Artist: Alberta Hunter
Song: "Remember My Name"
[ listen ]
This weekend they're doing an Alan Rudolph retrospective at SIFF Cinema, showing two of his films each night as double-features. I was excited to see that they were screening a film of his from 1978 called REMEMBER MY NAME, which has never been released on video or DVD. In fact, I'd never even heard of it. The film stars Geraldine Chaplin and Anthony Perkins, two actors I like quite a bit, and includes early performances by Jeff Goldblum and Alfre Woodard. I rounded up some cinema buddies from the new book group I joined a few months ago and off we went to the movies.
That's a real shame, since it's a brilliant, funny little film that features an incredible central performance by Geraldine Chaplin; it's one of her best. She plays Emily—a nutty, beautiful, unbalanced-but-intelligent woman who's just done time in prison on a murder charge. Now free, she gives herself a makeover, takes a job at a rinky-dink drug store and begins stalking her ex-husband (Anthony Perkins) and his new wife, making their lives miserable and perhaps even putting them in danger. Songs by 83-year-old blues singer Alberta Hunter (who you can read all about here) are used to terrific effect throughout the film, and when I saw in the closing credits that the soundtrack had once been available, I remarked to my friend that it would be a great thing to find on LP. Only then did I suddenly recall that I'd found a film soundtrack at a used record store here in Seattle about a year ago that featured lots of blues tracks by an elderly female singer. I'd never heard of the film, but I liked the cast and thought the music was neat, so I added it to my collection. So I went home last night and checked my shelf and, sure enough, I was delighted to discover that I already owned the soundtrack to REMEMBER MY NAME. Up above are a couple songs from the film, and here are the pictures and notes from the back of the LP:
[ Anthony Perkins & Geraldine Chaplin ]
[ Anthony Perkins ]
[ Alberta Hunter: April 1, 1895 — October 17, 1984 ]
1 comment:
The Barn of the Naked Dead has some sweet post art going on. Must check it out. My love of esoteric 70s music is joined by a love of 70s horror films, 70s soap operas, 70s interior decorating, 70s self-help paperbacks, and anything else from the 70s.
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