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"I saw a man, he danced on the breakwater." The prophet Elijah gets jiggy with it down on the lake front.

This is very old news, but the always informative and funny blog of  Lynn Becker hipped me to the new section on Chicago in films that the brilliant folks who run Forgotten Chicago have started on their site, entitled Drama, Documentation and Discontinuity. As befits the subject of their blog, they concentrate on older films mostly from the “Daley I” drought years of the 50’s and 60’s.

Much like the rest of their work, the new section is a fascinating blend of historical info and trenchant meta-commentary. I was so inspired by their fine work that I finally rented Goldstein (1965), the first film by eclectic writer/director Philip Kaufman.

Although the film falters overall (as fabulous as Kaufman’s later work was, his debut project was an amateurish aping of French new wave film), the parts are greater than the whole and it functions as a valuable record of several important Chicago persons, places, and things (yes, a celebration of the noun!). Aside from the buildings and locations, Goldstein showcases some of the most talented actors and performers ever to call Chicago home, particularly those from the earliest days of Second City/Compass Players.

Some of the buildings not mentioned in Forgotten Chicago are:

Block 37 before it was razed, sat vacant for a few decades, and became home to the current monstrous structure that occupies the land.

Soldier Field- What a Spartan place it was back then! With nothing but uncomfortable looking bleachers ringing the inside of the classical coliseum.

A shot of the now-unused spotlight on top of the Palmolive Building blazing away (you can really see why residents of the John Hancock Building immediately put the kibosh on the lamp as they moved in just across the street.

An amusing chase sequence through a large sausage factory was also a treat.

As far as some of the amazing performers featured:

Del Close- One of the greatest improvisational gurus of all time and creator of the long form improvisational framework known as Harold, which revolutionized improvisation. Charna Halpern (and later Del himself) used it as the backbone of perhaps the most innovative and eclectic improv theater companies ever, the io. The long form also revitalized Second City when concepts central to it were integrated into main stage shows. Some time I’ll tell the story of how Del scared the utter living bejesus out of me when I was a young stand-up comic.

Viola Spolin- Those people whose young lives were rocked upon reading Improvisation For The Theater won’t need to ask who she is, everybody else needs to do some clicking. To sum it up, she conceived the first games and exercises that formed the foundation of what we know today as improvisation.

Nelson Algren- Yeah, that’s right, Nelson Freakin’ Algren. In all his brilliant prose writing, Simone De Beauvoir exciting resplendence. Right there in his authorial lair. Nelson tells a story whilst the camera pans around his apartment, lingering longingly over his array of nudie centerfolds scattered amidst the books, photos, and awards. The slow pan of Algren’s books is a valuable document in itself (I need to go back and freeze it again and jot all those titles down).

There also were quite a few other early SC alums in the film, including Severn Darden, Anthony Holland, and Jack Burns (from the comedy duo Burns and Shreiber).

Goldstein is a wonderful glimpse into many aspects of Chicago’s past. Just let it wash over you though, and don’t expect it to make any sense.

There are many shots of this man wandering through mid-1960's Chicago.

Nathan and the band have been putting in lots of time in the proverbial "woodshed" and are on fire these days.

There are few things more exciting than being able to witness a band that has been putting in lots of hard work coming into their full creative power as an ensemble. I was privileged to see that very phenomenon last week, when I caught Nathan Xander and Witchouse doing an impromptu tune-up gig at The Horseshoe on Lincoln [BTW- Horseshoe is a very cool place, with kick ass Texas barbecue, a very friendly staff, and free live music several nights a week].

Nate and his mates have been rehearsing like demons lately; tightening up their playing, embellishing and perfecting their arrangements, and generally adding new wrinkles to their sound and song craft; and damn has it payed off!

They launched into their set before the sparse late Thursday night crowd as if it were a packed house, and after a few moments it might as well have been standing room only, the way they rocked it out with unconscious abandon. They became one seething writhing mass of musical asswhuppitude (word collider) much the way that the greatest Americana bands do live, and really took it to the next level. Nate’s songwriting isn’t (quite) yet on a par with Jeff Tweedy, John Prine, or Townes Van Zandt,  but he’s getting very very close to that level; and from a sheer musical/instrumental standpoint, he and his cohorts are as good as anybody out there right now (including Wilco and all the other indie Americana heavy hitters).

These guys are my friends, but I’ll swear on a stack of bibles or take a freakin’ polygraph that I’m not just blowing smoke; I’m really blown away by how much they have collectively stepped up their game. Check out their new video (previous post) if you don’t believe me.

Nathan and Witchouse are playing at Schubas (one of the top indie music venues in Chicago) on Monday, November 16 and I can’t encourage you enough to go see them. Yeah, I know it’s a Monday; but if you enjoy hard-driving yet poignant Alt-Country/Folk Americana Roots Music (think Crazy Horse era Neil Young/Uncle Tupelo/Whiskeytown/Bottle Rockets) then you really should drag your butt out to see these guys.

I’ll be there rockin’ out like a big mad monkey, so say hi afterward and I’ll tell you a touching boyhood fishing story or something equally memorable.