12-12-12: the Sandy Aid Concert

People do not realize the swath of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy was so wide, encompassing most of the Tri-State Area and a good chunk of New England, it made flight impractical.  Where were you going to go? Ohio?  As a result, most New Yorkers sat tight and made the best of things.  Many were wiped out and the rebuilding continues to this day.  The Robin Hood Foundation was one of many non-profits that rushed to assist those in need.  To support their efforts, Cablevision-Madison Square Garden boss James Dolan, Clear Channel’s John Sykes, and the always quotable Harvey Weinstein organized a benefit concert at the Garden, featuring some of the biggest (and as many can’t help observing, oldest) acts in rock & roll.  Amir Bar-Lev, with co-director-co-producer Charlie Lightening, documents both the on-stage attractions and the backstage bedlam in 12-12-12 (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Not to be confused with the little seen horror film with the same title, 12-12-12 starts a few days before December 12, 2012, as the power trio scramble to nail down the concert details.  Once again, Sir Paul McCartney is the concert’s lynch pin, as he was for the Concert for New York six weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11^th.  Once the elder statesman Beatle signed on, some of rock’s biggest names followed, including The Who, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, the divisive Roger Waters with Pink Floyd, and Billy Joel, an alumnus of the 2001 benefit, who also featured McCartney as a special guest at his send-off concert for the fondly remembered Shea Stadium.

12-12-12 mostly features songs that roughly sort of fit the evening’s themes, like “Living on a Prayer” and “Miami 2017” (the one that goes “I’ve seen the lights go out on Broadway”), but sometimes it just makes do with greatest hits.  As a follow-up to Bar-Lev’s fantastic music doc Re:Generation Music Project, 12-12-12 is a considerably more commercial, but ironically less interesting subject.  Essentially, it is a clips package, but Bar-Lev still has a shrewd eye behind-the-scenes action.  When the concert’s website goes Sebelius on them, it is rather amusing listening to Weinstein and Dolan try to bullying poor tech support folks into fixing it.  Likewise, it is rather telling to see Jesse Jackson glad-handing any celebrity who will talk to him.

Shockingly, Charlie Watts now looks like the youngest member of the Stones—and he still lays down a solid beat, God bless him.  $50 million was raised for Sandy relief, which definitely helped a lot of people.  Overall, it is a nice film, if not particularly deep, with only an occasional snippet of global warming soap-boxing here and there.  The Robin Hood Foundation is still accepting donations for Sandy Aid, but frankly, this is the time for New Yorkers to come together to support the typhoon survivors in the Philippines, a nation we have a long, close history with that has an accomplished film industry and a better jazz scene than you would expect.  You can donate to the Red Cross relief efforts here.  Recommended for mainstream rock fans, 12-12-12 opens this Friday in New York at the Angelika Film Center.

Queens Swan Song: Last Play at Shea

Shea Stadium was old and creaky, but according to former Mets, they used to feel a mystique playing there that gave them a legitimate home field advantage. So, how’s that new Citi Field working out so far? To be fair, the team’s early years at Shea were an exercise in abject futility, but then in 1969 everything suddenly changed. In addition to sports history, a fair amount of great musical moments happened there too, like a 1965 concert featuring young band from Liverpool. Fittingly though, it was Long Island’s native son Billy Joel who closed the stadium with a post-game concert that is lovingly documented in Paul Crowder and Jon Small’s Last Play at Shea (trailer here), which screens opens today in New York.

Partly a Behind the Music-like profile of Joel, partly a chronicle of the Mets and the stadium in which they played, with a dash of borough history thrown in for context, Play is a paean to all things Queens. Built by Robert Moses to be a modern day equivalent of the Roman Coliseum, aesthetically Shea fell fall short. The team William Shea found to inhabit it was also an initial disaster, but fans came anyway.

As a Mets fan, the Levittown raised Joel clearly understood the significance of playing Shea’s final gig. The film revisits the ups and downs of his long career, interviewing many of his close associates. Based on her segments, Joel clearly still seems to be on good terms with his ex-wife, Christy Brinkley which speaks well of both. However, wife #1 and her brother, the ex-manager who allegedly robbed him blind, are conspicuously absent, for obvious reasons. Overall, one definitely gets an appreciation of his longevity and resiliency in Play. His instincts for structuring the set also seem right-on-target, starting with a respectful, on key rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Play is hardly innovative filmmaking, but as nostalgia it is totally effective and surprisingly entertaining. A flood of memories will come back to Mets fans watching Crowder and Small’s film, including the black cat incident, the infamous Buckner error, and their recent painful late season collapses. However, the one glaring omission are the J-E-T-S, who played their most celebrated seasons at Shea before leaving for the Meadowlands.

As a concert film, Play is pretty solid, especially for Billy Joel fans. There are also several very cool musical guest artists, including Tony Bennett, joining him for a duet performance of “New York State of Mind.” Frankly, you have to give Joel credit for still bringing the energy, obviously connecting with the enormous audience on a personal level.

A thoroughly entertaining concert film, sports history, and an elegy to glory days gone by, Play was a real sleeper hit at this year’s Tribeca. Even Yankee fans from Manhattan have been charmed by it. A great New York doc, it opens today (10/29) at the Cinema Village.

Tribeca ’10: Last Play at Shea

Shea Stadium was old and creaky, but according to former Mets, they used to feel a mystique playing there that gave them a legitimate home field advantage. So, how’s that new Citi Field working out so far? To be fair, the team’s early years at Shea were an exercise in abject futility, but then in 1969 everything suddenly changed. In addition to sports history, a fair amount of music history happened there too, like a 1965 concert featuring young band from Liverpool. Fittingly though, it was Long Island’s native son Billy Joel who closed the stadium with a post-game concert that is lovingly documented in Paul Crowder’s Last Play at Shea, which screens during this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

Partly a Behind the Music-like profile of Joel, partly a chronicle of the Mets and the stadium in which they played, with a dash of borough history thrown in for context, Shea is a paean to all things Queens. Built by Robert Moses to be a modern day equivalent of the Roman Coliseum, aesthetically Shea fell fall short. The team William Shea found to inhabit it was also an initial disaster, but fans came anyway.

As a Mets fan, the Levittown raised Joel clearly understood the significance of playing Shea’s final gig. The film revisits the ups and downs of his long career, interviewing many of his close associates. Based on her segments, Joel clearly still seems to be on good terms with his ex-wife, Christy Brinkley which speaks well of both. However, wife #1 and her brother, the ex-manager who allegedly robbed him blind, are conspicuously absent. Overall, one definitely gets an appreciation of his longevity and resiliency in Shea. His instincts for structuring the set also seem right-on-target, starting with a respectful, on key rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Shea is hardly innovative filmmaking, but as nostalgia it is totally effective and surprisingly entertaining. A flood of memories will come back to Mets fans watching Crowder’s film, including the black cat incident, the infamous Buckner error, and their recent painful late season collapses. However, the one glaring omission are the J-E-T-S, who played their most celebrated seasons at Shea before leaving for the Meadowlands.

As a concert film, Shea is also pretty solid, especially for Billy Joel fans. There are also several very cool musical guest artists, including Tony Bennett, joining him for a duet performance of “New York State of Mind.” Frankly, you have to give Joel credit for still bringing the energy, obviously connecting with the enormous audience on a personal level.

A thoroughly entertaining concert documentary, sports history, and an elegy to glory days gone by, Shea should be a real sleeper hit at Tribeca. Even Yankee fans from Manhattan have been charmed by it. A great New York doc, it screens during the festival today (4/30) and tomorrow (5/1).