I just watched the director’s cut of the new film The 9 Lives of Barbara Dane. I was sent a link because I donated to its Kickstarter campaign. To begin with, I have to say that it’s wonderful and very well put together by its director and editor, Maureen Gosling. The film had its world premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 10, 2023.

I first met Barbara in the late 1970s when Ole Gjerstadt and I got together with her in a coffee shop near the UC Berkeley campus to discuss doing a second LP for Paredon Records. The first was “Angola: Victory is Certain!” which our organization, Liberation Support Movement, had produced. The second album never came about, but Barbara and I became friends, and I saw her perform many times in various combinations. I’ll never forget the time I ran into her in Chris Strachwitz’ Down Home Music Store in El Cerrito. The store had a huge encyclopedia of jazz. Barbara and I looked at her entry, which was more than a full page. She had performed with so many jazz and blues legends, many of whom are shown in the film.

I was on Barbara’s mailing list, and once I went to see her sing with Dick Oxtot’s band in a club called The Point in Richmond. Much more recently, I’ve seen her sing at Yoshi’s in Oakland and at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley. I reviewed her memoir for FolkWorks so I’m probably repeating a few things.

This film follows Barbara from her father’s drugstore in Detroit to her three husbands and her children, to Cuba, to the GI movement, and much, much more. Barbara met the Chambers Brothers when she was performing at the Ash Grove in Los Angeles, and she brought them to the Newport Folk Festival which really launched their career. Barbara met Bob Dylan right at the beginning of his career and sings “Masters of War” in the film. Jane Fonda narrates the segment on the GI movement. Bonnie Raitt discusses Barbara’s singing.

The film is filled with music, of course, but also with great archival footage and photographs which document Barbara’s life and music. It opens with Barbara reading from her thick FBI file. Barbara discusses how Louis Armstrong, after he invited her to sing with him on a television show, wanted her to tour Europe with him. But that did not happen because of her strong and well-known political views. Albert Grossman, who managed many singers, including Bob Dylan, wanted to manage Barbara, too, but she turned him down. Incidentally, when Armstrong invited Barbara to appear with him in Los Angeles, Barbara did not have the funds to fly there from New York. Count Basie paid for her ticket.

As someone remarks in the film, Barbara could have toed the line, followed the music industry’s expectations, and likely become a much bigger star. But that commentator concluded that if she had done that, she would not be Barbara Dane.

Barbara was the first well-known American singer to perform in Cuba, and, with Fidel Castro’s help, her son, Pablo Menendez, was able to study there. Pablo decided to stay in Cuba, where he became a celebrated musician. Pablo’s son is also a major Cuban musician now. They appear in the film, too. The title of the film refers to the many ways Barbara has enhanced our lives, not only musically, but politically and socially.

The film’s trailer is here:

This is the film’s web page.

Barbara with Louis Armstrong: