Tim Easton has been singing and writing songs since he was 14 years old. He never considered another career. After finishing college, Easton hit the road with his guitar and spent seven years singing and playing on European street corners. When he got back to Ohio, Easton joined the Haynes Boys, a roots-rock outfit that made one album before breaking up. Free again, Easton picked up his guitar and returned to the road, touching down long enough to make nine albums that earned him a loyal following with their blend of gritty roots-rock and heartfelt songwriting. Every LP took a slightly different approach and his latest, Not Cool, shows off his love of rockabilly and early R&B. Easton will be quest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on him.
Easton: As a kid living in Japan, my father would take me to see different films that were playing at the English theater. I saw some classics, like Patton, and some Blockbusters, like Jaws, which all helped kick in a long romance with the dramatic realism that I prefer today. I don’t mind going to over-the-top Hollywood productions, where you have to either decide to abandon reality and let yourself be swept away by gimmicks and technology, or in other cases, begin grumbling in cynical rants about the stuff they are peddling. Most of the time, however, I enjoy a realistic story.
Once, a Hollywood executive wannabe asked me what my favorite film was. I told him it was Cinema Paradiso. He waved me off. Like a lot of North Americans, he didn’t want to bother with homework and only wanted to make a heap of money off of other like-minded dolts. Popular film and music is very similar in this manner-not always, but most of the time-there is a lot of fluff and little substance. I understand that this is exactly what we need sometimes. I like Shawshank Redemption as much as the next popcorn-huffing escape artist, but Cinema Pardiso is a film that doesn’t even need me to describe it. If you like movies and romance, then you will like this film.
Video after the jump.
