Mt. Lebanon filmmaker Tom Weber gives us the 'Troubadour Blues'
Share with others:
Mt. Lebanon resident Tom Weber recently underwent the ultimate baby boomer rite of passage -- turning 60. And similar to the collapsing 401(k)s of his generational brethren, Mr. Weber endured a sea change, losing his teaching job at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
So he created for himself a new occupation: documentary filmmaker. At an age when many kick back and retire, he is hitting the road to promote his first project, a 91-minute peek at the art and lifestyle of itinerant singer-songwriters called "Troubadour Blues," which holds its Pittsburgh premiere at the Hollywood Theater on Tuesday.
Mr. Weber's interest in music sprang out of a shared childhood experience for many boomers -- witnessing the Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show" at the age of 12. "I'm part of that generation that picked up a guitar and started playing," he explains. "But I also worked part time at my local paper, the Erie Times, so music and writing went hand in hand."
Although "Troubadour Blues" features interviews and performance clips from a number of important roots/folk artists (what could be termed the "WYEP crowd," from Chris Smither and Mary Gauthier to Slaid Cleaves and Dave Alvin), he zeroes in on the life of one particular artist, Peter Case, who started his career in the '70s punk band The Nerves (with Paul Collins) and '80s garage-rockers The Plimsouls.
"I became familiar with Peter through the Plimsouls, and then saw him solo in the mid-'90s whenever he'd come around the area," Mr. Weber recalls.
"I got my hands on some video gear and asked if I could follow him around, without a real idea of what I was going to do. Then, cheap equipment came on the market, allowing me to own a camera. I had previously run a recording studio, so it was a small step from writing, playing, and producing music to making a film about it."
According to Mr. Weber, the focus on Mr. Case provided a central narrative around which to base the film's flow. He compares his observational style to the film "Don't Look Back," which covered Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England. "Peter gave me a lot of access. His story was that of the archetypal folk singer: drop out of school, hitchhike to the West Coast, become a street musician, and get involved in the music scene. He typifies that classic Woody Guthrie or Cisco Houston type, the traveling musician who goes all over with suitcase and guitar in hand, as the Paul Simon lyric ['Homeward Bound'] says."
First Published October 20, 2011 12:00 am
