Paul Westerberg Man Without Ties
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Come Feel Me Tremble - The Movie

Before coming out on DVD, "Come Feel Me Tremble" had several theatrical screenings:

Thanks to everyone who saw one of the screenings and sent in a review.

A couple of "professional" reviews:

SFBG.com: 'Come Feel Me Tremble' - Westerberg high
Contra Costa Times: Film goes in search of the elusive Westerberg

Your Reviews

Just back from the premiere of COME FEEL ME TREMBLE and I can report that it was well worth the hour and a half drive I took to get there. My head is full of sake at the moment, so I'm not going to give a full review, but I'll hit a few highlights. First of all, there was a lot of new music in the film--mostly in little teasing snippets, but two or three new ones were played in their entirety. The titles were, I think, WHAT A DAY FOR A NIGHT, MEET ME DOWN THE ALLEY, and EVERYTHING GOES WRONG. The first was a very '70s upbeat soft rock type of thing, and was presented as a homemade music video with Paul in the shower (no nudity). The second was an acoustic ballad set to footage of Paul sitting on the steps of his tour bus signing autographs and meeting the fans. The third was another one-man basement video of a real rocker. Lots of cool, mindless destruction. A bunch of excerpts of other new songs were scattered throughout. A couple more new titles: DIRTY DIESEL and WILD & LETHAL. The latter was interesting because we got to see Paul in his home studio struggling through an acoustic version before the finished cut was played.

A lot of STEREO/MONO was also played and plenty of live fan footage from the tour was used. Backstage and hotel room interviews were presented as brief little sound-bites, but otherwise it was wall-to-wall music. As expected, most of the fan footage was pretty shaky as far as technical quality goes, but never overly distracting. Again, most of the S/M songs were just brief clips, but a few old songs were given the spotlight and presented in full. MAN WITHOUT TIES, HIGH TIME, WAITING FOR SOMEBODY, CAN'T HARDLY WAIT and a fierce rendition of VALENTINE were among the full versions. I'm sure fans will also be pleased to hear that a full live version of CRACKLE AND DRAG is also featured.

If I had one complaint it would be that there was maybe one too many sequences where we just watch Paul sit and listen to his intro song from the side of the stage before running out and hitting the first chords of HIGH TIME. Once was cool, twice was fine, but by the third time I was wondering if they were attempting to say something about the boredom and repetition of being on tour. At the end of the film, a credit read "Soundtrack available on Vagrant Records." I'm really looking forward to this, since all of the new music sounded fantastic. Unexpectedly, all but one of the new songs were full band (albeit one-man band) rockers. This should be a really upbeat album. Actually, the whole film was surprisingly funny and upbeat with a few emotionally sobering moments scattered throughout. Kinda like my favorite Replacements/Westerberg records.

Mark Wickum


I attended the 7:30 pm showing of Paul's film in San Francisco. A full house showed up to hear the jagged, dirty roar of Paul's guitar. It fit perfectly with the on-screen images of a log burning in a fire and the former mat playing in his basement. PW fans could almost smell Grandpaboy's cigars in the theater as he hammered out song after song. "Come feel me Tremble" came in at about 90 minutes. A little long in some spots. However, a few new songs were thrown in for good measure. The audience loved them. I enjoyed the film, because it showed Paul's raw sense of humor and style. Forget about Dylan's latest visual project. Paul's film takes us to a place, where the cigars smolder all night long and dead men shake. Keith Richards would really dig this place.

Christian
San Francisco, CA



i was lucky enough to attend the first showing having made the trip all the way from iowa. this movie is outstanding. in my mind, it captured the essence of the in-stores and tour. the movie showed many sides of paul westerberg including home recording (the part where he is trying to record a song in subzero temps and keeps messing up is priceless), instores (including a quick snippet of paul going after the heckler in san francisco!), backstage trying to get over nerves before the show, many live songs and videos from many performances, fan comments at the shows, after show meeting fans, shaking hands, giving hugs.....it even included comments regarding his father and other personal moments. best of all were the many snippets and a few complete versions of new songs. these songs show that westerberg has continued the streak of amazing writing and recording started with stereo and mono. i laughed out loud at several parts of this movie and was deadly quiet and ponderous during others. westerberg seems to encompass so many emotions in his songwriting and general existence which draws the fans to him. the movie started out in classic fashion with a note from paul thanking us for making the movie possible with our "illegal" footage. maybe there's $4.95 in it for us, huh?

as someone who has spent the last several years teaching and is moving into an administrative position (a REAL job!), this movie captured the youth and abandon that i still feel everyday while advancing many moments that age and the sobriety of life can bring. it also allowed me to experience something paul/replacements for the first time in over 10 years with my sister as we attended together. the mats were one thing we always agreed on and seemed a starting point for the great relationship we have today.

i can't wait to see this movie again and to hear the soundtrack!

i included a few pics i snapped, a few of the entrance and inside of the theatre. also, before the movie, two guys who worked for noisepop introduced the movie and that pic is included. i was able to gather that delancey street is a rehab program and they host screenings as fundraisers for their organization. maybe the proceeds went to their cause? if so....very fitting. it was a very nice place that held 150 people.

ralph bryant


what can I tell you without spoiling it? Well, first, it's almost entirely compiled from fan footage, as Paul announces in the very first frame: a thank you letter to his bootlegging fans. As a bystander in the San Francisco show and it's joyously Replacement-esque ending, I was pleased that the scene of Paul so memorably charging off the stage to throttle the "Sonny Bono" heckler (who's presence was missed at the premier by those of us wishing to put in a few jabs of our own) was included, but most of the footage is from the east coast shows.

