A documentary by filmmaker Brendan Toller is diving into the life, times and resonance of this American music journalist and author. Danny Fields was indeed a pivotal figure in the music business of the 60s, 70s and 80s – and I’d wager through today – as he managed Iggy and The Stooges and The Ramones along with some extensive A&R duties in the circles of the Doors, the MC5 and the Velvet Underground. Here’s a snippet from his Wikipedia entry: ‘Fields was an editor at a music magazine, Datebook, when he began frequenting Max’s Kansas City. It was there that he developed connections to Andy Warhol’s Factory social circle. Fields occasionally shared his loft with Warhol actress Edie Sedgwick, and wrote an account of the Warhol-sponsored Velvet Underground during their early years. He later penned the liner notes for the band’s historic Live At Max’s Kansas City album, recorded in 1970, but released in 1972, after the band broke up. Fields was one of the first people in the music business to be openly gay, at a time when most were closeted.’
Entitled Danny Says, Toller’s film approaches a look at those behind the icons, those who played a pivotal role although for this project to make it on the screen, it is still in need of some support so check out the Kickstarter page to see how you can help out and perhaps help yourself to some of the limited edition reward options. While there are plenty of anecdotes to go with the trailer, I’ll just include a few lines from their campaign page here: ‘Since 1966, Danny Fields has played a pivotal role in music and ‘culture’ of the late 20th century: working for the Doors, Cream, Lou Reed, Nico, Judy Collins and managing groundbreaking artists like the Stooges, the MC5 and the Ramones….As a revered (and feared?) presence at Max’s Kansas City, Danny introduced Iggy Pop to David Bowie and granted Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe an invitation to sit at his backroom table.’
With the recent success of the mono.log Kickstarter campaign, I can’t help mentioning a project from one of our contemporaries. Take a look at the trailer…
