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Played in the USA: New American Music Films by Independent Filmmakers |
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Tuesday, 07 February 2006 23:03 |
Played in the USA New American Music Films by Independent Filmmakers
Produced by Stevenson Palfi & Blaine Dunlap
By John Sinclair
New Orleans filmmaker Stevenson Palfi and Los Angeles-based screenwriter Blaine Dunlap saw the fruits of their collaborative production, Played in the USA, burst into bloom on Sunday, October 6th when the first program in their new 13-week American Music series debuted on The Learning Channel (TLC) nationwide--and on Cox Cable Channel 52 in New Orleans.
Played in the USA offers The Learning Channel's 20 million television homes a look into American musical history in all its glory while it exposes them to the work of 35 independent film and video producers as well.
The series presents the vast and thrilling panorama of our native musical idioms--from blues to jazz, bluegrass, polka, mambo, protest music, rock & roll, the Broadway musical, contemporary art music, a cappella R&B and a touch of gospel.
Played in the USA, directed by Stevenson Palfi and scripted by Blaine Dunlap, features important musical artists Charles Mingus, Earl 'Fatha' Hines, Mary Lou Williams, B.B. King, Papa John Creach, Eartha Kitt, Lightnin' Hopkins, Art Pepper, Machito, Uncle Dave Mason, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Lou Harrison, Son Thomas, Ben Black Bear, Pete Seeger and the original Broadway cast of Company.
"This series has always been my dream," Palfi explains. "I proposed it to Robert Shuman, president of The Learning Channel, at an ACE Awards banquet in Los Angeles when my film Don't Start Me To Talking [a video adaptation of the one-man stage play featuring the fictional African-American storyteller Junebug Jabbo Jones] was nominated for a cable ACE Award in 1988.
"A number of months later, I asked my friend Blaine Dunlap if he'd be part of it, because he's a great video documentarian. He'd done a 13-part series for PBS in the early 80s called Southbound--my Emmanuel Sayles film This Cat Can Play Anything was part of that series--and his film on Uncle Dave Macon is one of the great documentaries of our music. It's on my list of all-time favorites, along with other films in this series like Mingus, Company, Big City Blues, Give My Poor Heart Ease, Art Pepper, In Heaven There Is No Beer? (which perfectly captures the polka culture), and Gotta Make This Journey, the Sweet Honey in the Rock film by Michelle Parkerson.
"A series of this nature has never been done before on TV," Palfi continued, "and because of that we always knew it needed to be done and wanted to do it ourselves. Our goal over the last year and a half of producing the series was to find the best, most engaging independent videos and films about the best American musicians and music in the greatest possible variety of genres in order to adequately reflect the American musical experience.
"We spent five months looking for work through an open solicitation process and by actively seeking out films we'd heard about ourselves or through our advisory panel, which included documentarians like Les Blank and St. Clair Bourne. During this period we viewed over 550 films and eventually chose 34. When any of the films had to be shortened, we went to the producers first and asked them to make the cuts, because that's the way we would want to be dealt with as filmmakers ourselves.
"I'm 100% satisfied with the results," Palfi confesses. "Even the short films are classics, and the weakest piece in the series would rate an A- to an A."
Executive Producer (and TLC President) Robert J. Shuman adds: "This series, culled from the best available film and videos about music, is more than the sounds of America. It's a rare look at our culture as seen through the eyes of some of the country's most talented film and video producers."
Played in the USA host Martin Sheen is equally delighted with the series. "I'm very happy to be part of this celebration of American music," Sheen says. "It's the best documentary series on American music ever. Not only is the music great, but the programs reflect the creative talents of many of the country's finest independent producers."
The first four programs in the series are world television premieres, including Palfi's own Papa John Creach: Setting the Record Straight; D.A. Pennebaker & Richard Leacock's long-suppressed Company: Original Cast Album; All By Myself: The Eartha Kitt Story, an intense filmic portrait of the unique chanteuse by director Christian Blackwood; and From Art (Pepper) to Bebop, which combines Don McGlynn's Art Pepper: Notes from a Jazz Survivor with an excerpt from Stephen Schmidt's Jazz: Earl 'Fatha' Hines and Coleman Hawkins and Koko, an animated film short by George Griffin set to music by Charlie Parker.
Played in the USA continues into November and December with more excellent music films spotlighting American idioms generally unrecognized by the mass media. Program 5 is titled Highway 61: Mississippi Delta Blues and features three classic investigations of the blues: Give My Poor Heart Ease: Mississippi Delta Bluesmen by Bill Ferris; Big City Blues by St. Clair Bourne; and The Sun's Gonna Shine by Les Blank.
Program 6, Cuban Jazz, Mambo Machito turns to Afro-Caribbean fusion music and the man who brought this high-powered form to public attention here in the late 1940s. Machito: A Latin Jazz Legacy, by music historian Carlos G. Ortiz, provides a much-needed look into the music and impact of the Cuban-American bandleader and composer who opened the doors to the American musical marketplace for so many of his contemporaries and followers. The program opens with Ear To The Ground, a short film by John Sanborn & Kit Fitzgerald set in the streets of New York City.
. Program 7 is She Changed the Rules--Mary Lou Williams: Music on My Mind by Joanne Burke & The Film and Video Workshop, Inc.
Program 8 includes Songs of Protest: Ain't Gonna Pee in the Cup by Blanca Miller; Talk About the Passion by C-Hundred Film Corp.; Dreadful Memories: The Life of Sarah Ogan Gunning by Mimi Pickering; Machine Song by Chel White; Yuppie Rap by Bill O'Neil; The Human Race by Aashid Himons; and Song from an Angel by David Weissman.
Program 9 combines Nashville's First Star: The Uncle Dave Mason Show by Sol Korine & Blaine Dunlap with Wagons Ho! by Bianca Miller.
After its TLC premiere, Played in the USA will be released to public broadcasting stations free of charge.
Played in the USA is the 11th series in the American Community Service Network production featuring independent film and video producers. It was produced in association with The Learning Channel and Auburn Television.
Founded in 1983, THE INDEPENDENTS is the only on-going project in the U.S. dedicated to bringing the diverse works of independent artists and producers to nationwide TV audiences on a regular basis. THE INDEPENDENTS has featured over 300 works by independent producers and has received six ACE nominations; one series, Ordinary People, hosted by Paul Mazursky, won the ACE as best documentary series.
Underwriting for THE INDEPENDENTS is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Stevenson Palfi, a native of Chicago, served as executive director of the New Orleans Video Access Center (NOVAC) between 1975-1979, where he produced A Thorn in the Side of Indifference and other videos. Palfi's 1981 documentary, Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together, examined the New Orleans piano tradition by bringing together Tuts Washington, Professor Longhair and Allen Toussaint for a series of filmed rehearsals; when Professor Longhair passed away on the eve of the scheduled concert, Palfi captured on film the great pianist's deeply emotional funeral ceremony and the brilliant memorial concert presented by Tuts and Toussaint. Piano Players was aired by CBS Cable and by Channel 4 in Great Britain and has since become a classic music documentary.
Played In The USA
Hosted by Martin Sheen
Produced by Stevenson J. Palfi & Blaine Dunlap for The Learning Channel
Sundays at 9:00 pm Central Time on Cox Cable Channel 52
--New Orleans
October 1992
(c) 1992, 2006 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
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