Summary: The Coen brothers' latest film, Inside Llewyn Davis, will add a few new fictional musicians into the canon of fake movie bands. And after talking with Movie Date's Kristen Meinzer and Rafer Guzman about their favorite fictional movie bands, we wanted wanted to hear a few nominations from listeners. Soundcheck producer Joel Meyer plays some listener picks for host John Schaefer that include everything from the Coens film, O Brother Where Art Thou?'s Soggy Bottom Boys to the '80s cult classic Streets Of Fire, which spawned the single "I Can Dream About You." And then there's the greatest movie band that never was: Stillwater, from the 2000 film Almost Famous. Meyer explains the band is "like Led Zeppelin and Grand Funk got together and had a baby." Of all the bands nominated by listeners, Almost Famous' Stillwater had four separate nominations. The 1984 film Streets of Fire included a song originally written by Dan Hartman, but in the film it was performed by the fictional band "The Sorels." Then, Schaefer talks with an authority on the man whose life inspired Inside Llewyn Davis. Elijah Wald finished a posthumous autobiography of musician Dave Van Ronk and the New York folk scene in the 1950's and '60s. Wald explains Van Ronk's importance to the folk revival as both a musician and as a mentor to artists that eventually eclipsed him in the public memory, including Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Phil Ochs. Van Ronk was a central figure in New York's Greenwich Village for years, and ran the open mic night at The Gaslight, "which was kind of the hip room on MacDougal Street," according to Wald. But he's quick to point out that while the Cohen brother's new film is inspired by the events that shaped Van Ronk's life, Llewyn Davis is his own man. "The character of Llewyn Davis is not based at all on Dave Van Ronk, but some of the music is."
