12/28/2023 0 Comments David byrne road to nowhere acousticHe’s also working with his journalistic initiative, Reasons to Be Cheerful, on a new project called “We Are Not Divided.” How did Byrne go from apolitical rock star to infuse his work with advocacy?Ī few days before the New York homecoming of “American Utopia,” Byrne spoke via Zoom with IndieWire about his political awakening, making art in the pandemic, and confronting his own flaws - including a recently unearthed video of him in blackface for a promotional video tied to “Stop Making Sense.” Looking back on those days, he also provided a definitive answer on whether the Talking Heads will ever reunite. Now, Byrne is taking things one step further, joining forces with Participant Media to launch a voter registration campaign around the release. In between songs and monologues that address everything from immigration to police violence, he advocates for voter registration and urges audience members to make sure they enroll in the lobby. It also finds the singer-songwriter settling into an activist role that eluded him for much his career. President Trump’s Muslim Ban Cost Golshifteh Farahani Her Role in ‘After Yang’ Like the show, the movie (which was recorded at a single performance in New York) finds Byrne addressing the audience in between a vibrant blend of song-and-dance numbers with a robust team of performers behind him. The HBO production opened TIFF and next plays at two drive-in dates for New York Film Festival (where Byrne is expected to attend) along with virtual screenings. The world has changed dramatically since then, but “American Utopia” is more than prescient it’s a call to action that somehow meets the divisive moment surrounding its release. Spike Lee directs the dazzling feature-film version of Byrne’s hit Broadway show, which found raves in 2019 and had a 2020 revival on the books before the pandemic took charge. Nearly four decades later, Byrne has matured into a socially-conscious performance artist, but he still brings the house down with the same catchy tunes. If Jonathan Demme’s rousing 1984 concert film embodies the galvanizing physicality of the Talking Heads frontman, “ American Utopia” is a full-throated sequel. Anyone who has seen “Stop Making Sense” knows that David Byrne puts on a good show.
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