The latest installment of Burn to Shine, the ongoing film project between Christoph Green and Brendan Canty (ex-Fugazi), hosts its world premiere tomorrow night in Louisville at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. Burn to Shine is a innovative documentary that films performances by a slew of legendary artists from a particular locale inside a condemned home slated for demolition. The result is a statement on the American city – its life, culture, triumphs, and failures. The past films took place in Washington DC, Chicago, Portland, and Seattle, with an Atlanta installment forthcoming. Louisville’s Burn to Shine will feature the likes of Will Oldham, Shipping News, Parlour, Magik Markers, Dead Child, and more.

While this is technically the fourth film in the series, various snags in production caused it to be the fifth film for proper release (though it’s officially still billed as Burn to Shine 4). Each film has a prominent luminary of the music scene curate the performances, and Louisville’s is none other than Phantom Family Halo‘s William Benton, who was nice enough to answer a few questions about the movie and fill in some of the holes in the backstory…

:::

I know you’re in the mighty Phantom Family Halo and Lucky Pineapple, but not originally from Louisville. How did you find yourself here?

I grew up in rural Oklahoma and moved to Florida after high school to play music. That didn’t pan out so, during one of my more juvenile and care-free trips without much thought or regard as to where I should end up, I met a girl in Chicago who said, if I remember correctly, “You seem kinda’ weird- you should try living in Louisville.” That was over 13 years ago. I think I originally intended for it to be temporary home but, what can I say? I fell in love with my adopted home. I was never really comfortable where I grew up but I felt alright here pretty quickly. Turns out, this area and West Virginia is where all of my father’s family are from. So perhaps it was some sort of genetic imperative that my brother and I end up here?

How did you get involved in curating the Louisville leg for this short but substantial film series? Why did you want to involve yourself in this project?

Complete chance. The young lady I was dating at the time had a mother who was very involved in some church. She called and said that they were cleaning out this house that was kinda’ peculiar and we should come check it out. She went over there first and I went not too long after that. In fact, she did all of the initiated contact with Christoph to get it going. Then she wanted nothing to do with it as this came right as our relationship ended. So….there was/is no good reason that I ended up doing it other than dumb luck. (Emphasis on the “dumb” there.) Oddly enough, Brendan wanted Jason to curate it when he started the BTS series. I didn’t know that until well into the planning and such. It may have even been miscommunication or the simple fact that we wanted to tell Leonard’s story that it ended up in my lap. Jason was busy getting married and buying a house at the time so I had some of that guilt alleviated once I knew the whole story. Only some of the guilt though.
I WANTED to be involved because of Leonard. I only knew him in passing before this came about as he was a very quiet man but, after reading his letters and learning more about his life and story, I thought it was an excellent opportunity to tell others and to showcase this incredibly interesting person, his home, and his dreams to the rest of the world. It’s all tragic, for sure- but it happened to fit perfectly with the Burn to Shine “agenda”, if you want to call it that.

Why did it take almost five years from initial filming to release?

Lots of bad luck and some good luck, too. The bad luck is that there were technical issues on the filming end that I’ve never been too educated on. Meanwhile, Trixie began a good relationship with Wilco and others and began to do well with those releases, which was great.

As per the concept of Burn to Shine, how did you choose the abandoned house to film in? Where was it located?

In our case, as I somewhat mentioned, the house came first. It was incredibly unique…bizarre, even. It had an intriguing story that centered around a very eccentric and sincere human being. I was excited for the world to learn about Leonard as I did. The house itself was being built outside of Clarksville, Indiana, just on the other side of the Ohio River from Louisville. Leonard was building it for himself and his wife when she passed away of ovarian cancer in 1972.

There are a few non-Louisville bands in the film, such as Magik Markers. How were they involved, or how were they chosen for the film?

Actually, Magik Markers were the only non-Louisville band. They had lived here for a spell and, after we talked about it a bit, I mentioned that I wanted them to do it to sorta’ set us even farther apart from the other installments. I guess it wasn’t too radical of a move since they had lived here. I also felt that they sorta’ helped represent my own outsider perspective as Louisville can be a somewhat self-righteously incestuous community that I have, on occasion, suffered the negative end of over the years. So, there was a bit of an act of defiance in there as well. The BTS crew were all for it and it’s their baby so…I don’t regret that decision at all. I do wish that we could have included more bands but there’s not a whole lot that can be done about that- except for maybe a sequel in another five years? Har har.

What does the title Burn to Shine refer to?

It’s never been explained to me directly but I don’t think there’s anything too deep in the meaning to it. The first installment was filmed in a house that was burned so that could likely be the genesis of it. Brendan has often cited the excellent documentary “A Great Day in Harlem” as an influence or possibly the original idea for the series. If you’ve never seen it, it’s about a snapshot taken in Harlem in 1958 that showed jazz greats old and upcoming all standing together. Burn to Shine is a time capsule of sorts in that way. Of course, when you go into the actual histories of buildings or structures, you often find yourself learning some sad stories of older people and their lives coming to an end. I’ve always been drawn to old houses and buildings as curiosities and even as hiding places/escape when I was young.
So I have felt especially good about being involved in this project on many levels.

:::

A portion of tomorrow night’s proceeds will benefit the ongoing medical expenses of Rodan/Shipping News’ Jason Noble, who was recently diagnosed with cancer (you can follow his progress and recovery at Caring Bridge). The event will feature live performances by Bonnie Prince Billy & The Cairo Gang, Richel Grimes (Rachel’s), and Liberation Prophecy. See you there!

Burn to Shine 4
Saturday, May 22
Bomhard Theater at the Kentucky Center for the Arts
7 p.m. / $20 / All Ages
Tickets $20.00
For more information:Louisville Film Society
For tickets call 502-584-7777 or visit The Kentucky Center Online

MP3 :::
Bonnie Prince Billy – Lay and Love
Magik Markers –  There is No Path Which is Not Straight
Parlour – Alipperput