| Johnnie
Be Good - The Film! |
"In 2003 I was finishing my first documentary
Before
They Fall Off the Cliff: the Ripple Effect of Schizophrenia
and the last thing on my mind was documentary number two. When a colleague,
Tony Chambers, suggested there might be an opportunity to produce
a documentary about Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Johnnie Johnson, I
asked myself: when is the next time you’ll get a chance to produce
a documentary about one of the creators of rock and rolll? Never was
the logical answer.
I met with Johnnie and Frances Johnson. They reminded me of the cool
grandparents everyone wishes they had and I was hooked. That was two
years before Johnnie died at the age of 80. The good news is that
I made a new friend and I got to hear first hand what it was like
to be one of the
handful
of people who created rock and roll. Humble
superstars
are rare gems. Johnnie had to be coaxed and prodded to talk about
his greatness and accomplishments. Letting his magic, musical hands
do the talking, Johnnie was without ego. Imagine that: a man who played
with Eric Clapton,
John
Lee Hooker, Bo
Diddley, Chuck
Berry, Keith
Richards, Buddy
Guy, Robert
Cray and Aerosmith,
had zero interest in trying to convince you he was great. More surprisingly,
Johnnie was not bitter, although he had every right to be. Deserving
of widespread fame, it never happened for Johnnie. Although Chuck
Berry and Johnnie Johnson were rock and roll’s first great song-writing
team, Johnnie’s fame paled in comparison to Berry’s. This
documentary is a reminder of what Johnnie Johnson contributed to popular
music: the sound of rock and roll."
Art Holliday - Director
|
|
