The Real Story is better than the Movie, and it was a pretty good movie
I’m not sure exactly where or why I came across Almost Famous again this week — the click trail on that one has to be convoluted, because for the most part I was researching bland mass-consumption European Pop of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
Having happened upon the movie again, though, it seemed like an excellent topic for an extended YouTube excursion, especially with the Academy Awards tie-in:
Cameron Crowe accepts the Oscar® for “Almost Famous”
The moment we all remember is the solo-slow-clapper of music videos, Tiny Dancer
Cameron Crowe interview (ignore the French subtitles)
The great thing about “Almost Famous” is that it’s based on a true story, which you might have heard once or twice a dozen years ago and then promptly forgot. The band ‘Stillwater’ in the movie is a fictionalized composite, I’m sure, or at least will always be presented as such for legal reasons, but the band I think Crowe used as his primary inspiration when writing the script has to be the Allman Brothers. Here, read the article yourself, from the December 6, 1973 issue of Rolling Stone, The Allman Brothers Story
Allman Brothers Band – Live- 2-11-70 Fillmore East (audio only) (1hr11min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1XfYC9Dq1I
Allman Brothers – Live – 9-23-70 Fillmore East (33.8min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eqSFMOZxeY
Since the point of the exercise is to feature some great music documentaries, here’s the great music documentary: History of Southern Rock (1hr4min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E1I-ERdJYU
If you only have enough time to watch one video, I’d make it that last one.
