I remember exactly where I was when I discovered Philip Seymour Hoffman had died. I was at a revival screening of the 1979 version of Battlestar: Galactica at a Montreal theatre, waiting for the film to start when my email blew up. Here at JoBlo, whenever an icon dies, it tends to become a thread that allows us all to vent a little, and Hoffman’s death destroyed many of us.
It shook me up in a lot of ways, as I had just seen him at the Sundance Film Festival a few weeks earlier, where he had two films, A Most Wanted Man and God’s Pocket. In hindsight, it’s easy to say he didn’t look quite right, but honestly, I had no clue anything was wrong with him. Of course, in the days following his death, we learned that addiction had taken its toll on perhaps the most outstanding actor of his generation,...
It shook me up in a lot of ways, as I had just seen him at the Sundance Film Festival a few weeks earlier, where he had two films, A Most Wanted Man and God’s Pocket. In hindsight, it’s easy to say he didn’t look quite right, but honestly, I had no clue anything was wrong with him. Of course, in the days following his death, we learned that addiction had taken its toll on perhaps the most outstanding actor of his generation,...
- 2/2/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Remembering Philip Seymour Hoffman 10 Years Later: The Actor’s Best Roles, from ‘Twister’ to ‘Doubt’
The worst thing that could have happened to the film community did on February 2, 2014: Philip Seymour Hoffman, the great actor who transcended every project he graced, died alone of a drug overdose in his Manhattan apartment. Everyone remembers where they were when the news broke. His death was a shock to the system of all his collaborators and everyone in the creative community, but he left behind an Oscar-winning, untouchable body of work that, whenever revisited, gives the consistent feeling that he’s still among us.
Though Hoffman won his Academy Award for his etched-in-stone portrayal of a great American writer in “Capote,” Bennett Miller’s film is hardly the best work he ever did. The mid-’90s saw Hoffman begin a too-short of a lifelong collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson, working together on films like “Hard Eight,” “Boogie Nights,” and “Magnolia” before playing a charismatic cult leader who...
Though Hoffman won his Academy Award for his etched-in-stone portrayal of a great American writer in “Capote,” Bennett Miller’s film is hardly the best work he ever did. The mid-’90s saw Hoffman begin a too-short of a lifelong collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson, working together on films like “Hard Eight,” “Boogie Nights,” and “Magnolia” before playing a charismatic cult leader who...
- 2/2/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
People nowadays have forgotten just how good Cameron Crowe was at his peak. For the writer-director, Almost Famous was his masterpiece, which told the story of a teenage rock journalist on tour with a mid-level rock band in the seventies. For many of us, it remains one of the greatest modern films and a masterpiece that, almost twenty-five years later, remains a cultural touchstone for many of us. In this episode of Revisited, we examine Crowe’s seminal film and how it holds up all these years later.
One of the reasons that Almost Famous was such an essential film for Crowe is that it’s autobiographical. Like Spielberg’s recent The Fabelmans, Crowe fictionalizes his story somewhat, but many of the formative events that occurred in his life happen here. Like his main character, William Miller, Crowe was a teenage rock journalist for Rolling Stone Magazine. Crowe had begun...
One of the reasons that Almost Famous was such an essential film for Crowe is that it’s autobiographical. Like Spielberg’s recent The Fabelmans, Crowe fictionalizes his story somewhat, but many of the formative events that occurred in his life happen here. Like his main character, William Miller, Crowe was a teenage rock journalist for Rolling Stone Magazine. Crowe had begun...
- 6/4/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
In 2018, a journalist asked Bruce Dickinson how he felt about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Iron Maiden singer inveighed: “If we’re ever inducted, I will refuse — they won’t bloody be having my corpse in there.”
A year later, Steve Harris — the band’s bassist and only consistent member since Maiden formed in 1975 — offered a more levelheaded take: “It’s very nice if people give you awards or accolades, but we didn’t get into the business for that sort of thing. … With what we do,...
A year later, Steve Harris — the band’s bassist and only consistent member since Maiden formed in 1975 — offered a more levelheaded take: “It’s very nice if people give you awards or accolades, but we didn’t get into the business for that sort of thing. … With what we do,...
- 5/2/2023
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Few Smashing Pumpkins fans realized it at the time, but the group’s 1995 double LP, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, was the start of a loose storyline about a character known as Zero, who was reborn as Glass on 2000’s Machina/The Machines of God. Two decades later, Billy Corgan is revisiting the whole saga on the triple album Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Parts, where the central figure — now known as Shiny — has been exiled in space. The band will promote it on the World Is a...
- 4/18/2023
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
The late Philip Seymour Hoffman gave one of the most memorable performances of his career as rock critic and truth teller Lester Bangs in Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous." An autobiographical recounting of Crowe's own experiences as a teen journalist on tour with Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, the film follows a wide-eyed writer named William Miller (Patrick Fugit) who finds a new home on the traveling bus of the fictional band Stillwater during the spring of 1973. Bangs never joins them on the road, but he does become the spiritual and moral compass for William, spouting out brilliant bits of wisdom over the phone to help the young scribe avoid the allure of an "industry of cool."
The real Lester Bangs was considered one of the most important voices in music criticism until his untimely death at the age of 33. His incendiary reviews for Rolling Stone and Creem magazine contained a new,...
The real Lester Bangs was considered one of the most important voices in music criticism until his untimely death at the age of 33. His incendiary reviews for Rolling Stone and Creem magazine contained a new,...
- 12/19/2022
- by Drew Tinnin
- Slash Film
The Velvet Underground is the music that feels like home to me. I discovered them at age 13 when I found "The Velvet Underground & Nico" at my local library. As Jonathan Richman phrases so succinctly in Todd Haynes' "The Velvet Underground," I thought, "these people would understand me." They've been my favorite band ever since.
Haynes is the perfect filmmaker to helm a documentary about The Velvets. The director's first short film, "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story" — which remains unreleased officially, due to music rights issues — told the story of its titular star from an incredibly heartfelt perspective ... with Barbie dolls.
My introduction to Haynes was "Velvet Goldmine," which made me fall head over heels for the auteur's work. Haynes initially had hoped to make a David Bowie biopic, but when he couldn't get the rights to the musician's songs, he had to get creative. "Velvet Goldmine" is a love letter...
