{"id":13707,"date":"2016-06-08T15:59:59","date_gmt":"2016-06-08T19:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=13707"},"modified":"2016-06-08T16:01:02","modified_gmt":"2016-06-08T20:01:02","slug":"rock-docs-supreme-janis-1974-janis-little-girl-blue-2015-and-louder-than-love-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=13707","title":{"rendered":"Rock Docs Supreme: Janis (1974), Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015), and Louder Than Love (2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moving is never fun, especially if you\u2019ve been in the same place for a while, but the hunt is on for new lodging, and scouring ads takes a bit of time, a bit of coffee, maybe some cake, and maybe more coffee to find something that\u2019s reasonable and ideally situated by a major transportation hub (and affordable in thus nutty city where buying a fully detached house costs around 800K).<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll blather now and then on the fun of sorting, tossing, packing, and head-scratching that comes with prepping stuff and ultimately moving – just wait for the photos of the boxed RCA, SVHS, and coax cables\u2026 you\u2019ve no idea of the size and weight that constitutes all that wired spaghetti – but for now, here\u2019s a trio of rock docs which are interrelated because of one central figure in this post: Janis Joplin.<\/p>\n

\"JanisLittleGirlBlue\"I\u2019m not exactly a fan, but there are some songs and performances that are truly remarkable, largely because it\u2019s so very clear the woman you\u2019re watching onscreen is using everything inside \u2013 the hurt, trauma, upset, and deep passion for the blues \u2013 as well her every cell in her body to express one giant wail. Sometimes it\u2019s about shitty men, or good men, or men who can\u2019t deliver, but there\u2019s humour and deep vulnerabilities in her performances, she she\u2019s more surprising when her dynamics are toned down to a hush or a soft series of tones.<\/p>\n

\"Janis1974_VHS_s\"Joplin\u2019s the (obvious) focus of the first two docs here: Amy Berg\u2019s affecting Janis: Little Girl Blue<\/a><\/strong> (2015) from FilmRise \/ MVD Visual, and Howard Alk\u2019s prior and no less informative Janis<\/a><\/strong> (1974), a CanCon production released theatrically by Universal and later on VHS before it vanished from circulation in North America.<\/p>\n

Alk\u2019s film is clip-based, relying on archival materials, and was reportedly influenced by Joplin\u2019s manager to make sure the cinematic image was free from controversy, making it an interesting example of how filmmakers can work in subtext without address issues like substance abuse. The two films are companion pieces, as well as observations on a central subject made 40 years apart; that alone makes for some fascinating comparisons.<\/p>\n

Joplin\u2019s early career also brought her to Detroit, where she played at the Grande Ballroom<\/a>, known today as a prime example of ruin porn than a major and influential concert venue where up and coming artists local and international played before their careers really exploded. The Grande was a classic late 20s dance hall that ultimately fell on hard times, suffered terrible neglect, and looks like hell.<\/p>\n

\"LouderThanLove\"Filmmaker Tony D\u2019Annnunzio doesn\u2019t shy away from its decrepit hull, but it\u2019s not the focus of the feature-length doc. Louder Than Love<\/a><\/strong> (2012) is all info, emotion, anecdotes, and ephemeral clips of what existed in Detroit for roughly 6 years before the venue was shuttered and left to the elements.<\/p>\n

The MVD-distributed doc features some notable extras, and is proof a great narrative can be wrought without bashing viewers with After Effects and ADD edits.<\/p>\n

Cheers,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor
\nKQEK.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviews of three very solid rock docs: Tony D’Annunzio’s Louder Than Love: The Grande Ballroom Story (2012) + Amy Berg’s Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015) from MVD Visual, plus Howard Alk’s Janis (1974) on (in)glorious VHS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13716,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[4480,1579,2562,2563,4483,4477,4475,4476,4479,4482,4481],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/GrandeBallroom2016_featured.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-3z5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13707"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13728,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13707\/revisions\/13728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}