Re: PBS Blues Documentary

[bbloomis1@xxxxxxxxxxx]

"BT" wrote:

"I stopped watching halfway through the second one ,,maybe I had high
expectations ,,but it got a lot off track ,,I was hoping the feedback will tell me which ones to watch when it is rebroadcast 47 million times between now and next Christmas ..." (snip)

I'm kinda with BT on this ... the first two installments I enjoyed, the next one I saw wandered all over the map ... very uneven series I'd say, and I think 7 installments in a row is too much ... better to air one each week and do a more even and coherent job ... but I guess since almost no one will be able to watch two hours+ seven nights in a row they will (A) be able to sell lots of CDs and DVDs; and (B) Be able top rerun it endlessly, especially during pledge weeks!

For my money, this series is entirely too geared to selling product ... it's annoying how few songs are ever actually finished by the artists in full ... we get repeated snippets of stuff ...

Along those lines, a friend of ours visited from L.A. last week and brought two DVDs of TV shows and concerts by TOP blues artists (T-Bone Walker, Muddy, Sonny Boy W., Otis Spann, Shakey Horton, etc., etc) that were shot during a German TV series and blues festival deal set up by two German dudes in the 1960s and these are the most sensational blues footage I've ever seen, capturing these artists at the top of their game, with all songs done in full and no unctuous preaching about how this is an art form and so on ... just good music! I seldom buy concert videos or DVDs but I bought the two that are available and will buy the third, which is due out soon I'm told. Thank God somebody recognized and promoted and preserved this rich heritage! 

You can find these by going to Amazon.com and looking for The American Folk Blues Festival. There are two volumes.

I don't mean to say the PBS documentaries are wholly without merit, but I'd have preferred a more unified approach. I think having seven different directors do each installment is something that sounds like a great idea, but turns out to result in a lack of continuity and focus. Too bad the guy who did baseball and the Civil War and jazz (having a senior moment as to his name) didn't do this series ... Oh, yeah, Ken Burns! I think someone might be able to edit all the current installments down into a coherent study, but maybe not ...

Happy Webtrails, Bob Loomis