Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone

(USA, 2010, 103 mins, DigiBeta - NTSC, HDCAM - NTSC)

World Premiere

Producers: Chris Metzler, Lev Anderson
Cinematographer: Jeff Springer
Editor: Jeff Springer
Cast: Fishbone, Flea, Ice-T, Perry Farrell, Gwen Stefani, Branford Marsalis & Narrated by Laurence Fishburne

When Fishbone hit the Los Angeles music scene in the early ‘80s, they were like nothing anyone had ever seen before—an all-black band that played an indefinable musical mélange of pop, punk, funk, and ska with a manic energy that stunned even the most jaded punk rocker. Everyone who saw them felt certain that they were destined to take over the world, but that success never came. Despite continuous critical support and legendary live performances, Fishbone spent the next thirty years waiting to, as their former manager puts it, “blow up big time.”

Far more than a simple “rise and fall of a band” story, Everyday Sunshine is, like the band it documents, many things at once. It’s an indictment of a music industry overly dependent on simplistic categorizations. It’s a thirty-year history of the black experience in Los Angeles, from the desegregation efforts of the late Seventies to Rodney King to today. Most importantly, it’s an intimate look at the creative freedom and the enduring friendships that have kept Fishbone together—and at times torn them apart—over their remarkable career.

Doug Jones

Expected to attend: Lev Anderson, Chris Metzler.

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