Oscar's Cinema Journal 2005

[oscar jubis]

Glad you think so, pmw. I don't know much about blogs though. It's just nice of you to provide me with this forum to document what I watch and how I think/feel about it.

Festival Express
In the summer of 1970, Janis Joplin, The Band, The Grateful Dead and other groups boarded a chartered train in Eastern Canada and traveled west giving concerts at major Canadian cities. Thirty four years later, a documentary of the event was finally released, and what a revelation it is. In Toronto, a group incited people outside the entrance to demand to be let in for free ("it's the people's music"); there were squirmishes that resulted in the near-death of a cop. The promoter agreed to stage a free concert at a park nearby, but press reports of the violence resulted in very poor sales for the upcoming concerts. The promoters decided to absorb the financial loss and let this show on wheels go on. The well equipped (and stocked) CN train provided a perfect environment for the musicians to interact. A mobile commune.

Why do I love this film? Three pieces of evidence; you decide if Festival Express is for you.

*Three months before her fatal heroin overdose, Janis performing "Cry Baby" with such unbridled passion and musical chops that it's all the proof you'll need that she was as talented as Aretha, her only competition. Thing is, Janis was a much more generous, unguarded performer. She'll take your breath away.

*The promoter relates how the Mayor of Calgary walked into his office cussing and demanding that "the children of Calgary pass thru the gates for free". The promoter says something about letting his knuckles do the talking for him.

*During a sort of Haight-Ashbury reunion, members of the Band, The Dead and Janis do a rendition of "Ain't no more Cane" inside a crowded train car. Then Jerry Garcia, at a volume somewhat higher than the other voices and dripping sincerity, says "Janis, I've loved you since the first time I saw ya". Bashful and surprised, Janis hesitates then says: "That's God's cop-out, man!" and breaks into a laugh.