Epix Grabs ‘Laurel Canyon’ Documentary Film to look at the Eagles, James Taylor, the Doors, and the peculiar spot in L.A. where they lived Michael MaloneJan 17, 2019 Epix has greenlit the feature-length documentary Laurel Canyon, which the network said “will pull back the curtain on a mythical world and provide an up-close look at the lives of the musicians who inhabited it.” It will premiere late in 2019.
Epix logo The film celebrates the music of Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles, The Mamas and the Papas, Carole King, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, James Taylor, The Doors, Frank Zappa and others with ties to the canyon in the heart of Los Angeles.
Alison Ellwood (History of the Eagles) will direct.
I found the above article when I put in a search for a Linda Ronstadt Documentary. I was hoping to find something on the KOSH project he mentioned on Linda Ronstadt
Here is another article on the project.
EPIX to Present Feature Documentary, LAUREL CANYON by TV News Desk Jan. 17, 2019 Tweet
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EPIX to Present Feature Documentary, LAUREL CANYON
EPIX has greenlit Laurel Canyon, a feature-length documentary that will pull back the curtain on a mythical world and provide an up-close look at the lives of the musicians who inhabited it. Through a wealth of rare and newly unearthed footage and audio recordings, the documentary will feature an intimate portrait of the artists who created a music revolution that would change popular culture. Alison Ellwood (History of the Eagles) will direct the feature-length film, which will premiere in late 2019 on EPIX.
Celebrating the music of Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles, The Mamas And The Papas, Carole King, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, James Taylor, The Doors, Frank Zappa and more, the film will be uniquely immersive and experiential, taking us back in time to a place where a rustic canyon in the heart of Los Angeles became a musical petri dish.
Said Michael Wright, President, EPIX, "We're thrilled to be working with Alison and the entire filmmaking team on one of the most dynamic chapters in music history...and as an unapologetic fan of the subject matter, I'm honored that this documentary will have a home on EPIX."
Said director Alison Ellwood, "Though a little too young to have experienced the Laurel Canyon music scene first hand, the songs created in that magical place made it onto the radio and traveled over 6000 miles to where I was growing up in the UK. The music is the soundtrack of my youth; each song evokes memories becoming TIMELESS in my consciousness. I am thrilled to be a part of this talented team assembled to tell this incredible story."
"Having personally lived through this musical period of time, I'm incredibly excited to be involved in telling this story, especially given the amazing team we've assembled to make what we intend to be the definitive documentary on the Laurel Canyon scene," said executive producer Frank Marshall.
Said Craig Kallman, Chairman & CEO, Atlantic Records, "In Laurel Canyon, all the stars aligned to kindle a creative community unlike any other in modern musical history. Brought together during a cultural sea change, these artists inspired themselves and each other to make transcendent music that remains as vibrant and relevant today as it was a half century ago. The Warner Music family of labels - Atlantic, Elektra, and Warner Bros. - were fortunate to have been part of this extraordinary moment, recording many of the artists at the center of the Laurel Canyon scene. We're thrilled to be partners in this long-overdue documentary about an incredible time and place."
Laurel Canyon is executive produced by Frank Marshall, The Kennedy/Marshall Company; Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey, Amblin Television; Craig Kallman and Mark Pinkus, Warner Music Group; Alex Gibney, Stacey Offman and Richard Perello, Jigsaw Productions; and Jeff Pollack. The film is produced by Ryan Suffern, The Kennedy/Marshall Company, and Erin Edeiken, Jigsaw Productions.
I put this in the Linda Ronstadt Fans Discussion because it involves her. I hope that is ok with administrators
Post by the Scribe on Jan 30, 2019 17:13:22 GMT -5
I recall a similar project that Linda was set to narrate but it never got off the ground I suppose.
There is a lot of mystique surrounding that time period and Laurel Canyon and nearby areas. It is fascinating and should be a popular project. Not sure if all the players will be happy about it though considering some of the things going on at the time and personal demons they would rather leave in the past.
Great find Mike. If you don't mind I would like to include this in the Linda Ronstadt News thread compilation. (easier to find for future reference)
Post by Rob Gallagher on Jan 30, 2019 17:21:24 GMT -5
Sounds like sort of a sequel to Jakob Dylan's "Echo in the Canyon," about the beginnings of the Canyon music scene. I attended a screening last year at the DOC NYC festival where Dylan introduced the film and someone asked why Joni Mitchell ("Ladies of the Canyon") wasn't included. Dylan said that his film covered a very specific time period and a few pioneering artists, and that Joni's influence came later. Presumably that would explain Linda's omission from his film too.
