Documentary Now! (2015–…): Season 1, Episode 7 - Gentle and Soft: The Story of the Blue Jean Committee Part 2 - full transcript

Let's go.

So you want to talk about
the Hall of Fame?

Let's do it. Yeah.

I think you will find that most
rock journalists

have a room like this
in their house.

Come this way.

You know, I know some people
are upset

about how the Blue Jean
Committee

are getting inducted into
the Hall of Fame,

even though they only made
one great album.

Here's a room where vinyl lives.



Let's find the copy
of "Catalina Breeze."

I spent a couple weeks with
them in 1974.

I was there.
I saw the magic happening.

Aha.

The Blue Jean Committee.

Here's the original edition,
first pressing.

Clark and Gene,
ladies and gentlemen.

If you listen to the records,
you know about Clark's voice,

but what you aren't prepared for
is if you see them live in 1974,

what happens when he busts
that voice out live.

It is a fuse that gets lit,
and the whole place goes off.

And I... I just remember as a
young journalist, seeing this,

and going, you know, "Holy shit."

"Hold onto this moment.
This is magic.



These guys could change
history."

And those were amazing shows.

I think the Eau Claire show

had the kind of feeling

that if you had been
at these shows,

you wouldn't question it,

and if you were at
the Eau Claire show,

forget it.

It's cosmic.

That was a cosmic alignment.

Hey!

We're the Blue Jean Committee.

From Chicago, Illinois.

Make some noise, you jag-offs!

This is called "The Freeway."

Here we go.

♪ Freeway, riding along ♪

♪ Freeway, riding along ♪

Six hit singles in 72 hours,

all recorded because
some Chicago knuckleheads

thought they were vegetarians.

Which I would like
to reiterate was not true.

"Crawdaddy" named
"Catalina Breeze"

album of the year.

It felt... it felt pretty great.

People were sucking our dicks

and people were going nuts
over the album,

and Gene was happy and...

You know, I'm just a kid
from Chicago

who, uh, went to sausage school,

and then, uh, there you are
talking about the music,

and I mean,
that's, uh, very moving,

and it's, uh...

it's very enriching,

and I'm very, very, uh,

fortunate that that happened
to me.

♪ Freeway, riding along ♪

♪ Gentle and soft ♪

Thank you.

♪ Smooth and easy ♪

♪ Gentle ♪

It's strange to have a band
that big

disappear so quickly.

When people start as kids
like they did,

it's a real challenge
to stay together,

because people as they mature,

they go in different directions.

You become more of yourself.

♪ Into a hurdle ♪

Tension ratchets up,

and it's gonna explode,

and it did.

♪ Captain Tom ♪

♪ Points his compass ♪

♪ To the sun ♪

Sad to see.

It's so crazy, 'cause you look
at their, you know,

album cover,
they look so happy together.

How happy are they?
They're so happy.

It's, like, such
an iconic image.

♪ Smooth and easy ♪

♪ Gentle and soft ♪

♪ Smooth and easy ♪

When they sang together,

it was like nobody else.

There's never been a duo
like 'em.

It's...

It's just a shame.

♪ Smooth and easy ♪

♪ Gentle and soft ♪

♪ Smooth and easy ♪

♪ Easy, easy ♪

Yeah, the older I get, the more
I'm not mad at anybody,

and I'm certainly not mad
at Clark.

I... I got no beef with him
at all,

except, uh, Chicago beef.

It's a little joke.

♪ Smooth and easy ♪

Let's hear everybody.

♪ Gentle and soft ♪

You sound beautiful tonight.

♪ Smooth and easy ♪

Now just be quiet, everybody.

Just hear it in your head.

Isn't that pretty?

Good night.

If you don't mind...
I mean, I just don't...

I'd like to put a cap on, uh...

talking about Clark too much.

I love him, but there's
other subjects.

Now let's talk about the roots
of Chicago blues.

And the roots of folk music and
how they relate to each other,

and it's all just American music
in the end.

You want to talk about that
or no?

You're just interested in Clark.

After "Catalina", my phones
are just ringing off the hook.

Everybody wants to be in
business with the BJC.

And then I get a call from
Wolf and Res Miller

in Los Angeles.

They're putting together
this huge L.A. show.

Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne,

Poco, David Blue, America,

and they want the BJC to close.

The place was packed.

It was electric.

It was one of those vintage
mid-'70s L.A. rock nights.

We get invited to this concert.

It's huge.

It's like the biggest names
in California music,

and so we're backstage
and we're having a good time,

and then this one lady walks up
and says,

"It's great to know the cause
means so much to you guys."

And I'm like, "What?"

"What cause?"

In retrospect, I probably
should have told the guys,

but really it was just my job
to get them there.

I run off, and I grab one
of these little programs,

and there it is, larger
than life on the cover,

"Animal Rights Now."

