Silver Jew doc. / B Jay Womack benefit at Eyedrum Friday
September 24th, 2008 by Chad Radford in Music news, See & DoThis Friday night (Sept. 26th) Eyedrum hosts the Atlanta premiere of Michael Tully and Matthew Robison’s (We Fun: ATL Inside Out) documentary film Silver Jew. The film follows Silver Jews main man David Berman on a spiritual quest to the Western Wall (A.K.A. the Wailing Wall) in the Old City of Jerusalem to embrace his Jewish roots … And play a few shows. Doors at Eyedrum open at 9 p.m. and the film starts at 10 p.m. Admission is $5.
Proceeds from door sales are being donated to B Jay Womack (a.k.a. Bobby Ubangi) of local bands the Gaye Blades and the Soft Spots, who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Chad Radford: How did you you come to be involved with making Silver Jew?
Matthew Robison: David and I met in a club where I was playing, and he humbly introduced himself and his (then) girlfriend Cassie. I had read one of his poems in Mean Magazine, but didn’t know much about Silver Jews. I always understood him as an artist, but admittedly never played his records over and over. I do know most of them very well, and for a few months put together a band to be called Walnut Falcons to play Silver Jews covers. So I like the songs very much. The attachment to the music increased when I used some studio tracks in the doc and began to associate them with the work.
I knew when David told me about the Israel shows that it would be something remarkable for him whether or not it was documented. In a few moments I went from wanting to go and write about it to my then (and now) preferred medium of video. When I got his blessing to document I promised that he would at the very least have high-quality home movies.
Honestly, when I was having the conversation I was in a flight of mania. David has a knack for recognizing these things, but whatever the case, that day he didn’t seem to notice and didn’t comment. I spent my last 3K buying the ticket, and then bullied Mike Tully into coming with.
And thank God Mike worked up the nerve, because I was too all-over-the-place to have focused and shot like he did.
I’ve always been a fan of David the Artist, and because his type was such a rarity in my Nashville experience I was drawn to him. And I have been guilty of jealousy of his ability to turn phrases on the fly. But I’m really more of an admirer. When I say David the Artist, I mean that his movements are usually brilliantly calculated. I also think he has a unique and true sense of justice and balance that many can’t quite comprehend. His barbs can bite with a lot of truth.
Michael Tully is credited as the director, but it sounds like you both had a hand in filming and conceptualization.
I had been working on the “Lock Up” series for MSNBC. That’s the show that goes inside the prisons. I had a little money and a clearer picture of the producer’s job.
David called me when he found out he could get a couple of shows booked in Israel, and I told him I would like to be there to write about it. Then I decided to bring a camera. He was okay with all of this, and I then enlisted the help of Michael Tully. He had previously directed a feature (Cocaine Angel). The truth now that I think of it was that I couldn’t get him or anyone else to go, and when I bought my ticket I called and taunted him with “I’m going to Israel with my camera; you can do whatever you want.” He decided to take the plunge.
On our last night of shooting, I told him I’d be happy if he took sole director credit as he had shot all of the tape and really been a fly on the wall, whereas I was the one sort of giving reality a push here and there and getting us through doors/scoring hash etc.
With a two-man crew, everyone ends up doing everyone else’s stuff, and I learned even more from Mike. It’s helped a lot on subsequent projects. I still e-mail him first when I have a question on where I’m going in a project. Anyone would be doing themselves a favor by hiring Mike Tully.
Do you think his writing transcends the standards of most indie rock song fare and or the folks who are critiquing it?
I do frankly believe the smallish world of pop-indie computer-life genres and giants to be misunderstanding some of the recent work. I hate to draw parallels, but the new record reminds me of the genius of the Infidels album by Bob Dylan. Looking at the sum of the parts: Knopler, Lanois and the tracks “Jokerman” and “License to Kill,” this record deserves the same kind of acclaim as some of the earlier work, but will never receive it because of certain laws applied to legend and production values.
You don’t see a lot of references to spirituality in indie rock, but after watching your film I see his Jewish identity as very large part of his work, maybe even before he recognized it.
I once heard David remark that all the great lyricists are Jews: Cohen, Dylan and Lou Reed. After watching his sometimes decade-old lyrics sung for an Israeli crowd take on new and inspiring meaning (sometimes it felt like the beginning of time: Adam & Eve), I told him backstage that he was in the circle. And I believe that like I believe all things when I believe: I rarely think of my mental rewards to others (especially artists of his type) dramatic or hyperbolic. I simply believe in his construct of the universe.
Gas stations sell those phone cards that are for specific countries, and they have ones that are for “the Universe.” I always think of him.
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