Haynes is the perfect filmmaker to helm a documentary about The Velvets. The director's first short film, "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story" — which remains unreleased officially, due to music rights issues — told the story of its titular star from an incredibly heartfelt perspective ... with Barbie dolls.
My introduction to Haynes was "Velvet Goldmine," which made me fall head over heels for the auteur's work. Haynes initially had hoped to make a David Bowie biopic, but when he couldn't get the rights to the musician's songs, he had to get creative. "Velvet Goldmine" is a love letter...
- 12/13/2022
- by Jamie Gerber
- Slash Film
There's plenty of buzz around "Almost Famous: The Musical." As a Broadway screen-to-stage adaptation of Cameron Crowe's 2000 acclaimed autobiographical "Almost Famous," the production was dripping with promises. After a 2019 premiere at the San Diego Old Globe Theatre, the musical finally moved its way to the Broadway stage. With a book based on Crowe's Oscar-winning screenplay, some light revisions (like cutting out a non-consensual kiss), and a talented cast, what could go wrong? Sadly, not a lot goes right. Adding original songs by Tom Kitt ("The Visitor"), Crowe's book remains mostly intact yet the staging struggles to translate the charm for distinctive theatre sensibilities.
Growing up with a supportive but overbearing mother (Anika Larsen) in 1973 suburban San Diego, 15-year-old William Miller (Casey Likes) obsesses over rock albums left behind by his rebellious sister (Emily Schultheis). An emerging writer, William scores paid writing assignments, including one from Rolling Stone, to profile the rock band scene.
Growing up with a supportive but overbearing mother (Anika Larsen) in 1973 suburban San Diego, 15-year-old William Miller (Casey Likes) obsesses over rock albums left behind by his rebellious sister (Emily Schultheis). An emerging writer, William scores paid writing assignments, including one from Rolling Stone, to profile the rock band scene.
- 11/18/2022
- by Caroline Cao
- Slash Film
“It didn’t feel like a modern movie, but it didn’t feel like a nostalgia trip, either,” says writer-director Cameron Crowe, reflecting on his classic autobiographical film Almost Famous. “I wanted the musical to have a similar elixir to it.” After five years of work with some pandemic-induced delays, rapturously received previews, and a well-reviewed first run in San Diego, Almost Famous: The Musical opens on Broadway November 3 – with original songs co-written by Crowe and Tom Kitt (Next to Normal, Jagged Little Pill, American Idiot), and directed by Jeremy Herrin,...
- 10/29/2022
- by Brian Hiatt
- Rollingstone.com
“Almost Famous” is almost ready for Broadway. The specific New York theater has yet to be announced, but opening dates for the musical adaptation of the Cameron Crowe film were revealed by the Shubert Organization on Thursday, with previews set to begin Sept. 13 and an official opening night of Oct. 11.
If not for the pandemic, “Almost Famous” almost surely would have been opening a year or two earlier, as it was considered very much ready for prime time during a rapturously received preliminary engagement at San Diego’s Old Globe Theater in 2019. Los Angeles Times critic Charles McNulty wrote then that the seemingly hitch-free show was “destined to conquer Broadway.”
Jeremy Herrin, a stalwart of the British theater, directs, as he did with the Old Globe’s successful production, with a score featuring music by Tom Kitt. Kitt and Crowe collaborated on the lyrics, and Crowe wrote the musical’s book,...
If not for the pandemic, “Almost Famous” almost surely would have been opening a year or two earlier, as it was considered very much ready for prime time during a rapturously received preliminary engagement at San Diego’s Old Globe Theater in 2019. Los Angeles Times critic Charles McNulty wrote then that the seemingly hitch-free show was “destined to conquer Broadway.”
Jeremy Herrin, a stalwart of the British theater, directs, as he did with the Old Globe’s successful production, with a score featuring music by Tom Kitt. Kitt and Crowe collaborated on the lyrics, and Crowe wrote the musical’s book,...
- 6/2/2022
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
More than 30 years after its final issue, the legendary Creem magazine has returned — with a vast online archive and brand new content.
On Wednesday, the wild, brazen Detroit publication launched a free digital archive, featuring every issue from its 20-year run (1969-1989) that features bylines by Lester Bangs, Patti Smith, Cameron Crowe, Dave Marsh, and more. They’ll also become a presence in music journalism again, unveiling a new website and a quarterly print subscription.
“Creem was the one place where I felt like I was part of something bigger than myself,...
On Wednesday, the wild, brazen Detroit publication launched a free digital archive, featuring every issue from its 20-year run (1969-1989) that features bylines by Lester Bangs, Patti Smith, Cameron Crowe, Dave Marsh, and more. They’ll also become a presence in music journalism again, unveiling a new website and a quarterly print subscription.
“Creem was the one place where I felt like I was part of something bigger than myself,...
- 6/1/2022
- by Angie Martoccio
- Rollingstone.com
Summer 2021 is the 25th anniversary of one of the biggest concerts in British music history: Oasis at Knebworth. The two-day event saw 250,000 mad-for-it fans of Liam and Noel Gallagher swarm the grounds of a country house in southern England for a murderer’s row of Britpop heavyweights. No performers stood taller that day than the headliners, the brash, Beatles-meets-Sex-Pistols from Manchester. For a brief period of time, Oasis was the biggest rock band in the world. None of this––literally none––would have happened had it not been for a sarcastic, caustic, hedonistic and drug-fueled Scotsman named Alan McGee. As his biopic Creation Stories opens he is introduced as a “music industry kingpin, guru, and former head of Creation Records.”
That is all true, though as a title card reads, “Most of this happened. Some of the names have been changed… to protect the guilty.” One’s interest in the...
That is all true, though as a title card reads, “Most of this happened. Some of the names have been changed… to protect the guilty.” One’s interest in the...
- 6/17/2021
- by Christopher Schobert
- The Film Stage
Two decades after Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous” hit theaters for the first time, its story of a rookie music journalist traveling the nation with a band on the brink of stardom remains timeless—as do the costumes, even with their ’70s flair.
