Treme & Why New Orleans Matters: Writer Tom Piazza
Release Date: 07/24/2019
Regarding the Bluebird and Taylor Swift
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
In this episode I expand on some ideas that came up in my discussion with Brian A. Loschiavo about his documentary about the Bluebird Cafe, a now iconic music in Nashville. After I did the interview, certain subsequent news stories involving Taylor Swift came out, and they did affect my take on the film. Since Taylor Swift was prominently featured in the Bluebird documentary and discussed in my interview with Brian, I decided to do a supplemental commentary track to expand on my thoughts about her and how she affected my interpretation of the documentary. # Sponsors for this Episode nsavides...
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Bluebird, a Music Doc on the Storied Nashville Venue, with Director Brian Loschiavo
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
Brian A. Loschiavo, the director-producer-editor of the Bluebird documentary, was first exposed to The Bluebird Cafe through the show Nashville, a series for which he developed supplemental digital content. The now iconic country-music venue that has been instrumental to the careers of so many musicians including Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, and Taylor Swift made enough of an impression on Brian that he set out to create a documentary about the place and the community of singer-songwriters it has nurtured over the years. Bluebird premiered at SXSW 2019 but had a stronger reception at Nashville...
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Sheriff of Mars: the Long-Lost Musician Who Inspired Townes Van Zandt
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
Premiering at Nashville Film Festival 2019, The Sheriff of Mars is a music documentary that tells the story of Daniel Antopolsky, a country and folk musician who was friends with Townes Van Zandt and who, the film suggests, helped to inspire Townes' now iconic outlaw country song "Pancho and Lefty." Wanting to escape the dark influence of the 1970s outlaw country music scene, Daniel retreated to France where he was discovered by Jason Ressler, the director of Sheriff of Mars. Jason was so captivated by Daniel's music that he became his manager, helping him release his first album at the age of...
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Will the Robots Save Us: Byron Reese on AI
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
Byron Reese is an acclaimed author, speaker, and entrepreneur. He's spoken at TEDx Austin and SXSW and has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, Wired, and The Washington Post. Byron is also the publisher of GigaOm and hosts the Voices in AI podcast. Byron's latest book, The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity, is one of the most thought-provoking books I've read this year, so I brought him on the show to discuss it. I think pessimism is the thing that will get us all killed." - Byron Reese Some of the things we discuss include How artificial...
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When a Comedy Documentary Turns Tragic
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
What's Eating Ralphie May won Best of the Fest at Nashville Film Festival and Documentary of the Year at Los Angeles Documentary Film Festival. The film was initially intended to be a weight-loss documentary that followed beloved comedian Ralphie May and his family, but it turned into a raw and intimate portrait of a family dealing with addiction during the last years of Ralphie’s troubled life. At Nashville Film Festival I had the chance to interview comedian and wife of Ralphie, Lahna Turner, and director Cat Rhinehart. Some of the things we discuss include What to do when shooting...
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Two Notable Shorts from Nashville Film Festival
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
My podcast coverage of Nashville Film Festival continues in this short-films episode where I interview the directors for two different short films that got my attention at the festival. One has more of a documentary feel while the other one is a more stylized film with elaborate production design, so I paired the two interviews to explore how shorts can come together and the creative possibilities they can offer. The first interview is with Amanda Young, one of the directors behind Every Two Minutes, a compilation of stories relating to human trafficking. The short was done through StoryGive,...
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How to Make an Award-Winning Film with a Two Person Crew: The Planters
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
Hannah Leder has a variety of acting credits including Deep Impact, Pay it Forward, and Judd Apatow’s Love series. She also has a recurring role on Apple TV+'s The Morning Show. On this podcast episode I interview Hannah about her work on The Planters, a quirky, character-driven comedy that won Best of the Fest, Best Cinematography, and Best Song at Nashville Film Festival. Along with Alexandra Kotcheff, Hannah co-wrote, co-directed, co-starred, and co-shot the film. The Planters ended up taking 127 days to shoot, and Hannah and Alexandra were the only crew members on set. Some of the things...