Animals Rights Now?

Where the are we?

All of the sudden,

the California vibe
just melted away.

I'd play an anti-abortion rally

before I play
an Animal Rights Now rally.

You.

And they were just two
Chicago guys

from sausage families.

Or as they'd be the first
to tell you...

A long and noble meat tradition.

A long and noble meat tradition.

Before Joni goes on,

one of the activists starts
this "meat is murder" chant.

I look over at the guys,

and their eyes
are just like lasers.

I mean, this wasn't about
dogs and cats and stuff.

This was about being nice
to cows and pigs.

I mean, are you joking?

I mean, what world am I in
right now?

We were kind of trapped
in the middle, you know?

And wh... what are you gonna do,
you know?

There's 100,000 people
waiting to see you, you know?

And... and we were backstage,
you know.

It was... it was kind of too late.

I really wasn't worried
about Clark.

I told him, if he went out there

and said how he really felt,
it was all over.

No more money.

So, yeah, I chose to put the
band above my personal feelings.

Okay?

And then I just had
to convince Gene.

To play the gig.

Well, Clark wanted to do it.

He didn't have a problem,
apparently,

Much to my surprise,

and, uh, I'm a...
I'm a sausage man.

You know, for me, I... I just
wanted to stick to my guns

and... and be the sausage man
who I am,

and I just didn't want
to turn my back

on the sausage community.

I won't.

So they go on...

Clark was fine, but something
cracked inside of Gene.

What's going on, man?

I... don't think we should
have to do the whole song

and do the whole show.

Sing the song, man.

We'll talk about this
afterwards.

What are you doing?

This makes no sense at all, man.

Playing for these...

Just get the away from me, man.

Hey, what's the matter with you?

This, man.

Everybody here.

- Whoa.
- Everybody, man.

This is the wrong kind of show.

We should not be playing,

and I've been carrying you
too long, mother.

Carrying me too long?

Hey, next time you say that,
you better bring a gun,

you idiot.

Gene!

All right. Hey.

Uh... Hey, everybody.

Hey, relax. Relax.

Why don't you pet your pet pig,
you animal.

All right, this next song is
called "Catalina Breeze."

You might have heard it
on the radio.

Two, three, four!

So when the show ends,

they come off the stage,

they didn't hit each other.

They took it out on
each other's limos.

It was like watching
demolition derby.

That was the end of that.

They had such a sound, you know.

It's just a shame

that they still hate each other
that much,

that they can't get together
one more time

and just get that blend for us.

Well, it's the great
"what if," you know?

It's like...

what if they would have done
another "Catalina Breeze"?

If that hadn't have broken up,

can you imagine
where they'd be today?

The Blue Jean Committee,
I love those guys.

Still do.

But they were the two dumbest
mother I ever met,

and I work in
the music industry.

I mean, I regret blowing up
like that,

but that must have been
some show to see.

Boy, I'd like to see that
a couple times,

a group breaking up
right in front of you.

We were the Blue Jean Committee,

which means we're a group
and we agree on things,

and he turned out to be more
of a kind of crooked CEO

doing his own thing.

And I said, uh, "I don't want
to, you know, partake"

in this anymore."

After the band broke up,

Gene completely stopped
playing music altogether.

He moved in with me for a while,

but then my husband, Jim,
had to kick him out,

because he caught him explaining
the Dorothy Stratten murder

to my eight-year-old daughter.

His mind was just shot.

So, yeah, they were saying,
you know,

"Well, we lost Gene.
We don't have Gene anymore.

What are we gonna do?"

And I thought, "Well, luckily,
I legally own the name"

"the Blue Jean Committee

and most of the publishing
rights."

So in 1978, I did "Reborn"
with my cousins,

which no one liked.

I think the "Rolling Stone"
review just said "No."

And it wasn't until 1986
that I was lucky enough

to discover my true passion,

which was marketing and managing
the Blue Jean Committee's

back catalog.

I think a romantic
would be disappointed

in how it turned out.

Clark Honus of course became
a gazillionaire,

and, uh, Gene went back
to the sausage factory

where he began.

It's... it's almost Shakespearean

in the size of the story.

Gene created the world;

Clark sold it.

Great, so welcome to the,
uh... the showroom.

This is where it all
really started, right here,

with the Catalina Coolers.

This is Rhythm and Blueberries.

Pretty amazing.

This is the original one.

This is the one that launched
us right here.

That's just the Catalina Cooler,

with the lime.

"Why am I drinking this?

Oh, I love that album."

That's big at dog tracks.

The Blue Jean Concoction

for the urban market.

I wouldn't drink it, but...

they seem to like it.

This is a guitar that, uh,

I do not know how to play.

We got this.

This is a very exciting.

