Like a Rolling Stone: The Life & Times of Ben Fong-Torres
Writer: Suzanne Joe Kai
Director: Suzanne Joe Kai
Release: May 6, 2022
Producer: Suzanne Joe Kai
Executive Producer(s): Douglas Blush, Kathryn Everett, Andy Hsieh, Tony Hsieh, Alvin Lau, Freida Lee Mock, Bryn Mooser
Co-Producer(s): Greg Byers, David Magdael
Associate Producer: Justin Lacob
Stars/Actors: Ben Fong-Torres, Ray Manzarek, John Burks, John M. Glionna, Jann Wenner, Harry Low, David Felton
Music by: Jeremy Grody, Miles Ito
Production Company: StudioLA.TV, XTR
Genre(s): Documentary, Journalism, Music, Pop Culture
ID: tt9660510
Rating: n/a
Runtime: 99 minutes
Based On: Based The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres
Declassified by Agent Palmer: “Like a Rolling Stone” wonderfully orchestrates the work of journalist Ben Fong-Torres
Quotes and Lines
John M. Glionna: Before the Internet, before blogging, before tweeting… there was the Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone was the place that young kids went for pop culture. It’s where we went for our politics. It’s where we went for the news our parents didn’t know. And it was this subversive rag that we loved. And there were superstars who worked there. And one of the nuggets was Ben Fong-Torres.
Fong-Torres: You know, sometimes the best stories happen by accident. And that was the situation when I happened to be hanging out at an apartment in West Hollywood with a friend, a publicist for various bands and in popped Jim Morrison.
Fong-Torres: I know there are people who are driven to write every day. I don’t think I feel the need to write, but by habit, it seems like, I write pretty much every day. So when I go down to the office to my keyboard, I know that it’s going to be some… Something good’s going to come out of it.
John Burks: “Tell me more” is one of the great questions you can ask. Doesn’t even seem like a question, right? But you get people expanding on their lives, you say, “Oh, no kidding. Tell me more.” Or find some variation on a way to say that. Ben is the king of Tell Me More
John Burks: You tell the truth as best you can find it. You don’t make stuff up. You don’t bullshit people, right? Um, words gets around that that’s who you are and what you’re about. So people feel comfortable talking with you. That’s why after he’d done the interview with Marvin Gaye, Elton John was interested in talking with him.
Fong-Torres: I kind of gravitated to people who were in some ways marginalized. Having come from my background helped to direct the way I went with subjects and the way stories were done.