Darnell Martin

Thanks for posting...Ms. Martin bit off more than she could chew with this story...

In the DVD, she comes off terribly. She sounds like a self absorbed film student, which is unfortunate...im certain she has talent...but...hmm

And yeah, im 36, I've more than heard of these artists, I've had em in my music collection for a long time.

I agree that Martin's movie was flawed. I listened to the commentary and she did an admirable job and did quite a bit of research. But the execution could have been much better. Too many omissions.
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"She is also unbelievably arrogant (as anyone who can flagrantly disregard facts in this way would have to be). At one point on the DVD "extras" she says: "it's historical. it's important...these are extraordinary artists who are voiceless now because no one knows who they are".

Say what now???? Which world does she live in???? I'm 40 and I grew up knowing EXACTLY who all of these guys are (and I did when I was a kid), and I have friends in their twenties who know who they are. This just proves to me that she is completely ignorant, and not passionate about, rock and roll or blues. Could this possibly explain why the screenplay for this film was so heinously inaccurate? I think that Martin is telling her version of the story. I.E. it is dumbed down, childish and simplistic because most of this is new to Ms. Martin.""
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Yeah, well you guys are in your later 30s and 40s. Most people in their 20s don't know anything about this music. Just because you have a couple friends in their 20s that do, doesn't mean Martin is wrong. This isn't about you. Y'all obviously have a larger musical pallete than the average music listener. I also was into this music when I was in my teens in the 80s as were many of my friends but we didn't represent our generation. Though we listened to alot of the music of our youth, we weren't afraid to branch out and listen to other music outside our peer group. Today's average music fan thinks of this music as a footnote to music history but that's all. They don't buy it or really listen to it. If it was so well-known by the kids who buy music today, Muddy and Etta would be cited as influences and covered by more popular artists more often than Tupac and U2. It's usually only the cult and alternative groups who claim influence and cover the classic blues artists like Howlin' Wolf and Muddy.

Ask the average teen, 20something or even 30 yo to name any one Muddy Waters, Etta James or Little Walter song and you'll get a blank stare. They recognize the names bt they don't know the music. At most they could name one or two Chuck Berry songs. They can name the Beatles, Beach Boys, Motown, Stones' or Hendryx songs but that's about as far back as they can go. It's even worse in the black community where hip hop has almost totally erased the memory and history of alot of the classic blues artists who paved the way for Lil Wayne to get onstage and act the fool. To alot of them, early blues was considered "slave" music because it was created by musicians who were sharecroppers picking cotton instead of the true heritage music it is.

I totally agree about the commemtary- she went on and on about it being a 'love story' and compared the 'Blues' to 'sex' at one point, lol And went on about Gaby Union not wearing makeup (OMG- the shock!!) Not one of the best commentaries, but cut her some slack- she is a new filmmaker.

She did a good job pulling the film together (not as simple when you're working under time/budget constraints). She did an even better job writing the film, which is what I most credit her for.

Director's commentary should go into the technical aspects of the film (see Ridley Scott's wonderful commentary of Blade Runner).

"I love you so I don't care what I think of you." Helen Wright in Humoresque