The Guestlist w/ Fishboy

Whether or not you're a fan of Denton's Fishboy, the one thing you can't argue is that the guy puts on one hell of an entertaining live show. Be it by use of props, backdrops, or joke-telling robots, Fishboy and his mates go that extra mile to ensure that each time you see them will be a completely new experience. It's only fitting that his musical exploits have shown this same willingness to try new things as well. After 2007's Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State with the Power of Rock and Roll, a record that Fishboy calls “a rock opera about how myself, the band, and the ghost of Buddy Holly attempt to save Texas by going on a tour/crime spree in order to perform all 8,030 of the songs I've written in my sleep since I was in the womb,” came a 2009 which saw Fishboy recording vocals and scratch guitar parts before, as he puts it, "blindly put [the tracks] in hands of a group of musicians with nothing to lose." This unique form of collaboration with fellow Dentonites the Om Nom Noms is what lead to the fabulous Nom. One can only wonder what tricks Fishboy will pull out of his hat for 2010 and beyond, but whatever it may be it will be sure to entertain.

"5 Music Documentaries That Caused Me To Change My Opinion of the Artist" by Eric Edward Fishboy

The genre of music documentary is perhaps my favorite of all and with equipment becoming cheaper by the minute, it seems like every semi-successful band is putting out a DVD to sell at the merch booth. I made a long list of my favorite docs and the ones that rose to the top were the few that changed my preconceived notion about about the artists themselves.


5. THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT (1979)

I was just starting to get into the Who when I first saw this movie. In my opinion they are one of the best bands who never had a chance to translate their early live show in to a perfect studio album. By the time they figured it all out, Pete Townshend had already gone off to deeper waters with Tommy. This all became clear to me after watching TKAA which literally had me jumping along with Pete, Roger, Mooney, and The Ox. PLUS you are given the option to isolate some of Entwhistle's mind blowing bass tracks on the DVD.


4.RIZE (2005)

I was in the dark about this phenomenon before I saw this film in which acclaimed celebrity photographer David La Chappell looks at the competitive world of Clowning and Krumping. If you haven't seen this movie, or at least have an awareness of the subject, any sort of description I give will seem made up. Basically, there is a highly competitive form of high speed dancing/convulsing that evolved from a man named Tommy who started a school for teaching inner city youth his unique brand of performing as a birthday clown. That makes sense right? On top of all of this LatChappelle brings is high contrast, slick skills as a photographer to the table with results so stunning a disclaimer is required at the start of the film to tell the viewer none of the footage has been sped up.

3. DON'T LOOK BACK (1967)

This Bob Dylan doc follows the man around during his 1965 U.K. tour using portable camera technology that was fairly new at the time and set the ridiculously high standard for every music doc to come after. Until I saw this movie I had brushed off Dylan as something along the lines of "dated poetry on top of afterthought arrangements" and didn't really understand his cultural significance, songwriting skills or the commanding live presence the guy had at the time. He basically gets away with being an insecure jerk to everyone and they still all eat it up! It made me dig through his catalog and discover what I had been missing. First timers should watch this back to back with Scorsese's No Direction Home for a home school lesson on Dylan.

2. I AM TRYING TO BREAK YOUR HEART (2002)

I consider this movie to be my generation's Dont Look Back; Not just because its shot with the same black and white 16mm film, but because they are both uncomfortable looks inside the world of the artist. Again, I wasn't a fan of Wilco until I saw this movie, but instantly went out and got Yankee Hotel Foxtrot afterward. The director (and audience) got extremely lucky to look into such an interesting time in a bands career while they made what most will look back on as their greatest album. How many times have you been reading a book or article about a legendary record and thought "gee if only some cameras were rolling when they made this." Well, this time they were!


1. THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON (2005)

Despite an awkward instance at Good Records in which Johnston hit on my then girlfriend (now wife) I was still a big fan of his well before this film came out. I never really understood what was wrong with the guy. I had seen him a few times and had always heard the several mythical legends surrounding his career. Not only are these stories revealed as true, but the film offers up physical proof with the massive amounts of video and audio keepsakes Daniel had held on to for years. A great film for fans and non-fans alike.

Well, those are my five, fill me in on what else I should see!


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