I am a sucker for quirky movies about music people. I watch all the great (and not so great) music biopics when board (the Chet Baker flick was the last one on the list – see that post here). “Almost Famous” is recited twice a year…

I hit pay dirt when I stumbled upon Clint Eastwood’s “Play Misty For Me” on Netflix that featured live footage of the 1970 Monterey Jazz Festival. Dressed in uber hippie gear, swaying their hips and flaying their arms… watching the festival audience footage was an insightful treat.

The movie even included a live jam from Weather Report founder Joe Rawinul, and featured KRML-FM, a real legendary jazz radio station from south of San Francisco.

Clint nailed his roll as Dave Garver, the cool as a cucumber disc jockey that finally had one of his many hussies turn vengeful on him. A pre-curser to “Fatal Attraction”, this 1971 release is a hidden music movie gem.

I have always been partial to old school disc jockey characters…

Chris Stevens from Northern Exposure is at the top of my list. On more than one occasion his “Chris is the Morning” shtick inspired me to get weird and creative. 

Christian Slater as Hard Harry in “Pump Up the Volume” was also a DJ character I tried to emulate for a period of time back in my impressionable teen days.

Great movie… 

Although I never hosted a radio show in school (I was a writer for the school paper – Villanovan), I am very happy and satisfied with my one guest DJ spot on Fairfield Univ radio a few years ago via my daughter Julia’s show “JuJu On The Beat”. Click here for that story.

On a whim, I sent in an application to Tom Petty Radio’s “Last DJ” Contest show, and was asked to submit a tape… Stay tuned!!