"Grateful Dawg" on STARZ this month
mandozine.com
'Grateful Dawg' - A Giddy Review (with apology)
By Paul White
Gillian Grisman, daughter of David "Dawg" Grisman,, directed the recently completed film, 'Grateful Dawg.' The film was screened on June 8th and 10th at the Newport Film Festival and won the "Joe Jarvis Audience Choice" award. When the film is released on October 5th of this year by Sony Films, it will be the choice of Dawg fans and Deadheads across the USA, as well.
The film is a seamless scrapbook of audio, video and film clips spanning the years of collaboration between Jerry Garcia and David Grisman - from their meeting in the '60's, until Jerry's death in 1994. The film documents the early years, followed by the Old & In The Way project, and includes interviews with Vassar Clements and Peter Rowan as well as other bluegrass greats. As a musical duo, the film portrays Dave as the disciplined bluegrass metronome and Jerry as the free spirit.
Okay. I'm not normally this way, but here's where this review gets a little 'giddy.'
Mandolin and guitar players can enjoy this film on so many levels. First of all, as an audience member there is the thrill of seeing the Garcia-Grisman band in concert footage that has never been released - some from the small venue of the Sweetwater stage in Mill Valley, as well as the combined footage of the three nights at the Warmouth Theater. Gillian Grisman has directed the film in such a way that I sometimes had to restrain myself from applause after a song. I had to remind myself I was in a movie theater.
On another level, 'Grateful Dawg' is a like a picking lesson tape. It isn't one of those cheesy films where the footage has been cut to avoid shooting the headstock of the instrument to avoid advertising the maker of the mandolin or guitar (who didn't pay the filmmaker the baksheesh). Or worse, a film where the director has made the 'artistic' decision to cut away from the fretboard to the performer's face during a particularly interesting riff. Nope. Whether intentional or not, this film is a year's worth of mandolin and guitar lessons for those who pay attention. The film shows Dawg's picking up-close-and-personal and you see Jerry working the acoustic guitar neck for all it's worth on some of your favorite songs.
'Grateful Dawg' is also a lesson in recording technique. For my money, the best part of the film is the footage in the home recording studio in Grisman's basement. This is where the 'Pizza Tapes' recording was made. The film just fleshed out the intimate setting that I'd always imagined when I listened to that immaculate recording. In Dave's home recording studio footage, you see how they set up the mics for the mandolin and guitar, using a mover's blanket on a string across the room for sound isolation. No fancy million dollar, high tech recording booths. They were both able to see each other play and still get that crystal clear tone evident in their recordings. (A tip of the hat to Mr. Dennison -- Grisman's recording engineer).
Let's face it, these guys are legendary. Gillian Grisman and her father allow you into their home to participate in the music that was made there. In one part of the film, Gillian includes VHS tape that she shot of Dave and Jerry by setting up the camera on top of the tv set and just leaving the room while they played. So, on a third level, as a mandolin or guitar player -- whether you ever get to meet David Grisman or whether you knew Jerry Garcia -- Gillian Grisman's 'Grateful Dawg' film lets you walk out of the theater with the feeling that you just got to sit down at Dave's house and jam with these guys for a couple of hours.
At the end of the Newport Film Festival's screening of 'Grateful Dawg,' Gillian entertained questions. She apologized for the fact that her father couldn't be there (he was on tour), but as an audience consolation prize, her sister passed out Dawg brand mandolin picks to those that wanted one.
I wanted one.
I gripped the pick tightly all the way home as a souvenir of the two-hour jam I had with Dave and Jerry.
I apologize for the giddiness of the review, but I loved the film. |
