[Harp-L] Cadillac Records Review

["michael rubin" <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>]

Warning!  I will reveal parts of the movie!

Saw it today and felt like in general it was a little above a TV
special.  The music could have been a lot better.  Kim Wilson did a
fine job imitating Walter, everybody did a decent job.  But nothing
really special except the look on Howlin' Wolf's face as he sang.

In general the story matches what I understand it to be except for a few things.

When it comes to Walter, they show him shooting and assumedly killing
a man for claiming to be Walter on the road.  I do not know that
legend and I have lots of books and articles with Walter stories.
They also show him making a play for Muddy's woman.
They show him staying in Muddy's performing band even after Juke
became a hit.  They show him quitting the band much later after it
seemed like he was in too much drug and alcohol trouble to have a
career left.

Phil Chess was not mentioned once.  What is up with that?

Leonard Chess was shown as a married man in love with Etta James, and
they show them kissing at one point.  I never heard of this romance.

I can only hope that this movie will somehow become wildly popular and
resurge an interest in blues and harmonica.  I doubt it will make it
past 3 weeks in the theatres.  Still, if one person picks up a harp
and gets enjoyment from it, it did a good thing.

I also have a little worry.  As some of us saw in the trailer, they
show a scene where during a song recording, Walter plays throughout
the song, even during Muddy's singing.  The engineer wants to stop the
take, because you cannot have a harp do that.  Chess hears the genius
and says to keep it going.  Will we now have a new group of harp
players who think they can play throughout the song?  Admittedly, you
CAN do that well, but most sound bad in my opinion.

Michael Rubin
Michaelrubinharmonica.com