No takers, huh?

Man--what a film. One of the great rockumentaries of the 1960's (and early '70's). Why is this board so small? This is a great film, not because you see sick performances like that amazing solo segment of Ten Years After or Hendrix and The Who destroying it well--many face-melting performances. And it's not a great visual trip like Woodstock. It's not a creepy, violent disaster like the Altamont section of Gimme Shelter. It's a great one that belongs in the constellation of great rock movies because of the story it tells.

I'm not a documentarian, but this movie shows you that when you're working with real life, there is a story somewhere--you just have to find it. I'm sure Murray Lerner started out with the idea of filming this festival and documenting how cool it would be. But as events unfolded, all of these huge, powerful forces smashed together in an epic confrontation that reminds me of the siege of Helm's Deep in "The Two Towers".

The politics. This was one of the last gasps of the hippies and other hipsters trying to create a new world every time they had a festival, picnic, commune or party. Sharing, free music, no borders, no PIGS, man! Hippies give their stoned raps about how it's all got to be free, man. They say very cogent stuff. They say very far-out stuff. Some of it is quite true and you know what they're saying, but you don't get how what they're saying means what they intend. "Those motherf**ers with the bread" and "Those motherf**ers with the dogs, man". "Paint the fence invisible"--what??

Even the performers have some good philosophy to share. Some do it better than others. Joni Mitchell--what does she mean by that tourists/indians line? Huh? Leonard Cohen must have stopped after the first chorus of Suzanne and tells the crowd they're not strong enough yet to claim a piece of territory. The way he sort of chants it--you almost feel like he's intoning a prayer. It seemed to work. Now that's cool.

Then there are the poor bastards who didn't seem to know what the hell they were getting into organizing this thing. I mean, how long did it take them to realize that they just couldn't harrass and harangue any more money out of the crowd? Talk about fighting a losing battle with the Desolation Row cats. They actually thought they could pay the artists from the gate money and maybe even make some cash for themselves? Huh? Capitalism at its worst: poorly thought out and poorly, sloppily executed. It was a momentous occasion when Ricky (the emcee/promoter) had to stand up there and give in to the free festival/no fence thing and they played Amazing Grace. (Amazing Grace being very appropriate and ironic since it was written by a slaver who turned abolitionist after his slave ship almost went down. He felt he'd been saved from death even though he'd exploited slavery as his profession. Ricky had similarly tried to exploit festival goers and music that sort of wanted to be free, then realized it wasn't going to happen.)

Music was in a way, the most important force here, as it was the raison d'etre of the whole event. Some of the performances must have blown the crowd away. Others didn't seem able to break down the fourth wall and reach the audience. Kristofferson basically got "Me & Bobby McGee" going and walked off stage in a huff. The Who probably made everyone wet their pants. People came to experience the power of the music--they wanted to be blown away. It was that one commodity that people craved enough to tear down iron fences and battle police and dogs.

There was clearly a lot of grass going around. What else? I imagine the woman who was hauled off stage was tripping face.

All in all, there were some pretty heavy forces at work and Lerner spun the music, the politics, the naked, unabashed capitalism, the drugs and the spirit of personal liberation into a visual story about a unique cultural and political confrontation. Woodstock was a beautiful mess that everyone realized just had to happen--forget trying to make any money. Altamont was a bizarre and violent coda to Woodstock--a bad mix of Hell's Angels and acid. Message to Love weaves an allegorical story about greed, freedom, music and people power: a documentary that was about more than what it expected to be.

My favorite band--No River City--is on tour this summer. www.norivercity.com