Sounds like sort of a sequel to Jakob Dylan's "Echo in the Canyon," about the beginnings of the Canyon music scene. I attended a screening last year at the DOC NYC festival where Dylan introduced the film and someone asked why Joni Mitchell ("Ladies of the Canyon") wasn't included. Dylan said that his film covered a very specific time period and a few pioneering artists, and that Joni's influence came later. Presumably that would explain Linda's omission from his film too.
Yes, or Part II. Something to build on. It includes Jackson Browne who hit the scene after Linda but I guess there is only so much they can include. It would almost need to be a series rather than a one time film.
Q&A of Echo in the Canyon with Andrew Slater and Jakob Dylan in 2018
DOCNYCfest Published on Nov 16, 2018 NYC PREMIERE Echo In The Canyon is a look at how The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, The Mama’s and the Papa’s all birthed the beginnings of the Laurel Canyon music scene and how the echo of these artists’ creations reverberated between each other and ultimately across the world with a timelessness that continues today. With appearances by Tom Petty, Brian Wilson, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Michelle Phillips, Jackson Browne, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Lou Adler, Jakob Dylan, Norah Jones, Beck, Regina Spektor, Cat Power, and others. The film was executive produced by Jakob Dylan. Dylan journeys to those who wrote the iconic songs and uncovers never before heard personal details behind the recordings from those who made them popular.
Last Edit: Jan 30, 2019 17:38:58 GMT -5 by the Scribe
Post by 70smusicfan on Apr 20, 2019 9:14:07 GMT -5
A couple of years ago, there was supposed to be a couple of documentaries (with Linda narrating on one?) on Laurel Canyon (and the other Canyon) music scene. Don't know what ever became of them (mentioned on Documentary thread), but I saw this on LaurelCanyonRadio.com (A GREAT SITE FOR BACKGROUND MUSIC WHILE WORKING ON THE COMPUTER - YES THEY PLAY LINDA).
Laurel Canyon will pull back the curtain on a mythical world and provide an up-close look at the lives of the musicians who inhabited it. Through a wealth of rare and newly unearthed footage and audio recordings, the documentary will feature an intimate portrait of the artists who created a music revolution. Celebrating the music of Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, The Doors, the Mamas and the Papas, The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Neil Young, Eagles, Jackson Browne, Frank Zappa and more, the film takes us back to a time when a rustic canyon in the heart of Los Angeles became a musical petri dish.
Nice to see Linda mentioned first in this list of talent. I always thought this time period in the Canyon deserves nothing less than a miniseries while using original footage and lookalike actors. There is such a mystique surrounding it.
The Laurel Canyon documentary will be shown on the Epix channel in 2 parts. The 1st part will air Monday, December 16th at 9 pm and the 2nd part will air on Monday, December 23rd at 9 pm.
Saw Echos in the Canyon. Not much there, MEH. It is really Jakob Dylan and others yapping about the scene then putting on a concert. Great to see Tom Petty, Brian Wilson and Jackson Browne but let's be honest Michele Phillips was sweet but fairly unimportant. Big disappointment. Hopefully the EPIC film, made by the same person who did The History of the Eagles, will be better.
Apologies if this was already posted... May 31 seems like a good night for Linda watching.. Epix is showing a Laurel Canyon documentary with Linda among the featured performers..
I haven't watched Part 2 yet. My best takeaway from Part 1 was that I have misunderstood the song California Dreaming all my life. "I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A." In my mind, I always pictured someone in cold Northern California wishing to be in L.A. but the documentary makes it very clear it was written from the perspective of a New Yorker.
Bring back the compact disc!
Partridge
Administrator Drunk and dirty, don't you know
I think she did, for a brief time, as did a lot of others; she definitely visited, and was a welcome presence there. During 1968 and for most of the first eight months of 1969, she lived over in Topanga Canyon, but the Manson Family's ultra-violent rampage in August 1969 caused her to move out. She also lived in Beechwood Canyon, east of the 101 Freeway and below the Hollywood sign; and of course, she and J.D. Souther had a little bungalow of their own on Camrose Drive within earshot of the Hollywood Bowl.
"I think honesty is of the first, utmost importance in art... any art. After that comes technique and... after that comes talent. Honesty is first. All the rest of the things are important, too, but they're secondary. Without honesty, I don't care how much technique you have, you have nothing."--Linda Ronstadt
It is cool that Joni still owns her bungalow. Arts and Crafts/Craftsmen era houses and 60's mod houses are my 2 fav styles of houses. Joni's house was the inspiration for the song "Our House". I sing that often and I say with 2 chipmunks in the yard. eddiejinnj
In the Vanity Fair article (thanks so much all for posting links) article, I like the pic of Glenn with long hair and no stache. My hair is just about that long. I do like his stache in the pic of Linda and Glenn at a table looking back to the camera. eddiejinnj
‘Laurel Canyon’ Riveting Documentary TV Series: Preview by Greg Brodsky Share This: FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail A two-part documentary series, Laurel Canyon, will premiere this month on premium television network EPIX. As the riveting film unfolds, it explores the lives and evolution of the musicians – the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, the Mamas and the Papas, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, the Doors, Jackson Browne, Eagles, and many more – who inhabited that unique part of the Los Angeles music scene. Through rare and newly unearthed footage and audio recordings, the documentary features an intimate portrait of the artists who created a music revolution of the ’60s and ’70s that would change popular culture.
