Ty Watches "May it Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers"

Yesterday I watched "May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers". This was a very good documentary. Now, it needs to be said, if you are not an Avett Brothers fan, this movie may not be for you. Luckily for me, I love the Avett Bros. I own all their music. I've paid to see them multiple times in concert. I enjoy their entire catalog. I love how they have turned the folk/bluegrass/alternative/country genre on its head. They are a band that cannot be put into one genre. They expand them all. They are an awesome band.

The main premise of "May It Last" focused on their time recording their last record, "True Sadness". But, it was about so much more. That is what I loved about this movie. It takes us to personal and deep places that I had no idea about with this band that I adore. I have always had enormous respect for this band because of their exceptional writing. I just figured that they were deep dudes that had a great talent. To hear the stories that they tell when writing specific songs, it was amazing. It was touching. It was, at times, heartbreaking. Just thinking back at the movie, hearing Seth Avett talk about writing "Divorce Separation Blues", it almost made me cry. To hear him and his brother talk about all the things they went through sounded very, very rough. I loved how open and honest Scott Avett, the older brother, was about the divorce. He talked about telling his brother to just get over it, and that he has broken up with girls before. But when Seth told him all that he was going through, he completely flipped the script. That was astonishing to see brothers be so open about a very horrible situation.

Another song writing and recording scene that will always stick with me is when they do "No Hard Feelings". Man, that was brutal and beautiful at the same time. To hear Seth Avett sing his heart out, and then watch him be so drained was spectacular. To see Scott just kind of paralyzed afterward, phenomenal. Then, to watch them talk about what they were going through while writing and recording, it was a beautiful piece of film making. Judd Apatow did a great, great job directing that scene, and this whole movie for that matter.

Some other things I really enjoyed about this movie was the closeness that, not only the brothers, but the band has with each other. Their bass player, Bob Crawford, is a great human being. Hearing his story of meeting the brothers and joining the band was awesome. The fact that they just had him play with them in a parking lot was so cool. Then, to hear all the stuff he has gone through with his daughter, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 2, she is okay now, made me cry. To hear all of the members talk about their feelings while going through this just further hammered home their closeness and how much they like playing music and just generally being with each other. Hearing Joe Kwon's story, their cellist, was awesome. Again, he was a guy they called based on a recommendation from a buddy, he joins the band, then does all this other stuff just so he can continue to play music with them was great. He literally does a ton of stuff for the band. He is their chef, computer guy, friend and cellist. Kwon is a cool dude, and he brings an added element to a band that already is hard to box in.

I absolutely loved hearing about the brothers as kids. Being a little brother myself, it was easy to relate. I have 3 older brothers where Seth Avett just has Scott. But, the stories are the same. As brothers you dislike one another as kids, then the older brother becomes the protector, then when you are adults, it is all respect. Again, it was so easy for me to understand and relate to. The fact that they have remained this close and played in a band together for so long is so cool. They have a crazy amount of respect for each other, and that is great. To see them as a young hard rock band was pretty cool. I had no idea that they did that, but it makes sense when you hear some of their early stuff. I'm glad they changed to acoustic guitars and banjos, but again, it was neat to see their path. The stuff with Rick Rubin was great. He is, without a doubt, the greatest producer that has ever lived. All the things he has done in music, the people he has worked with and the gold he has made with those people and bands is truly amazing. He is a genius and I will argue anyone that disagrees with me on this point. Rick Rubin is a legend. Seeing their families, their kids, their wives and girlfriends, it was all wonderful and so great to see them be so open with everything. They literally let HBO and Apatow film whatever they wanted. And never once did I think that they came off as pretentious or off putting.

The Avett Brothers seem to be down to earth, cool dudes that just happen to be wonderful musicians. I cannot recommend this movie enough, especially for Avett Bros fans. "May It Last" is well worth your time.

"May it Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers" is currently available on HBO Go and HBO Now

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Ty tried to start a band with his brothers. He wanted to play blues, the head editor wanted to play thrash metal, the other two brothers were advocating for jam band type music. The band never took off.

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The Greatest Television Ever: "Undeclared"

Getting back to our debate about great TV shows, TV moments and seasons of certain shows, I'm going to talk about one of my favorite shows that only got one short, 17 episode season, but it was a phenomenal season and very memorable. The show I'm going to talk about today is "Undeclared".

"Undeclared" is one of the best, most underrated shows of all time. It was so far ahead of it's time and anyone that watched the show, and spent at least one semester in college, could relate to it 100 percent. "Undeclared" is the best representation of everyone's freshman year in college. Every topic they covered in their lone season, every college student went through one way or another. It was that relatable.

