As you know, it’s been a very active week with all the PJ20 news. I thought it might be a good time to revisit Cameron’s Rolling Stone cover story on the band from October, 1993 entitled “Five Against The World. The article focuses on the band’s turbulent year dealing with sudden fame, the recording of their 2nd album Vs. and much more.
That’s right. Pearl Jam Twenty will have its world premiere at the 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival. TIFF lists the final running time at 120 minutes, but that’s not confirmed as of yet. Also, in addition to the previously announced Neil Young and Chris Cornell interviews, it seems that Kurt Cobain interview footage will also be present the film. It sounds like a great time to be in Toronto as Pearl Jam will be playing back to back concerts at the Air Canada Centre on September 11th and 12th.
Would you like to see the trailer too? Here you go. The trailer, screening info and much more can be found at PJ20.com
Welcome to another edition of Inquire Within… Through your submissions, Cameron will answer your questions in his own words. The goal is to have a new question and answer posting every week or two leading up to the releases of Pearl Jam Twenty and We Bought a Zoo this fall and The Union early next year.
James Clark: Like your good-self, I am a huge Elton John fan and cannot wait to see your new documentary The Union. I’m so grateful to you for giving fans like myself an opportunity to see Elton (and Leon) doing ‘their thing’ in the studio. Why was “Mandalay Again” left off the main release? It’s such a beautiful song I actually think it’s one of Elton and Bernie’s best… ever! I’m assuming here that you were privy to the conversations that lead to it being left off the album and was hoping that you may be able to shed some light. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on the song.
Cameron: Like all of us who worked on the film, we loved “Mandalay Again.” LOVED the song. It was a surprise to us when Elton John decided that it didn’t quite fit in the specific tone of The Union. I think his reason was that it was a little too much in the “classic” vein of Bernie and Elton’s later work, and maybe not necessarily representative of the Union sessions as a whole. Glad he decided to release it as part of the deluxe edition of the album. We also loved the demos for many of the “Union” songs, and use “Never Too Old” in demo form quite liberally in the finished film. Nice question. To paraphrase Steely Dan, only a true fan could ask that.
The Union doc debuts on HBO in January.
Please send in your questions for Cameron and maybe yours will be part of a future installment of Inquire Within…
Some of you may not know that Cameron’s first directing gig was for a 1982 1983 MTV special about Tom Petty and the Hearbreakers. As Cameron recently tweeted, this was only aired a few times and MTV pulled it because of all the bootleg footage that was featured in the show. The program’s reputation has grown throughout the years, and it’s something that has been passed around by Petty fans via VHS and DVD conversions. Hopefully someday it will officially see the light of the day.
Above is a short clip I found on YouTube where Cameron and Tom are shooting a dart gun, looking through Tom’s box of archives and just hanging out. This footage was filmed at Tom’s house.
Cameron tweeted a pic last night as he worked on the final mix for Pearl Jam Twenty.Your chance to see the documentary is fast approaching.
I’m very excited to share a recent interview that I conducted with Cameron on all things music entitled “Music Matters”. We chatted about a variety of musical topics including Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Todd Rundgren, Led Zeppelin, the best guitarists he’s seen live and much more. Then the questions turned to the musical aspects of both Pearl Jam Twenty and We Bought A Zoo. Another in-depth interview will occur this Fall and cover more specifics around the films, but today’s interview is all about the music…
The Crowe’s Nest is a feature that collects random tidbits, etc. in one blog post. Today’s edition focuses on PJ related items:
“I think that, in order to keep progressing, there should be some benefits to looking back, to help you determine what your future course may be. But if they are (there), I don’t think they’ve been tangible for any of us… What we’ve learned is that we really do live in the present. And, to be honest, this looking back thing make me feel like I’m glad we have someone as astute and devoted to music as Cameron Crowe at the helm of putting something together that would represent us and tell a certain number of stories that happened over (the past) 20 years.. So I think we’re just happy we’ve survived it and are still friends and more than that, happy that we’re still a working group.
How about a double shot of Led Zeppelin liner notes for your Friday viewing pleasure? You may not know, but Cameron created two completely different set of liner notes for Led Zeppelin’s inaugural live album. The 1976 version is a brief look at a first, a Zep performance captured on film. The lengthier liner notes for 2007 remaster focus on the unique live experience of a Zeppelin concert and includes present day quotes from Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. I hope you like the both!
