I was very happy to see on the front page of The Record–New Jersey’s best newspaper–an article celebrating the exceptional documentary (“Banded Together”) that Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Barry Rubinow has made about one caring high school teacher and an extraordinary group of young musicians he nurtured. I can’t claim to be objective here, because I’ve greatly liked and admired since my own student days both the teacher (Mr. Joseph Sielski) and the youths he nurtured–friends of mine–who went on to achieve national and international success. This is a film about friends. And it’s inspiring and so well-crafted. (It’ll be shown again soon at The Ridgewood Guild International Film Festival.)
Last night, I attended a special screening of the film (which I’d previously seen at the Montclair Film Festival) at our old high school, in Glen Rock, NJ. I was touched anew by the warmth, heart, inspiration–not to mention great music–to be found in the film. The film tells the stories of Floyd Vivino, Jimmy Vivino, Jerry Vivino, Lee Shapiro, Frank Pagano, Douglas Romoff, Jeff Venho, John Feeney. (With great spoken contributions, as well, I might add, from Conan O’Brien–for 28 years, Jimmy and Jerrry Vivino were the heart of Conan’s house band.)
And after last night’s screening, Jerry, Frank, Doug, and Jeff played numbers “live” for the audience–we all got to join in on “Caldonia”–and Uncle Floyd Vivino cracked everyone up with his comedy. I’m glad I got to say hello to friends from Glen Rock, like Keith McElwee and Carol LaMela. I wish I could have joined everyone who gathered at the Glen Rock Inn, but some heath issues prevented that last night.
Glen Rock’s mayor presented Rubinow and everyone in the film with a proclamation that she and Jon Cole had prepared, proclaiming it officially their day in Glen Rock. It couldn’t have been more perfect.
