"This is a documentary by an Australian called Ed Gillan. It presents Joe Bussard (1936-), the preeminent collector of American roots music on 78RPM records.
Anyone who assembles 25,000 of anything is going to be unusual. The documentary is nominally about old-timey American music, but is actually a sustained look at the kind of person who has exactly one pole supporting his tent.
Most other portrayals of obsession feel the need to dramatize the risks of self-centeredness and monomania by showing what they cost their subject. Between Bussard’s exuberance and the documentary’s inherent subtlety, only the title of the film hints at its real topic. At the time this was being filmed, Bussard’s wife of thirty years had just died; keep that in mind.
The great strength of unpretentious music is its ability to relate the entire spectrum of human experience in very light and unburdened terms. I think you can see that strength in this documentary, holding it up out of the sort of twee pseudonostalgia that a movie about old-timey music could so easily sink into."
Desperate Man Blues (2003) from georgelazenby on Vimeo.
No comments:
Post a Comment