Take their pilot episode. Steven(Jay Baruchel), meets his roommates, Ron(Seth Rogen), Lloyd(Charlie Hunnam) and Marshall(Tim Sharpp) and they are stand offish at first because that's how 18 year olds act when they first meet. It doesn't help that Steven's dad, played by Loudon Wainwright, won't leave his side because he's depressed about his divorce and the fact that his son his going away to college. Steven also meets Lizzie(Carla Gallo) and he's immediately smitten. He was a nerdy high school kid that never really had any girlfriends, so he figures college is the perfect chance to change his image. He wants to be a cool guy now and he tries this on Lizzie, and it works. She sleeps with him that night, but we come to find out later that she has an older boyfriend, played by Jason Segel, that lives back home. Lizzie only slept with Steven because she was fighting with her boyfriend, and she wanted to get revenge. Steven thinks that they are now a couple, but after many conversations with his roommates, he comes to realize that he was just a pawn and that Lizzie wasn't going to leave her boyfriend. This is a great representation of all the things that could go wrong on your first day of college. Crazy stuff can happen that will forever alter your life.

We also meet Lizzie's roommate in the pilot, Rachel(Monica Keena), and she's one of the first characters I'd ever seen on TV that showed the same type of anxiety that I had when I went away to college. She was frightened, lonely and missed her high school friends and her family. I personally related to all of that. Now, Monica found ways to deal with her anxiety and her character only grew from there. I wimped out and left college after one semester.

That first episode had it all. It one hundred percent got the first day of college correct. I was hooked. Look at some of those names I mentioned too. People like Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen, Charlie Hunnam and Jason Segel were all still relative unknowns while on this show. Now, most of them have had very successful careers, especially Rogen and Segel.

Back to some of the themes in the episodes that epitomize freshman year of college. There's an episode where Steven decides he wants to join a fraternity and he is put through hell, only to get his revenge on the president of the frat, played by Samm Levine. This episode was great. They made Steven do some stupid, childish things that no person should be made to so, but that's what dumbass fraternity guys do. Steven gets fed up, and with the constant urging from his roommates to not even join the frat, Steven and his roommates come up with a plan to make the president of the frat do the same stupid stuff. And, after they catch him and try to force him to eat an entire jar of pickles, he relents and says that all the frat stuff is stupid and lets Steven walk with no consequences. Or, there's the episode centered around Marshall's crush on Monica. Monica is so sweet and nice, but she is oblivious to Marshall's feelings and after she finally realizes this, it's too late to tell him she just wants to be friends, Marshall is in too deep and he will always love Monica. She doesn't reciprocate the feelings, but they stay friends throughout the show's run. We could talk about any episode with Lloyd and how he is a total ladies man and the envy of his roommates, but how not every girl is receptive to his moves. He has the smooth English accent, and while it works on most ladies, there is an episode where it totally backfires and he has to lick his wounds and realize that he may not be the ladies man he has made himself out to be. The character of Lloyd is a perfect portrayal of the student that comes from overseas and thinks they are the coolest guy, but they are just like every one else in college, just trying to find their way. They also have run ins with RA's, they go to a live Adam Sandler show and then get to hang out with him and his crew afterward, they have dorm parties and they talk and deal with the good and the bad like any real life college student would.

"Undeclared" is excellent. This show also had some huge guest stars. Some were recurring, others may have been on only once or twice. I just mentioned Adam Sandler, but some other guests were Jenna Fischer as a badass sorority girl, Amy Poehler as an over sexualized RA obsessed with Lloyd, Fred Willard as a professor that's lost his love for teaching, Will Ferrell as a Ritalin dealer that also has answer keys to finals and Martin Starr as Steven's super nerdy high school best friend. This was another Judd Apatow show that Fox gave up on way too early, much like "Freaks and Geeks". Apatow had a knack for grabbing these certain moments in young kids lives and portraying them perfectly for the TV viewing public. He hasn't made many great movies lately, but I will always be thankful to him for creating "Freaks and Geeks" and, more importantly for me, "Undeclared".

If you haven't watched "Undeclared", go back and check it out. I believe it may be streaming on Netflix (ed note: It unfortunately left Netflix late last year). and it is well worth your time. You'll thank me after you watch it, I promise you that, especially if you spent at least one semester in college. It is very, very relatable and extremely well made.

I will always have a spot in my heart for the great "Undeclared".

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He left college because they had no major for podcasting, since the term and technology was yet to be invented. You must absolutely follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.