"Still Bill" documentary: time to talk about it.

[sergiodeblanc]

So for those of you that have seen it, what did you think?

I found it really interesting how successful he became with such a late start in music, I was hoping it could come as an inspiration for many of us who may think our time has passed to make relevant music. I really enjoyed that fact that some of the people in his life had no idea he was a musician until they saw him on The Tonight Show, it makes me wonder who else is out there "doing it", unbeknownst to me.

It was also amazing to find out that he had a severe stutter and that singing is what got him through it, the tunes were not too shabby either!

 

[Shawn@PRS]

Anyone else have audio problems with this movie on Netflix? I tried watching it a couple days ago but the audio was very low and only worked out of one speaker. Other movies played fine.

 

[garrett]

Bill who? Withers?

 

[Hopeful Sinner]

I absolutely loved it and took away the same thing about the late start.. I talked to a friend of mine about it who got his first major record deal at 31. Same situation as Bill though, it's hard to get him fired up about music these days, albeit for different reasons... But there seems to be a common thread amongst all creative people and that is, in my opinion, all the really good stuff is born of some kind of pain...

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Anyone else have audio problems with this movie on Netflix? I tried watching it a couple days ago but the audio was very low and only worked out of one speaker. Other movies played fine.

No, it worked fine for me but I have had similarly weird problems with some movies on Netflix. The Robert Evans doc. took me three days and about six tries to get it to play all the way through.

Bill who? Withers?

Yes.

But there seems to be a common thread amongst all creative people and that is, in my opinion, all the really good stuff is born of some kind of pain...

And that creativity is capable of causing that same pain.

 

[22Top]

I've been a fan of his music for some time, but didn't know much about him except that he wrote a lot of these tunes while working different jobs, and that he didn't get a deal until later on in life. It was really interesting to see that he didn't seem to have changed a whole lot along the way. From how he interacted with people at the reunion, to the talk about bringing up his children. I think that maybe having such a strong wife helped keep him on that path? I haven't heard any stories of him having the great vices that other soul singers of his time suffered from.
And it was really cool to see him get fired up enough to climb up on stage in NYC, and when he got recording the song about Cuban friend, and the playing/recording his daughter. So as he says "I wish that I wanted to show off more"; maybe he finds that ability again?

Really cool one.

As a neat effect of this, just to derail a little, because of these documentaries that I've watched, Netflix is now recommending titles for me in a category called 'Music documentaries'. So my wife and I watched a really cool one called "Thunder Soul". I highly recommend it.

 

[Hopeful Sinner]

As a neat effect of this, just to derail a little, because of these documentaries that I've watched, Netflix is now recommending titles for me in a category called 'Music documentaries'. So my wife and I watched a really cool one called "Thunder Soul". I highly recommend it.

Maybe once an open spot comes up, you can suggest this as our weekly doc!!!

 

[Shawn@PRS]

I just finished watching "Still Bill". Here are my observations:

1) I liked this movie a lot more than I thought I would
2) Bill Withers is a cool cat that didn't get caught up in the hang-ups of stardom
3) His family life (wife and kids) seems to be very fulfilling for him
4) He can still find the passion, emotion and energy to get up and make it happen.

Good suggestion Serg!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Good suggestion Serg!

I was gonna give you guys "The Art of Rap" by Ice-T , but went for a safer choice.

 

[Shawn@PRS]

I was gonna give you guys "The Art of Rap" by Ice-T , but went for a safer choice.

Thanks for taking it easy on us.


One other thing I forgot to mention about "Still Bill", I liked to see Bill has a penchant for Gianinni Craviola guitars. I've never played one, but they look interesting. So ugly, they're cool.

 

[Hopeful Sinner]

Thanks for taking it easy on us.


One other thing I forgot to mention about "Still Bill", I liked to see Bill has a penchant for Gianinni Craviola guitars. I've never played one, but they look interesting. So ugly, they're cool.

My wife noticed the same thing.. Said they look like guitars that might live in a Salvador Dali painting...