Lakeside Little Theatre (LLT) has booked the award-winning documentary film “The Wrecking Crew” for four showings from Friday, Friday, July 17 through Sunday, July 19. The film records the story of one of the greatest ever groups of rock and roll musicians. You may not know their names, but you know their sounds.
What the Funk Brothers did for Motown, the Wrecking Crew did, only bigger, for the West Coast Sound. Six years in a row in the 1960s and early 1970s, the Grammy for “Record of the Year” went to Wrecking Crew recordings.
And the film? It’s been praised at film festivals all over the world and described by Vintage Guitar as one of the best music documentaries ever made.
And because the showings at the LLT is the film’s Mexican premiere, the viewings will include a live Q&A session with the film’s producer and director, Denny Tedesco, who is also the son of the Wrecking Crew’s late legendary lead guitarist, Tommy Tedesco.
“The Wrecking Crew” tells the story of these men, and one woman, in pictures and glorious sound. The favorite songs of a generation are all here, presented by the people who made them famous. And it tells the story of the unsung musicians who provided the backbeat, the bottom and the swinging melody that drove so many of those 1960s number-one hits.
The dedicated musicians of the Wrecking Crew brought the flair and musicianship that added that special American “west coast sound” to the music of so many of the favorites of the era: Nat “King” Cole, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, the Beach Boys, Glen Campbell, Sonny and Cher, the Mamas and the Papas and Elvis.
Many of those musicians are great fans of the film. “That’s really how it was. These were the greats, the best of the best,” said Jose Feliciano. “They made the music to the sound tracks of our lives. This offering gives us insight into the minds, the art and the soul of these creative musicians.”
The film is a fun and moving tribute from Tedesco to his father and to the music, the times, the dominant impact the music made on U.S. culture, and to the secret star-making machine known only as “The Wrecking Crew.”
The four showings of the documentary at LLT will be on Friday, July 17, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, July 18, 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, July 19, 3 p.m.
Each show will include a personal Q&A with Tedesco.
Reserved seating tickets at 200 pesos are available at the LLT box office from 10 a.m. until noon on Monday, July 6 and Tuesday July 7, and on Monday, July 13 and Tuesday, July 14.