One of the preeminent rock bands of the 1980s finally has gotten the rock-doc treatment, and local fans of The Replacements will get a chance to see it at 7:30 p.m. today at the Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 North Central Avenue.
Color Me Obsessed is self-admitted Replacements fanboy Gorman Bechard's love letter to the Minneapolis band, which started in 1979 in founding guitarist Bob Stinson's basement, put out a handful of essential records (Sorry, Ma . . . through Tim), put out a handful of non-essential records (after Stinson was booted from the band in 1986) as they took a stab at the big time, and eventually petered out in 1991 with a final concert in Chicago's Grant Park.
The film is making the rounds at various film festivals (including this weekend's Tucson Film and Music Festival), but is making its unofficial Phoenix premiere, courtesy of Zia Record Exchange, which is sponsoring tonight's screening.
Less a historical document than it is merely a salute to one of America's first "alternative" acts, the two-hour Color Me Obsessed features interviews with artists who've held a special place in their hearts for the band.
The list of interviewees includes, but is not limited to, Tommy (Ramone) Erdelyi, who produced the produced the band's last great statement, 1985's Tim; Twin Cities compatriot Grant Hart of Hüsker Dü; Twin/Tone Records' Peter Jesperson; outspoken producer/rocker Steve Albini; The Hold Steady's Craig Finn; Replacements rip-off merchants The Goo Goo Dolls; Decemberists leader Colin Meloy; Superchunk's Mac McCaughan; Titus Andronicus' Patrick Stickles; Minneapolis writer Jim Walsh (who penned the 2007 oral history of the band, All Over But the Shouting); Carleen Stinson (Bob's ex-wife); The Del Fuegos' Dan Zanes; and countless others. And Tom Arnold. To my knowledge, none of the surviving members (troubled soul Bob Stinson died in 1995) of the band's classic lineup -- Paul Westerberg, Chris Mars, Tommy Stinson -- are interviewed in the movie.
It's worth noting that there is no music by the film's subject in Color Me Obsessed and that the flick's tagline is "a film about the last best band." Given the hyperbolic nature of that statement, it's likely the movie is an exercise in deification that in it is a thoughtful examination of what made the band so vital yet so unfit to truly be the last best band. Still, for superfans, Color Me Obsessed might serve as a worthy appetizer for the real thing, if it ever gets made.
The screening is free and on a first-come, first-served basis.
Here's a classic video of The Replacements doing "Bastards of Young" on Saturday Night Live.
