(RockAndMetal.com) (10/06/05)

Edited By Michael Bennett

LONDON, UK - New York Dolls founding bassist ARTHUR "KILLER" KANE is the subject of an upcoming new documentary surrounding the trajectory of his life after that massively influential band broke up, entitled "New York Doll."

Currently slated for premiere October 28th in New York (New York City) and California (Los Angeles, Pasadena, Irvine), November 4th in Utah (Salt Lake City) and Arizona (Tempe), November 11th in Nevada (Las Vegas), Utah (Provo, Ogden, West Jordan, Sandy) and other parts of Arizona (Mesa, Peoria, Chandler), November 18th in Washington (Seattle) and Idaho (Boise), November 23rd in Texas (Dallas), November 25th in Illinois (Chicago) and December 2nd in other parts of Idaho (Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, Chubbuck), click here for all the latest showings of the film.

"New York Doll" looks at Arthur Kane's new fulfilling life as a librarian at a family history center and the reunion concert organized by Morrissey to bring Kane back to the stage for one last show with his former bandmates.

A heartwarming story that will appeal to almost anyone, "New York Doll" is a film about one man and his dream.

As an original member of the New York Dolls, Arthur Kane belonged to a select group of musicians widely credited as the definitive proto-Glam-Punk ensemble.

The band pioneered a look and sound that left the Rock scene of the 60s back in time, and helped pave the way for the Glam Rock and Punk look-a-likes who would follow in the next decade.

Musical historians agree that the New York Dolls directly influenced and inspired many of the most successful music acts of the last thirty years.

After their short-lived success and almost predictable break-up, the next thirty years that were Arthur Kane's life reflected none of his former glory. As he puts it in the film, he was "demoted from rock star to schlep on the bus."

The documentary portraying him in recent times, mild-mannered 55-year-old Arthur Kane endures Los Angeles' bewildering public transportation system each day to and from his job at the The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints Family History Center library.

Though a tad frayed-at-the-edges, Kane is neatly dressed in a suit and tie.

Thirty years later and a lifetime removed from his former alter ego, "Killer Kane" -- the one-time statuesque bassist -- blends effortlessly into his current environment, despite the fact that he's speaking to a camera crew who tags along with him on his daily routine.

The New York Dolls' outrageous antics belied a ferocious sound that presaged punk and influenced a generation of musicians. Establishing the raucous-rocker template, the band crashed and burned amidst a flurry of drug and alcohol abuse after their aptly-titled second LP, 1974's "Too Much Too Soon." The band broke up in 1975.

Lead singer David Johansen would find new success as party-mad "Buster Poindexter," as well as in various film ventures; Sylvain Sylvain continued to play professionally, and guitarist Johnny Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan would help initiate the rise of Punk with The Heartbreakers.

But with the majority of the band expanding on those early, hopeful horizons, Arthur Kane faded away into virtual obscurity for almost three decades.

Relocating from New York to Los Angeles, Kane battled alcoholism as he watched the continued imitation of his former band echo in the Rock world, embarking on a troubled marriage as he attempted repeatedly to resurrect his musical career.

But the majority of Kane's time was taken up by an obsession with his short-lived fame, and an intense longing for a return to the spotlight.

In 1989, his marriage over, Arthur Kane converted to Mormonism and eventually settled into a job at the Family History Center library, assisting in the location of long-lost relatives and the reconnection of severed relationships through genealogical records.

It would be a foreshadowing task of employment, and as he rode the bus to and from work every day, Arthur dreamed the fool's dream of rekindling his own broken friendships with the only family he felt he had left, the Dolls.

In early Spring of 2004, veteran vocalist Morrissey, formerly of The Smiths, and curator of London's 2004 Meltdown Festival, asked the surviving three New York Dolls to reunite for the London spectacular.

Caught between disbelief and angst, Kane was nonetheless ecstatic at the notion of realizing his life-long dream.

His friends at the church gave him money to retrieve his guitars from a local pawnshop so he could begin practicing.

