Jeff Buckley's mother to attend San Francisco premiere of new documentary

San Francisco Chronicle​

2 days ago

When 'It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley' premieres in Bay Area theaters next month, audiences will get more than just a cinematic portrait of the late musician whose voice captivated a generation — they'll also hear from someone who knew him best.
Mary Guibert, Buckley's mother and a central figure in the new documentary directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Amy Berg, is scheduled to appear in person for a Q&A following the opening-night screening at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco on Aug. 8.
The film, which earned critical acclaim after its debut at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, traces Buckley's brief but luminous career. Best known for his haunting 1994 debut album 'Grace,' Buckley delivered a singular vocal style that reimagined songs like Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' and Nina Simone's 'Lilac Wine' with stunning emotional depth.
Buckley drowned in Memphis' Wolf River in 1997 at age 30, leaving behind just — although many posthumous releases have arrived in its wake.
In the film, a brief moment captures Buckley listing his influences: 'Love, anger, depression, joy… and Zeppelin.'
While his soaring vocals owed much to Robert Plant's blues-rooted howl, Buckley's voice was more fluid, oscillating between ethereal beauty and explosive force.
'It's Never Over' weaves together never-before-seen archival footage with new interviews featuring Guibert, Buckley's former romantic partners Rebecca Moore and Joan Wasser, and bandmates Michael Tighe and Parker Kindred.
Musicians Alanis Morissette, Ben Harper and Aimee Mann also appear, with the latter calling Buckley 'literally the best singer I've ever heard.' There's footage of Paul and Linda McCartney visiting him backstage. A quote from David Bowie describes 'Grace' as 'the greatest album ever made.'
The documentary also emphasizes the mythology that has grown around Buckley since his death, but grounds it in the complexities of his real life. We hear how his father, the late folk musician Tim Buckley, abandoned him before he was born, yet still loomed over Jeff's creative psyche like a ghost.
Jeff was raised by Guibert, who recalls in the film that she first heard him sing from his bassinet. From a young age, music seemed to possess him.
In 1991, when he reluctantly participated in a tribute concert for Tim Buckley, his performance was so electric that it marked the start of his own ascent.
As a bonus for theatergoers, all screenings from Aug. 8-15 will include nearly half an hour of newly remastered solo concert footage from a 1994 performance in Cambridge, Mass. — a rare artifact pulled from Sony's vault that will be shown exclusively in theaters and never made available online or via streaming.
In his own words: Jeff Buckley on music, love and legacy
More than two decades before 'It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley' brought his story to the screen, the late singer shared raw insight into his art, his estrangement from his famous father, and the weight of being alive. In this archive interview, conducted just before the release of his debut album 'Grace,' Buckley spoke about the forces that shaped his music.
On songwriting:
'It's just about being alive, my songs. And about even emitting sound. It's about the voice carrying much more information than the words do. The little scared kid or the full-on romantic lover is being accessed.'
On inspiration and rage:
'I have notebooks everywhere I go. I'm always daydreaming. Or things that happen to me. Sometimes, when you get too smart for yourself, you start worrying about things that everybody should be worrying about but nobody worries about, and the weight is so overwhelming that you feel rage on a global level. And the whole world is so anti-life, especially a world ruled by men who don't want to sit, listen and understand what life is all about.'
'Sensitivity isn't being wimpy. It's about being so painfully aware that a flea landing on a dog is like a sonic boom.'
On his father, Tim Buckley:
'I met him one time, and a couple months later he died. But between that, he never wrote and never called, and I didn't even get invited to the funeral. There's just no connection, really. I wish I did get to talk to him a lot. We went out a couple of times. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page have much more influence on me than he ever did.'
On his creative aesthetic:
'My music is like a lowdown, dreamy bit of the psyche. It's part quagmire and part structure. The quagmire is important for things to grow in. Do you ever have one of those memories where you think you remember a taste or a feel of something, maybe an object, but the feeling is so bizarre and imperceptible that you just can't quite get a hold of it? It drives you crazy. That's my musical aesthetic, just this imperceptible fleeting memory.'