Directed by Andrew Slater
Featuring Lou Adler, Fiona Apple, The Beach Boys, and more
Running time 1 hour 22 minutes
MPAA rating PG-13

By Ashley Jane

“I truly believe the power of music is undeniable. I truly believe it can change the world. I do. Small ways, but… I’m not letting this go.” – Graham Nash

While the other teens from my high school were spending their weekends going to parties, drinking Smirnoff Ice, and listening to, god I dunno, Nelly (??), I was hidden in my bedroom with my stack of records from Records On Wheels, writing horribly embarrassing yet lovingly earnest mini album reviews on notepad paper that I carefully taped to each cover. I adored music from the 1960s in all it’s varied microcosms. The British Invasion. The Greenwich Village scene. The Brill Building song-writing heavyweights. The great Motown vs. Stax debate. Brazil’s Tropicália movement. I could get away from my life and travel anywhere through music. But because of living in a little Northern Ontario city that is (okay, fine) occasionally a teensy bit cold and that sees (perhaps) the odd snowflake throughout the winter, I was most often, to quote ‘80s sweatshirts and bumper stickers everywhere, California Dreamin’.