"Gangs of New York" movie
razyn
but the other night I was surfing on cable, with the sound off
(captions on), and happened to hit this 2002 movie in progress (about
halfway through). Ol' Leonardo and some of his pals were in a tavern
(or the basement of Tammany Hall, or whatever); a black guy in
outlandish striped clothing (perhaps Channing Cook Holmes) was
dancing; and someone was playing a banjo with a Boucher style scroll.
The story takes place between the 1840s and 1863, so that was
appropriate, but I just wondered if anybody here present advised the
makers of that movie -- made the banjo, played the gig, or whatever.
Since I had the sound off, I can't say what the guy played (or how
well) -- and the shot I saw was a pan that went by so fast I barely
recognized the instrument, let alone the player. I followed the
Wikipedia link to a site with copious credits for this movie -- found
Lomax and Work and the Alabama Sacred Harp singers, but no banjo
credit as such.
Tim Twiss
I also thought I heard something (not at that time) from "Black Banjo
Songsters of North Carolina and Virginia", however not when a player
was visible. I'm not sure of the song, but I'm pretty sure it is on
that CD.
Carl Anderton
sounded higher pitched than an E tuned banjo, and not well researched.
George
player was Italian as some of the scene were shot there. He is not a
minstrel player and they were not interested in getting a player from
the US as it added to their cost for a minor scene. The banjo, along
witht he bones and a period accodion were all provided by me.
I wish I could have played it for them!
George
razyn
It also melds well with Gene Weingarten's humor column today in the
Washington Post Magazine (and I think syndicated elsewhere) -- about
an Amsterdam winter street scene with a car bomb explosion, filmed
here on Capitol Hill in the summer, with a Jewish guy from New York as
the Arab terrorist, etc.
Hollywood moves in a mysterious way, its wonders to perform.
Anyhow, nice banjo as always, George.
Camptown Shaker
also liked Finbar Fury's rendition of the song "New York Girls" during
a tavern scene enough to arrange it for the Shakers to play. As far as
historic accuracy of music like this in these scenes, sometimes
Hollywood gets certain aspects right ( like George's excellent banjo)
but they always disappoint. Its great to see them try a little though.
Dave
David Swarens
Did you supply the TAMBO also?
I have been curious, as I ended up with that from an eBay auction.
Thanks for the information, one way or the other!
Yours,
David Swarens
> > sounded higher pitched than an E tuned banjo, and not well researched.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
George
chimes which are hand hammered. If I saw a picture I should recognize
it. It does ring a bell but I am just not sure anymore.
George
On Oct 1, 8:00 pm, David Swarens <DonQsonofzo...@aol.com> wrote:
> Dear George.
> Did you supply the TAMBO also?
>
> I have been curious, as I ended up with that from an eBay auction.
> Thanks for the information, one way or the other!
>
> Yours,
> David Swarens
>
> On Sep 30, 10:48?am, George <george1wunderl...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > I made the banjo for the film for the Miramax prop department. ?The
> > player was Italian as some of the scene were shot there. ?He is not a
> > minstrel player and they were not interested in getting a player from
> > the US as it added to their cost for a minor scene. ?The banjo, along
Matt
Tucker" played by Nathan Frazier-banjo and Frank Patterson-fiddle
recorded in 1942 by John Work in Nashville, TN. The Frazier/Patterson
recordings may be found on ALTAMONT-Black Stringband Music from the
Library of Congress, Rounder CD-0238 produced by our good friend Bob
Carlin.
Matt