One of my personal heroes, the legendary Dolly Parton, made the news last month with the official statement that she’s working on her life story. About the project, she says, “I’m not decided if it’s going to be a musical or a movie with music in it. I’ve not thought about who will play me– but we need someone little. And if they don’t have enough up top we’ll have to give them a big old boob job.”
This movie will, no doubt, be incredible, and got me thinking about the incredible number of recent music biopics that have become a bit of an obsession for me.
Be Here to Love Me is an extremely personal examination of the crazy life of my favorite Texas troubadour, Mr. Van Zandt. My personal favorite bit of this film is footage shot in his crappy trailer in Austin’s gorgeous Clarksville neighbor, now yuppie central. I bet there are condos where he used to park his broken down truck.
You’re Going to Miss Me chronicles the wild ride that is Austin musical genius Roky Erickson (formerly of the 13th Floor Elevators). Erickson, an acid loving schizophrenic, has had quite the comeback in the last couple of years, rebounding from living in the Austin State Hospital to currently performing shows with indie kings Okkervil River. I’m going to see him play music this week at SXSW. YES.
Wild Combination is a strange, dreamy film reenacting bits of biography from the life of avant garde musical genius Arthur Russell. Shot on VHS and Super 8, the strange fantasy-like quality of this film serve as a tender love letter to the tragically life of this downtown NYC genius.
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