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Cast: Bruce Springsteen, Joe Grushecky, Steve Cropper, and Mike Vallely
A Tale of Determination, Passion, Desire, and Success... No Matter How You Measure It. Too many times in life when people realize that their dreams are not going to come true they, much too often, give up on those dreams and instead accept the hand that life deals them. Joe Grushecky is not one of these people. Faced with the fact that his dream of making it big in the unforgiving business of Rock n' Roll was going to fall just short, Joe Grushecky chose a different path. He kept fighting.
This is a pretty unique story of a rock star in that you get to see the real person behind the fame, this is something you rarely see as most stars are at least in the eyes of the public,larger than life. Joe is a hometown boy, yes that is one thing him and I share, I do not know him personally but who living in Pittsburgh could say the don't know him or know of him. This documentary follows his entire career from his first time seeing the record cover of his first album as The Iron City House Rockers, to the time he worked with Bruce Springsteen to the present. There is a lot covered here and for those waiting to see this I am sure you don't want to sit down and have me tell you all the details but I can say it has been an amazing journey, like any artist he has seen the peaks and the valleys of a business that seems to care less and less about their artists. His story of his music career is pretty amazing in itself but Joe as a person is something more. This is a man that teaches mentally disabled children at a local school, a group of kids no one else wanted to work with. Joe would work his day job and then go right to his music career afterwards, dedication I think you would have a hard time matching from any of today's big stars. Joe has always been there when someone needed help, he has always done charity work and concerts to raise money for those that were down on their luck regardless of his own struggles. Here it is 2009 and Joe is still doing his thing, his love for the music and not so much the fame is what drives him, it seems to be he has lived his whole life that way, a hard working, driven man with a heart and compassion for the next guy. I kinda felt bad for him watching this film, I mean I have no reason to, he has played with "The Boss" been in Rolling Stone magazine and toured the world. But that brass ring that at times seemed so close some how avoided him for all those years. He is now just happy playing gigs and making the kind of music he loves, the band has changed many times over the years but the heart and soul is still in tack. I got no right feeling sorry for him, this is a man that has lived a life much fuller than most and a man that is proud of everything he has done, well Joe I too am proud and even prouder to say we come from the same town. If your a music lover this is a must own, the release is a two-disc set that features 7 Never-Before-Heard Live performances by Joe Grushecky and Life-long friend Bruce Springsteen! I have to admit I was never a fan of his type of music but I always rooted for him, but after watching this I also have new respect for the man himself. Even if you are not into music documentaries I still highly recommend everyone to at least give this a watch, it is an amazing journey of one man looking for that ultimate prize, one he found just by living his life the way he has.
Released by Virgil Films ***** Out Of *****