Check out our recap of the “Danny Says” Documentary!
Written and directed by Brendan Toller, Danny Says documents the life of Danny Fields, a legendary Rock & Roll tastemaker. First premiering at South by Southwest in Spring 2015, Danny Says would not have been possible without the help of kickstarter. Danny Fields ran with Andy Warhol’s pack and was an influencer way before social media or smart phones even existed. He had a hand in establishing, and ruining, some of the biggest rock bands of the 20th century. He essentially discovered the Ramones and publicized John Lennon’s “We’re Bigger Than Jesus” quote which led to the Beatles’ demise. Danny Fields always stood out and was always drawn to creatives and off-the-wall types which is how he ended up in the same circle as Warhol and rock legends. From publicist to journalist to A&R to manager at Elektra, Danny really, truly did it all. The documentary included Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop talking about their memories with Danny as well animated shorts of the wilder adventures Danny had with various people like Jim Morrison and Nico.
Present day Dany Fields is rather ambivalent on the subject of music itself, but even when he refers to it with disdain it’s apparent that music surrounded and molded his fondest memories. For Danny it was less about the music and more about the band members who had the potential to be idols. Sadly though it seems as if Danny was left unsatisfied. His quest for doing something no one’s ever done before disabled him from doing anything long term or enjoying anything long term, but while reminiscing he admits the 60s and 70s were the best years of his life. It was refreshing how openly Fields spoke about his sexuality, albeit with somewhat aggressive language. All in all the film is a real treat for anyone with an appreciation for the music industry.
We screened the film at The Roxy Hotel. From the film: director Brendan Toller and producer Pamela Lubell were joined by additional guests Dum Dum Girls’ Kristin Welchez , Make Outs’ Leah Hennessey, Sharon van Etten, Jim Jarmsuch, Greg Mottola, Rick Hertzberg, Bob Gruen and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.
Buster Poindexter performed for an hour at the after party at Django including his first hit single “Hot Hot Hot.”
In Theaters: September 30th Run Time: 104 Minutes
