A look at the life and music of legendary singer and civil rights activist, Mavis Staples.
Profile of the soul singer, documenting his childhood and career, including unseen home movies that reveal how his 1967 tour of Britain dramatically changed his life and music. Plus, footage of rare performances and intimate interviews with Redding's widow, daughter and previous band members Steve Cropper and Booker T.
Considered by soul music fans to be one of the greatest lineups of artists ever to grace the concert stage, this concert, from April 7, 1967 in Oslo, Norway features stunning performances by Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Eddie Floyd, Arthur Conley, The Mar-Keys and the legendary Booker T. & The MGs.
A look into the birth of the soul music scene on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Chronicles the rise of soul music, the creation of many iconic songs, and the effect that the genre would have on generations to come. Featuring interviews with B.B. King, Isaac Hayes, Steve Copper, and many other legendary artists.
The Godfather of Grunge is back (not that he ever really left) on this two-hour live performance video. Filmed at Colorado's Red Rocks Ampitheatre, this concert features the legendary rocker kicking out all sorts of jams -- from anthemic rock songs to acoustic ballads -- with his talented backing band. Recorded live at Red Rocks Ampitheatre in Morrison, Colorodo on September 19-20, 2000. A highly original and inspiring performance, complete with a rainstorm and a farfisa, results! The set list includes «Harvest Moon», «Razor Love», «Cowgirl In The Sand» and many more.
The Stories Behind the Making of The Blues Brothers is an hour- long documentary featuring every participant from the film. Star and co-writer Dan Aykroyd explains how a joke that he and best friend John Belushi shared with friends evolved from a Saturday Night Live skit to a best-selling album and then to a film. Director John Landis covers the difficult production, from the outrageous stunts to Belushi's disappearances from the set.
Finally released from prison, Elwood Blues is once again enlisted by Sister Mary Stigmata in her latest crusade to raise funds for a children's hospital. Hitting the road to re-unite the band and win the big prize at the New Orleans Battle of the Bands, Elwood is pursued cross-country by the cops.
Writer Tom Davis hosts a Blues Brothers retrospective that tells the whole truth about the legendary band's early days and righteous ways. The Blues Brothers were an unforgettable part of Saturday Night Live's golden era, making their musical debut in bee costumes singing "I'm a King Bee," and becoming an overnight sensation. Switching to hats and shades inspired by John Lee Hooker, they combined classic Chicago Blues with Stax-Volt R&B to create a sound all their own. Their first album, Briefcase Full of Blues, went double-platinum and led quickly to their hit movie and milestone soundtrack album. The rest is history, and it's all here in a music-filled, memory-blasting account of a band that will always be on a mission from God.
"Philip Priestley's acclaimed film charts the history of Stax Records, the influential soul and blues record company founded in the 1960s by Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton. Featuring music by an impressive roster of stars, including Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes and Carla Thomas, The Soul of Stax chronicles the performers' rise through the industry and popular culture, the role played by many of them in the Civil Rights movement, and the label's eventual decline." - bfi.org.uk
Renowned documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker captures Otis Redding in his ascendancy, singing at the historic Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967. Comedian Tom Smothers introduces Redding to a crowd that is leaving -- until Redding grabs them with his charged rendition of "Shake." Redding's performance also includes "Respect" (which he wrote), "I've Been Loving You Too Long," "Satisfaction," and "Try a Little Tenderness." Tragically, Redding died in a plane crash six months later. An innovative filmmaker who started in the 1950s making experimental films, Pennebaker garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature in 1993 for The War Room, his behind-the-scenes look at Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign. His other subjects have included Norman Mailer, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie.
Centered around a television station which features a 1950s-style sci-fi movie interspersed with a series of wild commercials, wacky shorts and weird specials, this lampoon of contemporary life and pop culture skewers some of the silliest spectacles ever created in the name of entertainment.
The Compleat Al (a title parody/homage of the 1982 documentary ‘The Compleat Beatles’) is a mockumentary about the life of "Weird Al" Yankovic, the Grammy® award-winning master of musical parody and rock-and-roll comedy, from his birth to 1985. Although a mockumentary, it is roughly based on Yankovic's real life, beginning with his childhood years, his high school and college days, and up through his early-career rise to stardom. This semi-concocted chronicle also contains classic moments from AL-TV, footage from his trip to Japan, and a somewhat embellished version of how he received permission from Michael Jackson for "Eat It". And to top it off, The Compleat Al contains eight "Weird Al" music video classics: "Ricky", "I Love Rocky Road", the award-winning "Eat It", "I Lost on Jeopardy", "This Is the Life", "Like a Surgeon", "One More Minute", and "Dare to Be Stupid"!
The full unedited performance recorded on December 31, 1978, when the Blues Brothers opened for the Grateful Dead on the monumental closing night of Winterland.
Featuring performances by popular artists of the 1960s, this concert film highlights the music of the 1967 California festival. Although not all musicians who performed at the Monterey Pop Festival are on film, some of the notable acts include the Mamas and the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane, the Who, Otis Redding, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Hendrix's post-performance antics -- lighting a guitar on fire, breaking it and tossing a part into the audience -- are captured.