It Came From Memphis

Yesterday was an important day in the ICFM story. My co-producer and I had another meeting with our finance guru to discuss business plans and the like. The guru, who – did I mention this before? – is a former professional bass player and worships Booker T and the MGs, was very positive and very psyched. He instructed us on the necessaries that will help to convince his investors that our ‘product’ is sound; firstly, a business plan showing a range of possible returns, high, medium and low, over a one-to-five year time period, in all the various territories that are available. Thankfully, my co-producer volunteers for this role.
Secondly, we need a completely rewritten treatment, emphasising the longevity of this material (easy enough; as these guys have never really been ‘in style’, they’re not going to go ‘out’), and – a tricky one, this – encompassing the ‘morgue factor’. Indelicately put, this is about communicating to the investors in a subtle way that the musicians we’re filming are not in the first flush of youth, and many will inevitably shuffle off at some point in the next decade. Every time one of them does so, the value of our material increases.
Now, none of this stuff means anything to me personally, as the co-director and one of the artistic driving forces behind the film. But as for getting the damn thing made, it’s hugely important, and as a producer I am learning a hell of a lot.
We have a deadline of the end of next week to get this together. Our finance guru moves pretty fast, which is going to be crucial, because it turns out that a lynchpin of our whole plan, the Jim Dickinson gig at the Barbican, will be taking place in the first week in April.
The latest, unconfirmed as yet, plan is to do an Ardent night featuring Jim, the remaining members of Mud Boy, the North Mississippi Allstars, Primal Scream in a guest role, and probably Tav Falco accompanied by Jason Pierce. I stress that this is all TBC, but Jim’s presence is looking more and more likely, and he’s the one who ties the whole night together.
Ticket sales for the Muscle Shoals, Hi and Stax nights are good, and that’s without ANY advertising. Ths Sun night is looking more problematic; the names mentioned above are available, but don’t in themselves constitute a full-on Sun evening. A living legend has been approached but isn’t entirely dependable – if he doesn’t make it, the mooted options were to combine the Sun evening with something else, an American night (Bobby Womack et al) or a blues line-up. Neither sounds right.
So, when out of the blue I say, “Well, the Cramps recorded at Sun”, the Barbican guy’s eyes light up, he writes it down and I think – fuckin’ hell! The Cramps, on stage with Billy Lee and Sonny, at the fuckin’ Barbican! What monster is this that I have created? But what a night it would be...