The multi-award winning documentary SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS: THE UP WITH PEOPLE STORY is coming to Nashville on Monday, October 11 and Tuesday, October 12 for 7:00 p.m. evening performances both nights at the Belcourt Theatre in Hillsboro Village.
Former local UWP and Sing-Out South members are strongly urged to attend the premiere showing on Monday evening, October 11 which will also include a post-film question & answer session with Director Lee Storey and former UWP cast member Linda Blackmore Cates, who now lives in the Franklin area along with her husband, Bill, who was a major musical force in the founding days of Sing-Out South as well as with UP WITH PEOPLE.
From what I know and have seen from clips from the documentary, there will be plenty to talk about and discuss after seeing the film. Besides, this is a great excuse for all of us former UWP and SOS members to get together again, even those of you who live outside Nashville but might want to make the trip here to see this fascinating film.
We can also use our time together to discuss a possible SOS Reunion sometime in 2011 to celebrate the 45th anniversary next year of the founding of our group in 1966.
The 80-minute SMILE 'TIL IT HURTS documentary explores "the clean cut, smile drenched singing phenomenon(of the 1960s-1980s)..that was seen by 20 million people (worldwide) and performed at (a record) 4 Super Bowls." It features reflections of several former cast members and others and uses never-before-seen archival footage of the cast and its performances from years gone by.
Here's a trailer to give you some idea about the film and some of the issues it discusses....
As you can see from this roughly two-minute movie trailer, there are likely a lot of things about this documentary that will take you back in time, bring back a lot of wonderful memories and make you proud. It will also possibly inform you of some things you didn't know or hadn't thought about during or after our involvement with Sing-Out and Up With People. And frankly, some of it may also make you mad or feel the documentary involves some revisionist history.
I think all of that is great. My memories of being in Sing-Out South and UP WITH PEOPLE were how often we engaged in deep, long discussions about the issues of our world and our lives in those days. Some times, we did those things after shows or practices and sometimes we even did it after going to the movies together, including some at the Belcourt Theatre.
Here's such a photo below. Now, I have no idea what Bob Sharp (left) and the late Henry Swider were discussing when this photo was taken, but you can see it was a intense and likely heart-felt as so many of our discussions were and likely will be again after we gather to see this film on Monday evening, October 11 at the Belcourt...
Ticket prices are $8.75 for adults, students/miltary (with ID) $7.25, children under 11 $7.25 and (for any who qualify and I doubt we do LOL) seniors (65+) $6.25.
In the coming days I will continue to feature more excerpts from the documentary and I urge you to get your tickets NOW to see us on Monday, October 11. If you've seen the film and have thoughts to share please leave them below. Or if you want to let folks know you're coming and want to encourage others to attend, leave your message below or call and contact all your former SOS and UWP buddies to get them to attend what promises to be a very special evening, especially the discussion and question & answer session afterwards with Director Lee Storey (whose husband was a part of UWP) and our own Linda Blackmore Cates, one of the stars of the early days of Sing-Out and UP WITH PEOPLE.
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