Rehearsals in New York led to a reunion with the surviving band members, David Johansen and guitarist Sylvain Sylvain.

Kane finally relinquished long-held grudges and anxieties, and got ready to rock after a decades-long slumber.

But no one knew how the Dolls might perform after such a long hiatus. No one knew whether it was going to gel or be a total disaster. None of those doubts, however, were shared by Arthur Kane.

The gentle rocker arrived at his five-star London hotel excited to play for what he considered to be "not an audience, but just a bunch of friends," and on June 16th, 2004, the New York Dolls played to wildly enthusiastic fans at Royal Festival Hall. Critics hailed the show as "a sensational comeback," exclaiming "the kings of New York...they've never played better!" It was a triumphant return not only for the New York Dolls, but for Arthur "Killer" Kane.

Returning to Los Angeles meant hanging up the "Killer" persona and abandoning a luxury coach for the city bus once again.

All of his friends at the Family History Center were happy and excited to see him again, but they feared a return to his day-to-day life might pale in comparison to the adulation-filled trip from which he'd just returned.

No one, however, could imagine the twist of fate visited upon Arthur Kane next.

"New York Doll" Director Greg Whiteley had recently graduated with a Masters degree in filmmaking from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena when he began attending the LDS Church on Santa Monica Blvd. in Los Angeles.

It was there that he met Arthur Kane, whom he'd been told had once been in a band.

Whiteley recalls the first time he visited Arthur in his apartment in 2001:

"Arthur pointed to a poster of a rock band hanging on the wall behind his couch. The bassist in the poster had enormous hair and was wearing a skin-tight leotard, a feather boa and a large pair of thigh-high platform boots. 'That's me,' he said."

He told Whiteley that he had not played with any of the Dolls after the break-up, but still held out hope that they'd get back together.

While other New York Dolls members remained fixtures of the music scene and achieved new levels of success, Kane was emotionally derailed by the Dolls' demise and struggled with personal demons.

He joined other bands, formed others still, but the combination of drugs, alcohol, and a failed marriage culminated in an incident in which Kane fell from a third story window.

It was a point the increasingly diffident Kane delicately labeled "rock bottom."

Meanwhile, the Dolls' musical and style influences began fueling much of the up-and-coming punk and "hair metal" scenes of the early 1980's. Bands as diverse as The Sex Pistols, Kiss, The Clash, Blondie and others borrowed the Dolls' swagger and outrageous appearance.

As former Smiths lead singer Morrissey puts it: "It seems to take the pop world thirty years to really understand a group or an artist," and few seemed to really understand or appreciate the New York Dolls.

In February of 2004, Morrissey was named curator and artistic director of the 2004 Meltdown Festival in London.

Amidst the flurry of his first hometown performance in seven years, and the release of a new album, Morrissey parlayed his administrative clout in an effort to reunite the Dolls.

A once obsessive follower of the band, and former president of its unofficial UK fan club, Morrissey quite clearly shared Arthur Kane's own dream.

In his first statement concerning the festival, Morrissey said: "This is a privilege, and I will rise to it. Curating Meltdown is a great opportunity for me to acknowledge some of the music and words that have excited me over the years."

So when Arthur Kane informed Whiteley of the potential Dolls reunion in London, the director approached Kane and suggested filming him as he prepared for the event.

"We couldn't believe it. I'm convinced that Arthur woke up every single day aching to get his band back together. I think it was the number one thing on his 'to do' list every single morning. And here it was finally happening."

The first day of shooting occurred when Kane asked Whiteley for a ride to get his bass out of the pawnshop so he could begin practicing for the event.

So the breaking news, combined with the fact that Whiteley's interviews with Kane were beginning to "look like a film," emboldened the filmmaker to envision his modest project more ambitiously.

What had initially begun as a short profile of Arthur's strange journey from Rock god to lost soul to LDS Family History worker, had become -- for Whiteley -- a bigger idea.

