Fri. Dec. 31

My former colleague at the Globe, Geoff Edgers, embarked upon a most unusual journey, a mission to reunite the Kinks. It's a movie called "Do It Again," the title taken from a Kinks song. Edgers wrote the film and was the correspondent/instigator - hooking up with various musicians/Kinks fans, often playing Kinks songs with them, and trying to locate Kinks producers, confederates, ex-bandmates etc., all in the hope of getting the battling Davies brothers Ray (in photo) and Dave back to the point where they'd put the band together again. Hey, singer-songwriter Ray is 65, Dave is 61 and coming off a stroke. Edgers' film will be screened First Night at the Stuart Street Playhouse at 7:15. 

Some thoughts I have about the Kinks and an e-chat with Edgers follows. And I recently talked to Ray for a Herald story (which is on hold as Davies' health forced him to cancel at date at the Wilbur Nov. 28.)

Me: Your brother just ripped you in the Daily Mail, calling you a narcissist, a vampire and worse.
Ray:  Yeah, I’ve heard about that. I won’t read it. It would totally upset me. I think he’s going through a bad patch. I think he’ll be OK. I’ll send him a Christmas card and he’ll be fine.
Me:  I guess any Kinks reunion won’t happen any day soon. It’s so sad to people who love the Kinks, his guitar playing, your voice, your songs together.
Ray:  I know. One of the last songs we did together is called “Hatred” [with the line] “it’s the only thing that lasts.” [What Dave says] rolls off my shoulders and I move on, looking forward to my next challenge.

When I was a college radio music director, University of Maine, WMEB, 1976-1978, I used to send out playlists to record companies and promotion people and signed every one with  “God Save the Kinks.” Hell, they were on a comeback roll of sorts, but there always was that fragility, that it might fall apart at any time because of Ray and Dave’s volatile relationship. And, of course, “God Save the Kinks” was the rallying cry John Mendelsson shouted on his 1972 “Kinks Kronikles” liner notes. The Kinks, as I’ve know them, have been forever and never breaking up. I remember a Musician magazine story that came out in the ‘80s after I’d interviewed Ray for the Boston Globe. The writer thought he had a scoop because at a concert Ray said the Kinks were breaking up on stage. I smiled. He’s always saying that. And when I saw him recently on a solo tour, his response to the inevitable question about reuniting was “maybe.” He’s clearly torn. Busy, involved in his own music, in staging musicals – and yet he’s got this umbilical cord he can’t quite sever. Doesn't want to.

JSInk (to Edgers) As you suggest in the film it was a Quixotic crusade to begin with. When you started it did you think, “I might have a chance of doing this” and/or “At least it might make a good quest movie”?  I’m guessing you knew about Ray’s penchant for control before you began and the improbability of it actually happening.  How long did the film take to make and how did you get financing?

Edgers: I NEVER WOULD HAVE STARTED IT THINKING I HAD NO CHANCE. I FIGURED THAT ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. AND I WAS THERE TO OFFER RAY AND DAVE A PLACE THEY COULD GET TOGETHER WITHOUT IT BEING AN ISSUE OF MONEY OR CONTROL. THEY DIDN’T HAVE TO TOUR OR RECORD A RECORD FOR ME. JUST PLAY A SONG. AS I PUSHED FORWARD, [DIRECTOR] ROBERT PATTON-SPRUILL AND I REALIZED THAT SOMETIMES FAILURE IS AS ENTERTAINING AS SUCCESS. AND I JUST COULDN’T STOP. ...THE FILM COST ABOUT $125,000. I SPENT ABOUT $30,000 OF MY OWN MONEY, RAISED $60,000 FROM TWO INVESTORS AND RAISED THE REST ON MY OWN. EVERYTHING FROM $10 GIFTS FROM PEOPLE TO $4,000 GIFTS FROM PEOPLE.

JSInk: It seems the film is about two things: Trying to get the Kinks together but also you playing Kinks songs with as many musicians as you could – Robyn Hitchcock, Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Sting. In other words, a fan’s dream come true. There is a bit of ego involved there, no?

Edgers: I DON’T KNOW ABOUT EGO. I’D SAY NOSTALGIC LONGING. BUT I’LL LEAVE IT UP TO YOU TO CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT TO CALL IT. I ALSO THINK, AS A WRITER WHO HAS INTERVIEWED LOTS OF CELEBS, I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE MORE INTERESTING TO DO THIS THAN TO DO A CONVENTIONAL INTERVIEW.

JSInk: The Kinks Kast Offs gig – with all these ex-Kinks playing Kinks songs - was terrific to see on film and I’m sure great fun to be at. But, for you, also, I’m sure humbling. As you said in the film, everyone had cameras in there, but you were banned. And though Ray sang a lovely “Days” – next to “Waterloo Sunset’ in my book -  he beat it out of there quickly. Had you been able to talk to him, or confront him, as it were, what would you have said?

