The Holy Modal Rounders...Bound to Lose

Sam Wainwright Douglas and Paul C. Lovelace's scrappy film tells the intertwined stories of a band, an era, and a fractious 40-year friendship. In 1963, guitarist Steve Weber and fiddle player Peter Stampfel, erstwhile members of the Fugs, formed the Holy Modal Rounders in New York's Greenwich Village. Marked by caterwauling vocals, the Holy Modal Rounders built a psychedelic folk sound that attracted a devoted cult following (as music critic Robert Christgau enthuses, “Next to Bob Dylan, Peter Stampfel is as close to a genius as that scene produced”). Although the HMR appeared on Laugh-In and in the film Easy Rider, the band ultimately failed to capitalize on that short-lived burst of national media attention. The ensuing years were marked by endless touring and drugs (heroin for Weber, speed for Stampfel), but the lads eventually gave up the hard stuff and parted ways until reconnecting to attempt to mount a reunion concert in 2003. Just as in the ‘60s, the music flows with relative ease, but the two find each other as exasperating as ever (Stampfel describes his unreliable partner as “obstreperous”). Incorporating archival footage, rehearsals, and radio appearances, the documentary also features a wide range of interviewees, including Dave Van Ronk, Dennis Hopper, John Sebastian, Tuli Kupferberg and Ed Sanders (the Fugs), and actor/playwright Sam Shepard, who drummed for the HMR from 1966-69. Shrugs Shepard, “I don't know how we really even got into the studio, and why anybody would want to record us.” DVD extras include deleted scenes, as well as bonus interview and performance footage. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)