Costume designer Betsy Heimann already had an impressive arsenal of credits behind her before the film’s debut in 2000, including “Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction” and Crowe’s “Jerry Maguire.” However, the autobiographical nature of “Almost Famous,” which was based off of Crowe’s own adventures on tour with bands like Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers and The Eagles, allowed Heimann to, as she puts it, “keep it real.”
She found a wealth of inspiration in Crowe’s own tour photographs, in addition to those of photographer Joel Bernstein from Neil Young’s “Time Fades Away” tour in 1973. Though Heimann handmade all of the staple pieces in the film,...
Costume designer Betsy Heimann already had an impressive arsenal of credits behind her before the film’s debut in 2000, including “Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction” and Crowe’s “Jerry Maguire.” However, the autobiographical nature of “Almost Famous,” which was based off of Crowe’s own adventures on tour with bands like Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers and The Eagles, allowed Heimann to, as she puts it, “keep it real.”
She found a wealth of inspiration in Crowe’s own tour photographs, in addition to those of photographer Joel Bernstein from Neil Young’s “Time Fades Away” tour in 1973. Though Heimann handmade all of the staple pieces in the film,...
- 9/15/2020
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
The writer-director’s semi-autobiographical comedy remains a generous and insightful film about growing up on the road
“These people are not your friends.”
For anyone who’s ever worked in culture journalism – or aspires to do it – this pearl of wisdom, dropped from the legendary rock writer Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to his moon-eyed teenage protege William Miller (Patrick Fugit) in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous, is one of the most essential truths of the trade. And now 20 years after the film came out, as social media has eroded the barriers between writers and artists, the line rings truer still – and could stand to be re-emphasized.
“These people are not your friends.”
For anyone who’s ever worked in culture journalism – or aspires to do it – this pearl of wisdom, dropped from the legendary rock writer Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to his moon-eyed teenage protege William Miller (Patrick Fugit) in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous, is one of the most essential truths of the trade. And now 20 years after the film came out, as social media has eroded the barriers between writers and artists, the line rings truer still – and could stand to be re-emphasized.
- 9/14/2020
- by Scott Tobias
- The Guardian - Film News
This is part of our ongoing coverage of the 20th anniversary of Almost Famous.
Ahead of the 20th anniversary of Almost Famous this Sunday, director Cameron Crowe unearthed his archive, sharing memories of the film while telling stories from his teenage years as a Rolling Stone journalist.
“When Rolling Stone magazine — my old high school, essentially — calls and asks for something, I answer,” Crowe tells the camera. “Their request was to see if I could find anything from the archives, a.k.a. my garage, that pertained to the Almost Famous experience.
Ahead of the 20th anniversary of Almost Famous this Sunday, director Cameron Crowe unearthed his archive, sharing memories of the film while telling stories from his teenage years as a Rolling Stone journalist.
“When Rolling Stone magazine — my old high school, essentially — calls and asks for something, I answer,” Crowe tells the camera. “Their request was to see if I could find anything from the archives, a.k.a. my garage, that pertained to the Almost Famous experience.
- 9/11/2020
- by Angie Martoccio
- Rollingstone.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on Wbgr-fm on August 6th, 2020, reviewing the new films “I Used to Go There” and “Creem: America’s Only Rock ’N’ Roll Magazine.”
Rating: 3.0/5.0
I Used to Go Here Directed by Chicagoan Kris Rey, and featuring Gillian Jacobs (“Community”), “Go Here” is a look at sorta mid-life crisis, as Jacobs portrays a 35-year-old novelist going back to her alma mater for a reading. There she encounters her first writing instructor (Jermaine Clement of “Flight of the Concords”) and some college kids giving her a taste of her own school day partying and nostalgia. It’s currently available on streaming platforms through “Virtual” Theaters and Limited actual theaters. 3/5 stars. Locally, it’s available for virtual download through MusicBoxTheatre.com.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Creem: America’s Only Rock ’N’ Roll Magazine This “Rock Doc” focuses on an upstart magazine from the 1960s and ‘70s called Creem,...
Rating: 3.0/5.0
I Used to Go Here Directed by Chicagoan Kris Rey, and featuring Gillian Jacobs (“Community”), “Go Here” is a look at sorta mid-life crisis, as Jacobs portrays a 35-year-old novelist going back to her alma mater for a reading. There she encounters her first writing instructor (Jermaine Clement of “Flight of the Concords”) and some college kids giving her a taste of her own school day partying and nostalgia. It’s currently available on streaming platforms through “Virtual” Theaters and Limited actual theaters. 3/5 stars. Locally, it’s available for virtual download through MusicBoxTheatre.com.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Creem: America’s Only Rock ’N’ Roll Magazine This “Rock Doc” focuses on an upstart magazine from the 1960s and ‘70s called Creem,...
- 8/13/2020
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Maybe we should start with that subtitle: “America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine.” [Clears throat at the volume of a jet engine] Scott Crawford’s documentary on the estimable, invaluable 1970’s music rag does stoop to mention another U.S. publication that was covering rock stars and the counterculture scene, one which kicked off the year before Detroit record-store owner Barry Kramer decided to begun publishing his own take. Creem‘s existence, in fact, was partially a reactive fuck you to the very entity you’re reading right now, as one of the film’s talking heads admits — even the name,...
- 8/8/2020
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Four minutes into the new Almost Famous podcast, Kate Hudson describes a discussion she recently had with her therapist. “‘I’m feeling like I’m 40 and I just wanna…’ And my therapist goes, ‘You wanna get back on the bus with Stillwater?’ And I was like, ‘Yes! I want to get back on the bus! You’re right, that’s exactly what I want!'”
Hosted by James Andrew Miller, all five binge-worthy episodes of Cadence13’s Origins: Almost Famous Turns Twenty provide insight and incredible details about Cameron Crowe...
Hosted by James Andrew Miller, all five binge-worthy episodes of Cadence13’s Origins: Almost Famous Turns Twenty provide insight and incredible details about Cameron Crowe...
- 7/15/2020
- by Angie Martoccio
- Rollingstone.com
In late 1972, a writer called Cameron Crowe rang the offices of Rolling Stone with a scoop about Bob Dylan. They ran the story. What no one in the office realised, though, was that the author was only 15. Within two years, this precocious teenager from San Diego had become the youngest person ever to write a cover feature for the magazine, and was following bands from The Who to Led Zeppelin on tour, a buoyant insider high on the fumes of their jet-set lifestyle.
If this sounds like the plot of a film, that’s because it is. Almost Famous, released on 13 September 2000, was written and directed by that same Cameron Crowe, by then a household name thanks to his Oscar-winning drama Jerry Maguire (1996). Loosely based on Crowe’s own teenage adventures in rock journalism, Almost Famous is set in 1973 and follows his alter ego William Miller, a cherubic young writer...
If this sounds like the plot of a film, that’s because it is. Almost Famous, released on 13 September 2000, was written and directed by that same Cameron Crowe, by then a household name thanks to his Oscar-winning drama Jerry Maguire (1996). Loosely based on Crowe’s own teenage adventures in rock journalism, Almost Famous is set in 1973 and follows his alter ego William Miller, a cherubic young writer...
- 7/4/2020
- by Patrick Smith
- The Independent - Film
Cameron Crowe’s rock-and-roll odyssey “Almost Famous” about his golden days as a Rolling Stone journalist has only gotten better with time. The film turns 20 this September, and its wild shoot continues to yield fascinating stories from the crew and cast. That includes one of the movie’s breakout stars, Patrick Fugit, who plays Crowe’s surrogate character William and was only 16 at the time of filming.
In a recent Vulture interview with Fugit about the making of “Almost Famous,” one memory that stands out is his on-set dynamic with Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays legendary music writer Lester Bangs. Lester becomes William’s mentor and editor, and that mentorship onscreen also carried over behind the scenes on the movie.
“Philip was only there for a few days. He was another well-known theater actor with a lot of training, and he was less accepting of me than Billy [Crudup] was,” Fugit said.
In a recent Vulture interview with Fugit about the making of “Almost Famous,” one memory that stands out is his on-set dynamic with Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays legendary music writer Lester Bangs. Lester becomes William’s mentor and editor, and that mentorship onscreen also carried over behind the scenes on the movie.
“Philip was only there for a few days. He was another well-known theater actor with a lot of training, and he was less accepting of me than Billy [Crudup] was,” Fugit said.
- 6/27/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Creem Magazine music critic and editor Lester Bangs once remarked, “Every great work of art has two faces, one toward its own time and one toward the future, toward eternity.” This driving principle, while it should be behind all forms of criticism, especially drove the work Bangs and others did at Creem Magazine during the famous rock magazine’s twenty-year stint. Started as an alternative to the more famous Rolling Stone, Creem allowed critics to take an edgier approach to criticism that matching the energy of the rock music which they wrote about.
Read More: Philip Seymour Hoffman’s 12 Best Performances
Now, more than thirty years since the magazine’s last issues (not considering the short run Creem had in the ’90s), a recent trailer for the documentary from Greenwich Entertainment titled “Creem: America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine” has been released.
The 20 Greatest Musical Moments In The Films Of...
Read More: Philip Seymour Hoffman’s 12 Best Performances
Now, more than thirty years since the magazine’s last issues (not considering the short run Creem had in the ’90s), a recent trailer for the documentary from Greenwich Entertainment titled “Creem: America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine” has been released.
The 20 Greatest Musical Moments In The Films Of...
- 6/27/2020
- by Reid Ramsey
- The Playlist
“Buying Creem was a little bit like buying Playboy,” Jeff Daniels says in the trailer for the upcoming documentary, Creem: America’s Only Rock N’ Roll Magazine. “You didn’t want your parents to see either one of them.” The alternative music magazine debuted in Detroit in 1969 and is credited with inventing the phrase Punk Rock. “It was Rock magazine with a capital R,” Suzi Quatro adds. Creem: America’s Only Rock N’ Roll Magazine will open in select theaters in August. Boy howdy!
Creem was staffed by a group of misfits who had no “business running, writing or editing for a rock magazine,” according to the trailer, but it was gobbled up by music fans and musicians alike who were hungry for new sounds, harsher attacks and irreverent takes on mainstream artists and venerated rock gods. The now-legendary publication broke heavy metal and New Wave artists on a national...
Creem was staffed by a group of misfits who had no “business running, writing or editing for a rock magazine,” according to the trailer, but it was gobbled up by music fans and musicians alike who were hungry for new sounds, harsher attacks and irreverent takes on mainstream artists and venerated rock gods. The now-legendary publication broke heavy metal and New Wave artists on a national...
- 6/26/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
The documentary feature "Creem: America's Only Rock 'N Roll Magazine", is directed by Scott Crawford, with Jeff Ament, Alice Cooper and Cameron Crowe:
"...capturing the messy upheaval of the '70s just as rock was re-inventing itself...
"...the film explores 'Creem' magazine's humble beginnings in post-riot Detroit...
"...follows its upward trajectory from underground paper to national powerhouse...
"...then bears witness to its imminent demise following the tragic and untimely deaths of its visionary publisher, Barry Kramer, and its most famous alum and genius clown prince, Lester Bangs, a year later.
"Fifty years after publishing its first issue, "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine" remains a seditious spirit in music and culture..."
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Creem: America's Only Rock 'N Roll Magazine" ...
"...capturing the messy upheaval of the '70s just as rock was re-inventing itself...
"...the film explores 'Creem' magazine's humble beginnings in post-riot Detroit...
"...follows its upward trajectory from underground paper to national powerhouse...
"...then bears witness to its imminent demise following the tragic and untimely deaths of its visionary publisher, Barry Kramer, and its most famous alum and genius clown prince, Lester Bangs, a year later.
"Fifty years after publishing its first issue, "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine" remains a seditious spirit in music and culture..."
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Creem: America's Only Rock 'N Roll Magazine" ...
- 6/24/2020
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Creem: America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine
“I lived by what was printed by Creem magazine,” says Metallica’s Kirk Hammett in the documentary teaser’s opening moments. R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers are among the other featured musicians looking back on the formative magazine. “Most people want to fit in somewhere,” says Stipe. “I wasn’t going to find it in my high school. I found it in Creem Magazine.” Elsewhere in the clip, archival footage and interviews...
