DVD Review: Bruce Springsteen - Bruce Springsteen and I

DVD Review: Bruce Springsteen - Bruce Springsteen and I

Eagle Entertainment

All Access Rating: B+

Bruce Springsteen - Bruce Springsteen and I 2013

The fans have spoken, or at least some of them have. In a documentary titled "Bruce Springsteen and I," now out on DVD, Blu-ray and digital formats after its theatrical release this summer, that explores the intense devotion of The Boss's fanatical following, people from all walks of life share unfiltered stories of life-changing encounters with the artist and attempt to put into words what his music has meant to them.

A charming, modest little film that's often funny, incredibly uplifting and sometimes a bit strange, "Bruce Springsteen and I" fails to shed new light on the man or his music. Then again, that doesn't seem to be what the moviemakers intended. Instead, it's a heartfelt, smartly articulated mash note to someone whose penetrating lyrics, affecting songcraft and ability to shape powerful stories has profoundly affected how his audience views themselves and those around them. 

So what if, when asked to paint a portrait of Springsteen in three words, an endless stream of respondents reply with the usual descriptors "passionate," "sincere," "honest"  and "one of us." They manage to sum up Springsteen's artistic vision pretty well. And they rightly tout the communal vibe of the Springsteen fan base as something unique, stemming from Springsteen's ability to connect deeply and spiritually with a fandom made up of just about every demographic under the sun. 

Interspersed with electrically charged unseen performance footage of a younger Bruce and band hitting all the right emotional notes in live versions of "Born in the USA," "Thunder Road," "Born to Run," "The River" and "I'm On Fire" and more rock 'n' roll evangelizing, these testimonials, some brief and some more detailed and eloquent, are patched together rather effectively in a sort of collection of video quotes that mostly praise not only his workingman's poetry, but also his humanity and generosity of spirit. 

But, it's not enough for them to just say it. It falls to the filmmakers to actually show it, and they do, capturing Springsteen's genuine warmth and willingness to leave the safety of the stage and meet fans on their level. There's a scene where a busker on a street corner unexpectedly gets his chance to play Springsteen classics with the man himself, as Springsteen jokes, while working out chords, that the street performer knows his songs better than he does. 

In another sequence, the man known as the "Philly Elvis," dressed up as The King in full rhinestone-studded regalia, talks of Springsteen inviting him onstage to sing "All Shook Up" and then forgetting the words. Without telling the rest of the band, he segued into "Blue Suede Shoes," and Springsteen's band doesn't skip a beat. As jovial as ever, Springsteen, laughing and smiling, exhorts the crowd to give it up for "the 'Philly Elvis,' everybody" after it's done.

Although his songs can bring a man in his car to tears and give a college-educated female truck driver a reason for doing her job day after day, some aren't so enamored. One man, the husband of a particularly fervent Springsteen lover, wishes he wouldn't play so long in concert and lists other complaints. He and his wife later come face to face with Springsteen in a collection of scenes showing Bruce visiting and laughing it up with some of the real stars of "Bruce Springsteen and I," the devotees who make their kids listen to Springsteen's lyrics or manage to dance onstage with Bruce like Courtney Cox did in the video for "Dancing in the Dark." 

Joyous, insightful and moving at times, this document of "Bruce Springsteen and I" comes with bonus material consisting of Springsteen's glorious 2012 Hyde Park performance, including "Because the Night," made famous by Patti Smith, and "Shackled & Drawn" and "We Are Alive." That's the one where he and Paul McCartney essentially told the authorities complaining about the noise to shove it and get in on the celebration, as they tear through Beatles' classics "Twist and Shout" and "I Saw Her Standing There" with unbridled enthusiasm.

If it wasn't for the odd, racy and somewhat disturbing slice of erotic fan fiction a very hot and bothered redhead reads in this piece, "Bruce Springsteen and I" would be an almost perfect tribute to The Boss. As it is, it will give you even more of a reason to love Bruce, forever a friend of the common man and an artist who understands the fans better than they understand themselves. http://www.eagle-rock.com/

- Peter Lindblad

DVD Review: Queen - Greatest Video Hits

DVD Review: Queen - Greatest Video Hits

Eagle Vision

All Access Review: A-

Queen - Greatest Video Hits 2012

Donning a studded, black leather jacket in the video to Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” Freddie Mercury vamped around the air-brushed set like a cabaret version of Marlon Brando from “The Wild One,” strutting down a runway with a smoldering quartet of sexy male and female dancers in tow. In paying homage to rock ‘n’ roll’s envelope-pushing past, the always dramatic Mercury cut a very Elvis-like figure, coyly straddling that line between innocent, fun romanticism and explicit sexuality – much as Elvis did.

