May's Film Discussion: Standing in the Shadows of Motown

Discuss the film "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" here.

Permalink Reply by Kelly Ames Smith on May 7, 2009 at 8:53am: Comment by Kelly Ames Smith on May 4, 2009 at 6:10am
Delete Comment Standing in the Shadows of Motown
-Was happy they gave a nod to Louis ( "That Chick's Too Young to Fry") Jordan who is a personal favorite.
-Great On the Road annecdotes
-Wonderful singers who sang the standards for this film.
-Nice filming. Particularly loved the intro to the film
Is a two disc film. Have only seen first and can't wait to see second-- extra footage, more songs, etc
This film makes you appreciate every unsung hero- every talented musician who is out there playing for love and little money, gig to gig
- It was as hard then to get paid after a gig in a club as it is now.
-Who knew that "Lottie the Body" had such a profound influence on the Motown classics we know and love today-- you will have to watch the film to find out why!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kelly Ames Smith on May 7, 2009 at 8:53am: Standing in the Shadows of Motown. Every one of us needs to see this film if only to honor these musicians. The Funk Brothers are
the river that flowed behind every top Motown hit. Think of the lead in and the music behind "My Girl." What would that song be without the music? The saddest thing: One day, the Funk brothers showed up to record as usual. THERE WAS A SIGN ON THE DOOR that Motown had moved, overnight, to LA! and someone forgot to tell the Funk Brothers! They had to learn by a sign on a door! They deserve to be revered, every one of them. We looked up this film, made in 2002, and it made peanuts. Which means so many still have not seen it. Everyone of us should see it and dance and enjoy the tales, so that every time we hear "Bernadette" or "Get Ready" or " YOu Can't Hurry Love," we know.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Carolyne on May 18, 2009 at 4:32pm: Just picked this up on reserve from the library. I think it's the perfect viewing for the Memorial Day weekend at the beach! Promise to give some comments on it.

A p.s. from last month's film, "Shine A Light'. It's well worth seeing. I don't know how it translates in home viewing, but in a movie theatre, it's one of the finest concert films I've ever seen. Scorcese really outdid himself with smooth, long takes, extreme closeups and shooting from the sightline of the front row. The sound is thrilling. Full throttle energy. The duets with Buddy Guy, Christina Aguilera and Jack White are just unbelievably good.

A funny thing happened when I saw it at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. The venue is about the same age (1928) as the Beacon Theatre, where "Shine a Light" was shot. And, the energy was so high in the theatre that it felt like we were at the concert! A man came up to the front of the house and started dancing along to "Shattered" and never left during the entire film. And, a woman right behind me yelled out "I love you, Mick!" to the screen. :-); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by barbara gray on May 18, 2009 at 10:57pm: The KING OF MOTOWN; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kelly Ames Smith on May 19, 2009 at 10:21am: Smoking!!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kelly Ames Smith on May 19, 2009 at 10:36am: Based on thumb's up from Carolynne's comment, will go out and find Shine A Light for Memorial Day weekend! Funny thing, while I was blaring my stereo to James and Kate and Livingston, my first year dorm roommate was doing same to the "Some Girls" album...will always have a special place in my heart. Was so fun to see TRS when they came to our area back in 1996? was it? or so? Mick still has that certain "it" factor, for sure.
Shay-ooo--beee...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Carolyne on May 30, 2009 at 4:40pm: I enjoyed that! Can't believe it took 16 years to fund. The direction's a little disjointed, and the recreated scenes are unnecessary, yet what a story. I'll never hear "Ain't Too Proud to Beg", "Shop Around", "Heat Wave", and a billion others without seeing their faces now.

There's a wonderful, way too short, clip with James Jamerson Jr., son of the legendary bassist, who's playing on the same stand-up bass his Dad had. And, a moving tale about guitarist Robert White, who recorded perhaps the most famous six notes of the sixties at the start of "My Girl". Makes me sad that more people don't know his name.

The strength of the film is when they're on camera telling their stories, not necessarily the performance footage from their reunion concert. It's nice to see contemporary artists (Ben Harper, Chaka Khan) perform with them, yet I wish there was more footage from their studio days. Maybe it doesn't exist. Maybe they don't have the rights from Berry Gordy. Ironically, the best footage is in the deleted scenes and extras on Disc 2. Don't miss them talking in code!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kelly Ames Smith on May 30, 2009 at 8:24pm: oK carolyne, now you have really one and done it...will have to go and re-rent this to look for them "talking in code? " ( BTW did rent Shine a Lght and rottten "varmit" kids commandeered the one TV we have with DVD).
and now they are all watching the Stanley cup.... could be some time before we see Some Girls on DVD.
Well, there is always the kitchen CD player and dishes to be done....; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Carolyne on June 1, 2009 at 2:13pm: Oh Kelly, good luck with the DVD player! :-)

The "talking in code" clip is pretty short, but really cool. It's sort of conversational scatting. Very musical. Another neat deleted scene is "the Motown sound", when they discuss funny things they used in the "Snake Pit" studio to create their familiar sound. One shot shows them jumping up and down on a piece of plywood at the beginning of (I think) "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". These would've been great in the final cut!; ▶ Reply to This