Today on 1050AM WTKA “Touchdown” Billy Taylor was studio to promote the Perseverance documentary. I mentioned in my review earlier this week that one of the outstanding stories in the movie was about the recruiting trip BT and Thom Darden made to Oxford to visit Miami, OH and then coach Bo Schembechler (inset photo via the U-M Bentley Historical Library): * Thom Darden talking about how the recruiting trip he and Taylor made to see Bo Schembechler while he was still head man at Miami, OH. (Bo didn’t exactly wine and dine them). This morning TDBT provided some more hilarious details on that trip to see Bo, and the aftermath, and it’s priceless: [display_podcast] For the full interview this morning check out the WTKA podcasts. Related: PERSEVERANCE – The Story of Dr. Billy Taylor premieres Friday 11/16 in Ann Arbor Follow MVictors on Twitter
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First Look: Perseverance – The Story of Dr. Billy Taylor
This weekend I got a sneak peek at the latest Michigan football-related documentary, Perseverance – The Story of Dr. Billy Taylor. You can see it yourself later this week as the film premieres in Ann Arbor at the Michigan Theater this Friday November 16th in two showings: 7:30PM and 9:55PM. Touchdown BT himself will be there and I suggest you grab a seat. One thing I didn’t expect going in: I loved the pace of the film. While the BT backstory follows the typical documentary formula of blending photos, news clippings and video footage with music, it moves very quickly and seamlessly, more in line with the up tempo style of the 30 for 30 series than say a PBS Ken Burns feature. Given the subject matter and the potential for a few gems in the form of classic stories, old pics and vintage footage to emerge, naturally going in I assumed I would like the film. To my delight there were gems aplenty packed but it brought much more—they did a wonderful job of weaving this story together. Like a memorable documentary should, Perseverance delivers a series of special moments that grab you such as: * Taylor discussing his strategy for sleeping inside abandoned houses, upstairs vs. downstairs, where he lived in Detroit over a two year stretch. *…