Summer Concert Series: Gimme Shelter (1970)

This landmark documentary is still incredibly powerful and shocking today. This isn't just a movie about a rock band, but about a tragedy and the change in culture that created it. 

As many know the 1960's is often considered a time of idealism but thoughts of peace and love sadly couldn't last forever. This falling out of ideals is brutally and honestly shown at a rock concert in 1969 that took place at Altamont Speedway that erupted in a hideous display of violence. Though this film is technically about the Rolling Stones, the footage of this concert takes center stage and is what people remember and take away from this film. Anyone who wants a feel good fun rock and roll concert film, had better watch a different movie. The footage of this concert is unpleasant and will leave some with a feeling of discomfort and disillusionment. Yet this movie leaves such a powerful impression that anyone who has seen it can never forget it. Even as one of the most popular rock and roll bands in the world performs their most famous hits, they are unfortunately upstaged and overshadowed by the horror playing out in front of them. Of course the music is excellent but how musically talented the Stones are is not going to be your parting thought. There is little of the peace and love associated with 60's rock and roll, instead their is the violence and unruliness of a painful part of human nature that the hippie dream could not overcome no matter how hard it tried. What hurts all the more is that this is a documentary and what you see in the same is what actually happened as it happened. 

This is not an upbeat movie by any means but it is a thought provoking one that will stay with you long after the film is over. 

-Michael J. Ruhland

Summer Concert Series: The T.A.M.I. Show (1964)

First off the question all of you are asking, T.A.M.I. stands for "Teen Age Music International" or "Teenage Awards Music International." Now on to the movie.

This is one of the finest concert films ever made. The musicians featured here are some of the finest rock and roll, pop and R&B artists of the era. The line up includes Jan and Dean, Chuck Berry, Gerry and the Peacemakers, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Lesley Gore, The Beach Boys, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, The Supremes, The Barbarians, James Brown and the Famous Flames and The Rolling Stones. The famous Wrecking Crew (Hal Blaine, Jimmy Bond, Tommy Tedesco, Glen Campbell, Lyle Ritz, Leon Russell, Plas Johnson) is the house band. All of these performers are at the top of their game. Probably the most talked about part of this film is James Brown's performance. This is appropriate as his pure energy and stage presence is incredible. He gives one everything they could want from a concert experience and it is impossible not to get caught up in the energy of it all. Keith Richards would later state that following James Brown was the worst mistake they ever made. It is worth saying that despite this famous statement, The Rolling Stones are fantastic here, giving us pure blues influenced rock nd roll at its best. Speaking of pure rock and roll energy and showmanship, Chuck Berry is just as much fun as anyone could hope from one of the founders of rock and roll. The Beach Boys have never sounded as great as they do here and it is proof that they were much more than the simple gimmick band they could have been. Their melodies and harmonies are simply beautiful and the songs were never as simple as they sounded at first listen. They are beautifully and perfectly put together in a way only true masters could do. Leslie Gore is someone who I have honestly not given much thought to before watching this movie, but after seeing her performance here, I fully understand and appreciate her appeal. She is a great vocalist and a fine stage presence. 

The music doesn't date at all but other parts of this movie do. The presence of Go-Go dancers in almost every performance kind of just looks silly today. The stage antics of Jan and Dean are to be honest kind of annoying. However compared to just how great the music these are minor complaints.

The director is Steve Binder, who rock and roll fans may know for directing Elvis' 1968 Comeback Special and this movie is every bit as great. He also directed The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), but let us not hold that against him as this movie is fantastic.

-Michael J. Ruhland     

Summer Concert Series: Keith Richards: Under the Influence (2015)

If you are looking for a documentary that will give you deep insight into Keith Richard's personal life, than this is far from the film for you. This movie is in many ways the equivalent of hanging out with Keith and talking about music. Keith spends little time talking about the Rolling Stones or his solo work, instead focusing on his love and devotion to the blues, country music, reggae and early rock and roll. If you are a fan of the music he is talking about, there is little no insight here, but he discuses this music with such a passion that it is fun listening to him talk about it.  When someone is passionate about an artform, whether that is music, film, books, etc. because they enjoy talking about it so much that you enjoy listening to it. It doesn't matter if you know everything they are saying it is still fun to just hear their passion. Director Morgan Neville understands this and simply lets Keith talk and adds little else to the table. The result is a movie that is honestly not that cinematic or informative but is still a lot of fun.

This being a movie completely and utterly about music, naturally the songs are a huge reason to watch. Keeping with the theme of this film, most of what he plays are covers, but really good and heartfelt covers. Two that stood out to me as his brief version Merle Haggard's Sing Me Back Home and the lovely closing version of Leadbelly's Goodnight Irene. There are no extended guitar solos here or real rocking out. Keith keeps his musical offerings here on the acoustic side, but partly because of this it has the close intimacy that he and so many us love about the blues and country music. There is a laid back but still soulful feeling to his renditions of these classic songs. For a movie about one of The Rolling Stones, there is little sex, drugs or rock and roll here. But there is plenty of music and isn't the music why people became fans of Keith Richards in the first place?

-Michael J. Ruhland

Summer Concert Series: The Rolling Stones Ole Ole Ole: A Trip Across Latin America (2016)

Here in the U.S.A. the fact that we can enjoy rock and roll music is completely taken for granted. Anywhere in this country you can turn on a dozen or so radio stations that play nothing but rock. Even for fans of the band The Rolling Stones having a concert nearby is nothing earth-shattering. Still in countries where even listening to a Rolling Stones album for decades was not only subversive, but could make you get in trouble with the law, the band performing in your country was not just a chance to have a fun night out, but a historical milestone that represented a new sort of freedom that went beyond just fun music. Because of this Paul Dugdales Ole Ole Ole is presented not as much as a Rolling Stones documentary, but a film about this new found freedom. If you want to watch this movie to learn more about the Rolling Stones music or who the members of the band are as people, there are a dozen or so other films about The Rolling Stones that will give you more of this. Still if you want a documentary about the true effect that rock and roll music has and the pure freedom it can give to so many people, this is a perfect film for you. The highlights of this film (with the exception of the actual concert footage, that will be discussed later in this review) are the moments being spent with the fans of the band. Rock and roll to them wasn't simply fun music, but a true act of rebellious freedom. There is a true devotion to the band who have in these countries due to their banned status for decades have become more than just people. They were the personification of freedom of expression and the freedom to be who you truly are to people who weren't allowed the luxury for so long. Because of this what you see here are people who have excepted the band as not only music they like but a life style choice. To say some of these fans are die-hard is an understatement. Even in the concert footage spends a lot of time with the camera looking out at the audience, who may be the most excited and spirited audience I have ever seen in a concert film.

Of course with this being a Rolling Stones movie the music is very important as well. As many of you know the reason The Rolling Stones are one of the world's most popular rock bands is that their music is really good. Even though the band was no longer young at this time, they have lost none of their talent and energy on stage. The performances of such classics as Satisfaction, Honky Tonk Women, Sympathy For the Devil, Start Me Up, Silver, Wild Horses and Gimme Shelter are as high energy and fun to both listen to and watch as any Rolling Stones fan could hope for.

-Michael J. Ruhland