The Smiley Smile Message Board

Last night I went to the Canadian premiere of Denny Tedesco's (Son of guitarist Tommy Tedesco) documentary called The wrecking Crew at the Calgary International Film Festival.

Fantastic movie!  For many reasons. Not only is it a loving tribute to his father's life's work, the movie manages to tell the story of these musicians in a way that even those who are not musicologists and uber fans would find funny, heart warming and very entertaining.

I am a big music geek and have read Hal Blaine's book, studied liner notes and have become very aware of who did what on which records but this movie still had a bunch to teach me.  The movie gave me a greater appreciation for the work ethic, talent and humor of these people.  Wonderful footage (both old and new) of the participants. 

Obviously the parts relating to Brian's work were a highlight for me.  Brian's filmed praise for the musicians was a joy to watch as was hearing from MANY of the session guys (and gal) what is was like to work for Brian (very different to their reactions to working with Phil Spector).  Some great footage of surviving Wrecking Crew members playing their classic parts.  Wonderful interviews with Cher, Glen Campbell, Lou Adler, Carol Kaye, Hal Blaine, Mickey Dolenz, Gary Lewis, Tommy Tedesco, Earl Palmer, Don Randi, Plas Johnson, and many many more.

You owe it to yourself to go and see a screening of this movie if it is anywhere near you.  Check the website and tells others.  I really hope this movie gets picked up and distributed to a wider audience.  I want a dvd release with lots of bonus out-takes.  This labour of love took Denny over a decade to put together and shouldn't just be seen as a small niche film. 

One of the greatest parts of last night's movie experience is that Denny Tedesco was there and did a Q & A session afterward.  He had some great additional info to give and mentioned the recent passing of Earl Palmer and Larry Levine.  When asked his biggest regret regarding filming he mentioned not getting Phil Spector interview before Phil's legal trouble.  He said he was real close to getting an interview as Hal Blaine's daughter was working for Phil at the time.

The movie is playing again on Sunday in Calgary and I think I am going again.  It was that good!  The next screenings are in San Diego, Idaho, Vancouver, and Mill Valley (with a live performance featuring Hal Blaine, Don Randi, Chuck Berghofer).

When I talked to Denny after the screening and Q & A session I told him how much I enjoyed the film he asked me to spread the word and post it on all the message boards - so here it is.

Website:
www.wreckingcrew.tv/index2.html

Sounds fantastic, I really hope I get a chance to catch this at some point!

Any idea how I could find out if the movie is showing near me? I checked for our local film festival but its not til March...

I'd love to see this!

I may have to go check this out - thanks for the tip.

Nice to see another Calgarian on this site!

Hey Jonas,
To see where it is screening just click on the link I sent you and look in the top right hand corner fo the yellow box that says upcoming screenings.

Hey Compost,

Agreed, it is nice to see other Calgarians on the board.  Go see the flick on Sunday at Eau Claire.  You won't be disappointed.  The director Denny made it seem like he may not be able to get much distribution or a dvd deal, so it may be your one and only shot.

Cheers!

This doc looks incredible!  I'll keep checking the upcoming screenings on the website, but I don't know of any venue in my neck of the woods that would show this.  I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed for a DVD release.

I hope it comes to Dallas at one of the indie theatre's here! 

I still haven't had a chance to see this movie. Recently I have been delving into a lot of Monkees footage, right or wrong. Some intersting comments came up from I believe Mickey Dolenz when the band were being criticized for not really playing on their albums. He mentioned that though it was true it was the same as The Beach Boys, Byrds, Mamas and Papas etc.

My point with this would be that though outside musicians did play on BB records, it was not outside musicians just taking over all the sessions and the band having no input or even adding their own musical parts.

After all this rambling, I guess my question is if The Wrecking Crew movie would further add to the myth that the Beach Boys hardly played on their records. Good or bad? Jon Stebbins, a real advocate for proper credit for the band's instrumental contributions might want to chime in on this one.