Mellotronists

While surfing the channels last night I happened to come upon a
documentary film on the local public station called "Off the Charts;
The Song Poem Story".  It's about the folks who write up lyrics and
send them in to musicians who quickly write, arrange, record and
produce records from them.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/offthecharts/

Sure enough, this is the very film that guy who was forwarded to this
list a year ago was working on.  Jamie Meltzer.  Mellotrons were used
by some of the more prolific musicians in the Song Poem business and
he was asking for a Mellotron owner in the Bay area to offer their
instrument to be filmed.  (I turned him down because I was really busy
at the time, I'd never heard of the guy, I'm a little wary of
filmmakers in general, and I was barely familiar with song poems at
all.)

The film was made in that Michael Moore / Daily Show documentary style
where you just film your subject while they hang themselves.  So it
was really funny in that way.

And there was a nice couple minutes dedicated to the Mellotron.  

Check your local listings!


  -- Don

-- 
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California, USA
don@...
http://www.till.com

In Los Angeles area: Friday, 14th Feb 10:00 PM on KCET, broadcast ch. 28 or check your cable listings for channel number.

MSB


----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Don Tillman" <don@...>
To: <mellotronists@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 12:45 PM
Subject: [Mellotronists] Off the Charts


> While surfing the channels last night I happened to come upon a
> documentary film on the local public station called "Off the Charts;
> The Song Poem Story".  It's about the folks who write up lyrics and
> send them in to musicians who quickly write, arrange, record and
> produce records from them.
> 
> http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/offthecharts/
> 
> Sure enough, this is the very film that guy who was forwarded to this
> list a year ago was working on.  Jamie Meltzer.  Mellotrons were used
> by some of the more prolific musicians in the Song Poem business and
> he was asking for a Mellotron owner in the Bay area to offer their
> instrument to be filmed.  (I turned him down because I was really busy
> at the time, I'd never heard of the guy, I'm a little wary of
> filmmakers in general, and I was barely familiar with song poems at
> all.)
> 
> The film was made in that Michael Moore / Daily Show documentary style
> where you just film your subject while they hang themselves.  So it
> was really funny in that way.
> 
> And there was a nice couple minutes dedicated to the Mellotron.  
> 
> Check your local listings!
> 
> 
>   -- Don
> 
> -- 
> Don Tillman
> Palo Alto, California, USA
> don@...
> http://www.till.com

Interesting, Don...I had been hooked up with Sandy Stanton a number of years
ago - wow, actually it's been many years now - in my early days of wanting a
Chamberlin. He had done work with Harry and had been quite the Chamberlin
repair dude in the 50's and 60's in LA. Apparently, from my more recent
web-browsing , I found out he was a Song-Poem artist...an odd phenom of the
50's and 60's - and of course an avid Chamberlinist on his records as was the
case with a few of these folks. What a coincidence - but it was a Chamberlin!

Vance....with my Chamberlin in paradise....

PS - More at www.aspma.com. Also check out the local alternative rag's
article on the documentary with a paragraph on our favorite intruments at
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/12/features-sullivan.php.


Don Tillman wrote:

> While surfing the channels last night I happened to come upon a
> documentary film on the local public station called "Off the Charts;
> The Song Poem Story".  It's about the folks who write up lyrics and
> send them in to musicians who quickly write, arrange, record and
> produce records from them.
>
> http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/offthecharts/
>
> Sure enough, this is the very film that guy who was forwarded to this
> list a year ago was working on.  Jamie Meltzer.  Mellotrons were used
> by some of the more prolific musicians in the Song Poem business and
> he was asking for a Mellotron owner in the Bay area to offer their
> instrument to be filmed.  (I turned him down because I was really busy
> at the time, I'd never heard of the guy, I'm a little wary of
> filmmakers in general, and I was barely familiar with song poems at
> all.)
>
> The film was made in that Michael Moore / Daily Show documentary style
> where you just film your subject while they hang themselves.  So it
> was really funny in that way.
>
> And there was a nice couple minutes dedicated to the Mellotron.
>
> Check your local listings!
>
>   -- Don
>
> --
> Don Tillman
> Palo Alto, California, USA
> don@...
> http://www.till.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> Mellotronists-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

>>>and he was asking for a Mellotron owner in the Bay area to offer 
their instrument to be filmed.>>>

Sooooo....who's 400 *is* on this program???

FS. Weller 
(still waiting, so I'll just watch those loops go up and down!)

<<<and he was asking for a Mellotron owner in the Bay area to offer 
their instrument to be filmed.<<<

Sooo, who's 400 ended up in this program???

FS. Weller
(still pursuing #574, meanwhile, I'll watch the loops go up and down!)

sorry for the double post....

FS.

On 2/18/03 6:59 PM, dandc74 <capt_carbonarc@...> wrote:

><<<and he was asking for a Mellotron owner in the Bay area to offer 
>their instrument to be filmed.<<<
>
>Sooo, who's 400 ended up in this program???

It wasn't mine, although I did contact the filmmaker last year.  First, 
he was going to be out of town for awhile.  Then he contacted me when he 
got back and I was too busy.  Then I contacted him a couple weeks later 
but never heard back from him.

I'm really sorry I missed the broadcast.  The viewer comments make it 
sound like a "must see," but I'm guessing usually only people who really 
like stuff like that would bother to post their comments.  Is the video 
worth purchasing?  (They don't mention the cost.)  Hey Don, I don't 
suppose you taped it?

jim/m400#680 <==still lusting for one of fritz's infamous reference cd-r's

--- In Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com, Jim Anderson <jimanderson@m...> 
wrote:  I'm really sorry I missed the broadcast.....I don't suppose 
you taped it?

Jim (and anyone else),

I taped it in it's entirety since it ran at 1am on my local PBS 
affiliate.  Let me know if you'd like a copy of it...

FS. Weller  (M400SM #574 is in my future, it's owner just doesn't
know it yet!)