This behind-the-scenes look at a tribute album to the glam rock pioneer only finds its groove when Bolan himself lights up the screen
Does Marc Bolan – king of glitter, pioneer of crushed velvet pantaloons and early 70s hitmaker supreme – need any more praise? If you are the Who manager Bill Curbishley, who produced AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T Rex along with director Ethan Silverman, the answer is most definitely yes. “I felt he deserved universal acclaim,” says Curbishley. “His life was cut short, as [were] a lot of people’s, but he didn’t achieve the acclaim and the fame that Jimi Hendrix did.” Well, the exact level of Bolan’s position on the fame meter may well be a source of dispute – particularly as far as the US goes, which admittedly Bolan never conquered to anything like the same extent as his chum in glitter, David Bowie...
Does Marc Bolan – king of glitter, pioneer of crushed velvet pantaloons and early 70s hitmaker supreme – need any more praise? If you are the Who manager Bill Curbishley, who produced AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T Rex along with director Ethan Silverman, the answer is most definitely yes. “I felt he deserved universal acclaim,” says Curbishley. “His life was cut short, as [were] a lot of people’s, but he didn’t achieve the acclaim and the fame that Jimi Hendrix did.” Well, the exact level of Bolan’s position on the fame meter may well be a source of dispute – particularly as far as the US goes, which admittedly Bolan never conquered to anything like the same extent as his chum in glitter, David Bowie...
- 9/14/2023
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Marc Bolan has been pretty well served with documentaries over the years, to the point that most fans have heard numerous anecdotes about his fabled life many times over. Ethan Silverman’s Angelheaded Hipster at least brings something new to the party by framing the story around the making of a tribute album (released a couple of years back), allowing the film to focus on Bolan’s songwriting rather than the more iconoclastic, flashy or tabloidy aspects of his life and, indeed, death.
The beats of the Bolan story, after all, are pretty well known: the working class Jewish kid dragged up in post-war London, who becomes a proto-mod at 13, spends the mid sixties, alongside David Bowie, doing everything possible to become a popstar, drifting into Tokienesque hippiedom in the psychedelic era before donning glitter on his cheeks and a feather bower to kickstart the age of glam rock in...
The beats of the Bolan story, after all, are pretty well known: the working class Jewish kid dragged up in post-war London, who becomes a proto-mod at 13, spends the mid sixties, alongside David Bowie, doing everything possible to become a popstar, drifting into Tokienesque hippiedom in the psychedelic era before donning glitter on his cheeks and a feather bower to kickstart the age of glam rock in...
- 9/13/2023
- by Marc Burrows
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
"His records were too out there for American audiences at that time." Dogwoof has revealed the trailer a music history documentary film titled Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex, by filmmaker Ethan Silverman. Everything is explained right there in the title - this film celebrates the life and work of glam rock pioneer Marc Bolan (who died in 1977 at the age of 29) while portraying a behind-the-scenes look at the tribute album of the same name produced by Hal Wilner. This first premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival last year, with a UK release set for September, though still no US debut confirmed yet. It seems like a comprehensive look at the life and music of Marc Bolan & T. Rex, along with a contemporary attempt to modernize and pay homage to his music with other musicians reworking his creations. Tons of people are featured in this, including musicians like Nick Cave,...
- 8/10/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Cameron Crowe on Marc Bolan and T. Rex in Ethan Silverman’s Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex: “A little bit of Eddie Cochran and a little bit of like futurism and it felt so fresh …” Photo: Neal Preston
In my wide-ranging conversation with Ethan Silverman we discuss why he is indebted to Cameron Crowe, Hal Willner’s work on Kurt Weill, the gift from producer Bill Curbishley of Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, Cole Porter, Danny Fields, Beth Orton, Joan Jett, David Bowie, Nick Cave, Snarky Puppy, and Ethan’s interest in Weill, Lotte Lenya, and Bauhaus projects. On-camera comments by Billy Idol, Bono, The Edge, Elton John, Nena, Ringo Starr, Gloria Jones, Rolan Bolan, Richard Barone, Tony Visconti, Bowie, and Crowe provide unique context on the cultural importance of Marc Bolan.
