THIS MOVIE IS ABOUT THE MUSIC AND JOURNEY OF ARTISTS WHO DESERVE TO BE HEARD.
Every year for the last twelve, legendary three-time Grammy Award winning, Delbert McClinton has leased a cruise ship and filled it full of his musical friends and fans.
The tone is spontaneous. It’s about Independence, artistic integrity, talent, originality, and mutual respect. Dozens of new songs are introduced. New creative relationships are formed.
This is a floating music festival, song-writing clinic, and musician’s retreat, designed to help artists and audience alike recharge their batteries and celebrate another trip around the sun.
I have been a small market work for hire director for 30 years. I spent the first 20 years mostly doing commercials. I eschewed agencies and they me. I am a writer/producer/director and didn't think much of the talent they brought to bear on a project or problem. Accordingly, and happily, I worked in somewhat obscurity-even within my market-but nonetheless was continuously employed by loyal clients who appreciated my sensibilities and craft.
While attending our first New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1999, my wife, Susan James, and I were astounded at the number of artists we loved that we had never heard of. Delbert McClinton was one of these. Having lived and worked in Hawaii all my adult life, I somehow missed Delbert. The genre defying nature of Delbert has yielded a level of celebrity that is not commensurate with his talent. The same can be said for untold thousands of singer/songwriter/artists who cannot be packaged into the cookie cutter product that dominates the music industry today.
We learned that Delbert threw a week-long floating music festival and signed up. From the first day of the first cruise I knew that this was a movie. It took 4 years to demonstrate to Delbert's wife Wendy Goldstein, that I had the head, heart, and craft to tackle it. Delbert is a happy man. I think he feels he is as rich and famous as he needs to be. He is doing the best work of his life. He is an American Master and 3-time Grammy® winner. He has played with some of the best musicians this country has ever produced. He is unassuming but clearly venerated. The musicians he includes in his annual affair are shockingly good. They are poets with Clapton instrumental chops. The people who attend his cruises come from all economic strata but have in common very demanding musical needs. Delbert's directive is "plug in, play, and blow my socks off." The words have to be clever and the notes sweet.
 
The all access nature of his Sandy Beaches Cruise allowed me to meet artists who are 5, 10 or 20 years behind Delbert in their own journeys but completely in line with his musical values. It is about communicating ideas and feelings through music in the way of Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Gatemouth Brown, or Wilson Pickett. For the most part it is lyric based rhythm and blues with a Texas twist.
We did a sneak preview screening of the rough cut at the 80-year-old Palace Theater in Hilo, Hawaii on June 3rd. People laughed, cried, cheered, and boogied in all the right places, and many left with the same incredulity that I had the first time I heard Delbert and these other artists: Where the F have I been that I never heard these guys before? Come take part in the excitement. There is no shortage in music during the festival to make this experience come full circle. Check out the Roking the Boat website to view the trailer and get more details:
http://www.rockingtheboatmovie.com/ Check out the Woods Hole Festival website to check out screenings as well as musical performances: http://www.woodsholefilmfestival.org/
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