David Licata | May 4, 2012
When I was looking for subjects for A Life’s Work, I always considered a collector in search of a holy grail object. In the early days I thought I’d like to include someone like a film historian searching for, say, London After Midnight, the lost silent film directed by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney. [...]
David Licata | May 1, 2012
A couple of years ago I met with an editor about editing the sample for A Life’s Work. The conversation eventually turned to music for the film. One idea I told her I had idea was of staging a choir performance of Is My Living in Vain? Shooting the choir as it rehearsed and eventually [...]
David Licata | April 19, 2012
In case you didn’t know it, Saturday, April 21, 2012, is Record Store Day. Five years and still hanging around. I thought I’d recycle the post from last year (with some slight alterations), because it’s still appropriate. Many many years ago I worked in a record store in Hackensack, NJ with a whole mess of [...]
David Licata | December 21, 2011
This is as timely this year as it was in 2010, so with that in mind, here it is again. I asked Robert Darden of the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project for a list of some of his favorite gospel Christmas songs, and true to form, Robert delivered the goods and then some. The songs [...]
David Licata | November 16, 2011
In the last post, I offered up a clip featuring Bob Darden speaking about why so much gospel music is missing. The clip I posted runs almost four minutes. I had a longer cut, but I thought it was running too long. I thought I could shorten the Capitalism bit. Here’s his unedited answer. The [...]
David Licata | November 9, 2011
Before I get to the clip, some background. My first meeting with Bob Darden of the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project was in Chicago, August 2009. During our sit down interviews it became clear very quickly that I would have to go to Baylor University (Waco, TX) to shoot audio engineer Tony Tadey in action. [...]
David Licata | September 27, 2011
Last week I asked you to help me choose five photos for a new press kit. The results are in! Here are the five images that garnered the most votes. #5 The model of Arcosanti #4 Bristlecone Pine trees #3 Sisyphus paper weight in Jill Tarter’s office #2 Allen Telescope Array with camera #1 Digitizing [...]
David Licata | September 13, 2011
When I deliver the elevator pitch of A Life’s Work– “a documentary about people engaged in projects they may not see completed in their lifetimes” –I’m usually asked to describe the projects. Sometimes the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project takes some explaining, and I think I know why: when we think of recorded music (or [...]
David Licata | August 9, 2011
Age eight is a pivotal year in human development. I’ve spoken to teachers and developmental psychologists and they’ve told me that’s around the time humans begin thinking about thinking. It’s also when you start becoming aware that you’re part of a larger world. It also seems to be an age when one’s receptivity to that [...]
David Licata | July 12, 2011
When I first interviewed Robert Darden of the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project for A Life’s Work in Chicago (August 2009), one collector’s name came up again and again. Bob Marovich. Bob Marovich is a gospel music historian, radio announcer, and journalist. Since 2001, he has hosted “Gospel Memories,” a weekly radio program featuring classic [...]
