Grab The Banjo & Pass The Popcorn

Attention, Illinoisemakers/ Lovers of the loves that make up the Danielson Famile:
Starting this Friday at limited theaters across the country is the Danielson documentary ( Danielson: A Family Movie (Or Make a Joyful Noise)), starting in NYC and ending in Boston in early February. If you love Sufjan Stevens, Steve Albini, David Garland, Lenny Smith, Elin Smith, etc., or just, you know, adorable things, go to this site http://www.danielsonmovie.com/ and read up on the movie, as I am too lazy to write my own creative summary of it. If you're even lazier and cannot click the link (there are movie clips, guys...come on), I've posted the overview below:

Danielson: a Family Movie is a documentary about unbridled creativity vs. accessibility, Christian faith vs. popular culture, underground music vs. survival, and family vs. individuality. The film follows Daniel Smith, an eccentric musician and visual artist, as he leads his four siblings and best friend Chris to indie-rock stardom. Beginning in 1995 when the youngest band member was 11 years old, the Danielson Famile performs in white, vintage nurse costumes to symbolize the healing power of the Good News, a recurring subject matter. Though tepidly received by the Christian music world, the South Jersey farmland-bred clan is widely embraced by the mainstream independent music community, written about in Rolling Stone, Spin, the New York Times and elsewhere as an outsider curiosity backed up by innovative, experimental music.
But as with other family acts, members of the band begin to seek out their own paths as they go through college and Daniel eventually faces the struggle to become viable as a solo act. Along the way he mentors an unknown singer-songwriter named Sufjan Stevens whose own subsequent success stands in stark contrast to the music world's uneasy reception of Danielson just a few years prior. With production starting in 2002, at a high water mark for the band, all the drama is played out before the camera making Danielson: a Family Movie both engaging and entertaining. Collage, direct cinema, animation and memorable performances all contribute to this thoughtful and thought-provoking spectacle.

Dates to grab a date for:
New York: Cinema Village-Dec 15 – 21
Chicago: Gene Siskel Center- Dec 10 & 14
Austin: Alamo Drafthouse- Dec 11, 20, 28 & Jan 2
Seattle: Northwest Film Forum -Dec 15 – 21
Bloomington, IN: The Cinemat -Dec 1 – 14
Los Angeles: Laemmle Grande 4-plex- Jan 19 - 25
San Francisco: Red Vic- Jan 25 - 27
Boston: Coolidge Corner Theatre- Feb 2 & 3
Portland, OR: NW Film Center-Jan 20

K, now buy your tickets and run (or road trip) to one of the above theaters. Cheers, all!