The Encyclopedia of Musicians and Bands on Film by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2016-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

A Mighty Wind is a mockumentary about various fictional folk bands that unite for a concert. It begins with news of the death of legendary folk group manager/impresario/producer Irving Steinbloom (1920–2003). His son Jonathan (Bob Balaban) decides to produce a memorial concert featuring his father’s favorite 1960s musical groups, the New Main Street Singers, the Folksmen, and Mitch & Mickey.6 In his interview Jonathan explains that a sudden vacancy in the schedule at New York City’s Town Hall opened up—which gives the bands just a two-week window to reunite and rehearse for the concert.7 Further interviews and combined black-and-white fictional footage follow to introduce these bands while also giving details about their history, albums, and musical styles, and for the duo Mitch & Mickey, their breakup. One band, the Folksmen (possibly a combination parody of the Kingston Trio and the Journeymen), recalls forming when bassist Mark Shubb (Harry Shearer) and banjo/mandolin player Alan Barrows (Christopher Guest), at the time University of Vermont students, went to New York City and met guitarist Jerry Palter (Michael McKean). They also tell of their successful albums, Singin’, Wishin’, and Pickin’ (note the one-word titles with the missing “g”). They also mention that they were recorded on a label so ridiculously cheap that album purchasers had to center the middle hole on the albums and punch it out themselves to enjoy them at home. They later reveal that their downfall came when they released a fuller-titled fourth album, Saying Something (two words and with the “g” remaining twice). Since then, they have performed at casinos and seedy venues and have not managed another recording contract.

The New Main Street Singers (possibly a parody of the New Christy Minstrels) are the current version of the 1960s group, founded by George Menschell (Paul Dooley) and including nine singers, what they call a neuftet (the original band broke up in 1971). In later mockumentary coverage it is explained that Laurie (Jane Lynch) and Terry Bohner (John Michael Higgins) lead the new group. The Bohners, like the new group, are a bizarre combination of morally and religiously righteous and clean, but with offbeat or seedy backgrounds: Laurie Bohner used to star in pornographic films, while Terry endured musical abuse that led to an obsession with the Main Street Singers, of whom he fashioned cardboard cutouts so that he could perform with them while trapped in his room as a child. The Bohners follow a belief in what they call the vibrationary power of colors. It becomes evident why this group, still dressed in their brightly colored retro uniforms, now performs at an amusement park in Tallahassee, Florida. Later in the film, Sissy Knox (Parker Posey), another member of the new lineup, is introduced. The daughter of a founding member of the original group with a past of running away and living on the streets, she is also a strange combination of energetic and wholesome—as well as dark and weird. She claims that the group saved her in 1995 from a life on the streets.

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