Author Archives: Greg

Door Reviews: Frampton, Croce, New Riders, Black Oak & Hank Snow

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Happy Friday everyone. I’d like to share 5 mini-reviews that Cameron did for the San Diego Door. He completely dominated the Stereoscopes (i.e. review) section of the July 28, 1972 issue, so I’ll be sharing all of his reviews over three or four posts. For now, he’s pretty harsh on Black Oak Arkansas and Jim Croce, while being mixed on the latest albums from Hank Snow and New Riders of the Purple Sage. On a better note, he’s very favorable on the first solo album from some guy named Peter Frampton (who used to be the group Humble Pie). Could be the start of a beautiful friendship…

 

 

 

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Jun 24, 2011

Billy Wilder: Happy Birthday!

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I know it’s getting late today, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to mention and celebrate the late Mr. Billy Wilder’s birthday. Mr. Wilder would have been 105 today. Luckily, you can honor the man by checking out the Conversations in Wilder section of the site . You’ll find an excerpt from the book, Wilder quotes, a filmography and mini biography. You could also watch one of his fabulous films. The Apartment would be a good place to start. You really can’t go wrong with Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole, Some Like it Hot, Kiss Me Stupid or countless others in his filmography. Billy directed 27 films, but many people forget what a great writer he was as well.  I’ll leave you with one of my favorite Wilder quotes:

“You have to have a dream so you can get up in the morning.”

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Jun 22, 2011

The Guess Who Makes It 175!

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Today’s May 1974 Rolling Stone profile of the Guess Who marks the 175th Journalism entry for the site. That’s a big number, but we have plenty more Cameron Crowe penned articles in the coming months. This includes interviews and reviews from the San Diego Door, L.A. Times, Rolling Stone, Musician magazine, Interview magazine and much, much more. We’ll continue to add these pieces between entries about Pearl Jam Twenty, We Bought a Zoo and The Union.

OK, back to the Guess Who article. It focuses on the split between Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman with some interesting (and juicy quotes) on both sides. Over the years, the band (with Cummings and Bachman) has reunited multiple times, but are unable to use the Guess Who name due to legal issues.

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Jun 21, 2011

Splinters of CSNY: Harvest, Manassas & Nash/Crosby

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In June 1972, just prior to his 15th birthday, Cameron wrote this epic review of three new albums from the members of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. At this time, this was definitely the most in-depth review that he’d done for the San Diego Door. Neil Young’s Harvest gets the bulk of the attention and you can feel Cameron’s disappointment as you read his review. It’s very clear that Cameron prefers the “stripped down-acoustic” versions of these Harvest songs that Young had previously debuted on tour. Stephen Stills’ Manassas doesn’t fare too well either, but Cameron really enjoyed the Crosby contributions on the Nash/Crosby LP quite a bit.

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Jun 19, 2011

EW First Look: Pearl Jam Twenty

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Entertainment Weekly has a small feature on Pearl Jam Twenty in their latest issue (#1160 dated June 24, 2011), which just hit the newsstands. They shared the above picture (essentially a behind the scenes image that is not in the documentary) and had this to say:

Cameron Crowe Directs Pearl Jam Doc

It’s been nearly 20 years since Crowe first put the members of Pearl Jam on the big screen as a fictional Seattle band in Singles. Now, in the documentary Pearl Jam Twenty (due this Fall), he’s taking a look at the band’s real-life accomplishments in their two decades together. Crowe (left, with frontman Eddie Vedder) tells EW, “People who’ve seen the movie tend to say one of two things: (a) When can I see the band play live again? or (b) Did we really look like that in the ’90s? – Jason Adams

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Jun 17, 2011

Harold and Maude: A Look Back

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Cameron hosted a special (almost) 4oth anniversary screening of Harold and Maude this past Sunday at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. He was there to praise the film he cherishes so much, but even more importantly, to honor former Paramount VP Peter Bart. Mr. Bart was instrumental in Harold and Maude being made (along with many other films including another of my favorites, Paper Moon). Bart, who was the editor of Variety from 1989-2009, recently authored Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, The Mob (and Sex), which recalls his time at Paramount in the early 70s.

Unreleased Still from the Film

Cameron and Peter talked about the challenges of getting an unconventional romance like Harold and Maude made. When Bart was asked if this kind of film could be made today he said “probably not, unless it starred Betty White and Justin Bieber”. Cameron also read an excerpt from a Variety review that wasn’t very kind. Based on the reactions I’ve seen on Twitter, a good time was had by all. If for some reason you haven’t seen the film, please do yourself a favor and check it out. Here’s the trailer:

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Jun 16, 2011

Paste: 11 Vinyl Albums, 10 Essential Films & More!

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Today we look back at the Paste magazine profile of Cameron and Elizabethtown from September 2005. The cover art was done by none other than Joni Mitchell and the issue included an interview with Cameron, his 11 Albums to Seek Out on Vinyl, 10 Essential Films for Stormy Night and Crowe on Crowe (as he reflects back on his all his major projects from Fast Times to Vanilla Sky). I sure do miss holding the physical Paste magazine in my hands, but at least they are still alive and kicking online.

 

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Jun 14, 2011

Inquire Within: Zoo Homework

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We are back with 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 The Union, Pearl Jam Twenty and We Bought a Zoo this fall.

The Uncool: What films were required viewing this time around for your cast and crew before you started filming We Bought a Zoo?

Cameron: Local Hero and the Sigur Ros documentary Heima.  Both had a warmth and a feeling of getting lost in another world, a place you might never want to leave.  At this point, I’ve ordered so many copies of these two films, if Amazon had a button that just said — “AGAIN” — I would press it.

Fun Fact: Heima was even used on the signs to guide people to the set of We Bought a Zoo!

Please send in your questions for Cameron and maybe yours will be part of a future installment of Inquire Within…

 

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Jun 11, 2011

  • Almost Famous- Paramount+, AMC+

  • David Crosby: Remember My Name- Starz

  • Elizabethtown- FUBO

  • Say Anything...- Disney+, Hulu, AMC+

  • Vanilla Sky- Paramount+,Showtime

  • We Bought A Zoo- Disney+, Roku