(Luis Guzman is not simply the bus driver, but he’s also super wise and has many mystical insights and/or Dylan rarities at his disposal)
The best thing I can say about Cameron Crowe’s “Roadies” (Showtime) is that it could not have very easy to make “Vinyl” seem super realistic/accurate by comparison.
(other works “Roadies” manages to make seem very realistic : “Battlefield Earth”, “The Island Of Dr. Moreau” (Brando/Val Kilmer version), the entire M Night Shyamalan filmography).
That said, I’m hopeful the series can inspire a new game where people start showing up for terrible bands’ soundchecks (in cities where such things exist, anyway) and proceed to lose their collective shit at the sheer rock’n’roll majesty of well, pretty much fucking anything that’s being banged out (insert random story about Van and Jim Morrison vomiting into each other’s mouths, did you realize the tour bus is about to stop at the birthplace of Chicago’s Terry Kath, etc.)
I guess if i had to choose between a reality in which ISIS rules the globe and one in which the entire road crew for generic arena bands consists of nothing but uber-fans who’d lay down their lives for sub Loggins & Messina garbage, I’d probably pick the latter. But I’d have to think about it for a least a few minutes.
Also, we’re nearly six hours in and there’s no Kozelek cameo, WTF.
To be generous, they make the case that a carefully curated appearance on an premium cable show can make shitty b-list bands and has-beens seem tolerable if only for a moment.