It's hard to believe that the Cowtown Ballroom was in business for only 38 months. Here in KC, people still remember it fondly and everyone who ever went there to a concert has a story to tell. And what a story this tidy little doc tells, weaving interviews with nationally known musicians and local talent in with rare footage of Kansas City in the what could be called the Golden Days of the Counterculture in Kansas City. It is a metaphor for the times and changes of the early to mid 1970's, it is a trip back to a trippy time, it is the history of music in the Midwest in those years and it is much more. Seeing people that I knew personally being interviewed was really nostalgic for me, of course, but what was mind blowing (to use a term of the times) was all the huge names that played there in such a few short years and the totally eclectic nature of the music and entertainers. I had some magic moments at the Cowtown and anyone who did will embrace this fine little film. And if you weren't around, or were on the coasts and never heard of the Cowtown, here's your chance to see what life and music was like back in the heartland. New York and California might have had all the press, but we had some of the best right here in our own backyard.
2 Reviews
You Didn't *Have* to be There, But You'll Wish You Were
Elspode3 June 2010
If you are cynical, or unable to see past your own little corner of this world, this film will seem to you to be a regional self-love fest - a trip down nostalgia lane for a bunch of middle aged Midwestern hippies. If you love history, rock and roll, and all things sociological, then "Cowtown Ballroom: Sweet Jesus!" will hold you in thrall.
The makers of this documentary did a wondrous job given the dearth of film from either the era or the location of the film's subject, a Kansas City music venue whose legacy is far larger than the old roller rink in which it was sited, and much longer than it's three year run would seem to indicate. The concerts held there in the early 1970's are still talked about today amongst those of us who attended. The sterile, metal-detected, put your butt in the seat and keep it there concerts of today are as different from Cowtown shows as baby formula and moonshine, and CB:SJ! does an excellent job of taking us back to a simpler and often more fulfilling time in the music world. Moreover, the film gives us a brief, but earnest glimpse into the social trends and cultural environment that spawned Cowtown and many other venues like it across the country.
"Cowtown Ballroom: Sweet Jesus!" is for anyone who ever sat on the floor with their best girl, twisted up a fatty, and let the music flow over them with a thousand other long hairs like them. It is also for them to show their children that, yes, indeed, Mom and Dad were once cool.
The makers of this documentary did a wondrous job given the dearth of film from either the era or the location of the film's subject, a Kansas City music venue whose legacy is far larger than the old roller rink in which it was sited, and much longer than it's three year run would seem to indicate. The concerts held there in the early 1970's are still talked about today amongst those of us who attended. The sterile, metal-detected, put your butt in the seat and keep it there concerts of today are as different from Cowtown shows as baby formula and moonshine, and CB:SJ! does an excellent job of taking us back to a simpler and often more fulfilling time in the music world. Moreover, the film gives us a brief, but earnest glimpse into the social trends and cultural environment that spawned Cowtown and many other venues like it across the country.
"Cowtown Ballroom: Sweet Jesus!" is for anyone who ever sat on the floor with their best girl, twisted up a fatty, and let the music flow over them with a thousand other long hairs like them. It is also for them to show their children that, yes, indeed, Mom and Dad were once cool.
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