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 | 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 | December 16, 2011
I recently posted an article about Robert Darden on the A Life’s Work Facebook page. (There you will find news that is relevant to the subjects of the film but are not inspiration for blog posts. If you haven’t “Liked” A Life’s Work yet, why not consider Liking it now?) Anywhoozle, in the article Darden [...]
David Licata | November 29, 2011
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 | October 11, 2011
Dear Filmmaker, Were you nervous before your first interview with Paolo Soleri? I mean, he’s kind of a rock star, isn’t he? R.C. in AZ Dear R.C. in AZ Yes, I think he is, and yes, I was nervous before I met Soleri for the first time. And the second time. And the third, fourth, [...]
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 [...]
