Mission District Theater Hosts Acclaimed Local Documentary
By Dave Pehling
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The Alamo Drafthouse in San Francisco's Mission District continues it's ongoing Music Monday series on June 5 with a screening of the acclaimed Bay Area documentary D tour with filmmaker Jim Granato in person and local indie-rock favorites Rogue Wave playing a short set.
While not your typical rock doc, D tour still delves deep into the world of a band on the road, though with a decided twist. The film follows the story of Oakland-based band Rogue Wave's drummer, Pat Spurgeon, who also happens to have been born with one working kidney. Spurgeon had already gone through one transplant when his sole kidney started failing him when he was in junior high school.
The movie follows the musician's struggles when -- just as the band's momentum begins to build after releasing a pair of albums for noted Northwestern imprint Sub Pop Records -- the 41-year-old Spurgeon's second kidney begins to fail a dozen years after his original transplant. Faced with the rigors of life on the road compounded by his serious medical condition, Spurgeon and the band make a bold decision to embark on the tour even as the drummer contends with his search for a new organ and daily dialysis treatments.
A dramatic tale that balances the band's quest for success with Spurgeon's serious life-or-death challenge, D tour features plenty of music performances from Rogue Wave in the studio and on the road along with songs from Death Cab for Cutie leader Ben Gibbard, Nada Surf, John Vanderslice and the Moore Brothers. The movie, director Granato's first feature, made its West Coast premiere as part of the 2009 San Francisco Film Festival and is the only SFFF offering ever presented in association with Noisepop and the California Transplant Donor Network.
The movie went on to win the festival's Golden Gate Award for Bay Area Documentary Feature that year and later received it's national television premiere on the Emmy award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. For this rare chance to see the documentary on the big screen at the Alamo Drafthouse, Granato and Spurgeon (who is still going strong and still playing with Rogue Wave) will be on hand for a post-screening Q&A session followed by a short set performed by the band.
D tour screening with performance by Rogue Wave
Monday, June 5, 7 p.m. $14
Alamo Drafthouse
