The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 27

Thursday. February 3. 2000 Page 3D Filmmaker looks back at Don 't Look Back r-Cl 1 Bob Dylan, left, and documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker appear in a 1960s publicity still for Don't Look Back, Pennebaker's acclaimed chronicle of Dylan's three-week 1965 British concert tour. now sits in the Museum of Modern Art's archives.

The film's title appears in a line from Dylan's song, She Belongs to -Me: "She's an artist, she don't look back." Yet Pennebaker says the credit for his title actually goes to Negro Leagues star and Hall of Famer Satchel Paige, who once advised. "Don't look back. It might be gaining on you." Pennebaker offers his own tip on staying a step or two ahead of the audience: "The one barometer I believe in is boredom. The minute people start to lose interest, that's it." That explains the tight running time of Don't Look Back: It's barely an hour and a half. The DVD comes with a bonus five never-before-released Dylan audio performances and a previously unreleased version of the landmark cue-card flipping bit for "Subterranean Homesick Blues." Pennebaker's grainy video for the Dylan tune turned out to be about 20 years ahead of its time, presaging MTV and VH1.

So when he flips past the video music channels today "I think, "Without me, they'd be bankrupt'ViRe says, laughing loudly. "I'm sure the check is in the mail." 12. Knight Ridder Tribune created his own persona right before your eyes. He was a compendium of things it takes professors years to figure out startlingly naive, but smart." 74-year-old Pennebaker acknowledges that he had 40 to 50 extra hours of footage from the Dylan sessions, and that the idea of recutting his movie flashed through his brain. "I thought about it," he says.

"I thought, "This is a chance to make a new Then I thought, "Why a new film? What would that get It would be interesting to people who'll take any Dylan you can give them, but not to a major audience." The extra footage, along with outtakes and originals of all Pennebaker's work, such as Monterey Pop and The War Room, Arts briefs High Museum to benefit from folk art sale NEW YORK Beginning Feb. will offer contemporary folk art from the collection of Atlanta philanthropist Marshall Hahn Jr. Comprised of more than 150 lots, the proceeds of this on-line auction will benefit the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Acclaimed for its collection of 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, the High also supports the collection, conservation and study of contemporary folk art. Bidding begins on-line Feb: 8 with all lots closing on Feb.

21. Estimates on items range from $200 to $6,000. Symposium to address Native American identity ATLANTA The "Tomahawk Chop," African Americans with Native American ancestry, Indian humor and legal definitions of "Indian" will be some of the topics explored this weekend in an Atlanta History Center symposium. "Dream Catchers and Full Bloods: Indian Identity in Contemporary America" will examine issues surrounding Native American identity in today's world. It is being held in conjunction with the current exhibition "Native Lands: Indians and Georgia." Among the speakers will be Richard Grounds, of Yuchi and Seminole ancestry, professor of anthropology at the University Tulsa; Lynne Spriggs, who has a doctorate in Native American art history and folk art curator at the High Museum; Rennard Strickland, of Osage an Cherokee heritage, dean of the University of Oregon School of Law; and Melinda Micco, of Seminole heritage, chair of the ethnic studies department at Mills College, Calif.

The symposium will be 7-10 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday at the museum. Registration fee is $35 for center members and $45 for non members. For more information, call (404) Shape-note singing to be at state capitol MONTGOMERY The Third Annual Rotunda Singing will be Saturday in the Alabama State Capitol Building beginning at 9:30 a.m.

The annual singing brings together shape-note singes and interested listeners from all over Alabama and is open to the public. A barbecue lunch will be provided. For more information the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture at (334) Children's Theater hosts family weekend BIRMINGHAM The Birmingham Children's Theatre will present Thomas Edison: Wizard at Work, an original work by Joe Zellner and Ed Rosendahl, and The Queen of Hearts, a new musical by Jean Pierce and Jay Tumminello. Recommended for students from the third through eighth grades, Thomas Edison recreates the people, places and events that shaped the life of America's greatest inventor. For younger students, kindergarten through first grade.

Queen of Hearts is loosely based on the children's nursery rhyme. Tickets are $6 for students and $8 for adults. Tickets to both performances are limited and reservations are highly recommended. To purchase tickets or for more information, call (205) 458-8181. Auditions for music video to be in Argo ARGO Mona Lisa Vaughn of Starbound Productions Casting Agency has issued a call for children and adults of all ages and races to appear in a music video to be shot Feb.

