$5 Cover: New MTV Series on Local Music - Craig Brewer Interview

In today's episode of WEPCTV, Director Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow , Black Snake Moan ) talks to us about his latest project -- the MTV online series $5 Cover, which chronicles the internet-age lives and dreams of struggling musicians in Memphis, Tennessee.

$5 Cover is described as "a rough-and-tumble show set in the clubs, bars, and all-night cafes of present-day Memphis," and follows "young musicians as they fight for love, inspiration, and money to pay the rent."

These are real people, but this is not reality schlock.

When I first saw clips of the series in production during a visit to the MTV offices, I knew it was going to be great. I grew up on MTV as a teen, but am not generally a fan of MTV's current on-air programming. I've felt for some time like the network no longer produced stuff I'd find interesting. 

But this is different. Maybe part of what allowed something this authentic and engaging to incubate at MTV is the fact that this is primarily an online series.

And then there's the fact that Brewer is at the helm. I'm a big fan of his big-screen work, and he clearly loves the stories at the heart of $5 Cover -- the lives and art of musicians who are his own community, in Memphis.

WEPCTV asked Brewer how the internet is changing what it means to be an independent artist, and how technology is changing the nature of what "local music" means. He talks to us about why he created the show, how this is different than directing for film or television, and why all of this matters so much to him.

When MTV sent us a DVD of the completed episodes, WEPCTVs editor and I watched them all, back to back, and then vowed to buy some of the music online. I'm not kidding, it's that great. We went particularly nuts about Amy Lavere, an artist featured in the first part of the WEPCTV episode. She's from Memphis, by way of TX and Louisiana. Al Kapone was another personal fave.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• WEPC
• WEPCTV
• mtv
• memphis
• craig
• brewer
• hustle
• and
• flow
• black
• snake
• moan
• music
• dancing
• boing
• boingboing
• bbtv
• bb
• video
• Amy
• Lavere
• Lucero
• Al
• Kapone
• Muck
• Sticky
• Jack
• Oblivian
• River
• City
• Tanlines
• Snowglobe
• Harlan
• Bobo
• Two
• Way
• Radio
• Valerie
• June

[boingboingvideo]

@SpearTheAlmighty, glad you enjoyed the piece. I think Craig Brewer and MTV are trying to duplicate this process in a few other US cities, but I agree that it would be really interesting to see this happen around international cities, also!

[grahamtavel]

what was ben nichlos doing around 3:30?

[SpearTheAlmighty]

I think this very cool. This focus on musicians in Memphis. Someone should look into international bands trying to make it big. I've seen a couple of good bands from various countries and it is really difficult for them to break into the US market.

[blah22322]

O RLY