If music is a holy ambassador, then Mugge has diplomatic plates on his car. The documentary filmmaker has made films about every thing from blues to jazz, bluegrass to reggae, and salsa to soul. A retrospective of the Maryland native’s work is being proven Thursday by means of Sunday on the AFI Silver Theatre.
Rising up in Montgomery County’s Kemp Mill neighborhood, the place he attended Kennedy Excessive in Wheaton, Mugge (pronounced “muggy”) had easy accessibility to the musical choices of the native rec facilities that hosted bands and to reveals within the District.
“We’d go all the way down to see Motown revues on the Howard Theatre or WOL soul reveals on the Washington Coliseum,” mentioned Mugge, 73. “Or on college nights we’d go down with pretend IDs to see Ritchie Havens on the Cellar Door. Washington was crucial for me. It had such numerous music. You would be into rock, you would be into soul, you would be into jazz or blues. There was all the time one thing happening in D.C.”
Mugge went to the College of Maryland at Baltimore County, the place he made a movie about Frostburg, Md., then began a graduate diploma at Temple College. He thought he would wind up engaged on characteristic movies, however when his documentary about Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo earned raves and, after he offered it to Swedish tv, a bit of cash, Mugge instantly had the funds to seize on movie a performer he had been blown away by years earlier in Michigan: Herman “Solar Ra” Blount.
“A Joyful Noise” was successful, establishing his signature strategy: musical performances interspersed with reflective interviews, all shot in a method that recollects the chiaroscuro of an Previous Masters portray. “I mentioned, ‘Oh, I suppose that is what I’m going to be doing with my life,’” Mugge mentioned on the cellphone from Muncie, Ind., the place he lives.
Mugge added, “I prefer to make movies about individuals specifically who aren’t getting the eye they need to from the company media institution. They’re people who find themselves doing their work as a result of it’s a mission, as a result of they’re actually inventive and in search of new issues to do with music, new issues to precise.”
There are D.C. components in a few of his movies. Mugge filmed Solar Ra in entrance of the White Home. In “Black Wax,” poet and singer Gil Scott-Heron walks round Washington, boombox in hand, reciting verses concerning the capital. These are interspersed with a reside efficiency on the outdated Wax Museum. (Scott-Heron was residing right here on the time.)
And “The Gospel In line with Al Inexperienced” consists of footage of the soul singer performing on the Bolling Air Drive Base noncommissioned officers membership. “I attempted for 13 months to persuade him to make the movie,” Mugge mentioned.
He added, “For me, the Al Inexperienced movie is about numerous varieties of affection, the love that each one these feminine followers felt for him, particularly along with his early hits, in addition to the love between him and producer Willie Mitchell and all they’d created collectively. It’s additionally a really dramatic story. The movie is a few man who flew too near the solar, received his eyeballs burned and has been singing ever since with hearth popping out of his mouth.”
Inexperienced had definitely skilled highs and lows in his profession and his private life, culminating in his shedding his pop previous and shopping for a church exterior of Memphis.
The killer tempo Mugge had for his movies has slowed a bit as he spends time remastering and digitizing his work for streaming. He has additionally simply revealed the e-book “Notes From the Street: A Filmmaker’s Journey By American Music.”
“One of many foremost causes I wrote the e-book is as a result of individuals into jazz know me for the Solar Ra movie and the Sonny Rollins movie,” Mugge mentioned. Folks into blues know me for ‘Deep Blues’ and ‘Blues Divas’ and ‘Final of the Mississippi Jukes.’ Folks into Hawaiian music know me for the 2 movies on Hawaiian music. Salsa individuals know me for my movie on Ruben Blades.”
Mugge has definitely spent a number of time with a number of musicians. Is there one thing all of them have in widespread? “The theme that runs by means of these movies is that, whatever the style, they’re all totally different sides of conventional American music,” he mentioned.
I’ve simply kicked off this yr’s Serving to Hand marketing campaign, our annual fundraiser for native charities. Go to posthelpinghand.com to study Bread for the Metropolis, Friendship Place and Miriam’s Kitchen and to donate.
