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East Coast Premiere Is Set For Documentary Chronicling Final Months In Life Of Rob Morsberger

By: Feb. 02, 2017
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EAST COAST PREMIERE! Join us for a special tribute event for the singer/songwriter Rob Morsberger, a musician's musician and Croton resident who collaborated with countless artists including Patti Smith and Marshall Crenshaw, and called on his classical training to compose musical scores for "Masterpiece Theatre" and the PBS television series NOVA. He always searched art, literature, and history as a source of inspiration for his songs, but when he drew on the dying words of author Henry James, "So here it is at last. The distinguished thing," Morsberger had no idea that he would soon be diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Filmmaker Dave Davidson was already collaborating with Morsberger on several projects, so they agreed to "just keep filming" after his diagnosis.

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Davidson's riveting, nuanced portrait features appearances by friends and collaborators including Brad Roberts, lead singer of Crash Test Dummies, Suzzy Roche of the Roche Sisters, Stewart Lerman, musical director for Boardwalk Empire, Jon Herington, guitarist for Steely Dan, singer/songwriterS Marshall Crenshaw and Willie Nile, studio and concert footage, as well as Morsberger's own observations as he prepares himself for what he calls "the great whatever." Davidson's film is not a meditation on dying as much as a celebration of the creative spirit and one individual's dedication to making every moment as joyful and productive as possible even as his physical powers diminish.


NEW FILM FOLLOWS SINGER/SONGWRITER EXTRAORDINAIRE
ROB MORSBERGER THROUGH THE FINAL MONTHS OF HIS LIFE
After 25 years in the music business, at age 50, musician and poet Rob Morsberger was being compared to Randy Newman, Tom Waits and even Stephen Foster. A few months later, Rob was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Rather than succumb to this grim reality, Rob used it to fuel the most prolific period in his songwriting career - determined to utilize whatever remained of his physical and spiritual resources to explore through words and music the transient nature of life, the inevitability of death and the infinite magic in the detail of a single moment. A Gesture and a Word is a portrait of a man who exemplified the saying, Ars longa - Vita Brevis (Art is long - Life is short).

https://burnsfilmcenter.org/booking/a-gesture-and-a-word-with-special-musical-guest-marshall-crenshaw/




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