DIG!

My good friend Bobby Dunn, from Natchez, and a fellow music fanatic...suggested that I watch the movie DIG! a week or so ago. I had been meaning to rent it, but I couldn't find it in any of the local rental stores. So on Saturday, I stopped by my favorite record store in Atlanta, Criminal Records, and picked up the DIG! 2-DVD Special Edition, and today is Thursday...and I've watched it 4 times thus far.

DIG! is basically a 7-year documentary that chronicles two West Coast bands: The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols.



BJM, from the San Francisco area, is led by Anton Newcombe, a psychedelic and mentally unbalanced musical genius.



The Dandy Warhols are from the Portland area, and they are led by Courtney Taylor-Taylor.




The irony is that Anton was a huge fan of the Dandy's...and when Courtney and his band caught a BJM show in San Francisco one night, they were completely intimidated by Anton and his band. Anyway, the movie basically follows both bands over a 7 year period of time, as they both go for record deals and become serious rivals. Both bands inspire one another, and it's a love/hate relationship to the bitter end. The Dandy's end up with a pretty successful record deal with Capital, and BJM pretty much ends up in the gutter, a result of internal nightmares usually fueled by Anton's drug abuse, fights onstage, etc.

I know this sounds like a terrible plot for a movie, but I'm telling you...if you're a music fan, this is a must-see movie. I've been a fan of The Dandy Warhols for several years, and I have all of their records. But I'd never really heard of BJM until DIG! hit the big screen...and after watching it, I now have every single BJM record and can't stop listening to them.

If you're familiar with the boxing world, then the life of a club fighter is quite familiar. A very talented fighter, but one who will never get a shot at the title...and usually gets pounded in the ring. He fights on a nightly basis, usually for a small sum of prize money, but there's one thing that all prize fighters have in common....heart. To go up against the odds night after night for the paycheck and the love of the sport...now that's dedication.



In my opinion, that's the perfect analogy for Anton Newcombe. The guy is brilliant, and makes some of the best records I've ever listened to. How he can create music that literally sounds like it's straight out of the 60's psychedelic era...just amazes me. The guy is incredibly talented, and still to this day has never had a huge record deal....pretty much because he's more about the music than the money. That's not to say that he hasn't blown his chances....the movie clearly proves that. But Anton is a great song writer, and he can play every instrument known to man. There's no doubt about it....he's amazing.

Anyway, for those of you out there that love music and are open to new things....I highly recommend renting or buying DIG! as soon as possible. There's also a recently released 2-disc collection, if you will, of Anton and BJM's work:



I promise you...buy this album...and you will clearly understand why I took the time to write this. Then call me and thank me for introducing you to a band you'll now become obsessed with.

Tracks you gotta hear:

When Jokers Attack from the album, "And This Is Our Music"


Servo from the album, "Give It Back"