DVD Reviews: The Rolling Stones and The Doors

The Rolling Stones
Stones In Exile
Eagle Rock Entertainment

The Doors
When You’re Strange: A Film about The Doors
Eagle Rock Entertainment

Review by David Chiu

Two documentaries on two of the greatest rock bands in history have been recently released–one focusing on a classic album, the other a searing portrait of a group with a legendary, mythical singer.

Stones in Exile comes on the heels of the recent reissue of the Rolling Stones’ classic 1972 opus Exile on Main St. But the documentary is more than just the making of the record per se– it’s about  the circumstances that brought about its creation. Continue reading “DVD Reviews: The Rolling Stones and The Doors”

News: 2010 Record Store Day

(photo by David Chiu)

Record Store Day has now come and passed. This year’s event on Apr. 17 seemed more memorable compared to last year’s as far as special items and rarities were concerned, from a numbered 45 single of the Rolling Stones’ “Plundered My Soul” to the Flaming Lips’ tribute to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.

So taking a page from my Microphone Memory Emotion coverage of the event from last year, I returned back to the two places participating on Record Store Day. First I waited on line at City Hall’s J&R Music World a half-hour before the store’s open behind 10 other people who were already there. I was glad to arrive early since the Village’s Other Music wasn’t going to open until 11 a.m. Continue reading “News: 2010 Record Store Day”

Book Review: Trust: Photographs By Jim Marshall

Trust: Photographs of Jim Marshall
Published by Omnibus Press
Review by David Chiu

“Whenever anyone asks me how I got the photographs I did,/why I was often the only photographer present or got such unique access/ I reply simply Trust.” Those were the words of photographer Jim Marshall in the introduction of his recent photo book Trust. He knew what he was talking about because that approach resulted in a legendary body of rock and roll photography that has spanned four decades.

Trust is now more poignant than ever now that Marshall passed away last week at age 74, so it serves as a fitting tribute to a true artiste. Continue reading “Book Review: Trust: Photographs By Jim Marshall”