Ethan Silverman with Anne-Katrin Titze: “Hal Willner created probably one of my top five favourite albums of all time.
In my wide-ranging conversation with Ethan Silverman we discuss why he is indebted to Cameron Crowe, Hal Willner’s work on Kurt Weill, the gift from producer Bill Curbishley of Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, Cole Porter, Danny Fields, Beth Orton, Joan Jett, David Bowie, Nick Cave, Snarky Puppy, and Ethan’s interest in Weill, Lotte Lenya, and Bauhaus projects. On-camera comments by Billy Idol, Bono, The Edge, Elton John, Nena, Ringo Starr, Gloria Jones, Rolan Bolan, Richard Barone, Tony Visconti, Bowie, and Crowe provide unique context on the cultural importance of Marc Bolan.
Ethan Silverman with Anne-Katrin Titze: “Hal Willner created probably one of my top five favourite albums of all time.
- 6/30/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Dan Geller on Leonard Cohen: ‘Leonard is a very very clever writer. I believe someone had asked James Joyce about Ulysses, which is, you know, famously impenetrable …” Photo: Cohen Estate
The 21st edition of the Tribeca Film Festival hosted a special New York première screening of Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller’s poetically keen Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, with an original score by John Lissauer at the Beacon Theatre, followed by a Leonard Cohen tribute concert with Judy Collins, Amanda Shires, Sharon Robinson and Daniel Seavey. The documentary is dedicated to the distinguished music producer Hal Willner (recently Ethan Silverman’s Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex and the Lou Reed: Caught Between The Twisted Stars exhibition).
Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine with Anne-Katrin Titze: “The Beacon Theatre, which is historically so important, not only in terms of Hallelujah the song, where John Cale...
The 21st edition of the Tribeca Film Festival hosted a special New York première screening of Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller’s poetically keen Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, with an original score by John Lissauer at the Beacon Theatre, followed by a Leonard Cohen tribute concert with Judy Collins, Amanda Shires, Sharon Robinson and Daniel Seavey. The documentary is dedicated to the distinguished music producer Hal Willner (recently Ethan Silverman’s Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex and the Lou Reed: Caught Between The Twisted Stars exhibition).
Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine with Anne-Katrin Titze: “The Beacon Theatre, which is historically so important, not only in terms of Hallelujah the song, where John Cale...
- 6/29/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Lena Góra discussing an early cut of Roving Woman with Michal Chmielewski, John Hawkes, Chris Hanley, and Orian Williams: “I remember we sat down and said to each other: ‘Maybe we should show this movie to Wim Wenders? Maybe he will give us a note or two?’ And I sent him an email then. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Michal Chmielewski’s Roving Woman, co-written by its star/producer Lena Góra and co-produced with John Hawkes, executive produced by Wim Wenders and Orian Williams, and shot by Łukasz Dziedzic, is another highlight of the 21st edition of the Tribeca Film Festival.
Lena Góra with Michal Chmielewski: “Michal allowed us to improvise within a structure.”
In the first instalment with Lena Góra and Michal Chmielewski we discuss the significant impact of Wim Wenders, Harry Dean Stanton, Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude, Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, and Tom Waits. I reference a Joan Didion quote,...
Michal Chmielewski’s Roving Woman, co-written by its star/producer Lena Góra and co-produced with John Hawkes, executive produced by Wim Wenders and Orian Williams, and shot by Łukasz Dziedzic, is another highlight of the 21st edition of the Tribeca Film Festival.
Lena Góra with Michal Chmielewski: “Michal allowed us to improvise within a structure.”
In the first instalment with Lena Góra and Michal Chmielewski we discuss the significant impact of Wim Wenders, Harry Dean Stanton, Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude, Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, and Tom Waits. I reference a Joan Didion quote,...
