Editor’s Note: As a response to Metro’s stay-at-home order to help slow the spread of COVID-19, we’ve changed the focus of our Critics’ Picks section. Rather than pointing you in the direction of events happening this week in Nashville, here are some activities you can partake in while you’re at home practicing social distancing.
What do you do when you have music on your mind, but it’s not time for one of the livestream concerts that musicians are hosting in lieu of shows? Dive into one of the many, many music documentaries on streaming platforms. It’s a great time to catch up on well-known and well-loved docs you might have missed, like the series Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men (on Showtime and Hulu) and Hip-Hop Evolution (Netflix), or the documentary feature 20 Feet From Stardom (Netflix). But there’s plenty more to explore. Among Amazon Prime’s offerings: Gimme Danger, Jim Jarmusch’s look at proto-punks The Stooges; A Poem Is a Naked Person, Les Blank’s film about rock piano legend Leon Russell; and Until the Light Takes Us, Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites’ deep dive into black metal. For local flavor, see YouTube for two docs on sonic adventurers Lambchop (short “How to Live a Normal Life” and feature-length Lambchop Is a Band) and Vimeo for the short “The Threk Michaels Story,” a brief conversation with the genial and fascinating singer and songsmith. Over on VHX, check out Scene contributor Seth Graves' Kandyland, which follows local rock heroes Thelma and the Sleaze on a wild ride of a 31-stop intra-city tour. Also look to YouTube for long-out-of-print television features like Spellbound, a chronicle of inventive New Zealand outfit Split Enz, and Born Fighters, in which British rockers Rockpile work on two fantastic albums released under the names of group members (Nick Lowe’s Labour of Lust and Dave Edmunds’ Repeat When Necessary). STEPHEN TRAGESER
