Faye's tribute to Thunderfingers

[Brian Cady]

>From The Birmingham Post:
http://tinyurl.com/yb7zqh

Faye's tribute to Thunderfingers
Nov 3 2006
By Emma Pinch
 
Fay Goodman, businesswoman, martial arts supremo, musician and author can add now another skillset to her CV – documentary filmmaking.

The former spokeswoman for the Federation of Small Businesses is celebrating the international release of her film on the late bass guitarist from The Who, John Entwistle. It is the culmination of years of painstaking work undertaken in her own time and at her own expense. Miss Goodman said it had always been a dream of hers to make a film but she had to prove to others and herself that she could do it.

Her interest in music was kindled during her childhood. Her father was a musician and she reached grade seven on the piano, composing her first piece at the age of six, which she has recently created and recorded for a symphony.She then learned the guitar and formed a band – Ebony Blonde – with a pal and performed in local clubs and hospitals.

They were signed up by record giant EMI and released a single, which she said did well in France. When she set out to make a documentary on guitarists in 2001 she was able to utilise the contacts she had made in the record industry. Unable to get a commission for the work she financed the project herself.

In 2001 she managed to obtain an interview with John Entwistle, the proud possessor of a 250-strong collection of guitars. Also present was fellow musician Gordon Giltrap, and she stayed at his Cotswolds home in a cottage on his estate for a few days.

She garnered so much footage that she decided to use it as a tribute to him, Thunderfingers: A Tribute to the Legendary John Entwistle, adding interviews with Lemmy out of Motorhead and Rick Wakeman from Yes.

"I always had a fascination with directing and producing," said Miss Goodman. "But it's quite a competitive, especially if you are a woman and I had to prove I could actually do it.

"While I liked The Who, I never really appreciated how brilliant, charismatic and mesmerising John Entwistle was. He died the following year and I felt he need to be acknowledged properly. I approached John's family and they thought it was a lovely idea."

She said it had been a very steep learning curve. She waited almost a year to get interviews with Lemmy and Rick Wakeman and had a long battle with US authorities to film in New York.

Unexpected costs such as expensive rights to use archive film footage and newspaper clippings were sources of concern, and she admitted to having "moments of desperation".

But she said she had never come close to throwing in the towel on the project.

"I started off with nothing but a camera and an idea of what I wanted to do," she said. "It's been a long four years but I never give up.

"I had moments of desperation but if you believe in something and you know it's right you get through it. In life you have to take risks or you achieve nothing."

Her hard work and determination was rewarded when she saw her work screened on the Biography Channel.

Now she is launching her film internationally, and has plans to make a follow-up film using the remaining footage.

"Seeing it on TV has been the most satisfying part of it," she said. "Watching something you have worked really hard on for three years, with your company logo on it and knowing it has been well received was just a lovely, lovely experience, and I feel very proud. And knowing it is a tribute to somebody who really deserves it makes is very rewarding too."

The premier, on November 9 at 7.30pm at the Library Theatre in Chamberlain Square. will be staged by Creative Pathways, the arts support agency based in the Business

Insight department of Birmingham Central Library. It offers free support and guidance to local people breaking into the creative sector.

For further information, see www.creativeinsightuk.com/creative

The former national spokeswoman for the Federation of Small Businesses, Fay Goodman heads up her own company, Goodmedia Ltd, which offers advice on film and music production.

She is also one of only three women in the year to have achieved the seventh dan level in martial art Iaido, a discipline using a Samurai sword. She teaches martial arts and has written several books on the subject as well.

In addition she is a campaigner in personal safety and speaks at conferences and seminars on it throughout the country.

Miss Goodman has been heavily involved in many regional and national organizations to support the business sector and community including: West Midlands Regional Advisory Board Member for the BBC; Health & Safety Executive Committee Member for ‘Violence at Work’; Chairwoman of the Birmingham Safer Cities Committee, Home Office; and Chairwoman of Crime stoppers Media Committee. She is currently a Board member of the Advantage West Midlands Enterprise Board in the Midlands; The Birmingham Press Board and Women in Film & TV Midlands.
 
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com


 
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