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Mark and Joe are joined by documentary film maker Teresa Alfeld. She’s made two docs (as well as short films), The Rankin File: Legacy of a Radical and Doug and the Slugs and Me.
Both of the co-hosts listened to (and loved) Doug and the Slugs when the Canadian band was popular (and beyond!). Teresa’s best friend growing up was Shea Bennett, the daughter of Doug Bennett, who was the front-man and main songwriter for the band.
“For me, Doug was just Shea’s dad, but I didn’t appreciate the scope and magnitude of his career in their hey day,” she says.
Teresa discovered Doug’s music later in life, when she was choosing the score for The Rankin File, and she wanted music from the Vancouver scene in the 1980s, as the doc was set in the same time.
“It was such an absolute shock to hear their music. It was just so much richer, both musically and lyrically, than I thought.”
She ended up using just Doug and the Slugs material exclusively for the film.
The three take a deep dive into the story of Doug Bennett, the band, and how she created such a wonderful documentary.
A great conversation, not to be missed if you’re interested in the 80s, the music business, and particularly, how challenging it is for a Canadian band to make it in the USA.
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Teresa Alfeld (she/her) is an award-winning writer/director from Vancouver, living and working on the unceded Coast Salish territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh nations. She is a member of the Director’s Guild of Canada and the Documentary Organization of Canada.
Teresa is drawn to complex characters navigating complicated worlds, and her films embrace both the humor and pathos of the human experience.
Her films include the features Doug and the Slugs and Me (2022) and The Rankin File: Legacy of a Radical (2018). She’s also made a number of short films including Jean Swanson: We Need a New Map (2021), Roadkill (2013), Charlie Gauvin (2012) and Bunky the Vampire Killer (2010).
Read more about her work at her website, and definitely watch Doug and the Slugs and Me, which is available on CBC Gem. (Get the premium membership – there’s a free month trial – so you don’t have to watch the ads!)
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