In the summer of last year, I was lucky enough to meet Miles Kurosky (lead singer of Beulah) after a Beulah show and I was blown away by how nice he was---not only to me, but to my girlfriend as well who blurted out that she didn't really know much about the band.
He was really so kind and gentle that I had to throw away all my preconceived notions of what Miles Kurosky must be like. Because anyone who is into the band and who has done any reading about them at all knows that Miles is arrogant, rude, opinionated, mean, etc...
Or so the stories go, anyway. So while I didn't expect him to spit on us or anything, I wasn't prepared for just how nice he was.
And so I went into this documentary wondering about who Miles Kurosky really was. And, man, to his credit, he really lets it all hang out; warts and all, it's all there.
Don't even bother trying to figure him out (or, if you do, please let me know what you come up with!), because I don't think you can.
What to make of a guy who in one scene is so concerned with his band mates making a little bit of money that he himself takes on the huge task of road managing and then in another literally slaps one of his band mates silly because he doesn't drive exactly the way Miles thinks he should?
Or what do you make of a guy who in one scene refuses to do an encore because he thinks the crowd isn't cheering loud enough and then in another invites a small gang of underage kids to a club for a free show because they can't get into the over-21 rock club?
You could do this thing almost forever with A Good Band is Easy to Kill. It's one of those movies that gets under your skin and keeps you thinking about the characters for a long time after. And it's not only about Miles (I focused on him out of personal interest), but the whole entire band.
(MILD SPOILER)
If this movie works for you, as it did me, then you'll find yourself in the end moved beyond words. When Miles tells the appreciative hometown crowd in San Francisco, "Hello. We're Beulah. We're from San Francisco," chills spread across my neck as I finally learned to understand what exactly the song "You're Only King Once" (the one that is playing underneath this scene) really means.
(END SPOILER)
What a rush. Any other stupid rock documentary would have had Miles telling you, "when I wrote this song, I was trying to come to terms with blah, blah, blah..." Instead, Beulah had the good sense to create a documentary which, like their music, assumes the audience are intelligent beings who "get" it.
Now if I could just "get" Miles Kurosky...
He was really so kind and gentle that I had to throw away all my preconceived notions of what Miles Kurosky must be like. Because anyone who is into the band and who has done any reading about them at all knows that Miles is arrogant, rude, opinionated, mean, etc...
Or so the stories go, anyway. So while I didn't expect him to spit on us or anything, I wasn't prepared for just how nice he was.
And so I went into this documentary wondering about who Miles Kurosky really was. And, man, to his credit, he really lets it all hang out; warts and all, it's all there.
Don't even bother trying to figure him out (or, if you do, please let me know what you come up with!), because I don't think you can.
What to make of a guy who in one scene is so concerned with his band mates making a little bit of money that he himself takes on the huge task of road managing and then in another literally slaps one of his band mates silly because he doesn't drive exactly the way Miles thinks he should?
Or what do you make of a guy who in one scene refuses to do an encore because he thinks the crowd isn't cheering loud enough and then in another invites a small gang of underage kids to a club for a free show because they can't get into the over-21 rock club?
You could do this thing almost forever with A Good Band is Easy to Kill. It's one of those movies that gets under your skin and keeps you thinking about the characters for a long time after. And it's not only about Miles (I focused on him out of personal interest), but the whole entire band.
(MILD SPOILER)
If this movie works for you, as it did me, then you'll find yourself in the end moved beyond words. When Miles tells the appreciative hometown crowd in San Francisco, "Hello. We're Beulah. We're from San Francisco," chills spread across my neck as I finally learned to understand what exactly the song "You're Only King Once" (the one that is playing underneath this scene) really means.
(END SPOILER)
What a rush. Any other stupid rock documentary would have had Miles telling you, "when I wrote this song, I was trying to come to terms with blah, blah, blah..." Instead, Beulah had the good sense to create a documentary which, like their music, assumes the audience are intelligent beings who "get" it.
Now if I could just "get" Miles Kurosky...