Sidemen: Long Road to Glory

Sidemen: Long Road to Glory provides an intimate look into the incredible lives of three of the last Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf sidemen: piano player Pinetop Perkins, drummer Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith and guitarist Hubert Sumlin. These legendary bluesmen, who performed and recorded into their 80’s and 90’s, played a significant role in shaping modern popular music. From playing brothels and juke joints in the Jim Crow South to decades-long collaborations with the Chicago blues pioneers Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, the three weathered careers of astonishing flux. Their stories are inseparable from that of the blues itself, which the filmmakers illustrate with a wealth of clips and concert footage reaching back more than half a century. Sidemen features some of the last interviews conducted with all three men as well as their final live performances together.

Scott Rosenbaum’s loving tribute pulls back the big-name curtain to celebrate these often overlooked backing musicians whose riffs and runs are revered to this day. –The New York Times

Fri, Oct 27
Lost in Paris 6:45 @ IU Fine Arts Upstairs
The Women’s Balcony  7:15 @ IU Fine Arts Downstairs
Sidemen 8:15 @ IU Fine Arts Upstairs

Sat, Oct 28
Lost in Paris 6:45 @ IU Fine Arts Upstairs
The Women’s Balcony  7:15 @ IU Global and International Studies Theater
Sidemen 8:15 @ IU Fine Arts Upstairs

Sun, Oct 29
Sidemen 5:30 @ Bear’s Place
Lost in Paris  7:45 @ Bear’s Place – Last Chance!