Is Juke Joint In A SIB?

Don’t blink or you’ll miss Yonnet’s appearance in Warner Brother’s remake of the 1937 classic, A Star is Born. The film is Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut and he’s proved to be as good behind the camera as he is in front of the camera. Bradley plays Jack Maine, a country singer-songwriter whose career is on the brink of decline. When he meets, mentors, and coaxes Lady Gaga character Ally, a young unknown singer, to the stage, her career soars, accelerating his demise.  Dave Chappelle makes an extended and impactful cameo appearance as Noodles, Maine’s oldest friend and drummer with whom he started out playing in blues clubs.

Cooper was inspired to include a Juke Joint scene in the movie after attending one of our Juke Joints in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The next morning we were at Dino’s Coffee Shop in Yellow Springs and Bradley asked event producer Carla Sims about the band and whether we’d wanna do a Juke Joint scene in the movie.  Within months, Yonnet and several members of the Band with No Name were in LA on the set of A Star Is Born. They filmed all day and even cut some original tracks for the movie.

If you look closely during the wedding reception scene, you’ll see Yonnet center stage–sans sound. What you won’t see is the Noodles Juke Joint neon sign very reminiscent of the one that hangs at Dave Chappelle’s Juke Joint, and you won’t see his all-star Band with No Name which includes Chappelle on drums, Glasper on keys, Josh Dunham on bass, Erol Cooney on guitar, Peter Ortega on sax, and Chris Gray on trumpet. We all know EVERYTHING can’t be in the film, but we hear it will be on the DVD.

The film releases on Oct. 5 and also features Andrew Dice Clay, Sam Elliott, and Anthony Ramos in supporting roles.