Chasin Gus

A documentary on jug band music will be shown at 10 p.m. Saturday night at the Bearsville Theater. This movie is notable for its story line, about Gus Cannon, the forefather of jug band music. He was an old music from the early part of the twentieth century who helped give birth to that form of music that incorporates a jug and acoustic instruments.

I spoke to director Todd Kwait some time back, who built a large part of this movie around Woodstock resident John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful, who, I did not know, was as MAJOR jug band fan. There is a lot of great live music in this film, as well as archival music, not to mention the Gus Cannon storyline.

Kwait said Sebastian is a "very sweet, pleasnant person to be around. He has a very very, renaissance man’s view of the world."

Kwait said the seed for this movie was planted some time ago, when he attended a Sebastian concert and the singer spent a good deal of time talking about jug band music. From there, Kwait said, "jug band music touched me because of the Gus Cannon story. And that's what really reeled me in."