“I lived by what was printed by Creem magazine,” says Metallica’s Kirk Hammett in the documentary teaser’s opening moments. R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers are among the other featured musicians looking back on the formative magazine. “Most people want to fit in somewhere,” says Stipe. “I wasn’t going to find it in my high school. I found it in Creem Magazine.” Elsewhere in the clip, archival footage and interviews...
- 6/20/2020
- by Natalli Amato
- Rollingstone.com
"It was a rock magazine with a capitol 'R.'" Greenwich Entertainment has unveiled the official trailer for a look-back documentary film titled Creem: America's Only Rock 'N' Roll Magazine, which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival last year. The title is self-explanatory - this rock doc is about the music magazine known as Creem, exploring its "humble beginnings in post-riot Detroit, follows its upward trajectory from underground paper to national powerhouse - spotlighting iconic features, interviews, and anecdotes along the way - then bears witness to its imminent demise following the tragic and untimely deaths of its visionary publisher, Barry Kramer, and its most famous alum and genius clown prince, Lester Bangs, a year later." The mag has been around for almost 50 years, and the film celebrates how "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine" remains a seditious spirit in music and culture. This doc looks like a wild and crazy story of rock.
- 6/17/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Hey, kids, here's a rock doc that's as much about the doc as the rock! First published in 1969 and billing itself as "America's only rock n' roll magazine," Creem established a beachhead that was pitched at a much more raw level than Rolling Stone, giving exposure to bands that, especially in the mid to late 70s, revved my teenage engines. (?!) Its writers included the likes of Lester Bangs, Dave Marsh and Cameron Crowe, the latter of whom paid homage to Bangs' fierce passions in his own film, Almost Famous (2000). Once I learned about the magazine, I looked forward to buying it every month at one of my local record stores, so...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 6/17/2020
- Screen Anarchy
Creem, “America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine”, was a monthly rock ‘n’ roll publication first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. This summer, the documentary Creem: America’S Only Rock N’ Roll Magazine will capture the magazine’s story. Check out the trailer:
Capturing the messy upheaval of the ’70s just as rock was re-inventing itself, the film explores Creem Magazine’s humble beginnings in post-riot Detroit, follows its upward trajectory from underground paper to national powerhouse – spotlighting iconic features, interviews, and anecdotes along the way – then bears witness to its imminent demise following the tragic and untimely deaths of its visionary publisher, Barry Kramer, and its most famous alum and genius clown prince, Lester Bangs, a year later.
Fifty years after publishing its first issue, “America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine” remains a seditious spirit in music and culture.
The post Check...
Capturing the messy upheaval of the ’70s just as rock was re-inventing itself, the film explores Creem Magazine’s humble beginnings in post-riot Detroit, follows its upward trajectory from underground paper to national powerhouse – spotlighting iconic features, interviews, and anecdotes along the way – then bears witness to its imminent demise following the tragic and untimely deaths of its visionary publisher, Barry Kramer, and its most famous alum and genius clown prince, Lester Bangs, a year later.
Fifty years after publishing its first issue, “America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine” remains a seditious spirit in music and culture.
The post Check...
- 6/17/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Legendary rock critic Lester Bangs and his protégé Cameron Crowe appear in the new trailer for Creem: America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine, in theaters this summer.
Directed by Scott Crawford, the trailer features vintage videos and various Creem covers throughout the Seventies and Eighties. Several musicians appear in the trailer, including Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Suzi Quatro, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and more. “Most people want to fit in somewhere,” Stipe says. “I wasn’t going to find it in my high school.
Directed by Scott Crawford, the trailer features vintage videos and various Creem covers throughout the Seventies and Eighties. Several musicians appear in the trailer, including Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Suzi Quatro, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and more. “Most people want to fit in somewhere,” Stipe says. “I wasn’t going to find it in my high school.
- 6/17/2020
- by Angie Martoccio
- Rollingstone.com
Farewell to the great Florian Schneider, co-founder of Kraftwerk, the German electronic duo who changed everything about the way music sounds. “Kraftwerk is not a band,” Schneider told Rolling Stone in 1975. “It’s a concept. We call it ‘Die Menschmaschine,’ which means ‘the human machine.’ We are not the band. I am me. Ralf is Ralf. And Kraftwerk is a vehicle for our ideas.” As his longtime collaborator Ralf Hütter once said, Schneider was the “sound fetishist” of the group — the machine in the mensch-machine.
Kraftwerk always reveled in their reputation as cerebral technocrats.
Kraftwerk always reveled in their reputation as cerebral technocrats.
- 5/7/2020
- by Rob Sheffield
- Rollingstone.com
Makers, the Verizon Media brand revolving around women, unveiled its latest PBS title Not Done, a documentary that expands on the pubcaster’s documentary series Makers: Women Who Make America. The news came Tuesday during the sixth annual Makers Conference, now underway at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown.
Not Done will air June 30 at 8 Pm on PBS timed to the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. Sara Wolitzky directed the hourlong doc, produced by Alexandra Moss and executive produced by Makers founder Dyllan McGee.
The film surveys the landscape of the multifaceted women’s movement and includes archival and new interviews with activists, writers, celebrities, athletes, and politicians to bring these stories to life and connect the dots between the past and the present moment of transformation. Gloria Steinem, #MeToo founder Tarana Burke, Black Lives Matter Global Network co-founders Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza,...
Not Done will air June 30 at 8 Pm on PBS timed to the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. Sara Wolitzky directed the hourlong doc, produced by Alexandra Moss and executive produced by Makers founder Dyllan McGee.
The film surveys the landscape of the multifaceted women’s movement and includes archival and new interviews with activists, writers, celebrities, athletes, and politicians to bring these stories to life and connect the dots between the past and the present moment of transformation. Gloria Steinem, #MeToo founder Tarana Burke, Black Lives Matter Global Network co-founders Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza,...
- 2/11/2020
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Nick Tosches, a former rock critic whose biographies and novels made him one of New York’s most respected writers, died today at his Manhattan home. He was 69 and his death was confirmed by a friend, who could not provide a cause.
Tosches started in the 1960s in the heyday of Creem magazine, helping define the emerging world of rock journalism and its ties to various genres. He was part of a trio of music writers with Richard Meltzer and Lester Bangs that some called “the Noise Boys” for their irreverant style.
