A Very Special Tuesday Edition of Music City Mondays.
Director Lisa Cortés’ LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator, the originator — Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard’s complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon’s life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions. In interviews with family, musicians, and cutting-edge Black and queer scholars, the film reveals how Richard created an art form for ultimate self-expression — yet what he gave to the world he was never able to give to himself. Throughout his life, Richard careened like a shiny cracked pinball between God, sex and rock n’ roll. The world tried to put him in a box, but Richard was an omni being who contained multitudes — he was unabashedly everything.
“The pioneers of rock and roll were Black and queer, and Little Richard was at its zenith. He started it all and gave so much. So shut up and bring him his mirror suit.” —Cate Young, Thirty, Flirty + Film
“Cortés’ craftsmanship and Little Richard’s fascinating ability as a storyteller elevate the film as a mighty, affirming declaration that the culture of rock ’n’ roll would not be where it is today without him.” —Rendy Jones, Xtra Magazine
