Hey, folks - if ANY of you have not had the chance to see the Oscar-winning documentary Searching for Sugarman, PLEASE take my advice and put it at the top of your queue. It tells a story that youd consider completely out of the realm of possibility - if you werent watching it all unfold. Briefly, this young Detroit-based singer-songwriter who goes simply by Rodriguez records two albums for some pretty prominent producers in the late 60s. Despite their insistence that he could be the next Dylan, the albums go nowhere, and he just drifts back into the 9-to-5 world, working on construction crews and playing guitar around the house. Coulda been a contender . . . BUT, some untraceable individual brings a Rodriguez album with her on a visit to relatives or friends in South Africa. One person refers another to this profound, galvanizing folk rocker, and so on, and so on - until, in South Africa, hes a bigger deal than Elvis. The demand grows for an appearance, but when nothing materializes - given that the guy is just living his simple life with no remote awareness that hes a virtual GOD in a foreign country - legends start to surface that he offed himself in some on-stage, blaze-of-glory grand exit. But a record store owner and an investigative journalist arent quite satisfied with rumors, and their diligence leads to a series of discoveries and encounters that stir the soul like nothing since Paul Winfield threw aside his crutch in Sounder. My mom had to stay on me for a year before I got around to watching this transcendent film. Now Im asking you to trust me (and her).
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 04:11:06 +0000