by Bill Pearis

Penn Badgley in 'Greetings from Tim Buckley'

As mentioned, the Tribeca Film Festival is about to kick off and runs from April 17 - 28. Tickets to all screenings are currently on sale to AmEx users and downtown residents, and go on sale to the general public Monday (4/15) at 11 AM. Additionally, Tribeca Film Fest screenings are never fully sold out, as limited rush tickets are available before screenings. More details on that can be found here.

Like usual, there are a few music-related films playing at this year's fest. We already told you about Mistaken for Strangers, in which The National's Matt Berringer invites his brother, Tom, to come along on tour with the band and film them. But it's not your typical tour doc. The film opens the festival on Wednesday (4/17) where The National will also perform and then there are two additional screenings: 4/26 at the Village 7 (8:30 PM, only rush tickets left); and 4/27 at School of Visual Arts (9:30 PM, tickets).

Matt Beringer will also participate at one of the Tribeca Talks panel discussions titled "Music + Film" that happens at the SVA on 4/28 (3:30 PM)  also features Q-Tip and director Todd Haynes, who made the unconventional Dylan biopic, I'm Not There, and the pseudo-Bowie biopic, Velvet Goldmine. Free tickets are available.

Then there's Greetings from Tim Buckley where Gossip Girl's Penn Badgely plays Jeff Buckley. Showings are 4/23 at BMCC Tribeca PAC (6 PM, tickets) and 4/25 at the Village 7 (8:30 PM, tickets).

For fans of concert photography, there's Who Shot Rock n' Roll: The Film, featuring interviews with Edward Colver, Henry Diltz, Jill Furmanovsky, Lynn Goldsmith, Bob Gruen, Norman Seeff, Mark Seliger, Guy Webster and more. Tickets are still available for the 4/23 screening at Clearview Chelsea (9:30 PM) and rush tickets are available for 4/20 at the Village 7 (noon), 4/26 at Clearview Chelsea (7 PM), and 4/28 at Tribeca Cinemas (5 PM)

Not music-related but one we're more than a little curious about is Lil Bub & Friendz which looks at the internet's obsession with all things cats. There's a free screening of the film on 4/20 (8 PM) at Tribeca Drive-In (Brookfield Place, World Financial Plaza). Additional ticketed screenings happen on 4/18 at the SVA (9:30), as well as 4/23 (6 PM) and 4/25 (3 PM) at the Village 7 (tickets).

There's lots of other films playing too, obviously, and you can peruse Tribeca Film Festival's 2013 line-up here. Trailers for films mentioned in this post are below.

Continue reading "Tribeca Film Fest starts this week (The National, 'Greetings from Tim Buckley,' Q-Tip, Lil Bub ++ more) "

by Bill Pearis

Legendary film critic Roger Ebert has died, reports The Chicago Sun-Times, the paper where he worked since 1967. He and Chicago Tribune Gene Siskel influenced the nation first with their movie review show Sneak Previews on PBS and then At the Movies and Siskel & Ebert in syndication. Gene Siskel died in 1999 from complications with brain surgery. Ebert contracted thyroid cancer in the early '00s and in 2006 post-surgical complications left him unable to speak, but his love of movies never went away.

On Tuesday (4/2), the 46th anniversary of his hire at the Sun-Times, he announced on his blog that his cancer had come back and was taking a "leave of presence." He was 70.

In addition to being the world's most famous movie critic, he also was a screenwriter for cult director Russ Meyer, having penned the screenplay to 1970's sex-drugs-and-rock-n-roll classic Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. The pair were hired by Malcolm McLaren to make a Sex Pistols movie, Who Killed Bambi, but production was halted when the backers read the screenplay (which he published on his blog in 2010). Hopefully Gene saved you the aisle seat. Rest in peace, Rog.

A few classic Siskel & Ebert clips are below...

Continue reading "Roger Ebert, RIP"

M83 at Hammerstein Ballroom, Oct 2012 (more by Erik Erikson)

Tom Cruise sci-fi flick, Oblivion, isn't in theaters till April 19 but you can listen to M83's Anthony Gonzalez and composer Joseph Trapenese's soundtrack to film right now. For those spoiler-phobic out there that don't want to know if the film, say, may or may not contain a canyon battle, you may want to avoid looking at the song titles. The soundtrack is out to purchase on 4/9 but the whole magilla is streaming below.

Continue reading "stream M83's soundtrack to Tom Cruise film 'Oblivion'"

Rozz Williams

It was fifteen years ago today that Rozz Williams, better known as frontman of Christian Death and Premature Ejaculation, decided to take his own life. One of the last statements that the deathrock pioneer made was the short film Pig, co-directed with Nico B, who last year made a follow-up, 1334. Both films will be screened along with some giveaways on Friday (4/5) at Spectacle Theater in Williamsburg:

Created imminently before and after Rozz Williams's April 1, 1998 suicide, Pig has acquired the hallowed aura of something that seems to exist primarily as rumor. Mostly seen through extremely limited, long out-of-print home video releases, this shot-on-16mm and Super 8 film is now spotlighted by an new 2K restoration. Rather scrubbing away the film's mystique, the sharp transfer enhances the film's inherent grime and grain, taking away nothing from the film's unparallelled ability to inspire awe and revulsion. Williams's industrial soundtrack is more gripping than ever in a new 5.1 surround mix. PIG is now paired with its highly anticipated follow-up 1334, which harrowingly folds past and present, real-life tragedies and imagined histories into a hallucinatory, eschatological exploration of Rozz's suicide.