For the most part, the video and audio, true to the way it was gathered, was choppy, sloppy, and unsteady, but it worked brilliantly. Most of the show are live excerpts of varying quality, but all true fans will be pleased with how real it is. It's as Paul as Paul is to those who know him, and anyone wishing for a glimpse into the behind the scenes world of our favorite loser will be thrilled by the results. Everything from his endless cigars, damaged outfits, and frequent mistakes are included in relatively undiluted forms. And, thank god really. What makes his music so great is it's single-take attitude, and the movie is true to that. Unplanned, unmanaged, and wholly unbrushed, you'll tremble right with him. It's as energetic and chaotic as Paul's shows, and, in that, better as a piece than any footage I have seen of Mr. Westerberg before. It feels like you're on the ride right with him, and how many of us have fallen asleep dreaming of such an experience? I have. So, in that measure, it's a dream come true.

More casual fans might not find these to be his most "accessible" recordings, but how many casual Paul Westerberg fans do you know? Anyone who wouldn't appreciate a film of this candor would never be able to truly appreciate what makes the man great, so, in Paul's own words, fuck 'em.

It also includes several new tracks and a couple of new videos, both as himself and as his Grandpa-Boy alter ego, all of which are wonderful, and one of which in particular (filmed in 3 takes, played simultaneously, from a shower-stall) is the best video he has ever done, Replacements material included.
Some of the material is funny, some of it is quite sad, most of it is accidental, and all of it as honest and true to Paul as Paul is to his fans. All in all, I'd put it alongside Bob Dylan's "Don't Look Back" and Fugazi's "Instrument" at the top of the stack of every musical documentary recorded. It is a brilliant glimpse into the life of a genius, as unglamorously clamorous as it gets.

Mitch Harris


My wife and I saw the 7:30 showing last night, which had all 150 seats filled. The movie, as with his performances, reinforces my view that this man is talent embodied. Not only are you engrossed by the wonderful music but you are also fully intrigued and entertained by his obviously quirky and totally original style of talk, dance, and of course, dress. Movie was 80% music (a few videos of new songs, a few home studio performances of new songs, a bunch of in-store performances, and a lot of the Come Feel Me Tremble performances). Other 20% of movie was small snippets of interviews, him writing a new song in his basement, and pre-performance routines.

Interesting Replacements related quotes (as close as I can remember) "We were destined to fail in the biggest way possible... and we succeeded", "Even Bob dying fit in the script. It just fits. I have been expecting Tommy to die for years. Maybe I'm next up". Highlights: Crackle and Drag (performed in his house/studio), What A Day For A Night (video shot in his shower in three shots, two of which he looks like Jack White - dressed in all red - and one dressed in all black, and shown in tri-screen), an acoustic song played over him in an alley after a show while greeting all of his fans, and the final song (a video of a new song, which I cannot remember the name, but is a rocker in which he plays all instruments while trashing said instruments as well as his basement). Lowlights: Not many, but for me, not enough interviews and only a tiny bit of the San Francisco in-store, of which I attended.

Dominic Giannini


So I drove to San Francisco for the premiere of COME FEEL ME TREMBLE tonight. An odd duck, that one. Definately a "for fans only" film....I suspect that only adamant Paul fans would put up with the painfully low lighting, bouncy camera work & fuzzy focus that befell many a scene and made me beg for some clean shots. On the other hand, when's the last time I saw Paul in his basement, or the shower, filming himself as he sang new songs that I'd never heard before and can't wait to hear again? (Yes, Virginia & Sylvia, Crackle and Drag was performed, in the basement.) To be fair, there were enough clean(ish) shots to amend those that weren't, and I can't discount the emotional, musical or humorous value of a given shot despite it's technical quality, or lack thereof. A sense of the events being filmed was caught - the mistakes, in particular, aiding that impression. In fits and starts, the concerts are here, from the backstage, before-show icing down of body parts to the after-show autograph signings on the bus....and what happened inbetween: sing-alongs, guitar smashings, ad-libbing, wardrobe changes, forgetting lyrics, cigar smoking, audience banter, couch potatos, and, lest we forget, the songs!

There was also footage from some of the in-stores, hotel interviews, and Paul's own voice over talking about his dad, songwriting, A.D.D., John Lee Hooker... and plenty of still photos from all events; even a photo of a young(er) Paul with Keith Richards. Above all, the most interesting footage was the stuff that Paul shot of himself, some of it quite personal. I find this utterly facinating. The man finally chose to reveal some truths, and he didn't burst into flames like he thought he would!

Overall rating: 3 cigars and a kazoo

Signed, Nobody