25 in Argo. Directed by Sonny Trim, the video will be of Oh-wee by Birmingham artist LI. Needed are three children ages 5-7, 15 high school students and 10-15 middle-aged to elderly people. Those in the high school and middle-aged to elderly categories should have dance experience. Two of the high school students will have lead roles.

The video is being produced by Walkala Entertainment, (205) 686-7495. Among the producers and directors is Tonya White of Hokes Bluff. Ms. Vaughn will interview at Mega 2000 and Star Bound productions in Argo. To set up an appointment, call (205) 249-3238.

Madonna releases new version of American Pie Bye-bye, Miss American Pie. Hello, Madonna. -The Material Girl released her version of the 1971 classic American Pie to radio stations on Tuesday, a truncated take on Don McLean's 812-minute rock 'n' roll homage to Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. The song's debut came one day before the anniversary of "the day the music Feb. 3, 1959, when a plane carrying the three young rock stars went down in an Iowa cornfield.

Madonna's remake times out at under five minutes, a considerable cut from the original. And don't worry if you don't remember all the words: The Material Girl has trimmed some of the verses. Madonna's version strays far afield from McLean's simple arrangement. There's an electronic dance beat, and distant background vocals from actor Rupert Everett. There is also "an explosion of interest" from adult contemporary and Top 40 radio stations, which have jumped to add the song to their playlists, said Heidi Ellen Robinson, spokesman for Madonna's label, Maverick.

The song is from the soundtrack to Madonna's latest movie, The Next Best Thing, which co-stars Everett. The movie opens March 3, while the soundtrack (in perfect marketing style) arrives in stores Feb. 22. The 1971 McLean classic was recently ranked as the 19th rock song ever by VH 1 By Larry McShane Associated Press Writer NEW YORK D.A. Pennebaker still remembers the look on young Bob Dylan's face.

The 26-year-old singer was watching himself in Pennebaker's soon-to-be released documentary, Don't Look Back. Dylan appeared well, stunned is a good word. "I think the first time he saw it, he went into shock," Pennebaker recalls, laughing slightly. "He had no idea that one camera sitting on one guy's shoulder could make him feel so naked." The chastened Dylan returned a night later, watched it again, then gave his OK to Pennebaker's film. Now, three decades later, the director's chronicle of Dylan's three-week 1965 British tour returns this month in an enhanced DVD version released by New Video.

"I've always admired Dylan for letting (the film) go the way it was," Pennebaker says. "That was something a lot of lesser talents and a lot of greater talents would have had trouble doing." Pennebaker's critically acclaimed documentary, released in 1967, stands the test of time although its creator once felt the 96-minute film would never see a theatrical release. It was the kindness of several 'West Coast pornographic theaters that changed that, he says in particular, The Presidio in San Francisco. "This group of Western theaters was showing porno, and they wanted to upgrade their act," the self-deprecating Pennebaker recalls. "It was perfect for me, because my movie looked like porno, but it's not." Pennebaker, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his look at the Clinton presidential campaign in The War Room, is quick to poke fun at himself.

Talking about his acclaimed black and white Dylan piece, he describes it as "a very ratty-looking film." Critics disagreed. "A portrait of the young Dylan tearing the pop world apart," a San Francisco Examiner reviewer enthused in a typical rave. Pennebaker, an Illinois native, earned a degree in mechanical engineering at Yale University before going into filmmaking. Using his college skills, he developed a portable camera that allowed filmmakers, full access one of the keys to the cinema verite style that he helped define. According to Pennebaker, the movie wasn't his idea, and it wasn't Dylan's either.

The credit belongs to Dylan's late manager, Albert Grossman. "I probably couldn't have convinced Dylan myself," Pennebaker says. "He was mercurial. It would be hard to convince him of anything for three hours in a row. But Albert Grossman asked me if I wanted to do a film with one of his clients." Pennebaker knew little about his subject, who wore his hair long, his sunglasses dark and his attitude on his sleeve: "I didn't have much of a take on him, I knew who he was, probably heard a couple of his songs.

To hear him sing the first time, he wasn't Rudy Vallee. I was less than swept away." That soon changed. Pennebaker, watching through his lens, saw "an amazing prodigy. Very smart'in an untutored way. He Smuggler's (formerly Ed Flace) Entertainment Center Lounge Bar Grill Party Time 9:00 pm Until Friday 6 Saturday Night Live Dance Band Recording Artist Tommy York 6 Thrill-Billy straight from AAuscle Shoals $2.00 Cover Charge Open Monday-Saturday Happy Hour 4 PM 6 PM Karoalte every Wednesday fir Thursday Night Great Entertainment 205-884-995I directions take I-20 to Riverside exit, go west on 78.

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