The Weird World of Blowfly (2010)
September 24th, 2011 by chocko
Director: Jonathan Furmanski
Starring: Clarence Reid as Blowfly, Tom Bowker, Otto Von Schrach
Genre: music documentary
The documentary, The Weird World of Blowfly is a wild ride with Clarence “Blowfly” Reid at the wheel. Back in the 60’s and 70’s, Clarence Reid was a well known writer and producer of many hit records from the R&B and Soul scene in Miami, Florida. Reid’s notorious alter ego, Blowfly donned a cape and mask while spitting X-rated raps and soul and disco parodies. Blowfly’s nasty party records sold like hot cakes, party people went to the shows and Blowfly became an underground sensation.
Before slipping away to obscurity, Blowfly joins forces with a drummer, Tom Bowker in 2005. Tom becomes Blowfly’s manager and drummer, they form a band, record new songs and take the show on the road. By this time, Blowfly is in his senior years and his arthritic knee and unhealthy food choices (the one scene where he’s eating a sloppy, greasy unidentifiable meal from McDonald’s is hilarious and sick!) ain’t helping the old man get the bills paid. The film focuses on Blowfly’s struggle for success while touring dingy bars in the United States and playing in front of unappreciative crowds in Germany.
Blowfly is the self proclaimed inventor of rap music, predating Sugar Hill Gang and Kurtis Blow, so it was nice to see legends such as Ice-T and Chuck D of Public Enemy talk a little bit about the controversial music of the masked man. One of my favorite scenes from the movie was a brief clip of Blowfly singing his X-rated version of Otis Redding’s “(Sitting on) The Dock Of The Bay” with Isaac Hayes on the piano. There’s some brief archival footage of early shows. Was that Henry Rollins in the front row checking out a Blowfly show? There’s also a tiny bit of footage from the “Fonky Party” video with Blowfly getting down with Rudy Ray Moore a.k.a. Dolemite. Check out the full video for some cameos by other Blaxploitation stars, Antonio “Huggy Bear ” Fargas and Jim “Blackbelt Jones” Kelly!
The movie is truly entertaining, weird and very funny. I enjoyed it and definitely put it up there with some of my favorite music documentaries such as Louie Bluie by Terry Zwigoff and Anvil! The Story of Anvil. During the opening weekend of the movie at The Quad Cinema in New York City, Blowfly sat and watched the movie with the audience and answered questions from the audience following the screenings. Check out Saturday’s q&a below. He was more than happy to sign autographs for his fans and even serenaded quite a few of them with his filthy songs. Check out the movie The Weird World of Blowfly but please leave the kids at home!
(photo by chocko)
FONKY PARTY
Jason Newman (freelance writer and editor) interviews BLOWFLY and Director Jonathan Furmanski at THE QUAD CINEMA in NYC 09.17.11.
BLOWFLY and Director Jonathan Furmanski at THE QUAD CINEMA in NYC
Tags: Clarence Reid, documentary, Jonathan Furmanski, movie, The Quad Cinema
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