The movie Shut Up and Sing follows the career of the Dixie Chicks after lead singer Natalie Maines detonated it during a London show by dropping a disparaging comment between songs about President Bush. You'd think the movie would be all political. And if you have a serious stand on the issue either way, it probably is. But on the other hand, it's a really eye-opening look at the music biz from an interesting perspective, from the angle of the marketing professionals. Behind the scenes of most stories about bands, there are writers and marketers trying to turn regular people into a story. In this film, the scandal's the story. And while everyone's focus is on the scandal, the musicians turn out to be regular people. We get to see how celebrities make decisions, and all the ways the industry professionals try to influence the people to make money -- not to mention how they view the musicians. It maybe doesn't sound so interesting, watching how professionals get musicians to think of themselves as walking number graphs, but I found it a lot like spying on that man behind the curtain while he's still running the wizard of Oz.



Martie, Natalie, Emily
Photo credit: Mark Seliger

From the title, I expected this movie to be a lot of people blathering on about freedom of speech. Instead we get more than a hint of how treacherous a career in the public eye can be. For fans of band tour films and music "behind the scenes" shows, this film will be an unexpected surprise. You see Emily [Robison] and Martie [Maguire] seated around a not especially posh den, Natalie lying on the couch with her bare feet up under her as she discusses whether or not the band should compromise on their tour ambitions. Tense discussions happen as fathers and kids come and go through the room. OK. Maybe there's a deliberate design to portray the ladies as "family women" -- Emily Robison says she'll never travel without her family; there's a scene in the hospital room while she's in labor -- Natalie and Martie on a nearby couch arguing before being reminded that someone is in the room trying to have a baby.

But in a way it's a film that catches the music biz with its pants down. The way labels relate to musicians; the way the people around musicians view the career of the artist; and then -- what comes through the most -- the artist's love, energy and ultimately personal investment in the music alone. You see the girls playing their guitars and fiddles all decked out in a fancy L.A. recording studio, you see them playing hard on stage, dressed to kill; you see them working through songs in living rooms that look like any of your friends' homes, and you can really feel how it's the music and not the environments, the money, the numbers, that drives these ladies. Meanwhile you watch handlers and record label interests talking about ticket sales, and get reminded of how the music industry is all divided up into unfriendly genres.

Emily
Photo credit: Mark Seliger
Maybe it's because, as a former musician, I remember how it was to be so immersed in music that money and politics seemed insignificant in the scale of things. But this film made me fall in love with music all over again. Be they Dixie Chicks or "traitors" -- Shut up and Sing takes us through the process of three pretty average people trying to get themselves out of a giant, very sophisticated trick sac. It's a reminder of how "who you are" sort of blurts out in the most chaotic moments and sends you reeling off towards who you will be (and where). Putting all politics aside, anyone who's gotten broadsided, made bad career moves, or found a conversation that seemed to be one thing turned out to be something else will relate to this film.

Martie
Photo credit: Mark Seliger
Plus it has good drama, good music, fascinating plot, and a very charismatic star: for what emerges as the star of this film is music itself. In addition to plenty of Dixie Chicks music (even non-Country fans will probably admit the music enhances the film, if not has a beauty all its own), Shut up and Sing gives us hoards of screaming fans, the excitement of an all-ages concert when everyone's mouthing the words, and the energy exchange between fans and band. The sold-out venues and cheering welcomes that the three ladies inspired, even after the calumnious "President Bush statement," seemed to be more of a triumph of music over politics, than the Chicks over anyone else (Toby Keith included -- reports on that rivalry were just plain funny).


Natalie
Photo credit: Mark Seliger
The film showed people -- who admitted having loved the Chicks' music -- burning their CDs, and for a time in the film there was a sense that politics had stopped the music. Though certainly the free speech issue is important and admittedly the makers of this film have an agenda (hmm -- to put the Chicks back in the money?), audiences who might most enjoy this film are those who have no political interests at all. People who just want to see a good story about the good things that can come from not so perfect people. And for artists and musicians, it may inspire you back to your roots.


A Featured Blog by: [blog slik101]

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