Product Description ANTON A NEWCOMBE OF THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE & COURTNEY TAYLOR OF THE DANDY WARHOLS ARE STAR-CROSSED FRIENDS & BITTER RIVALS - THIS IS THE TRUE STORY OF THEIR LOVES & OBSESSIONS, GIGS & RECORDINGS, ARRESTS & DEATH THREATS, UPPERS & DOWNERS - & THE DELICATE BALANCE BETWEEN ART & COMMERCE. .com Italian fabulist Italo Calvino observed that there are two kinds of artists--those who are prolific and successful, and the tortured geniuses, each gazing at the other in deep jealousy and admiration. The two rock bands chronicled in the documentary DiG! fall easily into this equation. On the side of the tortured geniuses is the Brian Jonestown Massacre, led by the psychedelic and volatile Anton Newcombe. Portland's the Dandy Warhols, fronted by Courtney Taylor, fulfill the role of the artists who, while unable to plumb the artistic depths of their friendly rivals, achieve a fair degree of popular acclaim (in Europe, anyway). Shot over seven years and containing some astonishingly intimate footage, the film represents a labor of love for director Ondi Timoner, who befriended, lived, and traveled with the bands. DiG! will likely be most remembered for a remarkable scene of rock and roll implosion--a show in LA's Viper Room after which the Brian Jonestown Massacre were expected to ink a record deal. Instead, the band erupted in a fist fight onstage. Among themselves. Does it go uphill or downhill from here? Depends on your definition of the terms. While dooming their careers, the Brian Jonestown Massacre manage to crank out an insane number of self-distributed albums--including three records in a single year. Courtney Taylor and the Dandies regard the musical output of their peers worshipfully and find themselves virtually ignored stateside but huge stars across the pond. While tens of thousands of fans in Germany and the UK sing along to every word at sold-out festivals headlined by the Dandies, Newscombe leads his crew in a nine-hour set in a dingy club for an audience of ten. Throughout the film there are controlled substances imbibed, clothing shed, sitars broken, punches thrown, arrests made. Taylor performs double duty as narrator of the film, begging the question of whether to accept his assertion that he fronts "the most well-adjusted band in America" at face value. The destined-for-greater-things Joel Gion, BJM's tambourine player, is the thief of every scene in which he appears, playing Flavor Flav to Newscombe's Chuck D. For those who want even more immersion, the DVD includes the option to "zoom," or expand, various scenes--a very cool feature. Those responsible for the hilarious excesses of DiG! have made a movie worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as This Is Spinal Tap, as mixed an honor as that might be.DVD Features The second of this set's two discs is practically its own sequel. Director Ondi Timoner had 1500 hours of footage to work with, so there was plenty of good material left on the cutting-room floor that found its way onto this supplemental disc. The deleted scenes include an unintentionally haunting pre-9/11 interview on a New York rooftop with BJM's Anton Newcombe; the twin towers loom behind the singer as he attempts to justify singing about love yet engaging in violence, drawing tenuous parallels between himself and militant prophets throughout history. This, and Newcombe's delight in listening to Charles Manson's musical recordings, is about as heavy as it gets, though. Other extras include various videos by the bands, with the conspicuous absence of the Dandy Warhol's David LaChapelle-directed "Not if You Were the Last Junkie on Earth." (The omission is understandable in light of the Dandies' sour grapes over the $400,000 video.) The Where Are They Now features find various members of the bands a little older and reflective, with new families and new gigs, reminiscing fondly on the seven years spent under Timoner's watchful spycam. As is the case with the film proper, the mood picks up whenever Joel Gion appears. When is this guy going to get his own talk show? For fans of Timoner's commentary on disc 1 there is--get this--footage of the director and her partners recording that commentary. Why there's no footage of Timoner watching and commenting on the footage of herself recording the commentary is anyone's guess. --Ryan BoudinotDig These Discs by the Brian Jonestown MassacreTepid Peppermint Wonderland: A RetrospectiveStrung Out in HeavenBravery Repetition & NoiseAnd This Is Our MusicThank God for Mental IllnessBringing It All Back Home Again -- end6pak --> Dig These Discs by the Dandy WarholsWelcome to the Monkey HouseThirteen Tales from Urban BohemiaThe Dandy Warhols Come Down -- end6pak --> Dig These Documentaries (and One Classic Mockumentary) on DVDThis Is Spinal Tap (Special Edition) Metallica: Some Kind of MonsterHypeX (The Band): The Unheard MusicEnd of the Century: The Story of the RamonesGimme Shelter
A**R
truth in advertising
Sometimes names fit so perfectly; The Dandy Warhols were, well, just dandy, while the Brian Jonestown Massacre came pretty close to their suicidal namesake. BJM and the DW were fellow travellers in the mid to late 90's; West Coast bands in the psycedelic folk rock tradition. Each were friends and fans of the other. DIG chronicles their divergent career paths during this period. The Warhols had great business sense (just like their namesake), were hard working, very talented and intelligent and able to put on great multimedia shows reminisent of the psychedelic 60's. They produced wonderfully listenable music (though from what I heard lyrically ho hum) and to use an anochronistic term which seems apropo, they were thouroughly bourgeois. They seemed to be very good and fun, just not the stuff of legend. Very few are willing or able to pay that price....which brings us to BJM, or more particular to Anton Newcombe, the singer songwriter whose disturbed genius is really the eye of the hurrican around which DIG revolves. His songs seem to come from the Manson mermaids on the mothership, his inspirational conduit connects him to a netherworld where few dare to tread....but of course, like any crazy possessed artist he had no choice in the matter. He is who he is and could be no one else. Naturally, he has no business sense and only goes through the 'career motions' because greater forces lead him there. All he really wants to do is make songs, no matter if he makes them in the gutter or on the big star-lit stage. Alas, it's a tale as old as the hills; The possessed neglected artist who can not be managed and is left to wither on the vine, and the good artists with good work ethics who find wide public appeal. BJM's shows, as depicted in DIG, tend to sputter and crash on the launch pad, often leaving one breathless for more (I wish DIG showed more concert footage) One telling scene during their first American tour had some of their ten hour set played for ten people at the Communist offices in Cleveland. If that isn't playing music for the pure love of it I don't know what is! Meanwhile (although the timeline was unclear) the Warhols were playing giant festivals in Europe, though Stateside, thanks to the deplorable state of our commercial radio industry et al. they remained little known. I found myself greatly admiring both bands (both were lovable in their own ways) and rooting for both to achieve greater success in a cruel and fickle industry. The myth of Sisyphus comes to mind. But though I admired both bands I was really only interested in BJM. The Dandies were nice but run-of-the-mill. They were only interesting in that they provided a contrast to BJM. I wish the filmmakers had shown a bit more of BJM's creative side, when songs gell and performed well; rather than always showing their blow-ups and self-destructs ( and how much of this was shown out of context?) Ultimately DIG is a great document of the struggle of the creative spirit (in all its guises) in the modern world.