Where the King was only filmed from the waist up in certain TV performances, Mercury and his “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” playmates only hinted at the lascivious desires boiling up inside of them. Two years later, when Queen needed a visual accompaniment to “Body Language,” Mercury – largely responsible for the video’s steamy content – held nothing back, letting all of his deepest, darkest sexual impulses loose in a writhing orgy of sweaty skin and nubile bodies . As Roger Taylor and Brian May reveal in the surprisingly candid commentary included with “Greatest Video Hits,” the engrossing new compilation of Queen videos from Eagle Vision, the racy imagery was reflective of Mercury’s extreme nature and his increasingly reckless immersion in a homosexual subculture that laughed at prudish convention. And while that side of Mercury’s life may have provided titillating fodder for tabloid exploitation, there was more – much more, in fact – to Queen’s ever-evolving marriage of musical and visual artistry than stylized carnal fantasies, as “Greatest Video Hits” so magnificently illustrates.

Spread across two discs, this collection gathers 33 of Queen’s most inspired cinematic adventures – “Flash” and “A Kind of Magic,” influenced by the movie “Highlander,” being two of the most brilliant – vividly restored and fit into a widescreen format with remixed sound. There’s the lighthearted comedic romp “I Want To Break Free,” an infamous cross-dressing parody of the British soap opera “Coronation Street” directed by David Mallet that was banned by MTV, and the highly conceptual “Under Pressure” and “Radio Ga Ga,” which mixed vintage shots of Queen’s past and scenes from the visionary 1927 science-fiction film “Metropolis.” Evidence of Queen’s cheeky nature is found in “Bicycle Race,” featuring clips of comely naked lasses riding 10-speeds around a track without a care in the world, while the simple, straight-forward performance video of Queen playing “Hammer To Fall,” “Killer Queen,””Friends Will Be Friends” and “Another One Bites the Dust” – in all its grainy 16mm glory – remind one and all of the power and majesty of Queen’s prowess as a captivating, dynamic live band.

And we’re just scratching the surface here. Iconic videos of “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and, of course, the aforementioned “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” are included, as well as later works from when Queen tried to hold it together through May’s marital problems and Mercury’s disintegrating health, such “Breakthru,” which sees the foursome enduring a rather dangerous ride atop a train, and the joyously adorable “The Miracle,” with young children enthusiastically mimicking the roles of May, Mercury, Taylor and John Deacon.

These treasures alone would make “Greatest Video Hits” essential viewing, although what renders it priceless is that savagely honest and witty commentary track. So full of great anecdotes, unflinching opinions and rare insights, it goads May and Taylor into discussing the unvarnished truth behind every single video and song in the collection. Taking viewers behind the curtain, they are brutal when assessing “Scandal,” with Taylor admitting he was bored silly while making both the song and the video and May wishing it would have been more substantive considering how emotionally invested he was in the subject matter – namely, how gossip and rumor can damage not only reputations, but lives as well, as his was by the English press. Even more scathing when the subject turns to the staging of the ridiculously decadent “It’s a Hard Life,” May and Taylor can’t help chuckling at how “stupid” they look in ostentatious costuming that made a horse of Taylor and a colorful bird of paradise of Mercury. Even Queen, evidently, knew when things had gone too far.

Providing the perfect coda to “Greatest Video Hits” is the rousing anthem “One Vision.” Directed by Austrians Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher, the video is memorable for its innovative morphing of Queen’s famed 1975 pose from “Bohemian Rhapsody” into an updated portrait of the band in 1985, but, in “fly on the wall” fashion, it also peeks in on recording sessions for the track at Musicland Studios. While May remembers the sort of bunker atmosphere of the place being rather drab and depressing, the guitarist points out how galvanizing the song was for the band and what a unifying message it had for fans, as well. Even if it’s not entirely thorough – the videos for “Innuendo” and “The Show Must Go On” are missing – “Greatest Video Hits” is, in a sense, a similar vehicle for that communal vibe May found so appealing. Watch them all and bask in the warm Queen-related nostalgia that, chances are, someone else is also experiencing in a place that, suddenly, doesn’t feel so far, far away.

