Tina: The Documentary
On March 2, 2021, the documentary, “Tina Turner,” debuted at the Berlin Film Festival where it received a very favorable rating. The Oscar winning documentary duo, Dan Lindsay and T. J. Martin, went on to watch HBO release in the U.S. on March 27, and saw it garner the largest HBO audience for a documentary …
Beatles “Overrated?”
It explains 80% of the reason I venture into the Wild West-Meets-Idiocracy world that is Twitter: @Super70sSports. Featuring a hilarious mix of sports clips, ads and a mélange of pop-culture references from the 1960s-to roughly the mid-1990s, the account, started by Moraine Valley Community College, sociology professor Ricky Cobb, is simply the best follow on …
Fleetwood Mac Rumours: A Retro Review
It’s often said that the best music comes from deep inside, or from a broken heart. Never is that adage more apparent than when listening to Fleetwood Mac’s iconic album, Rumours. The studio sessions were heavily marked by cocaine use, as well as the strife among band members, and the relationship breakups that shaped most …
This is Spinal Tap: A Retro Review
The “mockumentary,” This Is Spinal Tap, is considered to be one of the funniest movies ever made. While it’s about a lot of obscure, abstract things, the main thing is the way the real story is not in the questions or the answers, but what is continuously and hilariously occurring in the background. The movie …
Commodores: Still Sailin’ On
Funk and soul band, Commodores, were first formed in 1968 at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) from two former student music groups, the Mystics and the Jays. The new six-man band featured Lionel Richie, Thomas McClary, and William King from the Mystics … Richie later described some members of the Mystics as “jazz buffs;” and …
MTV’s “The Real World” The Original “Reality Show”
In the early 90s, Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray were looking for new ideas and watched a 70s show on PBS called “An American Family.” It was a chronicle of the daily life of the Louds, an upper middle-class family in Santa Barbara, California, but ended up documenting the break-up of the family when the …
Somewhere Over the Rainbow: The Rainbow Bar & Grill Retrospective
If only the building at 9015 Sunset Blvd on the Hollywood Strip could talk … oh, the stories it could tell. The Rainbow Bar & Grill, owned at that time by Elmer Valentine, Lou Adler, and Mario Maglieri, opened in April 1972 with a party for Elton John. The location was the former Villa Nova …
McCartney 3,2,1: A Documentary
Paul McCartney is simply ageless. Although his face may have a few more lines and wrinkles, he still doesn’t present as a man who is pushing 80 next year. His energy and drive are that of a man a third of his age. This documentary, produced by Rick Rubin, is 6 parts of utter magic, …
Eternal Romance, Love Songs of the 60’s through the 90’s
The idea of courtly or romantic love goes back to ancient times but really took on a more modern understanding of the topic in the Medieval Ages and thereafter. Needless to say, it has been part of every culture and era’s music since then. The Twentieth Century certainly solidified the idea of romance and often …
Studio 54: The Documentary
The legendary Studio 54 in New York City was more than just a nightclub in the late 70s. It was a cultural phenomenon that only happens once in a lifetime. Brooklynites Ian Schrager & Steve Rubell created a totally fantasy venue that drew people from every walk of life. In its relatively short 33-month span, …