After the jump, Writing Girl Elsa Simcik shares her thoughts on The Last Record Store, a documentary about Bill’s Records and Tapes.
The Last Record Store is a documentary about Bill’s, a struggling indie music store in North Dallas. The film features a series of touching and often humorous testimonials from employees, customers and musicians–all whose lives have been touched by Bill over the last 25 years. It’s sort of like Oprah’s 20th anniversary DVD but without as many celebrities, big hair and wagons of fat.
How does Bill’s stay open despite competition from bigger chains and the Internet? Well it’s not easy but he caters to the die-hard music aficionados. They’re his customers and his employees. Plus, he lets people smoke in the store.
Music likers will enjoy the 66-minute film but wish it was a little shorter. Music lovers will adore the film but wish it was a little longer.
Jeffrey Liles, the filmmaker, spent about seven years putting the documentary together, he said in the Q&A after the screening. His next move? He plans to shop it as a TV show to cable networks like HBO (“since they let you cuss”). He would go from city to city, finding the Bill in each.
If the subjects he finds are as passionate about music and their indie record stores as people are about Bill’s, he’s got a hit on his hands. It’s sure to be as big as Oprah–with more cussing, smoking and a much better soundtrack.
