EL SEGUNDO HERALD October 21, 2021 Page 5
Entertainment
Film Review Check It Out
How The Velvet Underground Uses
Avant-Garde Filmmaking To Tell Its Story
By Ryan Rojas for Cinemacy
To say that The Velvet Underground was just
a rock band from the 60s would not be the full
picture. To know the legendary rockers–fronted
by songwriter Lou Reed–is to also know the
scene where they were birthed.
This was New York City in the 1960s. Poets,
painters, filmmakers and artists brought radical,
challenging visions of art to popular culture.
It led to a new movement in art and culture
called “avant-garde.” This new way of thinking
produced work that defied convention and dared
to be dangerous–which The Velvet Underground
did as well. In the new documentary, The Velvet
Underground, now streaming on Apple TV+,
director Todd Haynes uses a variety of these
same experimental techniques from the avantgarde
to tell the story of this band.
Most conventional documentaries use a
standard formula. Digging up images and video
of the subject and simply placing over talking
heads interviews. But Todd Haynes isn’t here
to make a traditional documentary. In his first
doc feature, Haynes uses a variety of mixed
media to tell the story of The Velvets. Montages
of fragmented clips that loop in dizzying array
produce a whirlwind effect. Haynes does
use talking head interviews to tell the story,
but he uses a split-screen format to combine
interviewees with artfully edited mixed media,
making for a unique viewing experience.
One of the challenges that rock docs face
is needing to make the music shine in such
a way that shows how powerful it was, and
Haynes uses a variety of sonic techniques to
evoke the band’s presence. Of course we get
the hits like “Waiting For My Man” and “Venus
in Fur.” But Haynes also features a sound that
the Velvet Underground became so famous for:
a single droning, harmonic note.
John Cale discovered how using a viola to
sustain a single note over long periods of time
could produce a hypnotic effect. However, there
are also numerous moments where amplified
feedback is the center of attention. I saw the
film in theaters, and the heavy distortion caused
a lot of people to cover their ears.
Not everybody will take to this documentary,
since it is a fairly challenging watch. And that’s
why it’s perfect in form for its subject. All of
these choices make the documentary something
that you think could play in a gallery or museum.
It challenges you to stay with it. I don’t
believe that everyone will. And that is what
makes avant-garde artistry: challenging the norm,
to push people out of their comfort zones, to
be enlightened in a way that they otherwise
wouldn’t have. The Velvet Underground knew
this and Todd Haynes clearly does, as well. •
The Velvet Underground, courtesy Apple TV+.
Last Chance Texaco : Chronicles of an
American Troubadour by Rickie Lee Jones
By Roz Templin, Library Assistant,
El Segundo Public Library
Last Chance Texaco is a memoir that pulls
the reader in through its transcendent prose
recalling memories of family, childhood and
the adventurous experiences of poet/singer/
songwriter Rickie Lee Jones. Beginning with
a recounting of a horrific and violent event
she witnessed at the age of five, Rickie writes
about her observations about everyday life
Last Chance Texaco : Chronicles of an American Troubadour by Rickie Lee Jones.º
with her family - the ups and downs, dreams
and let-downs, loyalties, loves and tragedies.
Her family moved A LOT and Rickie would
find herself in a new town, trying to fit in
and usually coming up lacking, according to
schoolmates and neighbor children (a feeling
she had of always being “The Outsider”).
Her unstable family life led her to leave for
California when she was 14. She embraced
a freewheeling “Hippie Girl” persona, hitchhiking
up and down the West coast, into the
Pacific Northwest, even crossing into Canada.
She met musicians, smugglers, con artists,
peaceniks and punks, and this may have
formed the foundation of writing about seedy
and “real” characters: poetic observances
and musical theatre that became songs to
one day lead her to her breakthrough in the
music industry.
Tom Waits is featured in her tale and it’s
obvious that even though forty-odd years have
passed, Rickie is still affected by the ending
of their relationship. She reveals that it was
at the Troubadour, the iconic music venue,
where she met Waits and the notorious Chuck
E. Weiss. Relating the thrills of their passionate
attraction and volatile break-ups and
make-ups caused by flirtations with alcohol
and drugs, Rickie comes clean with her own
mistakes and calls out those of others.
A standout moment is when Rickie recalls
her first European tour, particularly a concert
date in Germany. While performing in Hamburg,
she was a few songs in when she noticed
the audience was whistling. She stopped
and took out a cigarette, but didn’t have a
light. She asked, “Anybody got a match?”
and a man came forward and reached up
to light her cigarette, saying that the crowd
didn’t understand her, but they wanted her to
play and that they liked her. As the man was
returning to his seat, Rickie noticed security
guards with batons approached the man and
started to beat him! Mayhem followed and
bandmates ran. An A&R man pulled her
offstage, then began screaming at HER. She
told him to stop yelling at her, that she had
never done anything like this before “… I think
you better go back home right now. Bob.”
That is a telling moment and Rickie gives
us more glimpses of the unequal footing she
found herself in the “man’s world” of rock
and roll. “Rock women were being shamed
for the same behavior men were being hailed
for.” Rickie Lee Jones is a woman of strong
opinions and fearlessness in opposition when
questioning the expression of her art.
Photos of Rickie, family and friends are
included (and much appreciated by me!) and
I feel that this eye-opening look into her
personal life informs much of her music,
past and present.
Visit our library to keep up to date on the
latest additions to our collection. Our friendly
staff will be glad to assist you. •
Ryan Rojas
Roz Templin
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