It's a co-sponsorship
with Jose Cuervo.

This is a limited edition.
Real nice.

This is what bought that pool
out there.

They made action figures
out of us.

There it is.
You want to pop in on that?

There's... there's Gene.

Yeah, that looks just like Gene.

They did a good job.

All right, let's... that's...

That's the, uh...
that's the showroom.

Enough of that.

I wa... I was never
mad at Clark, really.

You know, that's just, uh,
it's like being kids again

in school.

You just, you know,
you say a lot,

but you don't really mean it.

There's love there in, uh,
at the bottom of it.

You know, I got my own life.

I'll always love him,
but it's been a long time

since I've, uh,
really thought about him.

Yeah, I heard about the award,

and, uh, I don't know
if I can make it.

I got a whole lot of work to do,

but maybe.

I don't know.

You know, they still play

our songs on the radio,

and, I mean, I still get
recognized

I mean, there's a lot of fans
out there,

and, you know, it's about time

that the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame,

you know, took notice.

That's pretty incredible

that they... they are getting
that level of recognition

for one record.

You know, some artists had been
around 30 years

and made dozens of hit records

and don't even get invited
to the party.

Well, you know, it's so rare

that when a band goes into
the Hall of Fame

that there's a question about

literally what will happen
when they meet.

I mean, you know, they haven't
spoken in so long.

You know, will they talk?

Will they hug? Will they fight?

30 years they haven't spoken,
right?

Who knows what's going
to happen.

These guys truly showed me

what it meant to sing harmony,

what two guys against the world
could do together,

how sometimes soft and smooth

is stronger than hard.

Now, some of you may know,

I didn't always love these guys,
personally.

In fact, I wouldn't mind
taking a swing at Clark tonight

if I could get a good shot
at him.

But when I hear these guys sing,

that all goes away,

And all I want to do
is sing along.

Heck, sometimes I still want
to be these guys.

Ladies and gentlemen,
the Blue Jean Committee.

- How you doing, brother?
- How you doing, man?

Uh, there's a lot of people, uh,

we should, uh,
thank here tonight.

Um, my question is is, uh,
what took you so long?

Oh, but, uh, we got, uh,
our, uh, manager,

the grand shyster himself,
uh, Alvin Izoff,

who made us a lot of money.

Uh, he did a good job.

And, uh, you know, I also want
to thank this guy here.

Gene.

You might remember this one.

♪ When the going gets tough ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ When the weather gets rough ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Gonna strap 'em on,
lace 'em up ♪

♪ Put on my walking shoes ♪

All right.

There he is.

There he is.

It's good to see you.

- How you doing?
- I'm real good.

- Hey, that was good.
- Yeah.

Yeah, it was all right.

Yeah, I thought, uh,
sounded real good.

Yeah, it was all right.
It was all right.

Oh, you're looking good
and, uh...

Yeah, yeah, you too.

I haven't worn a tux
in, uh, a long time.

Yeah.

The crowd... it was a good crowd.

Same size that they have
every other year.

Yeah, well, you look good.

You look good too.

Yeah, are you...

You come out
to L.A. at all or...

No, not a whole lot.

You know, once in a while.

Well, I'll see you.

I get up to Chicago sometimes.

Oh, yeah.
Yeah, you got to give me a call.

- I'll call you up.
- Yeah, come by.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

All right,
good to see you again.

Oh, hold on. Wait.

The Catalina Coolers for you.

Wow, you really, uh...

Yeah. Well...

I'm happy for you. That's good.

Yeah, no, it's good.

Yeah, yeah.

Got it all worked out.

It was good seeing you.

- Good to see you.
- Good seeing you.

Good to see you. All right.

Bye. Thank you.

♪ Catalina ♪

I should probably...

I think we should go...

Yeah, I don't know.

I think we just, uh...

I think we wanted different
things,

and that happens,

and, uh,
I like the California songs.

It enriched my life.

Am I at the right place?

But I like playing 'em here.

This is where I like
playing 'em.

To a packed house,
right there, Mike?

♪ Your philosophies are taken ♪

♪ From a high-class magazine ♪

♪ You're going to the movies ♪

♪ Catalina breeze ♪

♪ Catalina breeze ♪

♪ Catalina breeze ♪

♪ Catalina breeze ♪

Thank you.

♪ Wiseman say if you want
to know a man ♪

♪ Walk a mile in his shoes ♪

♪ Don't know about you ♪

♪ But I'm more
of a barefoot guy ♪

♪ I'm headed down that rough
and bumpy road ♪

♪ Less traveled ♪

♪ Hope this beat-up mind
can soon last ♪

♪ Till I'm paying my dues ♪

♪ When the going gets tough ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ When the weather gets rough ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Strap 'em on, lace 'em up ♪

♪ Put on my walking shoes ♪