"I was working on some other projects at the same time. Things were coming together, but I thought I should find a way to get to London and film this."

"None of us had any idea what would become of the film, but I thought at the very least I could give it to him as a present."

Arthur Kane'ss dream of reuniting with the Dolls was finally coming true. He was excited, sharing his joy with everyone, and allowing Whiteley to film him all the while. What Whiteley soon began to appreciate, however, was that Arthur was most excited about the prospect of seeing his friends again.

"Arthur was actually more thrilled, and more intimidated about seeing David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain again (Dolls members Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan died in 1991 and 1992, respectively)."

"He'd ended it badly with the band, and regretted their split ever since. What he seemed to regret even more, though, was that he'd lost touch with his pals."

"Remember, they were all practically kids when they started. Arthur came from a broken home, and in many respects the Dolls were his family, and he cherished them no matter how disenfranchised they had become."

It was around this time that Whiteley brought onboard long-time friend Ed Cunningham to produce the film.

A former Arizona Cardinals offensive lineman, and currently a college football color analyst for ABC Sports, Cunningham was fascinated with the idea of documenting Arthur Kane's journey.

"I offered to do anything it took to get the film made, including sleep on the floor, or travel in the cargo compartment. I just loved this story," Cunningham says.

Whiteley then called his friend cinematographer Rod Santiano the night before they were to fly out to New York to film the surviving New York Dolls rehearse before they traveled to London.

The director then asked his friend Seth Gordon (producer/editor) of whom he had collaborated with before on an industrial film for the Marines if he would like to fly over for the London show.

What started out as a guy following a friend around with a camera grew into a much bigger story, and "we just kept adding parts," says Whiteley.

"I am just grateful that people as talented and in demand as Seth, Rod and Ed made themselves available for what started out as a very small project."

In New York, Arthur Kane's reunion with Sylvain Sylvain was effortless, but the long-standing strain between Johansen and Kane, which he worried might derail the reunion entirely, created a dramatic tension that culminated in a scene in New York where Kane and Johansen see each other for the first time in twenty years.

More than personal discord, however, it was the daunting task of filming the Meltdown at the Royal Festival Hall in London that really began to concern Whiteley.

"We had no business being there. We had no permission from Morrissey to film the Meltdown Festival. We just decided we would keep going until somebody said 'no.' And nobody did."

"People loved the Dolls. They loved Arthur. All the big names who never seem to want to be interviewed, you just mentioned Arthur's name, and they volunteered and jumped in front of the camera."

Whiteley's interviewees soon became a "who's who of musical canon."

Bob Geldof (Boomtown Rats, Live 8), Chrissie Hynde (Pretenders), Mick Jones (The Clash), Iggy Pop (The Stooges), Frank Infante and Clem Burke (Blondie), Don Letts (Big Audio Dynamite), and of course, Morrissey, all graciously cooperated with the filmmaker, leaping at the opportunity to spread their affection and affinity for, in Morrissey's words, "one of the most raucous and notorious bands in musical history."

More specifically, however, they were ever willing to talk about the quiet and unassuming Arthur "Killer" Kane, "the only living statue of rock and roll" (a reference to Kane's infamous wooden posturing on stage).

The New York Dolls were the undisputed hit of the festival, celebrated by fans and the media. Their reunion was a complete success, and plans were immediately made to get together again for more gigs.

A tour was even discussed (The surviving New York Dolls have, in fact, reunited and are producing a new album).

Many times a struggling young director's first experience behind the camera is riddled with the logistic woes of independent filmmaking. But Whiteley considers the experience of "New York Doll" a fortuitous one.

"Along the way things fell into place, and in many ways it paralleled Arthur's story."

"We found investors, rented gear, convinced friends to skip work and make our film, and headed off to New York and London to see if Arthur's dreams -- and ours -- would materialize."

"It was very serendipitous. And, in the end, very emotional for everyone involved."

"Arthur was finally able to get to that place he'd been trying to get for so many years and we all feel extremely fortunate to have been able to witness it."

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