-            Peter Lindblad

Collectors still feel plenty of love for Elvis memorabilia

It’s good to be The King — or at the very least, to collect him.

The prices that Elvis’ fans are happy to pay for his albums, posters and memorabilia show he’s still alive and well in the collectors’ market.

“There’s sort of an expiration date on artists, and I think artists that, let’s say, have their peaks back in the ’50s and ’60s, for them to still be collectible and highly collectible to date is really unusual,” said Jacques van Gool of Backstage Auctions.

Elvis collectibles stacks up extremely well with the likes of The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd and others, which is impressive when you consider that his roots go back a solid 10 to 15 years before those other artists made it on the scene, van Gool said.

The Beatles probably do outrank Elvis in overall collectibility, largely because The Beatles are a global phenomenon among collectors, while most Elvis collectors are here in the U.S., he said. That said, Elvis is no shrinking violet, particularly when it comes to personally owned pieces, such as one of Elvis’ cars, jumpsuits or autographed pieces.

“You’ll see some mind-blowing numbers when it comes to Elvis, the same types of numbers you’d see for the The Beatles,” van Gool said.

There hasn’t been a lot of change in the Elvis market in the last 10 to 20 years, he said, and the market for Elvis-related collectibles remains strong and steady.

“The fact that they’re still, every year, coming out with new merchandise is a very healthy sign that the market is there,” van Gool said. Toys, calendars, T-shirts, vinyl records, movie posters, books, commemorative plates, DVDs … the list of Elvis-related collectibles is almost endless.

“I know that Graceland draws a lot of people every year, and just about everyone will walk out of there buying something,” van Gool said. “I truly believe that collectors are born in the gift shop. Graceland is very important.”

If you’re wondering where to get the most bang for your Elvis buck, look toward the elite items, where demand far outstrips supply, such as Elvis’ autograph, a piece of his jewelry or clothing, or any of the first five Sun Records singles, van Gool said. Items from the 1950s command the best prices, followed by those from the 1960s and 1970s, he added. Just be careful to choose authenticated items, as everything from Elvis’ jumpsuits his signature have been replicated.

If you’re just getting started collecting Elvis memorabilia, the options for collecting can be overwhelming, as Elvis had so many different eras in his career. The rule of thumb is that items from the 1950s are the most expensive, followed by those from the 1960s and 1970s.

“With Elvis, if you want to start working your ways backwards, start with everything from 1977. When he passed away, there must’ve been 50 different magazine specials and 100 newspapers that wrote about him, and commemorative coins and commemorative everything. That can be a great point to start,” he said. From there, you might want to look at old tour programs or Vegas pieces.

Whatever route, van Gool recommends following a basic rule of thumb.

“I would rather spend $10 on something that’s 30 years old than spend $10 on something that was released yesterday,” van Gool said. “Everything that was released today comes out at a premium, and for the next 10 years, the price will drop.”

By Susan Sliwicki

http://www.goldminemag.com/collector-resources/collectors-still-feel-plenty-of-love-for-elvis-memorabilia

Backstage Auctions Elvis Memorabilia: New Store Items

An Insiders View of the Memorabilia Scene

By Stephen M.H. Braitman

It never fails that our truly personal “Rosebud” is humble, perhaps common, and not what others expect. When asked what he would save if the flood waters were rising, Jacques van Gool reflected a moment and then said without embarrassment: a 1975 issue of the Dutch magazine Muziek Express with Kiss on the cover.

Apparently it was the first time Kiss had made the cover. “Emotionally, that magazine brings home more memories to me than anything else.” It was, as he said, “a life-changer.”

Jacques van Gool - Backstage Auctions

 

That change in life turned van Gool into a music collector, growing a personal collection into a significant leisure activity apart from his main gig in the globetrotting corporate world. When he and his wife Kelli became fed up with relentless travel and no home life, they seized on the opportunity to capitalize on their obsession with music memorabilia. Jacques and Kelli now run Backstage Auctions in Houston, focusing on collectibles personally owned by artists, managers, producers and promoters.

We wanted to hear from van Gool as someone totally immersed in the world of music memorabilia for a perspective many collectors simply can’t have. Like other professionals in his field, he has a view that is helpful on many levels to understand the dynamics of the market. Like, what the heck is happening now? And should I buy everything in sight?

