thedrifter
07-28-08, 11:26 AM
July 27, 2008 8:54 PM
The Insider: From Iraq Embed to Rock Embed
By Michele Greppi
Mike Cerre is a master embedder.
Five years ago the Globe TV producer and correspondent, with videographer Mike Elwell, followed a unit of Marines, Foxtrot Company, into Iraq for ABC News.
In 2006, Mr. Cerre and Mr. Elwell were embedded, at rocker Neil Young’s request, with the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Freedom of Speech” tour. The resulting documentary, “CSNY: Déjà Vu,” began its theatrical, Internet and Netflix “Watch Instantly” and pay-per-view TV rollout last week after premiering at Sundance last winter.
In a conversation last week with Mr. Cerre, it was clear that the two experiences were not as far apart as one might think, except, of course, for the obvious life, death and traumatic injuries that were part and parcel of the story in Iraq he and Mr. Elwell are still following for themselves and for ABC News.
Then there are the amenities the CSNY tour offered that the duty in Iraq did not: comfortable buses instead of sometimes under-armored military vehicles; rolling gourmet chow hall instead of military-issue MREs; and laundry machines instead of sand-blasted camouflage apparel worn for days, even weeks, at a stretch.
EMBEDDED Mike Cerre and Mike Elwell both followed a unit of Marines into Iraq for ABC News, as well as traveling with the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Freedom of Speech” tour in 2006.
However, there was a military-like precision to the schedule kept by the CSNY tour—down to a stop by the 21 tour vehicles for topping off tanks with the biofuel used on the road—and in both cases, travel was mostly at night.
There were long workdays and sleep-light, conversation-filled nights, because Mr. Cerre’s crews, augmented by locals at some stops, were not focused solely on the stage. There were interviews with shock jocks, talk jocks, veterans groups and audience members, some of whom walked out of the concerts because they had, perhaps, forgotten some of the ’60s supergroup’s antiwar oldies and weren’t in tune with the new political material.
There also was an understanding that taking on embedders does not guarantee positive or vanity coverage.
“Our job really was to bring some context to the music and what the country was feeling. We were doing all these stories to set the historical and political context,” Mr. Cerre said.
The rockers were as interested in the feedback Mr. Cerre and his team brought back from off-stage as the military had been five years ago when, knowing the journalists were aware of reporting on many fronts, they’d ask how the action was being characterized.
Mr. Young, the director of the film, wanted and understood that, but a moment of managerial pushback in Atlanta, where walkouts and beer-throwing created a volatile mood, became a pivotal point in the tour and the embed-rocker relationship.
One of Mr. Cerre’s camera crews got roughed up in Atlanta, but tour management (not the musicians) didn’t want such scenes recorded.
As he had in Iraq, after witnessing civilian casualties at a checkpoint, Mr. Cerre had to say, “First off, I report what I see and hear. I cannot pretend it didn’t happen.”
The band agreed. They’d initiated the documentary process and were willing to take whatever lumps might be part of that.
There was a touch of next generation when Mr. Elwell’s son David and Mr. Cerre’s daughter Lee worked with them at some points on “Déjà Vu.“
At times, threads from both embedding chapters crossed, most memorably when Josh Hisle, a singer-songwriter who had won a Marine talent contest at one of the last stops before crossing into Iraq and now sings a more antiwar tune, jammed with CSNY at Sundance. There’s a clip on YouTube.
“They are now very close,” said Mr. Cerre, who now considers his rock embed as an extension of the Iraq embed.
“There’s a strong sense of déjà vu,” he said. “There’s a strong sense of full circle.”
EMBEDDED Mike Cerre and Mike Elwell both followed a unit of Marines into Iraq for ABC News, as well as traveling with the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Freedom of Speech” tour in 2006.
Ellie
The Insider: From Iraq Embed to Rock Embed
By Michele Greppi
Mike Cerre is a master embedder.
Five years ago the Globe TV producer and correspondent, with videographer Mike Elwell, followed a unit of Marines, Foxtrot Company, into Iraq for ABC News.
In 2006, Mr. Cerre and Mr. Elwell were embedded, at rocker Neil Young’s request, with the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Freedom of Speech” tour. The resulting documentary, “CSNY: Déjà Vu,” began its theatrical, Internet and Netflix “Watch Instantly” and pay-per-view TV rollout last week after premiering at Sundance last winter.
In a conversation last week with Mr. Cerre, it was clear that the two experiences were not as far apart as one might think, except, of course, for the obvious life, death and traumatic injuries that were part and parcel of the story in Iraq he and Mr. Elwell are still following for themselves and for ABC News.
Then there are the amenities the CSNY tour offered that the duty in Iraq did not: comfortable buses instead of sometimes under-armored military vehicles; rolling gourmet chow hall instead of military-issue MREs; and laundry machines instead of sand-blasted camouflage apparel worn for days, even weeks, at a stretch.
EMBEDDED Mike Cerre and Mike Elwell both followed a unit of Marines into Iraq for ABC News, as well as traveling with the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Freedom of Speech” tour in 2006.
However, there was a military-like precision to the schedule kept by the CSNY tour—down to a stop by the 21 tour vehicles for topping off tanks with the biofuel used on the road—and in both cases, travel was mostly at night.
There were long workdays and sleep-light, conversation-filled nights, because Mr. Cerre’s crews, augmented by locals at some stops, were not focused solely on the stage. There were interviews with shock jocks, talk jocks, veterans groups and audience members, some of whom walked out of the concerts because they had, perhaps, forgotten some of the ’60s supergroup’s antiwar oldies and weren’t in tune with the new political material.
There also was an understanding that taking on embedders does not guarantee positive or vanity coverage.
“Our job really was to bring some context to the music and what the country was feeling. We were doing all these stories to set the historical and political context,” Mr. Cerre said.
The rockers were as interested in the feedback Mr. Cerre and his team brought back from off-stage as the military had been five years ago when, knowing the journalists were aware of reporting on many fronts, they’d ask how the action was being characterized.
Mr. Young, the director of the film, wanted and understood that, but a moment of managerial pushback in Atlanta, where walkouts and beer-throwing created a volatile mood, became a pivotal point in the tour and the embed-rocker relationship.
One of Mr. Cerre’s camera crews got roughed up in Atlanta, but tour management (not the musicians) didn’t want such scenes recorded.
As he had in Iraq, after witnessing civilian casualties at a checkpoint, Mr. Cerre had to say, “First off, I report what I see and hear. I cannot pretend it didn’t happen.”
The band agreed. They’d initiated the documentary process and were willing to take whatever lumps might be part of that.
There was a touch of next generation when Mr. Elwell’s son David and Mr. Cerre’s daughter Lee worked with them at some points on “Déjà Vu.“
At times, threads from both embedding chapters crossed, most memorably when Josh Hisle, a singer-songwriter who had won a Marine talent contest at one of the last stops before crossing into Iraq and now sings a more antiwar tune, jammed with CSNY at Sundance. There’s a clip on YouTube.
“They are now very close,” said Mr. Cerre, who now considers his rock embed as an extension of the Iraq embed.
“There’s a strong sense of déjà vu,” he said. “There’s a strong sense of full circle.”
EMBEDDED Mike Cerre and Mike Elwell both followed a unit of Marines into Iraq for ABC News, as well as traveling with the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young “Freedom of Speech” tour in 2006.
Ellie