Bruce Hornsby documentary: “Door to Forever”

“Door to Forever: Bruce Hornsby’s lifelong pursuit of the unattainable” was released on YouTube for free on May 1 2022.

It’s a title with several Bruce references:

“Door to Forever” borrows from a line in “Tropical Cashmere Sweater”, from the Rehab Reunion record.

It also speaks of Bruce’s journey to achieving what he feels is an “unattainable” level of playing. My own sense is that it’s an infinite path. Bruce may have considered his current level of musicianship impossible thirty years ago. And when he reached that standard, he changed his definition of unattainable and continued the chase. It’s a never-ending, forever journey.

And the doorway, as depicted in the opening, is a nod to the Harbor Lights cover.

The movie covers Bruce’s life and work right up until 2022. (Fun fact: ‘Flicted was announced the day after the movie was released!). It was written, recorded, produced and narrated by Si.

Here’s the full video, with the announcement video for the title and the tweaked trailer:

[Link to watch on YouTube]

 

 
Many of you have asked what the Bruce Hornsby documentary covers.

Early years

Do you know Bruce Hornsby’s connection with Godzilla? You’ll learn that and other essential(?) trivia in the movie, which is around 1 hour 45 minutes in length.

It starts out with Bruce’s first days back in 1954, and follows his childhood years. We look at the Hornsby family’s musical background, and how they influenced Bruce growing up, most especially his brother Bobby. (Bobby Hornsby contributed some of the detail to the back story).

We cover Bruce’s years in college, and what he’s had to say about his formative years there. 

Then we follow him into the early years of the Bruce Hornsby band, and their days in the Cave and around Virginia Beach. We focus on their first big break, and how they wound up playing for 20,000 people in Richmond, thanks to a chance meeting. 

We also deal with Bruce’s time in the late seventies making demo tapes, and the huge gamble that Bruce took on himself at that time.

Bruce’s move to Los Angeles is also charted, including the gigs he found for himself there (and some footage from the music videos he appeared in at the time).

We look at Bruce’s change in direction (and location) and the formation of his new band in the early eighties, his early songs before the first record and what happened to them.

First record

And, we cover the first record extensively – the early plans for it, the near-lawsuit(!) and then follow progress in Europe and across the globe.

We deal with Bruce handling the sudden onslaught of fame in his own words, and look at the press from “The Way It Is”.

Did you know that the crowd were hosed down during one of Bruce’s shows in the late eighties?! You’ll learn about that during the early tour coverage.

In addition, we look at the early days of Bruce’s friendship with Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, their first offer to Bruce, and opening for them for the first time.

We examine Bruce’s journey through the second record, fun with the videos and the Range’s time on the road. 

After that, there’s time for Bruce’s first “big-shot’ collaboration (to borrow his own phrase), how they worked together and how it worked out for both (spoiler alert: very well).

That’s followed by a look at Bruce’s first departure from his “signature” sound, way back in 1988, and the awards that followed. (And we follow it with another change in direction fairly immediately after, into the third record).

Then we take a closer look at Bruce’s developing relationship with the Grateful Dead, how that presented new opportunities, and different ways in which they affected Bruce’s music.

“Changes”

We go into detail some big changes that Bruce made to his creative approach in the early nineties, both in the writing and the recording process, which benefit him to this day. 

We take in Bruce meeting and recording with one of his heroes at around the same time, and how he got involved with the Barcelona Olympics coverage in 1992. That led to his nomination for a Grammy – and subsequent disqualification! – and, of course, we cover that too. 

Much more besides…

And that only takes us up to Harbor Lights! There are nearly thirty years to document after that, which we’ve covered in just as much detail. We also include:

• every record since
• comings and goings from the band
• the concert experience – spontaneity and taking requests
• the musical evolution of Bruce Hornsby, including plenty more changes in direction!
• a whole host of new collaborations
• Bruce’s full-time gig with the Grateful Dead
• Bruce’s bicycle accident
• the history of the musical
• Bruce in the movies
• Daffy Duck’s fandom(!)
• Bruce’s work in lockdown

… and some surprises. (We’ve been sure not to forget Bruce’s debut as pinch runner for the Anaheim Angels. Yes, really).

 

Door to Forever was released on Daily Dose Day: May 1 2022. That day featured hourly downloads of entire concerts from the Bruce Hornsby archives, and a 24 hour video feed. And, of course, the Bruce Hornsby documentary “Door to Forever”. We invited donations to the ALS Association on the day. If you enjoy what you see and hear, donations are still open – please consider a contribution. For more details please visit DailyDoseDay.com.