TAKEN ON A VISUAL JOURNEY

From Celestial Navigations (Numero, 2010)

The Numero brand has been expanding beyond just music in their quest to become the new Folkways, as Numero's Ken Shipley has compared Numero to in the past. Aside from the collectible trading cards of the music acts they've released, they've started to branch out in other directions of the creative world. Late last year, they released “Light: On The South Side,” a book following Chicago nightlife throughout several clubs (a book that was rivaled only by the music that accompanied it) and now they've gone in a completely different direction: film.

In true Numero fashion, they haven't unearthed some lost project of a big name movie director like Roman Polanski. Instead, they've compiled 45 (a curious/coincidental number?) of pieces by Al Jarnow. With their previous releases, the music is so localized that unless you grew up in Columbus, Ohio, or had done a case study on regional arts, you had probably never heard the material. However, some of these Jarnow films most likely are part of the fabric of your childhood if you grew up watching Sesame Street or 3-2-1 Contact in the '70s and '80s, even if you don't remember them by his name prior to watching this collection.

Recently, I got a chance to rap with Michael Slaboch from Numero about this project, which he spent countless hours researching and compiling. What I came away with from our conversation was how inspired and in awe of Jarnow's work he was the deeper he got into it. That's quite a compliment considering Mr. Slaboch went to film school.

It all started when Al Jarnow's son, Jesse, sent Slaboch a YouTube clip of his father's Cosmic Clock. Intrigued, Slaboch asked to see more. After discussing with the rest of the Numero collective, they added it to their board of potential projects to pursue. He knew this project was going to be incomplete without the Sesame Street material. After numerous cold calls, he finally linked up with someone from the legal department of the Children's Television Workshop who was very accommodating. Once that connection was made, Celestial Navigations started to fully take shape.

Many of the films have a heavy science base where Jarnow deconstructs the world, according to Slaboch. It's quite amazing to watch many of these films that employ techniques like stop motion as they unfold. Take Cubits, for instance. A piece like that took thousands of photos and hundreds of individually hand-drawn index cards, which doesn't even take into account the ordering and planning after the shoot. It's truly mindboggling to think about.

Aside from the work put in by the Numero team, they got an assist from Alexander Maxwell, who happened to work at one of the leading color correction companies in the world. Maxwell, a Numero subscriber, lent his expertise in return for being a part of what he called “The Numero Experience.” One of his main duties was to transfer 16mm film prints, an arduous task. The results speak for themselves as this DVD is an artifact to be treasured with Jarnow's independent filmmaking.

For a humble man who never wanted to be a star, the spotlight is certainly on Jarnow now. Numero is even taking the film on tour (their second tour in as many years). Catch them in your city if you can. If you aren't fortunate enough to see it on the big screen, it's just as enjoyable watching over and over in the comfort of your own home.

Jarnow has since turned to computer art and software design over the last couple of decades. Some of his early work such as Computer Test may take you back to early LOGO computer programming on the Apple IIe. His work has been showcased in Exploratorium in San Francisco and The National Gallery Of Art. Artists such as Van Gogh and Picasso get many of the accolades by painting memorable and pretty pictures, but artists like Escher and Jarnow can really grab your attention with not only their visual astuteness but their keen eye to draw you into their world. The results are truly inspiring.

STILL BILL: THE REVIEW

Still Bill Trailer from B-Side Entertainment on Vimeo.

B-Side Entertainment is releasing a documentary later this spring on Bill Withers as I previously mentioned. What's really cool about the way their distribution works, though, is that you can actually get a screener of it - for free, except for S&H - prior to its release date for purchase, and through their Host Your Own Screening program you can screen it in your home, and even charge admission. The difference in the screening DVD you get and the retail copy that will be released in the coming months is, in part, that the retail version will have bonus features. More details of hosting a screening can be found on their site as linked above. It is certainly a bold alternative to the normal business model for movie distribution and one that I think can truly succeed for certain genres of film.