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Nashville Film Festival 2019 Recap: Part III - My Top 5 Picks
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
This is Part III of my podcast recap of Nashville Film Festival 2019. In it, I share my top five films from Nashville Film Festival and why I picked them. It's a more personal take, so I also share some related things that came up when trying to put together the list. Sponsor for this Episode nsavides productions – I make friendly, engaging videos for earnest people. We got to explore all kinds of places in Houston while making this music video I directed for the chamber-rock band Mystery Loves Company. Not long after the video was released, the band got an opportunity to perform at a...
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Nashville Film Festival 2019 Recap: Part II - Ideas on Screen
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend and do podcast coverage at the 50th Nashville Film Festival. While there, I interviewed a number of filmmakers and filled an entire notebook with observations about the various films and events I attended. My Nashville Film Festival podcast coverage began with this interview I did with some of the filmmakers behind . More filmmaker interviews are coming soon. Here, I'll recap some of the notable films and experiences I had at the festival and share some of the things I learned while attending. The filmmakers, musicians, and creative people...
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Nashville Film Festival 2019 Recap: Part 1
NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend and do podcast coverage at the 50th Nashville Film Festival. While there, I interviewed a number of filmmakers and filled an entire notebook with observations about the various films and events I attended. My Nashville Film Festival podcast coverage began with this interview I did with some of the filmmakers behind . More filmmaker interviews are coming soon. Here, I'll recap some of the notable films and experiences I had at the festival and share some of the things I learned while attending. The filmmakers, musicians, and creative people...
info_outlineAuthor Tom Piazza has written 12 books, many of which feature New Orleans, music, or both. His post-Katrina manifesto Why New Orleans Mattershelped to inspire the HBO show Treme, and the show's co-creator David Simon brought him on as a staff writer largely because of it. Tom received a Grammy Award for his album notes to Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey and has also written for numerous publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Oxford American.
I met with Tom at the historic Columns Hotel in New Orleans to talk about his work and the city that has shaped so much of it. Some of the things we discuss in the episode include
- Highlights from the 50th anniversary of Jazz Fest
- How to write about a place like a local
- What not to do when writing music criticism
- Research that went into his album notes for Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues
- How the writing room on Treme worked together to flesh out challenging story points
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Related Episodes
One of the bands featured in Tremeis Papa Gros Funk. On this episode I interviewed the filmmakers behind Do U Want It, a documentary about the band that focuses on their final performances before their indefinite hiatus.
This episode features an interview with Laura Cayouette, a New Orleanian actress who played Kay, a recurring character on Treme. Laura is often recognized for her role in Django Unchained, where she played the sister of Leonardo DiCaprio's character.
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Related Things
- Tom's site
- Tremeon Amazon Prime
- An Unofficial Guide to Tremeon the Beyond Bourbon St. podcast
- The Columns Hotel
- A blog post I wrote on Martin Scorsese, which includes some discussion on the blues series for which Tom did the liner notes.
- Shortcut for the podcast: nicksav.show
Additional music for the show provided by Rob Costlow.
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Books Mentioned
- An American Dream by Norman Mailer
- City of Refugeby Tom Piazza
- Invisible Manby Ralph Ellison
- La Vita Nuovaby Dante
- The Sound and the Furyby William Faulkner
- Understanding Jazz: Ways to Listenby Tom Piazza
- Why New Orleans Mattersby Tom Piazza
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Musicians Mentioned
- Barbecue Bob
- Bill Monroe
- Bob Dylan
- Bonnie Raitt
- The Carter family
- Diana Krall
- Elvis Costello
- Hank Williams
- Jimmie Rodgers
- John Prine
- Muddy Waters
Shows Mentioned
- Deadwood
- Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey
- Treme
- The Wire
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If You Liked the Show
- Say hello on Twitter: @nsavidesPRO
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