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Mother of Rock: the Life and Times of Lillian Roxon
Who
the hell is Lillian Roxon? That's what I thought when I volunteered to
review this documentary. Then I discovered that this Australia lass is
actually the aunt of Health Minister Nicola Roxon but more particularly,
Lillian Roxon could be considered one of Australia's first feminists and
renowned rock journalists.
Originally a journalist, Roxon moved to New York and became a rather
well known promoter and publicist in the underground music scene. It all
began at the Max's Kansas City Club which was the place to be if you
were an up and coming musician.
This
venue was like playing the casino's, many people came but only a few
actually transcended to the next level. This documentary highlights the
influence that Lillian Roxon had in America and how she used her status
to promote a number of musicians and how she changed the face of rock in
not just America but also in Australia.
Roxon
also mixed with people such as Andy Warhol, Jim Morrison and probably
helped push Germaine Greer in the direction she ended up heading. With
this in mind, the documentary has some wonderful interviews with
Germaine Greer, Danny Fields and my favourite, Mr. Iggy Pop that discuss
the influence of Roxon from not just her book, "Rock Encyclopaedia" but
also how she pioneered music journalism.
The
outstanding aspect of Roxon is that unlike many of the other journalists
of her day, she actually had a classic education that included both the
University of Queensland and the University of Sydney. Although
Lillian's legacy still remains today, she unfortunately passed away on
the 10th of August 1974 at the relatively young age of 41.
If
you're interested in the world of classic rock and more particular the
grass roots of journalism of this area, than Mother of Rock: the Life
and Times of Lillian Roxon is a very insightful and thoughtful
documentary that you should definitely investigate. |
