Carmine Street Guitars (2018)

This is another fabulous documentary, about a custom guitar maker in Greenwich Village. Various musicians stop by 42 Carmine Street, New York, to noodle and talk with owner-designer Rick Kelly and his artistic apprentice Cindy Hulej during the course of a week. Rick's 93-year-old mother Dorothy works there, too.

The director Ron Mann is new to me but has made a number of other documentaries. Writer Len Blum co-wrote Meatballs (1979) and Stripes (1981), among others, before teaming up with Mann for another doc five years ago.

You can read more about this movie and Kelly's craft on Kelly's website, the movie's website, or one producer's website. You can listen to a spotify playlist with music by some of the musicians featured.

But nothing can live up to watching Rick rescue a piece of wood and turn it into an electric guitar modeled after a Fender Telecaster AKA "Telly." Or to hearing Bill Frisell play the Beach Boys' Surfer Girl solo (here's a video of his talking and playing it somewhere else).

The soundtrack is credited to Dallas Good and Travis Good of the Canadian band The Sadies.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are singing its praises, averaging 97%, and I can't figure out what's wrong with the audiences who are averaging 71.

Unfortunately, the movie has left this area (you can find screenings at a few places) and I can find no notices of its streaming anywhere. I messaged the producers via Facebook and got the following reply: “Hi Babette! Eventually we hope to release on TVOD and DVD -- maybe even on a broadcast channel. Folks can follow us on social to make sure they stay current with the release. Thank you!”