Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt

discostu · **Posted:** Mon Apr 25, 2005 3:50 pm

Rarely do you get a music documentary that is this personal and this good.

Gives his history, tells hilarious antecdotes and shows the man behind the songs. Really good stuff. I saw it last week at the Nashville Film Festival.

Be Here to Love Me: A Film about Townes Van Zandt

Highly recommended for fans and those of us who are just getting in to Townes' legend.

jewels santana · **Joined:** Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:36 pm **Posts:** 10198

awesome.
between this and the lips movie coming out i'm a giddy boy.

shaMoxie · **Posted:** Mon Apr 25, 2005 4:09 pm

Just heard about this over the weekend. Thanks for the link, Stu.

tentoze · **Posted:** Mon Apr 25, 2005 4:13 pm

That it was done well is a big relief. Looking forward to a chance to see it. Thanx.

billy g · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:41 pm **Posts:** 9020

Thanks for the heads up....I hope that this makes the Don't Stop the Rock festival in LA this summer. I'd really like to see it.

discostu · **Posted:** Mon Apr 25, 2005 5:44 pm

tentoze Wrote:

That it was done well is a big relief. Looking forward to a chance to see it. Thanx.

Don't know the history of the director, Margaret Brown, except what I found out during the post-screening Q&A . She and the producer roomed together in NYC, both were record collectors, and the producer was a big fan of Townes. Brown discovered that only one film had been made about Townes, called "Heartwinds and Highways", so she took it upon herself to make a complete documentary about the songwriting legend.

The movie is artfully and tastefully done. Townes' story is a tragic one spotted with bad-luck humor that will appeal to a wide-array of people.
Some of the people in the film were at the Nashville screening including Bill Hedgepah (sp?) who had a 25 year friendship with Townes and who's phone/backyard taped conversations are featured prominently in the movie. Also, Guy Clark is friggin' hilarious in this thing.

One of the best films I've seen all year.

NP: Townes Van Zandt - "Nothin'"

Senator LooGAR · **Posted:** Mon Apr 25, 2005 9:21 pm

That sounds uber qual, Stu. Chances of me seeing it are quite slim, but nice to know its out there.

billy g · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:41 pm **Posts:** 9020

I saw this at the LA Filmfest over the weekend. It was pretty great. Guy Clark was hilarious. In the Q&A after the film, Margaret Brown said that their interview with him started at 11AM in the morning and ended at 5AM the next day and that his personality in real life was exactly that which is shown in the film.

I think my favorite part was when an interviewer asked Townes why all of the songs he wrote were sad and he said that they weren't all sad, that some were completely hopeless.

The film is apparently getting limited release in the US in the fall with a soundtrack coming out soon (before the actual film).

np: Scritti Politti "Early"

jagged · **Posted:** Mon Jun 27, 2005 7:12 pm

this sounds good, I'll definitely have to check it out...hopefully it'll be talked about on here after it's released or I'll just forget

shaMoxie · **Posted:** Wed Mar 22, 2006 12:01 am

Just finished this an hour ago. I'll admit, I was pretty moved by the heavy content & mood. When I usually sit down to watch a band or music doc, I almost expect the rags-to-riches story. The one that's chock-full of long, drugged out highs, the thrashing of hotels and non-stop groupie-bangage. Things that dreams are made of. Having been raised on Townes I knew this wouldn't be a similar portrayal, but I had no idea he lived a life much closer to the layman as he did. If you're a fan or on the cusp of becoming one, Be Here To Love Me captures both the brilliance and destruction of one of America's greatest songwriters. Some fantastic never-been-seen footage, and one of the most sincere and beatiful tributes I've seen in a long time.

Netflix away.

discostu · **Posted:** Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:09 am

Glad you liked it. I saw it again a couple of months back at the Nashville non-fest premiere at Belcourt Theatre. What I got from it was that the family of Townes' 3rd wife completely hate Kevin Eggers and his brother who served as Townes' tour mgr. for years. I'm guessing they haven't been so quick to share the royalties from his records? Heard a lot of boos from their area of the theatre (they were in attendance at both screenings).

Flying Rabbit · **Posted:** Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:12 am

I was gonna pick this up last time out, but I just added it to my Netflix queue. I should host a Rambling Jack Elliot/TVZ/Bound For Glory night here.

mcaputo · **Posted:** Wed May 31, 2006 1:35 pm

Had a chance to finally see this last night. It was everything I'd read and more. An incredibly moving piece on one of our greatest songwriters.
(Guy Clark was an added bonus as well)

pollysix · **Joined:** Tue Oct 26, 2004 2:56 am **Posts:** 5174

A summary of my knowledge of him (in point form):

- He looks like my bf on one of his album covers (which is hot, imo).
- That is all.

[img][550:545]http://www.muzieklijstjes.nl/Tips/ZandtTTownesvanZandt.jpg[/img]

billy g · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:41 pm **Posts:** 9020

pollysix Wrote:

A summary of my knowledge of him....That is all

You should rectify that.

Steve Earle Wrote:

Townes van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.

rogneeb · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:07 pm **Posts:** 12618

got this from netflix - really liked it, nice piece of work. really tragic.

pollysix · **Joined:** Tue Oct 26, 2004 2:56 am **Posts:** 5174

billy g Wrote:

pollysix Wrote:

A summary of my knowledge of him....That is all

You should rectify that.

Steve Earle Wrote:

Townes van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.

I know.

f4df · **Posted:** Wed May 31, 2006 8:52 pm

I really liked the documentary..but it sounded as though they tried to kill him living the RocknRoll death.. I mean the guy was 50... and I love his stuff.. but a songwriter to equal Dylan? hmmmm......

billy g · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:41 pm **Posts:** 9020

FYI - Its on the Sundance Channel Right Now

ayah · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:03 pm **Posts:** 6402

i was 20 minutes into this and the damn phone rang........can't wait for it to repeat.
it was a pretty moving 20 minutes the way these hard rough hewn guys are all so passionate about the guy.

f4df · **Posted:** Sat Jul 29, 2006 8:06 pm

ayah Wrote:

i was 20 minutes into this and the damn phone rang........can't wait for it to repeat.
it was a pretty moving 20 minutes the way these hard rough hewn guys are all so passionate about the guy.

true, speaking of which - anyone's opinion on Guy Clark?

tentoze · **Posted:** Sat Jul 29, 2006 8:24 pm

f4df Wrote:

ayah Wrote:

i was 20 minutes into this and the damn phone rang........can't wait for it to repeat.
it was a pretty moving 20 minutes the way these hard rough hewn guys are all so passionate about the guy.

true, speaking of which - anyone's opinion on Guy Clark?

Major Fucking Genius. New album coming out in August, which, with his limited output over the years, is always cause for dancing drunk in the street.

ptrck · **Joined:** Wed Oct 27, 2004 10:55 pm **Posts:** 5568

f4df Wrote:

anyone's opinion on Guy Clark?

More influential than people realize.

jewels santana · **Joined:** Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:36 pm **Posts:** 10198

the story about how the guy heard three townes songs in a row on the radio . . . i had that same thing happen with jerry garcia. And now anytime i hear three songs in a row by an artist on the radioi get scared.

f4df · **Posted:** Sat Jul 29, 2006 9:45 pm

ok seeing descriptors like "major fucking genius" and "more influential.." - makes me ask you to defend such claims (for my own information not because I dont believe you). Also, where should one start?

Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt

Who is online