be too short for any Zeppelin fan,
but they are great, as all the previous reviewers have attested.  A
real pleasure to watch.  As far as the 'Embryo' pieces - as someone
else already said, the Embryo 1 piece played over the opening credits
is not really much of a song.  It sounds cool enough, and would
probably be fine as part of a jam, but there's not much structure to
it.  And Embryo 2, alias "Domino" from October 1999, seemed to have
more coherence ten years ago than it does in the film.  Maybe I'm
saying that because when it was played as Domino at NetAid, it had the
benefit of being presented with a bassist and drummer, but I don't
know... it's disappointing that Page is presenting this as 'new
music', because it simply is not.

Overall, the film is very enjoyable, and I hope it does well enough to
be of some encouragement for Mr. Page; I don't know what the threshold
for such encouragement would be, but I hope it motivates him in some
way, even if it's just to get started on some archival releases of
Zeppelin after being back in Headley Grange for a while.

-Wyatt