Dennis Quaid and The Big Easy, June 21st!!!

Oh Joy, Oh Joy. Netflix is sponsoring a series of "Live On Location" films and concerts. The concept is "watch a movie star who may or may not also possess musical talent perform live and then watch an old movie with that star in it". So on June 21st (sorry, unless the out of town folks reading this are coming to the AALL Annual Meeting and Conference REALLY early, this is just for us local folks), we can see Dennis Quaid and his band The Sharks perform live and then watch a screen of "The Big Easy", ALL FOR FREE!!!! More information is here:

Dennis Quaid and The Sharks/The Big Easy, June 21st

Wow. I'm just, just speechless. His singing in the movie was passable, and now he's performing live before an outdoor screening of what may be one of the dumbest movies ever about New Orleans (well, dumbest mainstream movie about New Orleans - hands up if you've seen "Hot Thrills and Warm Chills", "Monster and the Stripper" or "Mardi Gras for the Devil"). Maybe part of his contract to agree to do this was that it had to be in late June where even at 7:00pm it can be pretty stiffling outside.

Maybe we can turn the movie viewing into a "Rocky Horror Picture Show" - type experience, with the audience talking back to the characters and throwing things at the screen. Or - and THIS is what I'm REALLY hoping for - maybe Dennis Quaid will come back on stage DURING the scene in the movie where his character is singing and he can do a duet with his twenty-years younger cinematic doppleganger. Then the next morning we can hope to see this story in the Times-Picayune: "Last night on the banks of the Missisippi, Dennis Quaid played with himself in front of a crowd of adoring fans."

Quaid's movie career led him back to New Orleans six years later in "Undercover Blues" which, while a pretty silly movie about a pair of government agents on maternity leve here in the city (co-starring Kathleen Turner as his wife and fellow undercover super-agent), it at least knew that that was all it was going to be and just camped it up for fun. "The Big Easy" tries too hard to be both a serious corrupt-cops police drama with every cliche of that genre thrown in for good measure AND an exotic New Orleans travelogue, with every cliche of THAT genre also included.

My pick for a New Orleans movie and music night, with a star who at least has a modicum of musical talent, would be "A Love Song for Bobby Long" and a concert by John Travolta singing hits from throughout his career, starting with a medly of songs from "Grease" up through his drag-queen performance in "Hairspray". But then Travolta has been getting great reviews for that movie-turned-musical-turned-movie/musical, and two of Dennis Quaids most recent films - "Flight of the Phoenix" and "Yours, Mine, and Ours" have been remakes of great old movies that should never have been touched by modern cinematic money-grubbers. (But he was great in "In Good Company".)

Oh, and the concert/movie with Dennis Quaid's band and the screening of "The Big Easy" is completely free! And if you live in either Baltimore or near - huh? - the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, you can catch the other two Netflix "Live on Location" concerts: The Bacon Brothers (Kevin and .... uh, the other Bacon brother) followed by a screening of "Diner" or The Bruce Willis Blues Band following by Armageddon (the movie, not the prophesized end of the world, as much as you might wish for that after seeing Bruce Willis perform live.) More information on those concerts here:

Netflix Live on Location