- 6/21/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
It has been nearly 45 years since the death of Marc Bolan, a.k.a., T. Rex., at the shockingly young age of 29. Yet five decades after the heyday of glam rock, Bolan’s music remains ubiquitous. At this exact moment audiences around the world are hearing the swaggering “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” as it accompanies a key scene in Top Gun: Maverick. The newest album from Def Leppard, Diamond Star Halos, takes its name from “Gong.” And Bolan has been name-checked in multiple reviews of the latest album from a similarly gender-fluid pop star, Harry Styles. Now the high-profile documentary Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex makes its world premiere at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival.
A good chunk of Angelheaded Hipster documents the star-studded creation of a 2020 tribute album, also called AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex. Indeed, the goal of director...
A good chunk of Angelheaded Hipster documents the star-studded creation of a 2020 tribute album, also called AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex. Indeed, the goal of director...
- 6/11/2022
- by Christopher Schobert
- The Film Stage
At the outset of Ethan Silverman’s documentary “Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex,” Billy Idol relays an anecdote about Marc Bolan — the magnetic songwriter and frontman of the English glam rock band T. Rex — getting booed by a crowd of 175,000 at a festival in 1971.
If you’ve heard of Bolan or even heard a single song by T. Rex (you have), it’s no surprise that the anecdote ends with Bolan melting the crowd’s faces with an hour of his churning, groovy guitars and sensually laconic singing, battering his guitar strings with a tambourine and receiving a 15-minute standing ovation in the process.
That’s just the kind of rock star Marc Bolan was, and his charisma is still so powerful, 45 years after his death at the age of 30, that it threatens to derail the focus of the documentary. That focus is ostensibly about the...
If you’ve heard of Bolan or even heard a single song by T. Rex (you have), it’s no surprise that the anecdote ends with Bolan melting the crowd’s faces with an hour of his churning, groovy guitars and sensually laconic singing, battering his guitar strings with a tambourine and receiving a 15-minute standing ovation in the process.
That’s just the kind of rock star Marc Bolan was, and his charisma is still so powerful, 45 years after his death at the age of 30, that it threatens to derail the focus of the documentary. That focus is ostensibly about the...
- 6/11/2022
- by Katie Walsh
- The Wrap
Marc Bolan’s iconic glam makeup is examined in an exclusive clip from the upcoming doc Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T. Rex.
“Eyeliner is still a political act in some places,” makeup artist James Vincent says in the clip. “It was playing with gender, it was playing with power. Gender is power. To take something feminine and put it on a man or a musician and make it sexy, I think that’s dangerous.”
Vincent also applies eyeliner to Joan Jett, explaining what it contributes to...
“Eyeliner is still a political act in some places,” makeup artist James Vincent says in the clip. “It was playing with gender, it was playing with power. Gender is power. To take something feminine and put it on a man or a musician and make it sexy, I think that’s dangerous.”
Vincent also applies eyeliner to Joan Jett, explaining what it contributes to...
- 6/10/2022
- by Angie Martoccio
- Rollingstone.com
New documentaries on T. Rex, Leonard Cohen, and Lil Baby are among the films set to screen at the 2022 Tribeca Festival (formerly known as the Tribeca Film Festival), taking place June 8 through 19 in New York City.
Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T. Rex, was written and directed by Ethan Silverman, and will get its premiere at Tribeca. The film pairs a deep dive into Bolan’s life and career with a look at the making of the 2020 T. Rex tribute album (also titled Angelheaded Hipster), which was...
Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T. Rex, was written and directed by Ethan Silverman, and will get its premiere at Tribeca. The film pairs a deep dive into Bolan’s life and career with a look at the making of the 2020 T. Rex tribute album (also titled Angelheaded Hipster), which was...
