After snagging free parking near Eau Claire Market, last night, I step out of my car just as two guys walk by. I know them in an instant. The unmistakable black cap and leather jacket was a giveaway as I had, a few nights before, pre-screened Rock Prophecies. It's Robert Knight, Photographer and subject of tonight's Headliner, with Director John Chester.
"Oh man," I blurt, "You guys are my heroes!"
This gets their attention and I introduce myself and my 9-year old son who I am taking to see the animated feature My Dog Tulip, followed by It Might Get Loud (a great film).
"That's my friend Jimmy Page's movie," Knight smiles.
We talk, as we walk, about one of the the film's featured artists, Tyler Dow Bryant, among other things. Knight tells me Bryant has a gig in California Sunday night. He gives me a clue as to where.
"He's playing on the same stage where Jimi Hendrix first played."
I give. My Hendrix Trivia from back when I was younger than my son is not that good.
"The Monterey Pop Festival."
Apparently it's an annual event and still has the same cachet for up and coming artists today. The pair are amazed how everyone in town seems to know who Knight is wherever he goes, indicating the buzz generated by the screening which is a one-night stand followed by the VW sponsored party. We pause outside the door for a picture. My son is short and Robert is tall so you take what you can get. For a picture shot with a 2.0 megapixel phone, it's a pretty good one.
As we ride the escalator up to the theatres, where they have a scheduled sound check for their film, I can't help but mention the similarity to Knight's story and the one told by Cameron Crowe in the fictitious film Almost Famous, about a 15-year old kid named William Miller, played by Patrick Fugit, who is hired by Rolling Stone magazine to tour with, and write about the up and coming rockband Stillwater. The film also stars Kate Hudson as groupie Penny Lane and Billy Crudup as rock star Russel Hammond. "He ripped me off, man! I got my start 6-years before Led Zeppelin got famous."Knight is eluding to the comparison of his real-life experience as a young teen wandering into the rock world with a camera and winding up befriending the band members along the way. (Before working in the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, which he still frequently writes for.*)
After parting company, with a hope to talk again, I feel pretty hip as we walk outside the market doors to get some fresh air. A passerby agrees to take a picture of my son and I as we crouch under one of the door posters which emulates my thoughts.
Then, as if the evening could get more uncanny, a young musician, with a guitar strapped to his back, bursts out of the doors and starts telling me how he just met Knight. His name is James Drolet and the video has the story.
*For more on Crowe/Almost Famous, click: IMDB.
(Diane Bennett is covering Events, Headliners & Music On Film)
