Full Moon Lightnin': There will be blues (photos)

Getting into working on a long documentary like this is really not recommended. Owning a boat and shooting a four-year documentary will sink you quicker than anything. - John C. Gardiner

On an evening when people couldn't stop talking about the impressive size of the moon outside, Washington DC-based filmmaker John C. Gardiner debuted his first feature-length effort, Full Moon Lightnin'.

Last Friday night at the Shadows of the Mind Film Festival, the theatre was as close as you could get to sold out, leaving many eager movie-goers, including Sault Ste. Marie MP Tony Martin, waiting in line for rush tickets.

Gardiner was duly impressed.

Full Moon Lightnin' is a beautifully shot poignant tale of journey, discovery and loss as two very different men come to realize in two very different ways the profound frailty of life.

The first is New York City bluesman Floyd Lee.

Growing up in the cotton fields of the deep south, Lee never knew his mother, his family or his last name.

Passed around from family to family, Lee was forced to leave under unfortunate circumstances at the age of 10.

60 years later, Lee, his band and Gardiner embark on a journey back to Mississippi to unearth what Lee has been yearning for his entire life.

His roots.

The second is Floyd Lee band member Joel Poluck.

Born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Poluck lived in New York City for 10 years with his girlfriend Nella Zaccaria.

He and Lee teamed up seven years ago, performing in New York and touring North America and Europe.

In addition to playing guitar for Lee, Poluck also writes much of the material, manages the band and has produced all four Floyd Lee records for his own label, Amogla Records.

"When you've got a guy playing like Joel plays and you've got a guy who sings like Floyd, you don't need to compare them to anybody," said Gardiner of the partnership. "People should be comparing themselves to those two guys because they've got such an original sound."

In the midst of filming Full Moon Lightnin', tragedy strikes and Poluck's 19-year relationship with Zaccaria comes to an untimely end as she succumbs to cancer.

As the two men switch places with Lee reconnecting with his past, giving his life new meaning, and Poluck losing everything he holds dear, an album resonant with fierce emotion is birthed.

Snippets of the record, entitled Doctors, Devils and Drugs, lay down the rails this heartrending journey rides on.

"The music is a wonderful backdrop, but it's not the focus of the movie," said Gardiner. "It's a real story. It's not about their music. It's about their lives."

Gardiner discovered Lee and Poluck performing at a street festival in New York and was immediately transfixed.

"All of a sudden, I heard this guy playing. His voice was so powerful, so commanding. He had such presence and his personality was so dynamic, you could feel it," recalled Gardiner. "My immediate reaction was 'Why is this guy playing for change? Why is he playing on the street?'"

Although he was not actively looking to find a documentary topic, Gardiner was drawn to Lee and instinctively knew he had to learn more about him.

A trip back to Mississippi was planned and Lee's story was to be the base for a historical piece about the civil rights movement and the mass migration of African-Americans from the south in the 1930s to find work.

Unfortunately, a documentary on the topic had already been done.

Gardiner was more than content to leave Lee as the focus and was prepared to keep the film as it was.

No one was prepared for Zaccaria's illness and unexpected passing, which had a deep impact on everyone involved in the production.

"I didn't want to get that personal," said Gardiner. "I wasn't going to go in that direction and I wasn't going to exploit Joel or anybody else. It was just not necessary. It was a good enough film that way I saw it.

"It wasn't until Joel showed me the footage of Nella that he had taken that I was completely blown away," he continued. "It was such an intimate, personal look at them. Even if I had gone that direction and filmed my own footage of Nella, it couldn't have matched what those two had. It was just so real.

"If there's one thing I want people to get from this film is when you go home, learn to take stock and appreciate what you have, not what you don't," concluded Gardiner. "All the trivial things that you get angry about, just let it go. Appreciate life for what it is because you never know what you're going to be dealt."

Gardiner plans to take Full Moon Lightnin' on the 2008 film festival circuit as well as show it in limited release in New York, Mississippi, Tennessee and other spots relevant to the film.

Poluck, who declined to attend the world premiere screening in Sault Ste. Marie, has not seen the final product, opting instead to wait and see it with Lee and the rest of the band in New York.

To purchase Doctors, Devils and Drugs and view footage not included in Full Moon Lightnin', visit the website at www.fullmoonlightnin.com

Two selections from the album will be added to regular rotation on XM Satellite Radio's Bluesville on channel 74 starting Saturday, March 1, 2008.

Doctors, Devils and Drugs will also be played on approximately 200 other stations around the globe, including those in Canada, the US, Europe, Norway, Poland and Australia starting in March of this year.

Poluck would like to extend his sincere thanks to the sponsors of the Shadows of the Mind screening, Bassworks Recording Company, as well as the owners and staff of the Lock City Grand Theatre for providing the after-movie reception location.

Blues is wantin' somethin' you ain't got...wishin' for somethin'...lovin' somethin' that's gone. Yeah, that's the blues. - Floyd Lee in Full Moon Lightnin'

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