Edgers: IF I HAD BEEN ABLE TO TALK TO RAY, I’D HAVE MERELY SAID… "I’M A BIG ADMIRER OF YOUR WORK, I’D LOVE TO FILM AN INTERVIEW WITH YOU AND WHEN CAN WE DO IT?" IF HE STILL SAID NO, I’D HAVE SAID, "TELL ME, ON CAMERA, WHY MY IDEA IS FULL OF SHIT."I HAVE INCREDIBLE RESPECT FOR RAY AND DAVE AND THINK IT’S THEIR PLACE TO TELL ME WHY MY IDEAS ARE GOOD OR BAD.

The point made by various musicians, that a band is like a marriage and not easy to maintain. Sting talked about people growing in different directions, but, as the Police reunion suggested, they responded to they and their fans desires to get the old warhorse up again. That nostalgia is not a good place to live, but OK to visit now and again.

JSInk: Why did you decide to keep in the bits about union/management strife at the Globe? Was it because this was part of your personal journey – the struggle to maintain work, to maintain family, in the face of this daunting task?

Edgers: ROBERT PATTON-SPRUILL WAS THE DIRECTOR. HE CHOSE TO KEEP THAT MATERIAL IN BECAUSE IT’S ULTIMATELY A MOVIE ABOUT MY JOURNEY. AND MY JOURNEY WASN’T EASY. I THINK WE GOT REALLY LUCKY IN A WEIRD WAY THAT MY SALARY WAS CUT JUST BEFORE WE WENT TO VISIT BUCK AND MCCAUGHEY AND DO “GET BACK IN LINE.”

JSInk note: "Get Back in Line" was written by Ray in partial response to the Kinks being banned from playing the US in the late '60s by the Musicians Union. It was a boondoggle that's never been quite explained, but it prevented the Kinks from reaching a huge market when they were at a creative peak. The song is about a worker lining up to get a shot at job, but he's not a part of the union. Sings Ray, mournfully: "The union man decides if I live or I die, if I starve or I eat." Ultimately, the man is told "Get right back in the line."

JSInk: Have you seen Ray’s solo – with and without side band – shows over the past few years? Any thoughts about how the music stood up, without Dave, without the Kinks?

Edgers: I LOVE WORKING MAN’S CAFÉ, THOUGH I WASN’T CRAZY ABOUT RAY’S FIRST SOLO RECORD. I’VE SEEN HIM A FEW TIMES SOLO. HE PUTS ON A GREAT SHOW. I’VE SEEN DAVE SOLO AND HE’S FANTASTIC. FULL OF ENERGY. PLAYS ALL THE HITS AND ALSO RARITIES.

The interview with Dave was quite poignant and I thought he explained the situation well, that the only time Ray was truly happy was 0-3, or before Dave was born, and that he kind of liked the idea of reuniting, but compared he and Ray to two tigers who can’t be in the same room together. I know from my experience with them – riding in separate limos to Kinks shows out in Minneapolis, doing a big Globe piece in the early ‘80s – they really truly, did not speak except when absolutely necessary. And they both explained the love/hate dynamic in roughly the same words. I remember Ray saying, “Dave is like family … and I hate family.” What did you take away from the experience?

Edgers: THAT YOU SHOULD KEEP GOING EVEN WHEN IT SEEMS YOU SHOULD STOP. IF I HAD STOPPED FILMING EVERY TIME WE ENCOUNTERED ADVERSITY, WE WOULDN’T HAVE MADE A MOVIE. I ALSO THINK THAT FAILURE CAN OMETIMES BE BETTER THAN SUCCESS.

What is the film’s future? Festivals? Indy theaters?

Edges: WE HAVE A FILM FESTIVAL LICENSE FOR THE NEXT YEAR, UNTIL JAN. 28, 2011. THAT’S WHERE YOU SHOW YOUR FILM TO FIND BUYERS. WE HAVE A DISTRIBUTOR, LOUISE ROSEN LTD. FROM HERE, THE FILM GOES TO THE LONDON INTENATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL (MAY 1), DOCVILLE (MAY 2/9) AND FESTIVALS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY AND WORLD. YOU CAN KEEP UP TO DATE THROUGH WWW.DOITAGAIN.COM

Given all you did and what you know would you do it again?

I’D DEFINITELY DO IT AGAIN. I MEAN, WHEREVER THIS ENDS UP, WE MADE A MOVIE THAT WE THINK IS GOOD. WE’VE SHOWN IT AT A BUNCH OF FESTIVALS AND THERE’S NOTHING LIKE WATCHING 700, 800, 1000 PEOPLE LOVING YOUR FILM.

Tickets: $18, that is, a First Night badge.

200 Stuart St., 617-426-4499 www.stuartstreetplayhouse.com