The other day, I happened upon a fantastic music documentary called — Make It Funky! — and boy, was it a great celebration of the Funk Movement that grew out of the traditional Blues.  The music and the vibe were outstanding.

Make It Funky! isn’t just about music — it’s also about New Orleans pre and post-Katrina culture as well — and the context of the movie reminded of the excellent Wattstax documentary that brought us a greater understanding of Watts through music after the 1965 riots.

The curious thing about “Make It Funky!” is how hard it is to find any information about the movie.  The DVD box cover that opened this review is not the same image Sony Pictures are using the sell the movie, and the link to buy on the Sony site is dead, too:

That mismatch in advertising integrity hurts Make It Funky! — and leaves one to wonder if that confusion is being done on purpose to punish someone involved with the movie — with low DVD sales.

Here are the DVD specials for the documentary:

Here’s the standard PR Blurp:

Rollicking piano. Infectious horns. Hypnotic drum beats. Rocking guitar licks. Put them all together and you’ve got the exuberant sound of New Orleans music! Join a world-class lineup of artists, including the Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, Lloyd Price, Bonnie Raitt and Keith Richards, as they slip, slide, strut and glide their way through the spicy gumbo of sounds that took over the world, influencing the course of popular music for over a century. From “Fire On The Bayou” to “Let The Good Times Roll” MAKE IT FUNKY! is a raucous tribute to the musical heritage of the Crescent City, chock full of blazing performances, fiery archival footage and red-hot conversations with the remarkable men and women who created it. Let good times roll!

The star of Make It Funky! is Snooks Eaglin.  Here’s a YouTube video of Snooks Eaglin singing Red Beans — that performance isn’t from the movie, but it will give you a good taste of his heat and integrity as a musician.

Snooks died two years ago.  He was 72.

If you happen upon Make It Funky! — and you wonder if you should spend a couple of hours of your life with the show — I urge you to let the movie entertain you with some fantastic musical performances you will never forget.

2 Comments

  1. David,

    Thanks for the review — sounds like a great DVD! I will have to keep my eye open for it.

    Interesting how much marketing a company does for a DVD and then, once a certain time passes, they just let web sites die and links expire.

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