"BOUND TO LOSE" - A THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE

With so many film-watching options available these days (films playing for one week only, movies On Demand, on DVD, on the web), it's hard to get excited about going to the cinema. For 11 years now, Rooftop Films has been finding ways to make movie-going an exciting communal event again. We combine live music with unique outdoor spaces and show fantastic films, creating memorable experiences for audiences and filmmakers alike. I'm really excited that other filmmakers are coming up with their own creative ways to entice and energize large crowds of movie-goers.

Most recently, Paul Lovelace and Sam Wainwright Douglas, the directors of a wonderful doc called "Holy Modal Rounders...Bound To Lose," have made a festival out of their New York Theatrical premiere, with screening events all week long at the Anthology Film Archives packed with live musical performances, keynote introductions, and free drinks. The hard-work and commitment to putting on a great show is worth supporting.

Furthermore, "Bound to Lose" is a delightful film about the most laid-back, agro-psychedelic pre-punk druggie band you ever saw. Sam and Paul brilliantly capture the strange and shifting dynamic between Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber, the band's two main progenitors for over 30 years (early members also included Sam Shepard). Stampfel and Weber are contentious but needy, bickering but collaborative, working in the most roundabout way in music history to create some beautifully bizarre music, all while their lives teeter like a runaway wagon on two wheels.

So if you don't get a chance to be part of the spectacular show at the Anthology, certainly buy the film on DVD.