Beware of Mr. Baker

Holy cow … Ginger Baker, former drummer of Cream and somehow still walking the Earth, is totally crazy. This documentary does a good job of displaying just how crazy and nasty he is. Through fairly recent interviews and archival footage, you get the whole deal, from his days with Cream through his stint in South Africa. This movie starts with Baker cracking the director in the face with a cane, a moment that isn’t staged at all. He bloodies the director’s nose while threatening to put him in the hospital (Baker has played a lot of polo in his life, and he has pretty good form when wielding his cane). Jay Bulger’s documentary is a fun watch, a true rock story. This is a guy who looks like he’s bloody well done, and then he just manages to get up behind a kit again and make the magic happen. He is one of the greatest drummers to ever walk the planet. He stands alongside the great Keith Moon as a rock god. And, man, is he ever crazy.