I just watched the movie Benjamin Smoke today on Sundance.
I bought a Smoke record back in 96 or 97 called Another Reason to Fast. While on casual listening it can be dismissed as a Tom Waits ripoff, I don’t know that it is a fair assessment. I haven’t listened to this CD in a long while, but now I have the urge to dust it off.
The movie is a documentary on his life in one of the white-trash neighborhoods of Atlanta. It is depressing and engaging. Benjamin was obviously very gifted, but also came across as disturbed…He was a drag queen and a speed freak, chain smoked, had hepatitus and was HIV positive. This documentary was really good. And while I haven’t listened my Smoke CD in a long time, I remember it being very gut-wrenching and good. He did have his fans, as Patti Smith makes an appearance on the documentary and both Cat Power and Vic Chestnutt both do covers of his songs. (These are unreleased but included on the extras in the DVD). Benjamin died in 1999 from complications from HIV and I can’t help but think that had he grown up in NYC or LA that he would have been a very common name in the music world.
Anyway, that’s what I have been thinking about tonight. Anyone else know about Smoke or see this movie? If interested, it’s on again on Sundance Monday, May 12th at 7pm.