Ryan McNeil
“Hey – Is this heaven?”“No – It’s Ryerson.”
Coulda fooled me last night, because when three of the men who have wailed through your headphones endlessly over the years – The Edge, Jimmy Page, and Jack White -are walking right in front of you, it’s pretty darned close to heaven. I’ll apologize in advance, because I usually don’t turn into such a puddling mess of a fanboy…but as far as a screening experience goes, last night will be hard to beat.
The crowd gathered was clearly not the usual sort who go to a documentary. During the film, there were whistles, there was constant applause, there were hollers of “Jimmy!!”…at one point I was waiting for someone in the back to yell out “Freebird!”. Usually such behaviour rubs me the wrong way, but in truth, everything about this screening felt more like a rock concert than a doc unspooling anyway. Right down to the standing ovation these three men got when they walked into the theatre.
When it was all over, and the second standing ovation had subsided, Real to Reel programmer Thom Powers led a spirited Q&A with White, Edge, and Page. Can’t say I’m the biggest fan of programmers commandeering the Q&A, since part of the fun is to get questions from the audience. But on the walk home it occurred to me, that by Powers conducting the Q&A, he kept the discussion fun and informative, and didn’t let it devolve into a bunch of meatheaded questions from overzealous fans (like the sort of query I would have asked).
One last personal, and truly geeky thing – my seat was in the front section, just where the aisle cuts to the right towards the stage. As The Edge passed by, I stuck out my hand in congratulatory fashion, and to my surprise he smiled and shook it. I know, I know, it sounds silly to be skipping along the street saying “Edgetouchedmyhand! Edgetouchedmyhand!Edgetouchedmyhand!”… but when the guy is the guitarist from your all time favorite band, and wrote your all time favorite song…well, I hope you’ll permit me to geek out just this once.Do I Need a Coat?… A bit cloudy and cooler than usual today, so a sweater might come in handy. Today’s high is listed at 23C / 73F. Tomorrow calls for thunderstorms with the thermometer hitting 22C / 71F.
Hey, Isn’t That… Aside from the aforementioned Edge/White/Page giddiness, yesterday brought out director Davis Guggenheim, Elisabeth Shue, and Guy Ritchie.
Dude, You Gotta Try This… At the corner of Yonge & Gerrard, not far from The Ryerson Theatre is the best pizza in the city at a place called The Big Slice (Great chicken & veal parm sandwiches too!).
Sounds really cool – but what was the doc that "unspooled"? You left that out of the post.
Also, not entirely relevant – but what favorite song would that be?
(For the record, I'm generally a cultural reactionary but I really DO think White deserves to be up there with the Edge & Page. He's one of the greats.)
Ah, silly me – the whole post ties back to my previous post about the documentary IT MIGHT GET LOUD, the guitar doc featuring Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, The White Stripes’ Jack White, and U2’s The Edge.
And you’re absolutely right – Jack *is* one of the greats.
My alltime favorite song btw, is U2’s “With or Without You”. eOver the years it became a tad overplayed, but every aspect of it – the weeping guitar intro, the rolling bassline, the low drumbeat – gets me everytime.
so better late then never huh? i am waaay behind on this – and still waiting for sony to show it here in Oz. Am listening to Raconteurs right now and of course eagerly awaiting NLOTH. But Edge Shook Your hand!! have you washed yet??