The late, great Mel Brown was a talented, Mississippi-born blues legend who chose to spend his life in Kitchener, Ontario. Sadly, he left us in 2009 but his career and legacy are celebrated in Love Lost and Found: The Story of Mel Brown.
This amazing documentary, directed by Kitchener's Sean Jasmins, does justice to Mel's memory. Narrated by his widow, Miss Angel and featuring musical footage from the 80s to some of his final performances, we get to experience his journey from its humble beginnings to entering the musical elite to choosing Kitchener as his adopted home.
Music from the Big House, the revealing documentary by acclaimed Canadian director, Bruce McDonald and starring Hamilton'sRita Chiarelli, is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.
The film follows the Canadian Blues Queen as she plans a concert at Louisiana's infamous Angola Prison. Rather than just perform there, the blueswoman enlists the help of the prisoners to play and write songs for the show.
With Rita's name attached to the project, you know the songs will be amazing. You can read about it in our review of the soundtrack.
Beyond the incredible music, the documentary tells an inspiring story of redemption and forgiveness. The inmates use the power of music to change their lives around. Their mutual love of performing bonds them to Rita and each other.
Artistically filmed in black and white, the movie is stunningly beautiful while still revealing the harshness of prison life. The spotlight fluctuates between Rita, the inmates and the facility.
There are also some great extras such as more great live music, deleted scenes and a music video.
It's not too often that you see a local musician with a live DVD. It's even rarer to experience an amazing intimate show that rocks as hard as any big arena spectacle. Luckily, the Steve Strongman Band recorded such an incredible performance with Live at the Barn.
The DVD features Strongman at his best. He kicks off the show with some sweet solo acoustic songs (Keep It To Yourself, River, Birthday Song, etc) and then brings in the band to rock the joint!
He is joined by Hamiltonians Dave King (drums) and Colin Lapsley (bass) on some barn-shakin' rockers (Lie to You, Honey, Mean to Me, etc), a few superb slower moments (Take My Arms, Soul Searching) and all points in between.
To top it all off, there are some wonderful bonus features where Strongman talks about the creative process for a short bit and then we're treated to some more great music (That's What She Does, Emily)
The DVD is available at his shows and online as well. Plans are underway for an audio version of the concert.
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