Meeting Maysles

From the desk of Ned P. Rauch:

Last weekend I had the good fortune to have spend a little time with Albert Maysles, one of the most important documentary filmmakers of, well, since the 1960s. He and his late brother, David, filmed the Rolling Stones as they prepared for and played the deadly Altamont concert, in 1969. Their film, "Gimme Shelter," is a scarily clear glimpse of the era's darkside. It's also a mesmerizing peek into the lives of the Stones. Maysles' favorite scene in the film is the bit with Keith Richards lying on a studio floor listening to the playback of the just-recorded "Wild Horses." He's wearing snakeskin boots. Maysles said those boots helped make the shot.

Really nice fellow, by the way. With 83 years behind him, he's still working. A few years ago he and his wife moved from the Dakota, the building where John and Yoko used to live, and Yoko still does, up to Harlem. In addition to making films, through his company, Maysles Films, he sits on the board of the Maysles Institute, which, among other things, shows series of documentaries organized around a given theme. There's a week of films about gangs and drugs in New York coming up soon. Worth a look.

(Photo of Maysles from his film company's Web site.)