His first book, however, veered away from rock. In Country. some of country music’s lesser-known stylists was explored. He repeated the exercise in his later Unsung Heroes of Rock ’n’ Roll, exploring some of that genre’s obscure but important artists.
His first biography, Hellfire: The Jerry Lee Lewis Story” profiled the volatile keyboardist, and and in...
Tosches started in the 1960s in the heyday of Creem magazine, helping define the emerging world of rock journalism and its ties to various genres. He was part of a trio of music writers with Richard Meltzer and Lester Bangs that some called “the Noise Boys” for their irreverant style.
His first book, however, veered away from rock. In Country. some of country music’s lesser-known stylists was explored. He repeated the exercise in his later Unsung Heroes of Rock ’n’ Roll, exploring some of that genre’s obscure but important artists.
His first biography, Hellfire: The Jerry Lee Lewis Story” profiled the volatile keyboardist, and and in...
- 10/20/2019
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Nick Tosches, the novelist and music journalist who penned acclaimed books about subjects ranging from Jerry Lee Lewis and Hall & Oates to Sonny Liston and country music, has died at the age of 69.
The New York Times confirmed Tosches died Sunday at his Manhattan home. No cause of death was announced, but a friend told the Times that Tosches had been ill.
In a Rolling Stone review of The Nick Tosches Reader – and an overview of the “Noise Boys” music critics that include Tosches, Lester Bangs and Richard Meltzer – Robert Christgau called Tosches,...
The New York Times confirmed Tosches died Sunday at his Manhattan home. No cause of death was announced, but a friend told the Times that Tosches had been ill.
In a Rolling Stone review of The Nick Tosches Reader – and an overview of the “Noise Boys” music critics that include Tosches, Lester Bangs and Richard Meltzer – Robert Christgau called Tosches,...
- 10/20/2019
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Around the time that a teenage Cameron Crowe was starting to write about rock ‘n’ roll, the odd hybrid known as the rock musical was being invented with shows like “Hair” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.” So it makes sense, perhaps, that the movie about Crowe’s first foray into rock journalism, 2000’s “Almost Famous,” has itself now made the transition to the stage.
“Almost Famous,” the musical, opened last week at the Old Globe in San Diego, the city where Crowe lived when he first began his writing career. Its run has been extended through Oct. 27, though it appears to be on a fast track to a Broadway premiere in 2020.
Reviews for “Almost Famous” have for the most part been raves, and I’m not going to offer my own critical assessment of the production — that’s a task better left to somebody who hasn’t been friendly with Crowe for about 40 years.
“Almost Famous,” the musical, opened last week at the Old Globe in San Diego, the city where Crowe lived when he first began his writing career. Its run has been extended through Oct. 27, though it appears to be on a fast track to a Broadway premiere in 2020.
Reviews for “Almost Famous” have for the most part been raves, and I’m not going to offer my own critical assessment of the production — that’s a task better left to somebody who hasn’t been friendly with Crowe for about 40 years.
- 10/3/2019
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Twenty-four shows that started life at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego have gone on to Broadway since “Into the Woods” established it as a headquarters for out-of-town tryouts back in the late 1980s. That would be all the reason anyone needs for the new stage musical adaptation of Cameron Crowe’s 2000 film “Almost Famous” to have its world premiere there in late September. But Crowe has some even better reasons — like the fact that most of the events in the film and show transpired within a few miles’ radius. When the Old Globe is mentioned in the musical, you might assume it’s a gag just for locals — if you don’t remember that the line, like much of the book he wrote for the new musical, is straight out of his semi-autobiographical screenplay.
“I just figure Broadway, if it happens, is a gift,” says Crowe, looking all...
“I just figure Broadway, if it happens, is a gift,” says Crowe, looking all...
- 10/3/2019
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
How do you create original music for a stage show about the love of music? It’s a tall order for even the most seasoned theater producer, never mind a first-timer. But Cameron Crowe, as we’ve come to know, is nothing if not courageous. From his earliest magazine work in the 1970s to the era-defining script for “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” to documentaries on Pearl Jam and David Crosby and, yes, his 2000 film “Almost Famous,” Crowe has done a better job of articulating the sensation of sound, lyric and melody than most of his successors in rock criticism — defying the old adage, “writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”
But Broadway is new terrain for Crowe, and while plenty of pop culture’s greatest hits have been turned into jukebox musicals, “Almost Famous” — which opened Friday at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, following two weeks...
But Broadway is new terrain for Crowe, and while plenty of pop culture’s greatest hits have been turned into jukebox musicals, “Almost Famous” — which opened Friday at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, following two weeks...
- 9/30/2019
- by Shirley Halperin
- Variety Film + TV
When Black Sabbath first attempted to tour America in 1970, they had a Hell of a time. “We had to face the mayor of [every] town,” drummer Bill Ward once recalled. “We were banned all the time. They were afraid of us. They thought we were going to put a spell on you.”
Although Mick Jagger and Sammy Davis, Jr. had already publicly flirted with satanism, Black Sabbath — whose members all wore crosses to ward off evil — were much too scary for the United States. Their self-titled debut album sported a witchy woman on its cover,...
Although Mick Jagger and Sammy Davis, Jr. had already publicly flirted with satanism, Black Sabbath — whose members all wore crosses to ward off evil — were much too scary for the United States. Their self-titled debut album sported a witchy woman on its cover,...
- 9/12/2019
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
“Almost Famous,” a new musical based on the Oscar-winning film, has lined up its creative team and cast.
The show, which will kick off the 2019-2020 Season at the Old Globe, will include Colin Donnell as rock star Russell Hammond, Casey Likes as teenage journalist William Miller, and Solea Pfeiffer as groupie Penny Lane. The show features a book and lyrics by Cameron Crowe, the movie’s writer and director. Crowe based the story on his own experience as a young writer for Rolling Stone and how he came-of-age while following a promising band that was on the verge of breaking into the big time.
Likes is a 17-year-old who will make his professional theater debut with the pivotal role, serving as a stage surrogate for Crowe.
The rest of the cast includes Drew Gehling as Jeff Bebe, Anika Larsen as Elaine Miller, Robert Colletti as Lester Bangs, Matt Bittner as Larry Fellows,...
