Danny Says - documentary

Danny Fields came to light in the 60's as a hip, young, Jewish writer who would interview to the big stars of the days for a teen zine. The difference being that he would ask the big questions and got answers such as Paul McCartney saying "It's a lousy country where anyone black is a dirty nigger" and John  Lennon saying "I don't know which will go first - rock'n'roll or Christianity" and "we're more popular than Jesus now". This was not exactly "what's your favorite color" or "what is your turn-offs"! By this time he had already been part of Warhol's Factory, befriended Nico, Edie Sedgwick and the Velvet Underground and many more, so was part of the "beautiful crowd" in NYC, which helped him land this gig with Datebook magazine.

From there he started working with musicians as the record company "freak" - the person who could act as a liason between the artists and the square record company executives. He was the person to say that "Light My Fire" should be a single, he introduced Morrison to Nico, he dropped acid with Leonard Cohen and Judy Collins, he got Elektra to put out David Peel's Have a Marijuana album, he signed the MC5 and the Stooges (thereby changing rock'n'roll forever), worked with the Modern Lovers, the Winter Brothers (who he hated), became editor is16 Magazine in order to promote his favorite bands, hung at Max's Kansas City, befriended the NY Dolls, Patti Smith, and became the manager for the Ramones (who, of course, wrote the song "Danny Says" about him).

Throughout, there are tons of fabulous photos of all of the bands, musicians and hangers-on, including many that I had never seen before. Danny is extremely personable and funny and fun and intelligent and interesting in all of the interviews and seems grateful for having a fabulous life filled with fabulous people. Any lover of rock'n'roll will certainly enjoy this wonderful documentary!