Skip to main content

Fin Favorites: 20 Feet From Stardom

Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm The Wonderfish.  It's time for Fin Favorites, where we present great films about music and three reasons why we think they are worth your time. This week, we're examining Morgan Neville's 2013 release, 20 Feet From Stardom.  If you want official film reviews, you'll find the links at the end of the post along with the trailer and an 11-minute TimesTalks interview with the director and three of the film's stars, Darlene Love, Lisa Fischer, and Merry Clayton.

Why should you watch 20 Feet From Stardom?

1) You will be shocked to discover how many hit songs the same group of backup singers are a part of.  I won't spoil the revelation for you, but I guarantee that song count is much higher than you think.  Through this brief history of hit songs, you'll notice how critical backup vocals can be.

2) You get to hear and see the voices.  You see the work that goes into recording a song.  It is rare to witness musicians, let alone female vocalists, practicing their craft and doing the work behind the scenes.  As an artist, watching these vocalists is awe-inspiring, motivational, emotional, and comforting.  As an avid music listener, it is eye-opening and enlightening.

3) You will gain a new perspective on the music industry and, possibly, a newfound appreciation for the people that create your favorite songs.  Is singing for a living more about creating art or business?  This film helps show both sides of an industry that depends on creative artistry.  It's not always pretty, and it's often a roller coaster ride, but one thing is for sure: if you have that desire inside of you to sing, you will find a way to sing.

20 Feet From Stardom is a beautifully made film that portrays the ups and downs of the artists and their careers as they persist within the music business.  Give it 20 minutes of your time, and I'm sure you'll want more.  Clips and links are below.  Shark's in the water!  See you next time!




Film Reviews:
Roger Ebert's site
A. O. Scott for the NY Times
Rotten Tomatoes
IMDB Page
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Introduction From The Wonderfish

Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm the Wonderfish. This is our first week posting, so some introductions are in order. Let's start at the beginning, shall we? Our story begins on a street called State. Heard set sail from Europe when he was just a wee lad. His family settled in the small village of Dolgeville, which is in upstate New York in the USA. As luck would have it, and unbeknownst to Heard, his family moved into a house on State Street, an infamously musical street in the town. Historically, quite a few residents from State Street used their musical abilities to make a living, but that is a post for another day. Heard's new neighbors happened to be one of those families. Enter the Wonderfish. That's me, I'm a Wonderfish! My younger sister and I were raised in a musical family. I knew from an early age that I would learn how to play musical instruments. I had my first drum set at age 4 (thanks, Dad). I also knew that someday I would be a writer because I ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Man of Many Hats

Ahoy! From the first day I started playing bass in high school I knew I wanted to be a musician. Not everyone around me was as excited about this life choice as I was. For the past 20 or so years I have been asked what it is I do for a living. I've shared on this blog the different ways I have labeled myself over the years, in particular, that I am a self-employed musician, not an unemployed musician. I have made my living wages from music endeavors for years now. There have certainly been times when I've had day jobs, but only as a short term fix while my music life was in flux. Today I want to share yet another way of expressing yourself to those pesky relatives when they complain that you “need to get a real job.” Today's advice is simple: You are a musician. That's it. You don't have to label yourself as a teacher, performer, youtuber, and anything else that comes with your daily life. Being a musician means you are all these things and probably man...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lalah Hathaway Can Sing Two Notes At Once!

Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm The Wonderfish. Lalah Hathaway is up for quite a number of Grammy awards this year with her new album, Honestly . The R&B vocalist is popping up more and more in our mainstream media. I do not profess to be a Hathaway expert by any means, but ever since I saw her sing with Snarky Puppy for their 2013 album, Family Dinner: Volume One , I've been following her career.  When we started this blog last year, I knew right away that I would want to post about Lalah Hathaway. I finally got around to watching Girls Trip and I caught a glimpse of her singing toward the end of the movie, so the time is now. Do you know what? Lalah Hathaway can sing two notes at once. That's right, you read that correctly. When I saw her video with Snarky Puppy, I kept rewinding it because I thought my ears were deceiving me. How was this vocalist singing two notes at the same time? I must have listened to that part of the song 10 times in a row. I finally ga...
Post a Comment
Read more