The show, which will kick off the 2019-2020 Season at the Old Globe, will include Colin Donnell as rock star Russell Hammond, Casey Likes as teenage journalist William Miller, and Solea Pfeiffer as groupie Penny Lane. The show features a book and lyrics by Cameron Crowe, the movie’s writer and director. Crowe based the story on his own experience as a young writer for Rolling Stone and how he came-of-age while following a promising band that was on the verge of breaking into the big time.
Likes is a 17-year-old who will make his professional theater debut with the pivotal role, serving as a stage surrogate for Crowe.
The rest of the cast includes Drew Gehling as Jeff Bebe, Anika Larsen as Elaine Miller, Robert Colletti as Lester Bangs, Matt Bittner as Larry Fellows,...
- 8/1/2019
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Released 50 years ago, on June 16th, 1969, Trout Mask Replica — the third studio album by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band — still sounds like a tomorrow that has not arrived, a music created at a crossroads of sound and language so far distant it continues to defy definitive summation and universal translation. Guitars jut out at improbably severe angles in ice-pick treble, like broken bones slicing through skin. The drumming comes in a rush of agendas, U-turn spasms of loose-limbed time and tempo under melodies which, in turn, feel like they are yet only partially born,...
- 6/15/2019
- by David Fricke
- Rollingstone.com
Robert Christgau is one of the most influential rock critics of all time. He’s also an invaluable book critic, and now he’s releasing Book Reports: A Music Critic on His First Love, Which Was Reading, via Duke University Press, a collection of reviews covering everything from fiction to cultural theory to musicology. In this classic piece, which originally appeared in the Village Voice in 2000, he dives into three books by fellow rock critics: Jim DeRogatis’s Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America’s Greatest Rock Critic,...
- 4/30/2019
- by Rolling Stone
- Rollingstone.com
Cameron Crowe’s 2000 film Almost Famous will premiere in San Diego this September. Crowe announced that the musical was in production last fall following a few years of development with composer Tom Kitt.
As part of San Diego theater the Old Globe’s 2019-2020 season, Almost Famous will return to its “home” city: not only is it Crowe’s hometown but it is also where the semi-autobiographical tale about a teenage Rolling Stone writer is set. Performances will begin on September 13th with the opening night set for September 27th.
As part of San Diego theater the Old Globe’s 2019-2020 season, Almost Famous will return to its “home” city: not only is it Crowe’s hometown but it is also where the semi-autobiographical tale about a teenage Rolling Stone writer is set. Performances will begin on September 13th with the opening night set for September 27th.
- 4/26/2019
- by Brittany Spanos
- Rollingstone.com
When Robert Fripp looked out from the stage of the Anfiteatro Romano in Pompei during a King Crimson show there in July 2018, he saw something he didn’t expect: women.
“Seeing men sitting next to their wives,” he marveled during a recent press event in London’s West End. “Seeing young men sitting next to their girlfriends. And a lot of old people, mainly male, too. But nevertheless, a lot of them were young, and a lot of them were women. This is astonishing.”
The day after the press conference,...
“Seeing men sitting next to their wives,” he marveled during a recent press event in London’s West End. “Seeing young men sitting next to their girlfriends. And a lot of old people, mainly male, too. But nevertheless, a lot of them were young, and a lot of them were women. This is astonishing.”
The day after the press conference,...
- 4/15/2019
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
If Rolling Stone aspired (after somewhat “underground” beginnings) to be the Rolls Royce of rock magazines, Creem was by contrast the Volkwagen band-van: pungent with reefer, speed sweat, and last night’s groupie action. The hubris that had it self-dubbed “America’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll Magazine” was strictly of a working-class, sex-drugs-and-you-know-what variety that ridiculed all upscaling pretensions, musical or otherwise. Scott Crawford’s “Boy Howdy! The Story of Creem Magazine” is a brief, careening survey through the publication’s two-decade life and times, filled with colorful personalities and commentary. Vintage rock fans will be in (cough) high heaven.
The director’s prior feature was 2014’s “Salad Days,” a history of the influential Washington, D.C., hardcore punk scene. While this sophomore effort numbers late Creem publisher Barry Kramer’s surviving ex-wife and son among its producers, it provides a similarly critical overview of another enterprise whose creativity largely...
The director’s prior feature was 2014’s “Salad Days,” a history of the influential Washington, D.C., hardcore punk scene. While this sophomore effort numbers late Creem publisher Barry Kramer’s surviving ex-wife and son among its producers, it provides a similarly critical overview of another enterprise whose creativity largely...
- 3/18/2019
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, the Black Keys’ Patrick Carney, actor Jeff Daniels and more discuss the revolutionary work of Creem magazine in the teaser for the upcoming documentary, Boy Howdy! The film is set to premiere March 10th at SXSW in Austin, Texas with additional screenings to follow.
The new clip captures the ethos and aesthetic of Creem, which sought to cover rock and roll while simultaneously deconstructing it in the most radical ways possible. Hammett recalls reading album reviews that barely discussed the actual album, while Carney hails the...
The new clip captures the ethos and aesthetic of Creem, which sought to cover rock and roll while simultaneously deconstructing it in the most radical ways possible. Hammett recalls reading album reviews that barely discussed the actual album, while Carney hails the...
- 2/22/2019
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
“Real Life Rock Top Ten” is a monthly column by cultural critic and Rs contributing editor Greil Marcus.
1. Dirty Denim, “Meant to Be,” from Dirty Denim Demo Tape (7″ Ep). This is the most arresting thing I’ve heard come out of the radio — in this case, Kalx, the University of California station in Berkeley — since Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” and Train’s “Hey Soul Sister.” A four-woman band from San Francisco starts up, as if Sleater-Kinney, or more accurately the Corin Tucker-Sarah Dougher-sts spin-off Cadallaca, had...
1. Dirty Denim, “Meant to Be,” from Dirty Denim Demo Tape (7″ Ep). This is the most arresting thing I’ve heard come out of the radio — in this case, Kalx, the University of California station in Berkeley — since Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” and Train’s “Hey Soul Sister.” A four-woman band from San Francisco starts up, as if Sleater-Kinney, or more accurately the Corin Tucker-Sarah Dougher-sts spin-off Cadallaca, had...
