Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins Lend Voice to Net Neutrality Documentary
Barbershop vocal harmony has remained as uncontroversial as the Saturday Evening Post. That is until now. What began with the click of a mouse to send a file led baritone a capella enthusiast Robb Topolski down a road to discovery. In 2007, Topolski proved Comcast was lying to its customers by tampering with Internet communications to block uploads. The case resulted in an FCC investigation and Comcast was ordered to stop the interference.
A documentary getting its sneak peak premiere at the SXSW Film Festival examines the concept of Internet neutrality. Barbershop Punk was written by Georgia Sugimura Archer and co-directed by Archer and Kristen Armfield. It follows Topolski as he takes on the nation’s largest cable company.
The heart of the film contemplates the future of the American Internet and the inalienable rights under review. The documentary features discussions with Ian MacKaye, Damian Kulash of OK Go, Henry Rollins, Clinton White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry, Songwriters Guild President Rick Carnes, Electronic Foundation Frontier co-founder John Perry Barlow, comedian Janeane Garofalo, NARAL’s Ted Miller, and FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.
Archer feels fortunate to have brought in Fugazi and a number of great musicians to score the film. Fugazi contribute "Intro" and "The Argument."
"I approached Ian (MacKaye) about using some Fugazi tracks in the film and he was really helpful. The film is still a work in progress," Archer admits.
Musician/activist Jenny Toomey, founder of Simple Machines and former executive director of Future of Music Coalition, a Washington, D.C., think tank and independent musician's advocate, is now a program officer at The Ford Foundation. The filmmakers received a post production grant "just as our savings and credit cards were emptying out. It's so difficult, especially for independent filmmakers, to have to stop a vision short when funds run out. Now, thanks to the support of The Ford Foundation and SXSW, this won't happen to us."
Still wearing battle scars, the members of OK Go know only too well the powerful role internet plays in a band's career. Singer Damian Kulash recently announced their departure from EMI after publicly battling the label for disabling the embedding feature so videos of its artists could not be removed from YouTube and streamed elsewhere. "Here It Goes Again" was a viral hit for the band in 2006. When the video could no longer be streamed OK Go took a sizable financial hit in addition to losing the vital blog community for getting their work noticed.
"Damian Kulash really goes out of his way to stand up for what he believes in. If there is a torch to be had from Ian, Henry Rollins and that DC punk scene, Damian embodies the DIY ethic. I admire that," Archer said.
"If we are to get away from all the commercialized bullshit and define punk as the spirit of questioning the status quo or stepping out of the mainstream, I really can't emphasize how much it impacted all of us on the film team to be around people who really walk the walk and who have continued to be open and available to us throughout this process," Archer said. "In short, it rocks."
Barbershop Punk will have its premiere screening at the SXSW Film Festival, Monday, March 15 at 9:30pm and can be seen again Thursday, March 18 at 2:45pm at the Austin Convention Center.