An excellent antidote for missing Sundance this year: a documentary screening at the Bootleg Theater of Pass the Music, a glimpse into the local music scene in the east side of Los Angeles around 2009.  The Bootleg is no Eccles, but I also didn’t have to trudge through a blizzard to get there. (LA go-to defense #1: Weather.)  $8 got me into the screening AND the show that followed: Seasons and Radars to the Sky among others, two bands featured in the documentary. And I just paid for my ticket at the door, no waiting in a stand-by line for an hour only to have my dreams dashed 10 minutes before the film starts. (Oh god I miss you Sundance…)

It really was comforting to go see this film about local bands— bands that I was seeing around town a few years ago, bands that friends make art for, bands that I’ve never heard of and want to know better. The interviews with musicians were a little rambling— it was the writers and bloggers I wanted to hear more from.  They were the ones talking about the unique pockets of music in Echo Park, Silverlake, and Highland Park, and how different they are from the rest of the city.  Living with someone who works in the music industry, who has to see bands many nights a week, I can attest by proxy to how prohibitively expensive, inconvenient, and ultimately lackluster the experience of seeing bands on the Sunset Strip is, compared to the east side venues.  Los Angeles is so large and segmented that to talk about “the Los Angeles music scene” is downright impossible.  It comes down to neighborhoods here.  The east side venues don’t charge bands to play and give artists weekly residencies.  Where would you rather see music?

Most of bands interviewed in Pass the Music eventually hit the same beat: playing shows, selling records, and touring will not turn a profit and that can no longer be the goal.  The goal is simply doing those things, not getting signed by a major record label.  It seems rather dismal, but there’s truth in it for more than the music scene.  I feel the same way about writing and film-making.  The dream isn’t big studios anymore, it’s Sundance. (Or smaller festivals, since Sundance is so massive.) It’s local success, if you’re lucky, and that’s wonderful.

At the very least, Pass the Music was more of a distraction than Film Socialisme, which I happily walked out of Friday night at Cinefamily.  Godardit, JLG.  C’est terrible!

  1. youhaventseenbraveheart posted this