- 1/18/2019
- by Greil Marcus
- Rollingstone.com
In Almost Famous, the 2000 film inspired by Cameron Crowe’s years as a teenage music journalist, one fictional Seventies rocker warns another about talking to a Rolling Stone reporter. “It’s Rolling Stone,” he says. “The magazine that trashed ‘Layla,’ broke up Cream, ripped every album Led Zeppelin ever made!”
Rolling Stone had, in fact, panned Zeppelin’s first two albums. “The latest of the British blues groups so conceived offers little that its twin, the Jeff Beck Group, didn’t say as well or better three months ago,” wrote...
Rolling Stone had, in fact, panned Zeppelin’s first two albums. “The latest of the British blues groups so conceived offers little that its twin, the Jeff Beck Group, didn’t say as well or better three months ago,” wrote...
- 10/27/2018
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
Broadway may soon be getting a little more rock ‘n roll.
Cameron Crowe is making a stage adaptation of his 2000 hit film Almost Famous.
The director, who won an Oscar for the screenplay in 2011, told Rolling Stone on Tuesday he is excited to bring the film to the stage.
“I remember the first day of filming Almost Famous,” Crowe told the magazine. “We were standing in downtown San Diego, shooting a scene with Phillip Seymour Hoffman on the very same street where I’d first met Lester Bangs. It felt surreal. It felt like a miracle.“
He continued, “I called...
Cameron Crowe is making a stage adaptation of his 2000 hit film Almost Famous.
The director, who won an Oscar for the screenplay in 2011, told Rolling Stone on Tuesday he is excited to bring the film to the stage.
“I remember the first day of filming Almost Famous,” Crowe told the magazine. “We were standing in downtown San Diego, shooting a scene with Phillip Seymour Hoffman on the very same street where I’d first met Lester Bangs. It felt surreal. It felt like a miracle.“
He continued, “I called...
- 9/26/2018
- by Alexia Fernandez
- PEOPLE.com
The golden gods are coming to Broadway: Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe’s 2000 semi-autographical film about a young journalist interviewing and befriending a notorious rock band and its groupies, is being adapted as a stage musical.
The project was confirmed today by producers Lia Vollack on behalf of Columbia Live Stage, Joey Parnes, Sue Wagner and John Johnson.
The new musical will feature a book by Crowe based on his Academy Award-winning screenplay, music by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Tom Kitt (Next to Normal), lyrics by Kitt and Crowe, and directed by Jeremy Herrin.
The film starred Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand and Philip Seymour Hoffman (in a movie-stealing performance as real-life rock critic Lester Bangs). The plot followed the young Crowe-like character, played by Fugit, as he traveled in the 1970s with a rock band called Stillwater.
The movie’s soundtrack included a slew of classic rock hits, including Paul Simon’s “America,” Rod Stewart’s “Every Picture Tells a Story,” Led Zeppelin’s “That’s The Way,” David Bowie’s version of Lou Reed’s “I’m Waiting For The Man,” and a memorably ramshackle sing-along rendition of Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.”
Possible clues to what songs might make the Broadway cut can be found (or not) in Crowe’s now-understandable tweet from earlier this week that included a brief video clip of Kitt playing piano as the camera zooms in on legal-pad notes stuck to the wall. One page has the words “Four Sticks” written on it, and another “The Wind,” references to songs by, respectively, Led Zeppelin and Cat Stevens.
Casting and other details about the upcoming musical were not released.
Here is Crowe’s tweet:
pic.twitter.com/v8R23UUfYC
— Cameron Crowe (@CameronCrowe) September 21, 2018...
The project was confirmed today by producers Lia Vollack on behalf of Columbia Live Stage, Joey Parnes, Sue Wagner and John Johnson.
The new musical will feature a book by Crowe based on his Academy Award-winning screenplay, music by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Tom Kitt (Next to Normal), lyrics by Kitt and Crowe, and directed by Jeremy Herrin.
The film starred Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand and Philip Seymour Hoffman (in a movie-stealing performance as real-life rock critic Lester Bangs). The plot followed the young Crowe-like character, played by Fugit, as he traveled in the 1970s with a rock band called Stillwater.
The movie’s soundtrack included a slew of classic rock hits, including Paul Simon’s “America,” Rod Stewart’s “Every Picture Tells a Story,” Led Zeppelin’s “That’s The Way,” David Bowie’s version of Lou Reed’s “I’m Waiting For The Man,” and a memorably ramshackle sing-along rendition of Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.”
Possible clues to what songs might make the Broadway cut can be found (or not) in Crowe’s now-understandable tweet from earlier this week that included a brief video clip of Kitt playing piano as the camera zooms in on legal-pad notes stuck to the wall. One page has the words “Four Sticks” written on it, and another “The Wind,” references to songs by, respectively, Led Zeppelin and Cat Stevens.
Casting and other details about the upcoming musical were not released.
Here is Crowe’s tweet:
pic.twitter.com/v8R23UUfYC
— Cameron Crowe (@CameronCrowe) September 21, 2018...
- 9/25/2018
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Cameron Crowe’s Oscar-winning 2000 film Almost Famous is currently being adapted into a musical that may be headed to Broadway in the near future. Starring Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Billy Crudup, the movie was a fictionalized retelling of Crowe’s experience writing for Rolling Stone as a teenager in the Seventies.
“I remember the first day of filming Almost Famous,” the director and writer recalls for Rs now. “We were standing in downtown San Diego, shooting a scene with Phillip Seymour Hoffman on the very same...
“I remember the first day of filming Almost Famous,” the director and writer recalls for Rs now. “We were standing in downtown San Diego, shooting a scene with Phillip Seymour Hoffman on the very same...
- 9/25/2018
- by Brittany Spanos
- Rollingstone.com
Be careful about expressing your admiration for certain artists during Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's hard-edged solo play, How To Be A Rock Critic. Though the audience is encouraged to engage in some give and take with Jensen as he impersonates the legendary writer Lester Bangs, fans of Jethro Tull, Herb Alpert, Styx and others may find their tastes abruptly dismissed as the gonzo journalist flings the LPs of musicians he can't abide by across the room.
- 1/8/2018
- by Michael Dale
- BroadwayWorld.com
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