If ever a movie title didn't hide the ball as to what it is, it would be Norman's Rare Guitars Documentary, the docume....well, obviously. A fixture of the LA music scene for over 50 years, founder Norman Harris and his mecca of vintage instruments has been (guitar) dealer to stars, both rock and movie, as evidenced by the rapid parade of snapshots and video clips showcasing the Who's Who of Music who have patronized his establishment.
After tracing his early days as a musician and finder of cool instruments in Miami, he relocated to LA and rapidly became the go-to source for cool instruments. As word of mouth spread, he finally moved his operation out of his crammed apartment to a series of ever-larger stores. But even his current location isn't enough as he has a warehouse worthy of the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark filled with crates filled with cases full of guitars.
Even though I'm a guitarist with a nice assortment of axes, I've never been particularly interested in the whole vintage guitar thing, mostly because they easily run in price to about what a NEW car used to cost. If I ever ended up in LA, I doubt I'd go to Norm's because there's no way I could afford or justify what he's peddling. It's like going to a Victoria's Secret show and not being able to buy the models.
But Norman's Rare Guitars Documentary also does a mediocre job of even explaining what the big deal is. There's a saying that writing about music is like dancing about architecture, but no one really explains what it is about these guitars or the need to amass great collections that keeps them coming back. Executive Keifer Sutherland talks about how he had 100 guitars and realized he'd never play them all - it's true, every guitarist has a fave or two and the rest are just inventory - so he sold off nearly 3/4 of his stash and if he buys a new one, he sells an old one. Cool, but why 100 guitars in the first place or 400+ like Joe Bonamasa cops to?
The doc also drags on with segments about how they showcase new artists on their social media and YouTube channel and his charitable works. While expanding Norm's reputation as a mensch, it also bloats the runtime about a half-hour longer than necessary.
Playing mostly as a feature-length commercial for a music store whose clientele would already know of its existence, Norman's Rare Guitars Documentary doesn't really succeed at much more than raising the question of what will happen to this institution when Norm finally retires or passes on as evidenced when he had major health issues in 2022. Lacking in guitar pr0n for guitarists or really much insights from celebrity interviewees, it's probably too specific AND general for most viewers.
Score: 6/10. Catch it on cable/streaming. (Currently on Netflix.)
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