O**A
Strung Out in Heaven
Shot over seven years, Dig! is a documentary that, at its most basic, chronicles the complicated friendship between two musicians, Courtney Taylor of the Dandy Warhols and Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre.The film goes deep beneath the surface to capture the funny, sad and compelling lives of these men and their bands, particularly the mercurial Newcombe. The Taylor-Newcombe friendship is fraught with jealousy, rage, admiration, love, hate and bitterness, especially as Taylor's Dandys achieve some level of commercial success while Newcombe's BJM self-destructs at every turn, mostly by Newcombe's own hand..One important theme here is the concept of giving up or compromising one's vision and art for the almighty dollar. Taylor is willing to take the risk (and succeeds), Newcombe isn't (and flounders). But that leads to another compelling question, posed by the Dandy's Peter Holstrom: what's the point of making music if no one gets to hear it?Indeed. When BJM is given a second (tenth?) chance at getting signed with a major label, Newcombe again pisses it away as the band brawls on stage. The label rep was apparently not impressed.There's no doubt that Newcombe is the "star" of this film. From his flashes of brilliance to his indulgent heroin use, the engaging and fascinating artist wastes his talent and creativity to fill a higher need, which apparently is a strong desire for attention. This becomes clear when we see interviews with his parents - a deadbeat dad who commits suicide on his birthday and an ambivalent mother who has simply given up.Ondi Timoner captures some great moments on film, including all the amusing fights on stage, rants, raves and general madness. And she does a nice job of capturing it all without being a part of it or judging any of the motley cast of characters in the process. I loved this film. The second disc filled with special features and concert footage is just the icing on the cake.
S**Y
Not my style, but interesting nonetheless.
This is the kind of thing people will like if they're the kind of people who like this kind of thing. Seriously, it's pretty good even though I'm not a fan of this style of music.
W**N
Anton is crazy, and the music industry is delusional
Dig is a very entertaining and enlightening documentary about two pretty poor music groups. Both the Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Massacre lack any real depth or musical value. The two things that are most interesting about the documentary are: 1. The totally crazy Anton. He alone makes the video worth buying. He lives in his own world, populated with his own illusions of stardom and notoriety. ; and 2. A portrayal of the clueless record industry. From this video you get an idea of why music that is put out by record companys sucks so much. They employ people who are only interested in money and/or think they actually know something about music and have never played an instrument in their life. No wonder about 98% of records fail. Music is controlled by and large by people who nothing about music.This DVD is definitely worth watching.
N**
Needs more music parts
two great bands, I would Dig It more if it had more music
S**N
Dug Dig! more than I dig the "Diggers"
It's hard to be in a band. It's rare to be friends with another band and cheer lead one another as it often erupts into petty jealousies and this movie proves that time and again. I was only marginally familiar with The Afghan Whigs and The Brian Jonestown Massacre as artists and what I saw didn't really endear either group to me. Sure... both groups make good music, but it is not nearly as revolutionary as they want to pretend it is in their minds and their pretense makes what other wise would be just good rock (without knowing the performers so intimately) a little less palatable.As a film though... it's damn good piece of work.
N**N
Fantastic and fascinating!
I absolutely love this documentary about these two bands. And, it totally holds up after not seeing it for 15 years. Awesome!
B**6
Great if you're a fan
Had been intending to watch this on YouTube for free, but of course it got taken down shortly before. So this was the next option. Am a big Dandys fan, so was really intrigued about this. I learned a lot about BJM (also a fan). Not sure it is something you need to watch more than once, but definitely worthwhile.
B**3
Really messed up, but compulsive viewing.
I really enjoyed this Vid, as it took me back to the mental times of my youth in the 1990's/2000's.Dandy warhols and The Brian Jonestown massacre, are cool bands, with some great songs.but people beware, they don't pick a fight with you...
A**M
Scary mix of egos, talent and no talent
Enjoyed this, and will watch it again I'm sure. Would have liked a bit more view of the 'dark side' of BJTM's excesses, and it wasn't as funny as some had suggested, indeed watching would be rock stars fail for real is actually quite sad.
P**U
... film -screws up -spolit the experience but otherwise a good
Last section of film -screws up -spolit the experience but otherwise a good movie
G**N
Far out maaaaaaaaan!
1960s meet the future
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