The expertly told Beware Of Mr. Baker is one of the greatest rock n’ roll excess stories ever told. As someone who has read the rock press for decades, I was shocked I’d never read any brawling anecdotes about Mr. Baker, who relocated from England to Nigeria, to Italy, the U.S. and finally to South Africa, leaving a trail of wives, broken business, broken noses and general chaos in his wake. While reveling in the bad behavior, the film makes a serious case for Baker as the man to re-imagine rock drumming, a fearless outlier who boldly expanded the rhythmic possibilities of the form. Director Jay Bulgar gets some intriguing personal time with Baker in his South African bunker, capturing shades of vulnerability and fear as his years as a drummer seems to be escaping. Brilliant profile of a brilliant musician with a genius for beauty and a bottomless appetite for destruction. — DAN BUSKIRK
BEWARE OF MR. BAKER SCREENS @THE BALCONY 8 PM TONIGHT $7
EDITOR’S NOTE: Hey kids, that’s Eric Clapton in the afro. Yes, that really happened. Stay away from drugs.