Last week I saw a great film at the Gene Siskel theater. It was called 'The Unusual Suspects: Once Upon a Time in House Music'. It's a documentary that chronicles the history of House music in Chicago. The film is so new that some of the footage had been captured only three weeks before the first viewing.
Chip Eberhart, aka Chip E., produced and directed the film, and once it begins to show on more screens, if you're a House lover you won't want to miss it. Without a doubt, 'The Unusual Suspects' is one of the best documentaries I'd seen on the subject matter thus far.
The interviews were fun and very real, and all the right players were involved. Best of all, the documentary didn't have an opinion. It simply presented a chronology of the scene and dropped in the proper names where they needed to be without passing judgment. No one was better than another person, no ego was inflated, no name held higher than another.
The most interesting parts of the film were the beginnings of each interview. Everyone, from DJ to dancer to music fan, in their own way struggled to define what House is and what it feels like. Trying to touch the intangible is never easy, but Chip E. managed to capture the feeling that each person had about House. And in the end, not a single person could describe House without a smile on their face.
There have been other films about House and it's place in music. And there have even been other attempts at looking back at Chicago's colorful history. But 'The Unusual Suspects' is the first documentary that will actually take you on that journey with people who were there. For the House lovers out there, don't miss it. And for the rest of you, it might even turn you on to something you didn't even know you liked... .
Could Eva Longoria have shown any more flesh at the MTV Awards? She was spicy hot in that pink thing. Well, a big congrats to Green Day for taking the Video of the Year along with five other awards, for a total of six, the highest take of the evening. Kanye West and Kelly Clarkson took best Male and Female Video, while Gwen Stefani captured two awards for two different videos. Missy Elliott and Ciara with Fat Man Scoop received two awards for Best Dance and Best Hip-Hop, and the Gorillaz also got two.
Shakira shook, R. Kelly sang about the closet, Ludacris got global, Beavis and Butthead made an appearance or four, and somehow there was water everywhere. I suppose it was raining... I missed Lil' Kim's last entrance before she starts wearing stripes, but somehow I doubt she'll ever do better than the purple look-at-my-boobie dress she wore a few years back. And yes, Shakira shook some more. I'm mentioning it twice because I still haven't learned that dance. My chiropractor won't let me.
With you in 4/4,
Peter Mavrik
peter@windycitymediagroup.com