Elvis in Ron Sexsmith documentary , Oct. '10

[johnfoyle]

http://www.papernyfilms.com/productions ... ove-shines

Love Shines follows Canadian songwriter Ron Sexsmith as he lays everything on the line to make a hit album. The curtain is pulled back for a rare glimpse inside the studio process as Sexsmith teams up with legendary producer Bob Rock (Metallica, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe). But will this be enough?

Sexsmith dreams of emerging with a song that achieves commercial radio play, but the journey with Rock also turns introspective. Through a series of flashbacks the songwriter confronts the meaning of success, weighing the lure of stardom against the humble beginnings that sparked the ‘birth’ of his songs.

Punctuated by Super 8 footage chronicling the early years, an extraordinary playlist and a stellar cast featuring Elvis Costello, Steve Earle, Feist, Kiefer Sutherland and Daniel Lanois, Love Shines is a journey to the heart and soul of what songwriting is truly about.


The World Premiere of Love Shines will take place at the 2010 Vancouver International Film Festival. The film is a "Special Presentation" screening Friday, October 8th at 9:30 p.m. at the Empire Granville 7 Cinemas followed by a Saturday, October 9th matinee presentation at the Vancity Theatre.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.spinner.com/2010/10/07/ron-s ... cumentary/

[sweetest punch]

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1kihCyogu8

[Poor Deportee]

Considering the atrocities that Rock visited upon the Tragically Hip, I wouldn't be too optimistic

[Jack of All Parades]

I am trying to be cautiously optimistic for him. Have not seen this documentary and eagerly await a chance to view. The snippets of the new record that Otis has graciously provided have my ears eager for the new album. He is the one act that I have seen in the last decade that I can easily say I would go anytime to see. He is that good. There is a sweetness in that man that belies a melancholia which when mixed to the right combination in his music makes for some memorable and hypnotic songs. To see him alone on a stage with just his guitar, his voice and his catalog is a special experience.

[Butts]

Iplayer link available for the next few days.

It's an extremely moving and sensitive portrait with an illuminating sequence of Sexsmith back stage at Spectacle, frozen by nerves, getting a quick pep talk from a serene Sheryl Crow.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00z2nby

[Poor Deportee]

Not to sound sour - and I certainly wish Ron the commercial success he deserves - but my problem with Ron Sexsmith is that he doesn't seem to have evolved much as a songwriter. The only real shift I can detect is that he's tended to write a bit more 'optimistically' after Blue Boy (a shift I don't like, actually, as it sometimes tips into anodyne sentiments of the 'everything will be all right' variety). But basically he emerged fully-formed with his first album and has dwelled before us unchanged since then. (Yes, I know there have been different production strategies imposed on his music - most notably the slightly awkward computerized artifice of 'Cobblestone Runway' - but the songs themselves remain pretty much the same old thing, lovely as that thing is). He's one of these guys who does one thing over and over, and does it exceedingly well. That's not a bad thing in itself, but it explains why I sort of lost interest in his work after absolutely loving the first few albums. Anyway...I feel bad about saying something negative, especially in light of cwr's chiding in the other thread, so I'll shut up. And I look forward to the doc.

[Butts]

but my problem with Ron Sexsmith is that he doesn't seem to have evolved much as a songwriter.

I know exactly what you mean, maybe the lack of commercial success has inhibited his development. The film also makes clear he's not one to stray too far out of his comfort zone.

I was struck by the similarities to Elvis in his song writing, though, and wondered why he'd not tried a cover of 'Blue Chair'. It would be a perfect fit for his style and the song itself deserves more than to be buried away on 'Blood and Chocolate'.

[Jack of All Parades]

There is a seminal essay by Isaiah Berlin titled "The Hedgehog and the Fox"- to my mind Ron is like the hedgehog in the essay who is capable of thinking and feeling a single, universal principle which embodies all that he does by way of thinking and writing while the fox[ in my mind EC] can pursue many ends, 'often unrelated and even contradictory, connected, if at all, only in some de facto way, related to no moral or aesthetic principle.' I have been immersed this past week in his excellent new album "Long Player, Late Bloomer" and this is never more evident to me.

This album is a wonderful return to his previous highpoints -as PD notes the early records. His central subject has always been love and its vagaries and he revisits this yet again with some surprising results. I do not have a problem with the supposed stunted quality of his work because of my view of him as a 'hedgehog'. As others have said he has tapped into a vein of melodic inspiration that, though not always producing high quality ore, has produced enough memorable tunes from album to album to keep at least me always coming back for more of his song craft. I also am not off-put by his sunnier disposition, something I think he has also had to develop. It always acts as an effective counterweight to my own natural laconic and pessimistic disposition. It is that 'anodyne' that PD cites that is an effective salve for me when I am in a funk. He helps me escape my funk and for that I am grateful.

Will this record sell- in a perfect world yes- it is that good. There is a marvelous symbiosis of word and melody on the record. His rhyming is so unaffected and it just pours forth within the individual songs. The sound is 'poppier' than previous recent records and it suits him so nicely. You infectiously find yourself breaking into song with him as song progresses to the next song. It is a human record scaled to the insecurities and emotional concerns we share as humans. There is a tremendous song of doubt, "The Reason Why", that should be Atheism's new anthem. This album is filled with a man's constant struggle to understand himself, both as an individual and a life partner with some one else. As he sings 'there's reason in these rhymes'. It is early in the year but I have a top ten album here for 2011. I do not for a minute begrudge him his reminder to me to buck up and let "Love Shine".

[Jack of All Parades]

Just some small tastes of this great album which I love tremendously, it is that good:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kEggUKx ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3QYInmR4vQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFww3fLhjl8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2UBiRGGMXs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNuNTciVLkA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBXHdYDmJhY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxeVbQkMKnc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CV03rgovkU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X2LJ-BEBhY

[Man out of Time]

I see that Ron is playing the Glastonbury Festival this year, although on the festival website he is way way down the bill in the Avalon stage/field/tent, along with The Wombles (yes, really).

Nick Lowe is also playing, including a spot in the "Spirit of '71 " field. Perhaps trotting out some old Brinsley Schwartz numbers.

MOOT

[johnfoyle]

Ron plays Dublin on June 23 - the day I go to Hungary . He must have checked with Elvis to see if I wouldn't be in town!

[Otis Westinghouse]

Yeah, the fucker, and he plays Cambridge June the 28th when I'm playing a gig myself. How could he do this to me?

Last time he played The Junction the turnout was shite, even less than when my band did a charity gig there, and he wrote after it wasn't really worth his time, so it's nice to see he's there again, presumably with band in tow, with a little boost from BBC4 and Bob Rock. I can't complain cos I'll see the bugger two weeks on Sat at the Barbican, but I do hate to think of him on home turf and missing.

LPLB would still be about 6th in my list of preferences of Ron LPs. Just not enough there tugging at the heart strings.

[johnfoyle]

Ron Sexsmith writes about Elvis' reaction to his latest album.

http://www.ronsexsmith.com/music/discog ... oomer.aspx