We’ve had a certain amount of controversy over what constitutes “music memorabilia” lately, like Elvis’ medicine bottles. How do you define it? Is absolutely everything worth buying and selling?

Jacques van Gool: Honestly, I try not to define it. To me, memorabilia is anything that you enjoy collecting. And if you ask a thousand people why they collect, you probably get a thousand different answers. So, if collecting medicine bottles is your thing, then by default those bottles become memorabilia to that collector.

Having said that, I personally don’t believe that absolutely everything is worth buying and selling. We’ve been offered many very personal items over the years and that’s where I draw the line. Sure, I’ll take Bruce Springsteen’s boots, jeans and sweaty shirt any day, but I’ll pass on socks and underwear. I’ll gladly offer up Bob Dylan’s handwritten lyrics or letters, but an expired passport or a hospital bill with a social security number goes a step too far. I realize that the lines have been blurred over time, but I still believe that true music memorabilia is comprised of items that were meant to be collected: records, posters, shirts, autographs, photos, instruments, lyrics, magazines, etc.

Fortunately, that still makes up 95% of what’s out there, so I think we can easily group the remaining 5% as novelty items, which, by nature and design, attract mostly a different audience than the traditional collector.

At what point do you recommend that an object be authenticated? How rampant in the industry are counterfeits and frauds? And what categories of memorabilia are most suspect?

Jacques van Gool: Oh man, you sure know how to ask the tough questions, don’t you? I guess that once it became clear that there was money to be made in music memorabilia (and this goes back to the 1970s), you started seeing the first counterfeits. It likely began with autographs but has since spilled over to high-end concert posters, rare vinyl, vintage T-shirts, toys, tour programs, you name it.

It’s really no different than what you see among sports or movie memorabilia, or art, coins, stamps, jewelry — heck, even wine for that matter. I’m not sure that you can weed it out, but as an auctioneer you have an obligation to your buyers to protect them from fraudulent practices. We’ve eliminated it by exclusively representing the authentic source of whatever we auction, which creates huge peace of mind for everyone involved.

Short of that, if you want to sell or buy an item that comes from a secondary source, you really need to do your homework. Fortunately, there are many experts in many different fields who can help you authenticate. I must add, though, that you have to make sure that this expert is truly independent and has no other agenda but to serve you with the highest level of integrity.

Naturally, the most suspect area is that of signed memorabilia, simply because we all want a fully signed Beatles photo or poster from 1964. The reality is that only so many true signed pieces are in circulation and once the prices start to hit the four and five-digit levels, it’ll bring out the crooks from around the world. I’ve seen loads of fake autographs coming from Australia and Europe and Canada, so it’s not an American problem per se.

I’m not even going to touch the whole subject of whether to use a forensic expert or an autograph expert. At the end of the day, even though this is a massively complex issue, I believe that it’ll come down to something very simple: If you, as a buyer — in heart and mind — are happy and satisfied with the item you bought, than that’s all there is to it.

Every collector has a unique standard to which they measure their own collection. Some may need three independent reviews, letters and documents to pull the trigger, whereas the next buyer acts on impulse and buys simply because he or she likes what they see. That’s something that we (the sellers) can’t control. But what we can do — and must do — is take every step possible to provide the right stuff. After all, we are being looked upon to uphold a standard, and I like to believe that — since we have seen it all — we should know how to separate right from wrong.

There are many auction houses and retailers dealing in music items, and there’s tons of stuff out there — and not even counting eBay! Is there too much stuff? Is this a bubble market?

Jacques van Gool: I agree that there is a ton of stuff out there and naturally, from a competitive viewpoint, I’d like to see less; but that’s a bit of a double edged-sword. The fact that so many generic auction houses have jumped on the music memorabilia market also helps the rest of us in that it supports and promotes the overall hobby. The more places there are where you can buy collectibles, the more potential there is to create or generate new collectors, something that in the end is always good for our business.

I don’t believe it is a bubble market, though. Collecting music memorabilia is something that I see continuing for as long as there is music. The only fluctuations you will see is in the number of sellers. When the market is strong, there will always be an increase in auctioneers, retailers and stores that want a piece of that pie. When the market slows down, some will retreat and move on to something else. The diehards will always remain loyal and fortunately, there are some great music memorabilia stores and sellers who have truly been dedicated to serving the market for decades.

