On the way back from Williamstown, Mass., where we went to see Little Richard: I Am Everything, we passed a mountain almost in our backyard; the mist and could hanging over the hill was beautiful too; I love the beauty all around us.

What a gift to see this a mile or two from our back porch.

I enjoyed seeing clips from Little Richard’s performances, but the CNN/ HBO Max documentary was disappointing. It was long and repetitive and was primarily a  worshipful homage to a deeply troubled Little genius, and his impact on Rock N’Roll was profound. He was robbed of much of the credit and money that was just his.

I think we all know how the music industry exploited, cheated, and ignored the groundbreaking impact of music from the South on our culture and Rock N’Roll. We also see the story isn’t just a story of race. Richard was a broken human being; it is hard to imagine him succeeding for too long anywhere, race aside.

The Beatles, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, and a dozen other music stars have credited Little Richard with inspiring and helping them. Sadly, there is much more to the story than race.  As Richard and the film suggest, saying he was the sole God of rock n’roll was a bridge too far.

The film wasn’t thoughtful enough; it felt like they had their story – greedy music publishers – from the get-go and didn’t bother going further. The narrative was repeated over and over again.

I would love to have seen more music; he was an astounding performer and made it possible for so many other great musicians to follow his example.

The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Sting, B Bob Dylan, and many others didn’t succeed only because of Little Richard. They were geniuses and innovators in their own right, but Richard’s mental and emotional troubles were crippling.

Little Richard’s life was tragic and heroic at the same time. A Queer young man in the Deep South, Richard’s father kicked him out of his home because he was gay. He darted between worshipping God and breaking every music and convention in the music business all his life.

He never gave up or forgot who he was, not even in the brutal racist South.

The new so-called docudrama is lazy and too much in awe of its subjects. We see too little of the issues, too much of academics, critics, and retired music executives. Too often, the music looked like an academic panel droning on about someone we wanted to see more of and understand.

Little Richard was a brilliant hero; he was abused, threatened, robbed, and abandoned. He plowed right through it. Much of it was because of his race, but it was also the fault of a sociopathic father and a split, almost schizophrenic personality.

We will never know why Little Richard fell so far out of favor after 15 or 20 incredible years; this movie doesn’t even try to tell us. They were too busy showering praise on his genius. I thought it was a lazy and incomplete movie.

The clips of Little Richard performing were too short and often overshadowed by windbags that didn’t have much to say that we didn’t already know. I hope we get another shot at this important story.

I appreciated seeing Little Richard performing; there were way too many talk show interviews.

The food at the Mexican restaurant down the street was terrific. We are both delighted to be getting out and around again.