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August 8, 2006

'Jukebox Vanishing America': See a R.I. screenwriter's R.I. movie, then go to the cast party

Screenshot from Jukebox Vanishing America.

Jukebox Vanishing America is a screenwriter's love letter to jukeboxes, and to a Providence bar with a great one. The 8-minute documentary -- written by Providence native Matthew Turner -- will officially screen Thursday night at 9 at the Cinematheque at the Columbus Theater, 270 Broadway, as part of the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

You can also see it online here or -- much more fun -- earlier Thursday evening on the "set," Nick-A-Nee's bar at 75 South St. (at the corner of Chestnut, one block in from Point Street).

Jukebox was filmed in one day at "Nick's" -- you'll see lots of shots of the empty bar and its memorabilia -- where it will screen at a pre-festival party from 6 to 8 p.m. Matt and producer Lance Miccio of Happy Trailers HD plan to be there.

Mark Cutler at the Nick-A-Nee's jukebox.

After the screening at the festival, Nick's will host a party at 10 with live music by Dino Club, whose lead singer, former Schemer Mark Cutler, and lyricist Scott Duhamel have roles in the film.

Jukebox opens with photos from back when, then dives into Scott reminiscing about his early jukebox days. There are lovely shots of old jukeboxes, of course, and a bit of history narrated by fan and collector Terry Moran (at right), of Budweiser distributor McLaughlin & Moran, a man who's known a lot of jukeboxes.

Shots of these marvelous machines and their times alternate with comments by Terry in front of a beauty, and by Mark and Scott on the bench in front of Nick's award-winning, 10-plays-for-$1 twin jukeboxes. The bench invites you to spend some time browsing the tabbed pages of titles as you make your choices. If "browsing tabbed pages" sounds Webby, this isn't.

Scott Duhamel at the bar.

The age of beautiful music players serving up soundtracks for youth has splintered into a million personal mp3 playlists while, as Scott says, "Jukeboxes are a shared experience." Mark recalls how your buck can set the mood of the whole scene for 45 minutes. (Wurlitzer still makes jukeboxes, including one that can play your iPod, which could make for some room-emptying moods.)

You always know what kind of joint you're in by the tunes on the jukebox.

Screenwriter Turner, who holds degrees in film from Rhode Island College and Boston University, lives in Los Angeles now and is trying to get Jukebox, his first film project, turned into a feature film. He says he's gotten encouraging phone calls from documentary great Ken Burns and Henry ("The Fonz") Winkler. (Minor update: Matt clarifies that Burns sent a letter.)

It deserves to grow into a full-length movie. This trailer is just a taste of where this history could go: Many jukeboxes were high carnival art, everybody has a jukebox epiphany story and the soundtrack could be unforgettable.

The photos at the links of Jukebox Guide and Pinball Rebel make clear how many jukeboxes have already vanished.

Wikipedia has the short course.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 2:26 AM | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: joe vileno on August 9, 2006 1:46 PM

Posted by: Sheila on August 10, 2006 3:59 AM