Head below for a video trailer of the event, and head to the Spectacle's website for more.

Continue reading "Rozz Williams films 'Pig' and '1344' screening in NYC"

Prepare yourself, the previously discussed CBGB movie is a reailty and on the way. No distributor or release date yet, but there is a poster, which is above. It's a little hard to see shrunk down here but there's a much bigger version over at the movie's Facebook page.

The film stars Alan Rickman (you know, Hans Gruber from Die Hard) as CB's owner Hilly Kristal, which is a check in the "could be good" category... but then there's Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins as Iggy Pop, Malin Ackerman as Debbie Harry, and, um, Rupert Grint (aka Ron Weasley) as Rocket From the Tombs' Cheetah Chrome. Donal Logue, Johnny Galecki and Bradley Whitford are also in this thing. If the poster is any indication, it'll be a wacky comedy?

Double Dagger bid the world adieu in 2011, but have left the world with a pair of parting gifts. The Baltimore band will release their final LP 333, on Record Store Day (April 20) in conjunction with a new documentary on the band If We Shout Loud Enough. Also be on the lookout for video from their final live shows featuring appearances from Future Islands, Dan Deacon, Thank You, Wye Oak, and many more.

Meanwhile, Denny from Double Dagger's new band Roomrunner has a debut album and tour on the way and will be in NYC to open for Pissed Jeans at Bowery Ballroom on April 13 (tickets).

Teaser trailer for the documentary below...

Continue reading "Double Dagger to release posthumous LP and accompanying documentary"

Death at Europa in 2010 (more by Ben Lozovsky)

Long lost protopunk band Death, who made a return in 2009 when Drag City released their debut album and have been sticking around ever since, have gotten the documentary treatment. A Band Called Death, directed by Mark Covino and Jeff Howlett, was released in 2012 and it will be screening at SXSW this year (screening times are HERE).

The film description reads:

Before Bad Brains, the Sex Pistols or even the Ramones, there was Death. Formed in the early '70s by three teenage brothers from Detroit, Death is credited as being the first black punk band, and the Hackney brothers, David, Bobby, and Dannis, are now considered pioneers in their field. But it wasn't until recently -- when a dusty 1974 demo tape made its way out of Bobby's attic nearly 30 years after Death's heyday -- that anyone outside a small group of punk enthusiasts had even heard of them.

Equal parts electrifying rockumentary and epic family chronicle, the story of Death is one of brotherly love and fierce, divinely inspired expression.

A Band Called Death trailer and a stream of their track, "Politicians In My Eyes," below...

Continue reading "Death (the protopunk band) are subject of new documentary, playing live at SXSW (BrooklynVegan show included)"

Now that they've finally stopped touring Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, M83 have fully committed to their next project -- scoring the upcoming Tom Cruise sci-fi flick, Obvlivion. The film is the second feature by Joseph Kosinski who clearly has a thing for French electronic music, as his feature debut, TRON Legacy, was scored by Daft Punk. As for the plot, here's the gist:

On a spectacular future Earth that has evolved beyond recognition, one man's confrontation with the past will lead him on a journey of redemption and discovery as he battles to save mankind.

Continue reading "M83 scoring the new Tom Cruise film 'Oblivion' (stream a track)"

Noah Baumbach is shooting a performance of a fictionalized band featuring members of Dirty Projectors on Tuesday, March 5th, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY at approximately 1PM. The band and Noah are seeking fans to appear in the audience. That's all we know about it, but you can email march5cast@gmail.com if you want to sign up.

In related news, Dirty Projectors were recently announced on the lineup of a festival in Boston along with the National who they're also playing other dates with.

Noah's new film "Frances Ha" hits theaters later this year. You can watch a clip below...

Continue reading "Noah Baumbach & Dirty Projectors seeking extras for video"

A still from 'Mistaken for Strangers'

The National, who'll headline the Barclays Center in June, are the subject of a new tour documentary, Mistaken for Strangers, which will make its premiere at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival (April 17 - 28). The film was directed by Tom Berninger, whose brother Matt is lead singer of The National. Here's the synopsis:

Adrift in life and fuelled by the desire to create, Tom Berninger accepts his brother's offer to come on The National tour as a roadie and decides to chronicle his experiences with the band. Although Tom starts off with dreams of making a rock documentary (you can watch the portaits he made on each of the band members), a different story emerges as tensions among the band members lead to unforeseen drama. Following the band from Berlin to Paris to Los Angeles to a 2010 Obama rally in Madison, Wisconsin, Mistaken for Strangers is not your typical road documentary.

Festival packages go on sale to AmEx cardholders on Monday (3/4), which is one day before the entire slate of films for Tribeca will be announced. Festival passes go on sale to the general public following Monday (3/11). Individual tickets will go on sale 4/9 for AmEx cardholders, 4/14 for downtown residents and 4/15 to the general public.

In related news, The National are co-headlining (with fun.) the Boston Calling Music Festival which goes down in Beantown on May 25 and 26. The fest also includes appearances by The Shins, Of Monsters & Men, Dirty Projectors, Andrew Bird and more. Tickets to Boston Calling go sale Friday, March 8 and the whole line-up is below.

Continue reading "The National (band & documentary) playing Tribeca Film Fest, headlining Boston Calling Music Festival"