CURRENT DVD REVIEWS

Signal to Noise winter 06 issue

Paste DVD sampler excerpts Drunken Bees

Resonance Magazine issue #48 November 2005

Pitchforkmedia.com 9.23.05 by Jessica Suarez

"As a Tucson native now calling Brooklyn home, nothing stirs up homesickness like listening to Giant Sand. Sure, the humidity here makes me wish I was back in the desert, and the cocaine makes me wish I was closer to Mexico again, but nothing really makes me long for my Arizona hometown like Giant Sand and the small family of bands that surround Howe Gelb's project, including Calexico and Friends of Dean Martinez.

Marianne Dissard, a native of France who came to Tucson in 1994 to film a documentary on Giant Sand and never left, has finally released the fruits of her labor, a film entitled "Drunken Bees", on DVD. The 27 minutes film follows around Howe Gelb and his bandmates at the time (Joey Burns, John Convertino and Bill Elm) as they navigate Tucson landmarks like the Air Force airplane graveyard and the historic Hotel Congress (where police caught the outlaw John Dillinger, incidentally). The film was shot, edited, and produced by Dissard, who is currently working on her first record with Burns twiddling knobs.

The film is available through Dissard's website as a limited-edition DVD. It comes with two bonuses: Giant Sand's 1989 video "Searchlight" and "Giant Prequel", a mini-doc of the band preparing for an interview on KCRW."

No Depression 8.05 by Barry Mazor

"Entirely less polished, intended to be utterly lo-fi - and succeeding on those terms quite well - is Giant Sand's Drunken Bees, which amounts to a chance to hang out around Tucson with Howe Gelb, Joey Burns, John Convertino and their gang circa 1994. They're not bad company at all, and the title film (one of three on this disc) is effective in showing how the style of the place leads to the sounds of their music. Also on this DVD is "Giant Prequel", an "experimental" half-hour video catching the guys during and before a session on LA public radio's "Morning becomes Eclectic" show. With cuts to home shopping channels and video static, this film is a shade self-consciously alt for its own good - but then good music happens and you may not care. A more finished video from back in 1989 is a bonus".

Greenman Review 8.05

BlogCritics.com 9.05

Santa Barbara Independent 9.05 - 3Qs, by Brett Leigh Dicks

LAST CENTURY's DVD REVIEWS

Tucson Weekly 1996

Arizona Tribune 1996

Phoenix New Times 1996

VH1 Music of the Year Award 1996