Dr. Mable John may be famous for being the first solo female artist signed to Motown, for being a revered Stax Records artist, for being the leader singer of Ray Charles' Raelettes singers, and for her million-selling Stax hit "Your Good Thing (Is About to End), but it doesn't look like Mable's good thing is about to end any time soon!
In addition to publishing two novels with Random House in the past couple of years, giving a more than stellar performance at the Stax Records 50th Anniversary Concert in Memphis in June last year, and continuing to feed, clothe, and minister to thousands of homeless people in Los Angeles, she is now on the silver screen in John Sayles' new film Honeydripper, which opens in Memphis tomorrow, Friday, February 29, in an exclusive engagement at Malco's Ridgeway Theater. The film has already garnered two awards: The NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Independent or Foreign Film and the San Sebastian International Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay.
Here is IMDB's synopsis of the film:
1950. Rural Alabama. Cotton harvest. It's a make-or-break weekend for the Honeydripper Lounge and its owner, piano player Tyrone "Pine Top" Purvis. Deep in debt to the liquor man, the chicken man, and the landlord, Tyrone is desperate to lure the young cotton pickers and local Army base recruits into his juke joint, away from Touissants, the rival joint across the way.After laying off his regular talent, blues singer Bertha Mae, Tyrone announces to his sidekick Maceo that he has hired the famous electric guitar player, Guitar Sam, for a special one night only gig: pack em in and save the club. On the day of the show, the train arrives and Guitar Sam is no where to be found. Tyrone is forced to take drastic action. He makes a deal with Sheriff Pugh to release Sonny, the kid who hopped off a freight car here in Harmony, and turned up in the club claiming he could play the guitar as well as any Guitar Sam.Tyrone cleans Sonny up and launches a last ditch scheme to pass off the young guitar picker as Guitar Sam just long enough to cut the lights and run off with cash box. When Sonny takes the stage and launches into his first scalding electric licks, Tyrone will learn if its lights out for the Honeydripper or if his luck has changed: he might just be another man saved by rock n' roll.Honeydripper features an all-star cast including Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Stacy Keach, Mary Steenburgen,Yaya DaCosta and Sean Patrick Thomas; as well as such notable musicians as Keb Mo and Dr. Mable John. It also introduces a major new talent, Gary Clark Jr. who makes his electrifying film debut as Sonny.
0 comments:
Post a Comment