The Elders: Alive and Live in Ireland

Imagine a film crew and 150 American fans as they chase across Ireland with the hottest Irish Band in the United States. The result is the film Alive and Live in Ireland which chronicles The Elders and their amazing Celtic rock music as it makes a pounding impact abroad. This 66 minute tightly paced music documentary is like nothing you have ever seen before. It is not a concert film, but rather a reflexive visual and audible experience in the style of Jonathan Demme.

This film is appropriate for all ages, both in music and content -- so sit back with a pint and get ready for a wild ride across Ireland... The Elders: Alive and Live. You won't see anything like this for a long time... guaranteed!

The Pitch
Och! I Feckin’ Shot That!?

January 18, 2007

Filed under: Dispatches from the Scene Local outlaw auteur Ben Meade has informed me that the subject of his next film will be Kansas City Irish rock band the Elders. Meade explained the project via e-mail:

“The first week of March I am taking a film crew to Ireland with the Irish band The Elders……and 150 fans…..3 busloads. Really. We are making the ultimate road flick. My crew and I will document the happening and the live shows each night in pubs (this should be almost impossible taking 150 fans with us). Additionally, we are asking that anyone who wishes take a consumer camcorder and videotape their own POV of anything, from what happens on the bus, late night, early morning, anything. Then we will integrate that footage into the entire project….in other words many people will be co-directing this film. This is not a Beastie Boys reprieve…….that was simply a multi POV concert film. This film is 7 different shows, American fans in Ireland, and the non-professional footage will consist of things other than the concert.

The world premier of the finished product will be the (Kansas City) Irish Fest this fall. Let me know if/when you want to talk about this. We (and the band) leave on Feb 28th, returning on March 9th. Then the work begins, by the way, my students get the task of going through the fan footage to find the best stuff. Kind of like Mondo Kane meets the Elders.”

Marry, ’tis a brave project auld Meade has ta’en on. I just wonder how truly wild the Elders and their fans can get. Though, for the record, I’ve always enjoyed the Elders — they hold a special place as the first local band I ever saw upon moving here — they’re not known for generating the kind of langers-off-yer-tits abandon of the Pogues, which, to me, would be what a rock and roll binge across the Emerald Isle should strive for, and make for the best footage. Sure, the Elders generate a lot of energy and put on a passionate performance, but, when it’s over, most of the audience gets in some form of minivan and drives home, no?

So, the challenge for Meade is to get the Elders and their relatively elderly fans not to seem like just a bunch of tourists from the Heartland armed with camcorders, filming each other drinking Guinness in pubs. Then again, if the fans rise to the occasion, there could be something rather compelling about seeing a bunch of men in tapered pants and oxford shirts and women in mom jeans ruined and rat arsed for days in a row as ol’ Ian beats the hell out of the bodhrán. It could be the ultimate document of Midwestern baby boomer saturnalia and catharsis.

— Jason Harper