Now onto the film...

Bill Withers won't soon be confused as an artist to be a representative on the Mount Rushmore of soul. That, however, doesn't make his music any less important. A late bloomer, he didn't have a hit in the music business until his early 30s. His path wasn't about the glitz and glamour, the fame or fortune; it was about telling great stories.

His sound, though, wasn't necessarily what the labels thought it should be. Instead of stories about grandmas and dark corners of love, they felt he should incorporate "horns, gold suits, and 3 chicks." He did it his way, though, proving he didn't need their advice as his first album produced the #3 hit "Ain't No Sunshine." It was a song that led him to a spot on the Johnny Carson show, a call which he got the same night he also got called back to his real job - installing toilets on 747s.

The most enjoyable part of Still Bill: The Movie is not in hearing the music or its background but in hearing HIS background. As anyone could tell who has spent any time with Mr. Withers through their headphones, the music and stories match perfectly with the person that Bill is. He's perhaps the most humble artist/person who has ever topped the charts.

That life started in the shantytown of Slab Fork, West Virginia. A coal mining town to the core, it was also predominantly white. In fact, the black cemetery is now wooded over. While searching for graves of relatives, Bill had to stoop to make his way through. The corresponding white cemetery is well kempt.

It was in a town like this, though, where he learned such a hard work ethic. During a segment where he's talking with Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley, he flipped a commonly held notion on its head. "As an entrepreneur the best sign you can put up is SOLD OUT," he states. The trio go on to discuss how he remained true to himself in his career in which he admits that at times, "Fame was kicking my ass."

That wasn't the only trouble that he encountered in his life. Early on he battled a stuttering problem. He felt labeled as he was told, "You can't do nothing." It led to a self-proclaimed crisis of confidence. From this he learned valuable life lessons. Some of these he passed along to a group of kids with the same affliction in the Our Time Theatre Company as a guest speaker. His time with them hit close to home and brought tears to his eyes.

He has passed many of these life lessons along to his kids of whom one is in law school and another who is aspiring to perform music. In a nugget we could all take to heart in telling ourselves and our own children, Bill offers this advice: "It's okay to head out for wonderful. But on the way to wonderful, you're gonna have to pass through alright. When you get to alright, take a good look around and get used to it because it may be as far as you're gonna go." He himself, though, didn't make a permanent stop in alright. He defied expectations, but only those of others. He knew he had a gift and a story to tell.

While he may not have one of the all-time great singing voices in terms of range, he more than makes up for it in sincerity. His voice exudes confidence - in what he sings about and who he is as a man. Again, he may not be a part of the Mount Rushmore of soul, but he's lived to tell the tale into his septuagenarian years.

The directors of this introspective and riveting film have done a superb job in bringing out the man behind the music. While following him around Slab Fork recounting stories from yesteryear, to a class reunion, to honorary concerts, and into the studio where he still records and tinkers today, they have brought us even closer to the man than what he brought us to through his music. It's the touching story of a man having the balls to succeed or fail on his own terms. He left music when many people still thought he had plenty more to accomplish and record, but doing it on others' terms wouldn't be the Bill Withers way.

That aforementioned fame may have been getting the best of him then, but he has persevered and become one of the truly great - and underappreciated - musical songwriters and performers in recorded music history. He's a blue collar guy through and through. Fame never swallowed him. He's been Making Music and Making Friends, as he would say, Just As I Am. Through it all, he is truly Still Bill.

BILL WITHERS: ON FILM

Still Bill Trailer from B-Side Entertainment on Vimeo.

Bill is such a great songwriter and singer. Tonight I found out, by chance, that a documentary had been made about this fine musician. Unfortunately, it just so happened that it was also a night in which it was screening in my town, but I couldn't attend. Finding out 30 minutes prior to the event wasn't enough time to make it.

I'm looking forward to catching it in the future, though. You can read more about it and pre-order it at the official site.