- 4/19/2022
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Kesha had just finished previewing her new album, Rainbow, for industry types at a Los Angeles recording studio three years ago when she encountered a stout, bearded guy with a “friendly, happy” vibe in the hallway. “You must be an artist,” he said, referring to her bright-red Nudie suit festooned with images of sea creatures.
She didn’t know who he was — and, it turned out, he didn’t recognize her either — but she soon learned he was a producer named Hal Willner, and he immediately recognized her name when she introduced herself.
She didn’t know who he was — and, it turned out, he didn’t recognize her either — but she soon learned he was a producer named Hal Willner, and he immediately recognized her name when she introduced herself.
- 9/2/2020
- by David Browne
- Rollingstone.com
Kesha delivers a high-octane performance of the T. Rex classic “Children of the Revolution” for a new compilation album, the Hal Willner-produced Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T. Rex.
As seen in the accompanying video, directed by Ethan Silverman, the pop star recorded the classic track while accompanied by an orchestra in the studio. Clips of her performance are interspersed with archival footage of Marc Bolan, his band T. Rex and their fans.
“Through a stroke of luck, I met the incredibly talented and kind Hal Willner,...
As seen in the accompanying video, directed by Ethan Silverman, the pop star recorded the classic track while accompanied by an orchestra in the studio. Clips of her performance are interspersed with archival footage of Marc Bolan, his band T. Rex and their fans.
“Through a stroke of luck, I met the incredibly talented and kind Hal Willner,...
- 6/24/2020
- by Claire Shaffer
- Rollingstone.com
Nick Cave shared a tender interpretation of T. Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer,” the first offering from the upcoming tribute compilation, Angelheaded Hipster, which was produced by the late Hal Willner. The record will arrive September 4th via BMG.
For his cover, Cave transformed “Cosmic Dancer” into a poignant piano ballad buoyed by a rich orchestral arrangement. The track arrived with a video of Cave and others recording the song in the studio, paired with a montage of archival footage of T. Rex.
Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T.
For his cover, Cave transformed “Cosmic Dancer” into a poignant piano ballad buoyed by a rich orchestral arrangement. The track arrived with a video of Cave and others recording the song in the studio, paired with a montage of archival footage of T. Rex.
Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T.
- 4/29/2020
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Nora and Delia Ephron. From PatrickMcMullan.com. “It’s the Vagina Monologues without the vaginas” is how the Ephron sisters (writers Nora and Delia) describe their wise and witty little play Love, Loss, and What I Wore, based on the best selling 1995 memoir by Illene Beckerman. It opened last night at off-Broadway’s Westside Theatre to a standing ovation. The play isn’t about sex, per se; it’s about clothes and accessories and the funny sad mocking memories they conjure up at various turning points in women’s lives. The cast will change every four weeks. For the first month Rosie O’Donnell, Tyne Daly, Katie Finneran, Natasha Lyonne, and Samantha Bee of The Daily Show are performing; I have to say they are all absolutely wonderful. After the show I walked to the party at the Bryant Park Grill with writer-director Ethan Silverman. It was a cool lovely...
- 10/2/2009
- Vanity Fair
When talking about New York Stage and Film, artistic director Johanna Pfaelzer uses words such as "flexible," "fluid," and "nimble" — all necessary traits for what she calls a "relatively small company." That may be, but Nysf has had a significant impact on theatre for close to 25 years. The play-development company has nurtured and shepherded the work of John Patrick Shanley, Beth Henley, and Jon Robin Baitz, among many others. This theatre season, Nysf is making one of its biggest impressions to date, as three works developed at its summer program at Powerhouse Theatre in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., take the stage this fall: Shanley's musical Romantic Poetry; Stephen Belber's Fault Lines, and Daniel Jenkins' Love Child. A fourth, the musical Nerds (book and lyrics by Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner and music by Hal Goldberg), is scheduled to open on Broadway this spring.Founded in 1985 by Mark-Linn Baker, Leslie Urgand,...
- 11/4/2008
- by Andrew Salomon
- backstage.com
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