Tom Petty Rocks My World. My Butt Still (Gently) Sleeps.
If you can find a better rockumentary about an angry musical poet driven to perfection while spinning a 30-year Shakespearean tale of persistence, partying, and pride all rockin’ to a 4/4 beat, then bring it to me. Runnin’ Down A Dream, the FOUR HOUR documentary by Peter Bogdanovich , screened at the Magnolia last night, was all of that and more. OK, if I wanted to get nitpicky and make the film perfect, I would shave off 27 minutes and hand out catheters to the over-50 crowd. However, you can do that once you buy the DVD set to release today. Our foursome of hard-core Petty-o-philes counted more than 15 belly-laugh-out-loud moments: one from former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, another from Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, who sings a killer duet of “The Waiting” with TP. Along the way, Petty keeps you smiling with his sly comic storytelling while he weaves the woes of keeping a drug-riddled rock band together for 30 years with the highs of creating music with many of the greats like Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and George Harrison. The studio session takes of The Traveling Wilburys — Dylan, Harrison, Petty, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne — is a Baby Boomer’s wet dream.
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