Holiff at the Hyland

Last night I attended a hometown premiere of the movie "My Father and The Man In Black". I had a vague recollection that Johnny Cash's manager, Saul Holiff, was from London but hadn't given it much thought. Until this week when a tweet from LFPress caught my eye. There would be a screening of the movie at the Hyland and a Q&A with Saul's son and the movie's writer/director/producer to follow.

I believe it was a record attendance at Hyland with about 50 people turned away! The Hyland, for those that aren't familiar, is an art-house movie theatre and more than once there have been less than 10 people watching the movie with me.

As a Johnny Cash fan, I really enjoyed the "insider information" in the movie. It was full of audio recordings, phone calls and letters between JC and his manager. The movie focused on Holiff and how he handled the pressures of managing a star that was wildly out of control (he brought him through the years Johnny struggled with addictions and many cancelled shows) as well as his estranged relationship with his family.

Following the movie, Johnathan Holiff took to the stage and fielded questions from the crowd. Quite a few former neighbours, babysitters and friends of the family were there and shared stories from the past, some of them meeting the Man In Black.