What type of people are actually spending thousands of dollars on higher-priced items and objects? Are there enough rich or well-off collectors out there, or is the market mixed with pure investors?

Jacques van Gool:  Well, you never can have enough rich collectors as far as I consider, but in reality, the real high-rollers make up for perhaps 5 or at best 10 percent of collectors. The beauty of collecting is that literally everyone can do it — and does do it. As such, you’ll see a perfect bell-shaped graph, which I believe to be a reasonable reflection of the income classes in the industrial world.

You’ll always have a good chunk of collectors that solely operate at the lower value end, the largest population is to be found in the middle, and only a small percentage operates at the very top of the curve. I have always operated on that principle and, as such, aim to have our auctions reflect all three levels. In other words, I always want to have something to offer for every wallet, and no one should ever feel left out.

As for who buys the higher-end collectibles, in my experience that’s an exotic blend of clients. Naturally they have one thing in common, which is sufficient disposable income, but as far as their motives for collecting, I think only a small portion buys for the purpose of “investing.” Most high-end collectors are still true fans and motivated by the exclusivity of the item.

Are the voracious buying habits of showplace retail establishments like Hard Rock Cafe and museums like the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame and Experience Museum drying up collectibles and driving up prices?

Jacques van Gool: The museums used to buy in the very beginning, but once they established themselves, they have for the largest part relied on donations. The HRC has many deals directly with musicians who will provide them constantly with new material. By the way, most of the products you’ll see these days are reproductions.

The Hall of Fame is almost exclusively donations, which are mostly on temporary loan. They rotate their pieces fairly quickly and at some point, most of it will be returned to the consignor.

If your question is whether places like these generate a positive effect on collecting as a whole, I’d say the answer is yes. Everyone who likes music has visited at least once a Hard Rock Café, and you can’t help but be excited about the cool stuff that’s hanging on the walls. As a true collector, you naturally would love to have a piece just like that, whether it’s a signed guitar, a vintage concert poster or a record award. And that’s where the auctioneers and memorabilia sellers come into play. I’m all in support of places like the Rock Hall and the Hard Rock Cafes because, in the end, it’s good for the hobby, thus it’s good for business.

Is there any comprehensive database yet for music memorabilia similar to those available for fine art, like Artfact.com? Or is it still the Wild West — nobody really knows what’s out there, and new stuff is always being discovered? In other words, how mature is the field of collecting music memorabilia?

Jacques van Gool:  I don’t think it’s mature, but it is certainly maturing. Ever since the ’70s, people — mostly dedicated fans — have been putting together price guides which, if anything, are often helpful sources to knowing what is out there. You can find books these days dedicated solely to guitars, vinyl, T-shirts, posters, etc. On top of that, there are great band- or artist-related price guides for The Beatles, Kiss, Madonna, Rolling Stones and so on. Also, with the continued accessibility of the Internet, you’ll start to find more and more decent Web sites dedicated to pricing and inventory.

So I believe the hobby is getting better. That said, I believe this hobby is still too young to have established a reliable and consistent platform for pricing. I still see too many extremes in pricing to be able to say that a certain poster or shirt or autograph is worth “X” and “X” only. The best you have these days are ranges. But on the upside, the ranges have become more defined and more reliable, which is the result of collectors and Web sites comparing sales data.

What doesn’t make it any easier is the fact that new discoveries are being made on an almost daily basis, and many will have an effect (up or down) on what was established previously.

But, in a way, that’s the beauty of collecting music memorabilia. Unlike cars, coins or stamps, where you pretty much know what’s there, music memorabilia is much more diverse.

Lastly, we shouldn’t forget that this isn’t an exact science. We collect mostly because of our passion, and when you translate passion into value, the number in the end will be different for most of us. To me, that’s also the beauty of collecting music memorabilia. One collector will pay $50 for a certain poster, whereas the next collector will pay $500.

I find absolute pricing to be a bit of a dangerous undertaking, and I personally would like to see us concentrate more on ranges instead. Once we have widely established and accepted ranges, it’s up to the collector to decide whether on not to follow those guidelines. It certainly will make the whole negotiating part a little easier and, better yet, will provide a great aid in assessing the true value of a collectible.

Stephen M.H. Braitman is a music appraiser, writer, collector, and fan.