Alison Ellwood (History of the Eagles) directed it. Part one will premiere May 31 at 10 p.m. on EPIX. Subscribers can also watch it on demand via their cable, satellite service. Part two airs one week later, on June 7.
One of the film’s frequent interview subjects is the well known photographer, Henry Diltz, who became close with many of the era’s stars and documented it with countless images, scores of which are used in the film to great effect. He shares, in significant detail, his first-hand accounts of the artists he befriended and the iconic events he documented.
Early in the film, Diltz says, “I made a list of everyone I could think of that I photographed in Laurel Canyon,” as his shots of such figures as Mama Cass, Micky Dolenz, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, and more, are shown. “Lot of people.”
Crosby, Nash and Stills, from EPIX’s Laurel Canyon
The producers also crowd-sourced fans’ personal film footage, photos and other materials that feature artists in the Canyon, the Sunset Strip and other area locales.
Laurel Canyon features all-new, original interviews with many of the legendary artists. It all unfolds beautifully, taking the viewer back to that fertile music scene.
“We were at the very center of this bubble of creativity and friendship,” says Graham Nash.
“[My home] turned out to be a gathering place,” says Dolenz. “We began to throw these soirees along with a ping-pong tournament. Up the street were the Turtles. Zappa was a little further down. It was a very small community of musicians and long-haired weirdos.”
The enclave and its unique geography were also part of what made it special. “It was so magical,” says Chris Hillman, who moved there in ’65. “Literally within four or five minutes you could be down on the Sunset Strip into Hollywood.”
“Once you got above 20 or 30 of us living there,” says his Byrds bandmate, David Crosby, “it was kind of a community. We would go around and visit one another quite a bit.”
The film pinpoints many moments that changed the face of popular music.
When the Byrds drastically reinterpreted Bob Dylan’s acoustic “Mr. Tambourine Man” in 1965, with a much richer version, filled with harmonies and jangly guitar, the public embraced the song, sending it to #1 on the Hot 100.
“[Dylan] loved what we did,” says Hillman.
The Byrds were regulars at Ciro’s, a nightclub in West Hollywood. Roger McGuinn recalls, “I remember Bob came and said, ‘Wow, you can dance to it!’ He got on stage with us.”
“The next day,” says Crosby, “everyone in town was talking about us. All of a sudden, people were lining up. It was every kid’s dream.”
Much of the community’s musical output is featured in some marvelous footage and through the neighborhood’s legendary soundtrack: The Turtles’ “Happy Together,” the Mamas and the Papas’ “Creeque Alley,” the Doors’ “Break on Through.”
Interviews with Furay, the Monkees’ Dolenz and Mike Nesmith, and Stills himself, explain the genesis of the latter’s “For What It’s Worth,” which stemmed from the clashes between teenagers on the Sunset Strip and police, that took place in 1966. “I get home, pick up an acoustic guitar, and all of a sudden it turns into a song,” says Stills.
Buffalo Springfield’s recording became the band’s biggest hit and an anthem that still resonates.
When they performed the song at 1967’s Monterey Pop festival, they were joined on stage by David Crosby (but minus Neil Young).
Watch them get introduced by Stills’ close friend, Peter Tork
“It didn’t bother me that much at the time,” says Croz’s bandmate, Chris Hillman. Several months later, though, Crosby and the Byrds parted ways.
Related: Henry Diltz shared more of his photographs and stories with us on the Laurel Canyon stars of the ’60s
Later that year, Crosby was selected to produce the debut album from a new singer-songwriter, known to everyone by her middle name, Joan.
Within two years, the performer, now known professionally as Joni Mitchell, was a significant star, and had settled into a bungalow in Laurel Canyon.
Diltz was hired by her management to photograph her for the 1970 album, Ladies of the Canyon. As he approached her house with his partner, Gary Burden, “[Joni] was leaning in the window waiting for us. Luckily Gary got into a conversation with her which allowed me… to just keep clicking away while she was talking.” The landmark LP included “The Circle Game,” “Big Yellow Taxi,” and “Woodstock.”
