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The World Premiere of ‘Dead Horse Opera’
Musicians have sometimes held surprising jobs before making it big.
The trailer for the moving carcass-and-all documentary Dead Horse Opera, which had its world premiere Friday night at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art as part of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, points out that Kris Kristofferson was a helicopter pilot, Willie Nelson was a door-to-door salesman, and Waylon Jennings picked cotton. I would add that Mick Jagger was a porter at a mental hospital, Madonna worked at Dunkin’ Donuts, hard-core punk icon Henry Rollins managed an ice cream store, and Rod Stewart was a grave digger.
Wil Ridge — the subject of Dead Horse Opera and a musician who hasn’t made it big yet — once held an even more extreme job: he used to pick up and dispose of dead horses from ranches in the Santa Ynez Valley. It should be pointed out that Ridge didn’t kill the horses that he picked up. (Ridge’s good friend — and the film’s director — Jeremy Fraye revealed in response to a question from Ridge during the laugh-filled Q&A period after the screening that the title is a play on the silent film-era phrase “horse opera” for western movies.)
Given the grim nature of Ridge’s former job, Dead Horse Opera thankfully doesn’t dwell too much on that. Shot by Fraye over a period of eight-or-so years, the documentary provides a raw and intimate chronicle of Ridge, who comes across as a very likable, down-to-earth, humorous, and intense chap struggling to make it in the music business while simultaneously carrying on with everyday life.
For example, “everyday life” is illustrated by Ridge buying a used 1961 Chrysler DeSoto that almost immediately quits running. He calls the previous owner to try to get a refund, but to no avail. Later, this “good-looking piece of trash” is towed away from the trailer where he lives, a parallel of the earlier scenes of dead horses being loaded onto Ridge’s truck. In the Q&A, Ridge happily reported that the DeSoto is now running, but listed off a litany of problems that it has.
The documentary has a stark honesty when portraying Ridge’s struggles. He tires of singing the same songs over and over, songs which he dismisses (unfairly) as garbage. In a candid moment, he admits, while drinking, that he drinks “a little too much,” in spite of recognizing that his father “killed himself” by drinking too much. He also suffers from anxiety, and is annoyed by a review of one of his concerts which describes his music as the “soundtrack to your next boozefest.”
A few bright spots for Ridge’s career are shown, including the arrival of a box of CDs of his 2006 album Painful, signing a management deal with metal-musician Dez Fafara, and a multicountry tour through Europe.
However, the European tour was not a complete triumph, as Ridge doubts the worth of his songs and his appeal to the audiences.
The music in the film is almost entirely sung by Ridge, except for the ultra-appropriate song “A Horse With No Name” serendipitously playing on the radio while Ridge and his brother are making horseshoe belt buckles to sell at his shows. Ridge is blessed with a rich, mournful baritone voice, which gives weight to the engaging alternative country sound of his music. Although his CD Painful is no longer available, samples can be heard here, and tracks can be purchased through iTunes.
One might bemoan that the quality of the onscreen image was poor at times, having been shot on less-than-ideal camcorders. But we don’t always remember or even experience life in high definition, do we? The movie also drags at times, but somehow this enhances its honesty because, well, life does drag sometimes, doesn’t it?
Ridge’s first comment during the Q&A period was that “I am one crazy person,” and admitted that it is “hard to see yourself” in such a portrayal, especially, one would surmise, in front of the many people at the screening who knew him and Fraye. But, as with his DeSoto, “everything’s alive right now” and he’s hopeful for his future. After watching this documentary, one shares Ridge’s hope that he gets what he expresses simply at the end of the movie when asked what he wants in another eight years: success and happiness.
— Noozhawk contributor Jeff Moehlis is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at UCSB.
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