Music Movies: Highs & Lows, and more tips

MUSIC MOVIES: HIGHS & LOWS

Over the holidays, I stepped out to see the two new ballyhooed music films, “I’m Not There’’ (an entertainingly warped biopic on Bob Dylan) and “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,’’ about which the less said, the better.
The Dylan pic was an eye-opening march through multiple actors (and actress Cate Blanchett) playing Dylan at different points of his life. I loved it, especially Blanchett’s steely portrayal of Dylan’s bohemian days and Richard Gere’s sage portrayal of the older-and-wiser (and yes, grizzled) Dylan. The movie is imaginative, fanciful, often revelatory but sometimes full of baloney – a fitting juxtaposition to Dylan’s wildly mixed-bag songs.
The two-disc soundtrack is worth picking up – some great songs there by Calexico, Wilco and others – but many don’t end up in the movie. But a lot of great tunes by Dylan himself do end up in it, so any Dylan lover will dig it. Some of the history in the movie gets a little sketchy, but overall, this ambitious project delivers far more than I expected. Don’t go thinking you’re going to see “Citizen Kane.’’ Just go with an open mind and enjoy.
As for “Dewey Cox,’’ it’s an out-and-out mess. Billed as a rock satire, it might be fine for people with a tangential interest to the music, but to anyone who takes the genre seriously, it’s an offensive mishmash. It is cartoony throughout. It starts by making fun of Johnny Cash, then ends up poking fun at everyone from the Beatles to the Maharishi. There are laughs here and there, but mostly this is a grade B movie that ultimately denigrates rock ‘n’ roll and makes it look completely foolish. Give me “Spinal Tap’’ anytime. That’s a real satire.

CRITIC’S TIPS
Big Brothers & the Holding Company – at Harpers Ferry on Thursday, Jan. 3. Janis Joplin’s band is still soldiering on. I’m not sure who is singing Janis’ parts these days, but the last time I saw them a few years ago, they succeeded quite admirably.

Watts – at the Abbey Lounge on Friday, Jan. 4. Any garage-rock band that names itself Watts – after Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts – has an immediate leg up on the competition, right? They deliver the goods.

Hot Stove, Cool Music – at the Paradise Rock Club on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 5-6. Theo Epstein and Peter Gammons return with their annual benefit gigs for Theo’s Foundation to Be Named Later (catchy phrase, that). The Saturday event includes WBOS faves deSol and Eli “Paperboy’’ Reed & the True Loves. And Sunday is a whopping night with Lori McKenna, Ken Casey of the Dropkick Murphys, Dicky Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Kay Hanley, Bill Janovitz, Paul Barrere of Little Feat, and the list goes on.

50th Anniversary Hootenanny – at the Brattle Theatre on Sunday, Jan. 6. It will be 50 years to the day this Sunday that Club 47, which later became Club Passim, opened. To mark the occasion, some star-studded folk alumni from Tom Rush and Jim Kweskin, to Al Kooper, Bill Keith and Geoff Muldaur, perform a celebratory hoot at the Brattle, starting at 4 p.m.