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It’s really nice the way it weaves in and out of the storytelling.” “The band plays exactly the same music that’s in the film. “This is a rock musical of sorts,” the 58-year-old Fassberg says, noting that the dozen songs the band plays run for up to two minutes without being interrupted by dialogue. With classics like “The Weight,” “The Pusher” and “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding),” the soundtrack was listed by Rolling Stone as one of the top 25 of all time. So just when it feels like the time is ripe for an “Easy Rider” revival, along comes Fairfax producer Matt Fassberg with “Easy Rider Live,” a screening of the cult classic at Petaluma’s Mystic Theatre featuring a band of crack local musicians performing live renditions of songs from the soundtrack by the Band, Steppenwolf, Bob Dylan, the Byrds and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. “Easy Rider” may seem dated in some ways now, but the socio-political divisions it reflected at the time and the hatred born of ignorance it depicted - aimed at long hairs on motorcycles and anyone looking or acting differently - has a disturbing resonance in today’s toxic anti-immigrant political climate. In 1998, the film was added to the Library of Congress National Registry for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” Now, almost a half century later, it’s hard to convey the impact this low-budget biker flick had on the country as the Vietnam War escalated at the bitter end of the ’60s, the generation gap widened and youthful idealism was crushed by the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King the year before. “Get your motor runnin,’ head out on the highway, lookin’ for adventure or whatever comes our way” became words to live by, or at least to fantasize about. Steppenwolf growling “Born to be Wild” as Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, playing a couple of cocaine cowboys roaring down the open road on vintage Harley choppers, represented freedom and rebellion for a generation of then young people. ![]()
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