Everything's Coming My Way:
The Life and Music of Gordon Thomas
One man's journey through six decades of music, guided by faith, charm, and quixotic optimism - the tale of a creative spirit persisting against all the odds. This is the story of Gordon Thomas, a New York City singer and songwriter, born in 1916 and still hoping for his big break.
Gordon is a former big-band trombonist, a born storyteller, and an artisan who makes all his own clothes with a needle and thread. His songs – catchy and simple, peculiar and personal – are a kind of musical folk art.
This in-depth character study tells Gordon's life story and reveals the spiritual philosophies that have kept him going. The film also explores the appeal of Gordon's strange and wonderful music, including the testimonials of GT fans such as Canadian musicians Gonzales, Mocky, and Taylor Savvy and pop musicologists Irwin Chusid and Citizen Kafka.
For years, Gordon Thomas' life was a mystery even to his tiny but devoted fan base. His strange and wonderful music circulated among a network of musicians, collectors and aficionados, with barely a hint as to when, where or how the songs were created.
Through a trail of amazing coincidences and fascinating characters, we managed to find Gordon Thomas. Now in his 90s, he is still making music and dreaming of success. "I've written about 200 songs," he told us, "and I've recorded about 100. So I'm halfway through."
Gordon has had a fascinating life – from immigrating to New York from Bermuda in 1919 at the age of three, to watching the rise, fall and rebirth of Harlem; from playing in Dizzy Gillespie's big band in the 1940s, to recording in the heart of the New York music scene of the 60s, and on to today.
Everything's Coming My Way explores not only the events of Gordon's life, but the personal and financial sacrifices that allowed him to follow his dream; his determination to keep making music in the face of almost total obscurity; his mystical theories on luck, love and the soul; the spiritual source of his strength and inspiration, and the fundamental issues of the creative process itself that his life and work imply.
The film also follows Gordon as he sees his dreams come true: performing his music live for the first time ever, and discovering the audience that he never knew he had.
