Could it be that we are right in the middle of the golden age of the Rock and Roll or Pop music documentary. Not only does every long lasting band seem to have one right now but acclaimed directors such such as Martin Scorcese, Jonathan Demme and Taylor Hackford seem to thrive in the Genre. The Who, the Clash, the Ramones, Tom Petty have all the subjects of film treatments recently and now have been joined by Meat Loaf's In Search of Paradise and of course Scorcese's Stones concert film Shine A Light.

This is quite a departure from the early days of the fifties and those old Alan Freed films where Alan singlehandedly battles the entire town in their efforts to ban demon Rock and Roll. It's even different than the sixties when Frankie and Annette were involved in Beach Blanket Bingo and Connie Francis was wondering Where the Boys Are. Several years ago my friend Marshal Crenshaw wrote a great history of the Rock and Roll film called Celluloid Rock. And with a plethora iof new movies it's already outdated.

Against this backround I was anxious to see Scorcese's treatment of the Rolling Stones. I love to see these films in a theater with the 5:1 surround mixes and the big screens. It's almost as good as seeing an actual concert. As a matter of fact sometimes the sound is too good and you can tell there were overdubs and remixes done in the studio in a post production phase.  Even though a lot of critics felt the need to comment on how old Stones looked I thought Scorcese eloquently captured the Stones at this moment in time.

I had high expectations since after all Washington's own Ahmet Ertegan literally died for this film. And it was gratifying to see the Stones and Scorcese do a brief memorial during the closing credits. Even though the concert at the Beacon in New York was a benefit for the Bill Clinton Foundation the universality of the Stones and a Stones performance did shine through.

One of the best concerts I have ever seen took place right here in DC at the Warner Theater with the Stones and anybody who was there still talks about the sheer intimacy of seeing the band at such a small venue. Scorcese's film captures that excitement at an equally small venue.

Scorcese's juxtaposition of the current day Stones with vintage early interviews from the sixties only enhances the longevity of the band and how far they have come. And the looks on the faces of Jack White, Christine Aguilera and especially Blues legend Buddy Guy say more visually than words or dialogue could ever imply.

Bringing out Stones chestnuts like Come Live With Me or Connection and seeing Ronnie Wood play Pedel Steel on Girl With The Faraway Eyes watching Keith Richards sing and interact with his bandmates still adds more to the experience.

And Scorcese adds so much visually. I have always been a fan of The Last Walz and Shine A Light contains the same visual intimacy. After seeing too many T.J. Labinski PBS fund raising reunion specials with endless audience reaction shots and the back of the artists heads it is a pleasure to see someone do a concert film right.

In the last several years there have been some good ones. Jonathan Demme's Neil Young film Heart of Gold shot at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and Scorcese's Shine A Light are two of the good ones. As Mr. MovieFone would say, "I'm In."