One of the pivotal figures in the Laurel Canyon landscape and in the documentary is Cass Elliot. “She saw herself as a hip Barbra Streisand,” says Michelle Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas. “Her house was at the center of everything, open twenty four hours a day [with] a very wide circle of friends.”
Related: Our story on the Mamas & the Papas’ “Creeque Alley”
“Cass loved introducing people,” Henry Diltz tells Best Classic Bands. “She was always on TV programs. Once it was Cream and she invited Eric Clapton to her home. She called me and said ‘I’m having some friends over. Come on up.’ David Crosby brought Joni and said to her, ‘Play us a tune,’ so she sang the entire album!
“Clapton was staring at her fingers. This legendary guitarist had never seen that [style of playing] before!”
***
Part two of the documentary includes extended segments on historic events that unfolded in 1969 and 1970 that took place well beyond the scope of what was going on in Laurel Canyon. Two occurred within weeks of each other in August 1969: the murders by the Manson family, and Woodstock.
“We were in this beautiful bubble,” says Graham Nash. “Those murders put a pin right in that bubble and it exploded. It was too close, too real.”
Related: Our interview with Henry Diltz on his famed CS&N album cover photo
“Suddenly, hippies were not harmless anymore,” says Alice Cooper.
At the time, Diltz was already in Bethel, New York, preparing to shoot the 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair. He tells Best Classic Bands, “My friend, Chip Monck [the lighting designer who would double as the festival’s primary PA announcer] introduced me to Michael Lang. He sent me a roundtrip plane ticket on TWA and $500 to shoot the festival.
“I had the ‘Golden Pass’ from the producer and stayed on stage with the best seat in the house.”
Part two also introduces us to several members of the so-called “second generation” of Laurel Canyon musicians including Linda Ronstadt.
“Frank Sinatra never wrote any songs. Elvis Presley never wrote any songs. Neither did Linda,” says Diltz. “But she had the knack for picking out, instinctively, what songs were going to be good for her.”
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She had recorded the 1967 hit, “Different Drum,” with her band the Stone Poneys. Diltz tells Best Classic Bands, “She was on the scene, one of the gang. No airs. We all loved her.” He recalls another unique quality. “She was always barefoot. Even on stage.”
Watch the Stone Poneys perform “Different Drum”
As a solo artist, her first singles stalled on the chart. That all changed with her cover of “You’re No Good,” which reached #1 in 1975.
“Every songwriter wanted to get something to her,” says her early producer and manager, John Boylan. “She took over those songs.”
Jackson Browne was another prominent member of the “second wave.”
“I was writing songs and playing open mic night at the Troubadour,” he says. Browne was introduced to the artist management team of David Geffen and Elliot Roberts. “We knew songs, and we knew artists. But we couldn’t get a deal for Jackson,” says Roberts. “No one wanted him. So we started our own [label, Asylum Records] for artists that we think are great.”
Browne’s debut album and lead single, “Doctor My Eyes,” became big successes when they were released in 1972. “Jackson was a mentor to all of us because he had broken through first,” says one of his friends, a singing drummer. “We all aspired to write like that.”
“His voice and his words and his melodies,” Diltz tells us. “That plaintive, yearning voice. It just kills me.”
When Glenn Frey and J.D. Souther dissolved their group, Longbranch Pennywhistle, Frey took advantage of an offer from Ronstadt to join her touring band. “I told Glenn he was a hotshot and he was going to do something someday,” she says.
At around the same time, she and Boylan saw a band called Shiloh perform. Impressed with their singing drummer, they invited Don Henley to audition for her band. The two new members discovered they were kindred spirits.
“[Glenn] had this very detailed plan of this band he wanted to start,” says Henley. “After we got back from Linda’s tour, we started the recruitment process.” The pair were soon joined by Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner to form the Eagles.
The first single from their 1972 self-titled album was “Take it Easy,” a song that Browne had been unable to finish. Frey presented some initial suggestions and the pair collaborated on completing the lyrics.
With three hit singles, the Eagles debut was a big success. They followed it up with a concept album centered around the Old West, which lacked a pop hit. Enter Ronstadt, who recorded one of the album’s Henley-Frey compositions for her own 1973 LP.
“‘Desperado’ wasn’t a hit for us until Linda recorded it,” says Henley. “She gave it wings.” It became one of the band’s signature songs.
“The whole California country rock thing exploded with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Poco, Linda, Jackson Browne, and the Flying Burrito Brothers,” says Boylan. “But the Eagles took that to the next level. It was the dominant musical format of the ’70s in this country.”
The series is not associated with 2019’s documentary Echo in the Canyon, which took a different approach to explore the same, fertile ’60s music scene. Music fans will find Laurel Canyon to be worth the wait.
