Fans of the Talking Heads are still scratching their own heads over an announcement this week from the Toronto Film Festival.
The beloved new wave band, Talking Heads, have agreed to reunite at the fest for one night on September 11th. The occasion is a celebration of their film, “Stop Making Sense,” which has been cleaned up to 4K and so on and will be re-released on its 40th birthday.
The members of the Talking Heads stopped making conversation around 1991. David Byrne had a public and legal falling out with Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, and Jerry Harrison. It was pretty acrimonious. They’ve never been seen in the same place again, and it’s doubtful they’ve spoken much except through lawyers.
Nevertheless, TIFF will host this reunion, which will be shown live in real time from Toronto on IMAX screens. After the screening of the cutting edge concert film, the Heads will be interviewed by Spike Lee. It sounds great on paper but will it really happen? Will Spike have to sit between David and the others?
In his memoir, “Remain in Love,” published three years ago, Frantz said Byrne just quit the group abruptly. Lawsuits ensued. Byrne went on to do his solo projects, like the current “Here Lies Love” on Broadway. The others have had their projects. The trio sort of got the last laugh because their own Tom Tom Club hit from 1981, “Genius of Love,” has been sampled so often it’s no doubt made them very rich.
No matter what happens in Toronto, nothing is better than the Talking Heads albums and that movie. That’s their ultimate legacy.
