Honeydripper, a film by John Sayles

This benefit screening is a fundraiser for the Ann Arbor Film Festival. John Sayles will be in attendance for a Q&A following the film.

John and Maggie will hold a Q&A after the screening followed by a catered reception at Josephina.

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STLBlues.net

Arthur Lee Williams is a native of Tunica, Mississippi. As a boy he moved to Chicago with his family, and there, inspired by such neighborhood greats as Sonny Boy Williamson II and Little Walter, taught himself to play harmonica. He began gigging in the mid ‘50s, sitting in with luminaries such as Muddy Waters, Elmore James and Eddie Taylor. He returned to Mississippi and his country roots after high school, breaking in on Memphis radio with Barber Parker and the Silver Kings and played countless dates in juke joints and roadhouses similar to the one depicted in Honeydripper, eventually partnering with Frank Frost and Sam Carr on several blues records. Relocating to St. Louis in the early ‘70s, he formed the Bluesmasters and became a vital part of the Midwestern music scene.

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Eddie Shaw and the Wolf Gang

Eddie Shaw has played his tenor sax with many of the legends of the blues, including Hound Dog Taylor, Freddie King, Otis Rush, Muddy Waters and a long run with Howlin Wolf. He continued with many of the members of that band to form the Wolf Gang. His son Eddie ‘Vaan’ Shaw is a guitarist, while his son Stan Shaw has become a highly-regarded film actor. While Shaw’s appearance in Honeydripper is his first film work, he has long been known for his dramatic, powerful playing style.

Hailing from the Windy City, Kel Mitchell began his acting career at the young age of 12 with the ETA Creative Arts Foundation. Young Kel wowed audiences with his on-stage performances in Chicago theatrical productions such as Kasimu & the Coconut Palm and Dirt. But it was his outstanding performance in Eden at the historic Victory Gardens Theater which caught the attention of a prominent talent agent.

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Singer-songwriter and guitarist Keb’ Mo’s music is a living link to the seminal Delta blues that traveled up the Mississippi River and across the expanse of America - informing all of its musical roots — before evolving into a universally celebrated art form. Born Kevin Moore in South Los Angeles to parents originally from the deep South, he adopted his better known stage name when he was a young player who became inspired by the force of this essential African-American legacy. In the storied tradition of bluesmen before him including Muddy Waters — formerly McKinley Morganfield — and Taj Mahal, who began his days as Henry St. Clair Fredericks, Moore became known as Keb’ Mo’. His acclaimed self-titled 1994 debut album introduced that now famous appellation to the world, and his latest album, 2006’s Suitcase, brings it to new heights.

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Toby Corbett, a three-time Emmy Award nominee, received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington where he studied painting with renowned African-American artist Jacob Lawrence and film theory with noted film scholar Richard Jameson.

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Honeydripper played at the Savannah Film Festival, and Savannah Morning News reviewed the film:

Before Monday night’s screening of Sayles’ new film at the Savannah Film Festival, he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Actor Chris Cooper introduced his longtime co-worker and friend, remarking that the director “has given the American moviegoer what no one else has … he treats us like grown-ups. It’s no mean feat.”

Sayles, Cooper said, “tells the stories no one else is telling.”

“Honeydripper,” Sayles’ 16th feature, indeed bears his trademark grasp of character, fluid dialogue and sense of humor. The movie takes place at a crossroads when a seismic change was about to hit music. Guitarists, previously bit players in big bands, were getting ready to plug in and crank it up - whether the world was ready or not.

Read the full review.