So you wanta be a rock & roll star, or an actor in your
own movie? Best thing to do is gather some like-minded ne’er-do-wells, head to
The Bronx, and 25 years later the rest will be history!
That was
my immediate reaction after watching an “almost-final cut” of Fanatic Heart, a
movie by Vic Zimet and Stephanie Silber, devoted to the music and general
shenanigans of yours truly and Black 47.
19 years
ago without a whit of thought, I gave permission to Vic and Stef to become
flies on the wall in the rambunctious life and times of “the house band of New
York City.”
They
produced a number of official Black 47 DVDs but all the time they were quietly
filming hours of material about a band that had no shortage of drama, success
and debacle.
It’s a
brutally honest depiction. Laid bare are the excitement, tedium, musicianship, boozing,
triumphs, disasters, drive, and devotion of a band that rarely rehearsed but delivered
on stage.
The
camera is unsparing as it chronicles a riotous and righteous journey that began
in the bars of The Bronx’s Bainbridge Avenue and ended in BB King’s on
Manhattan’s Forty-Deuce. There’s no make-up artist present, no remedial paint
or powder, just the rawness of passing time taking its toll. And yet the same
fist-in-the-air defiance is as evident at the end as the beginning.
None of
it was faked. We were a New York Irish band with attitude. Right from the start
if asked to play a U2 song, my standard response was, “next time you hear Bono
sing a Black 47 song we’ll cover one of theirs.”
Fanatic
Heart pulses with the joy of musicians thrilled to be adding to the creative mosaic
of the city of Lou Reed and Walt Whitman; and that thrill was curried by the
delight of a loyal audience that would have followed us to hell – some unfortunately
did!
But it’s
the sweat-stained exultant faces of the fans that move me most. Some are still
friends, others have sadly departed; at the screening people broke into
spontaneous applause as Phyllis Kronhaus RIP, our first merch seller, expounded
on our perennially strong Jewish following in her inimitable New Yawk accent.
I
mentally trembled as the first shots of our riotous 2003 Irish Tour streaked
across the screen. Ah well, what’s a little nudity among friends; this is a movie
about a rock & roll band, not The Legion of Mary!
But then
there’s footage inside Kilmainham Jail and West Belfast, and compelling performances
of signature songs like James Connolly, Bobby Sands MP, and The Big Fellah, and
you get an inkling of what made Black 47 tick – the core principles of civil
rights and human dignity fueled by an unflinching desire to do things our way.
Many of
our supporters would have been happy if we’d dealt only with Irish politics.
But perhaps our finest hour was outright rejection of the Iraq War while at the
same time supporting those who fought it on our behalf. This stand cost us
dearly but was there any other choice for a political band?
In fact
Fanatic Heart makes clear why we never achieved the super-stardom so often predicted
for us in our early years. We just weren’t cut out to be “the next U2” - too
ornery, too pointedly political, too focused on the new song to be bothered polishing
old favorites – we never repeated a set in almost 2500 gigs. Nor did we spend
the requisite time kissing the correct posteriors. But what a blast we had!
How
interesting too to watch our beloved New York City transform over the 25 years
from $2 a pint Recession Wednesdays in Paddy Reilly’s - where Joe Strummer,
Neil Young & Brooke Shields rubbed shoulders with cops, firemen, nurses and
nannies - to the current Disneyfied hollowness of Times Square.
The
movie is completed but Vic and Stef must now raise a modest sum to fund
post-production. There are many inexpensive ways of getting involved through
Indiegogo. Visit http://tinyurl.com/FUND-B47 for
information and to see out-takes and scenes from Fanatic Heart.
You
never know, it might inspire you to form a band, head to The Bronx and begin
your own rock & roll journey.
