Jerry Harrison on 'Stop Making Sense,' Talking Heads reunion and coming home to Milwaukee

Milwaukee has had numerous "Stop Making Sense" screenings and dance parties at the Oriental Theatre during the Milwaukee Film Festival.

But the latest screenings in town of the Talking Heads' classic concert movie, to contradict one of their most famous lyrics, aren't the "same as it ever was."

Ahead of the Jonathan Demme-directed film's 40th anniversary next year, a digitally restored “Stop Making Sense" is back in theaters. Shorewood native Jerry Harrison, the band's keyboardist and guitarist, was involved in the new audio mix with film archivist and restoration supervisor James Mockoski.

Following screenings that started last week at the IMAX theater at AMC Mayfair Mall 18, "Stop Making Sense" will return to the Oriental Theatre Friday through Oct. 5 — with Harrison attending three screenings Saturday and another on Sunday. (Separately, Marcus Theatres’ Majestic, North Shore, Ridge and South Shore cinemas also are showing “Stop Making Sense” starting Sept. 29.)

"I'm really excited to come back to Milwaukee and be at the Oriental Theatre," Harrison told the Journal Sentinel. "The Talking Heads played a concert there, and my father played a concert there in the ‘30s.”

With Harrison and his wife Carol both being from the city, they've made many trips to their hometown to visit friends and some of Carol's relatives — and, in Harrison’s case in 2021, to perform at Summerfest.

Beyond the screenings, Harrison said his homecoming will include checking out the Violent Femmes show with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Oct. 3 — in celebration of the Milwaukee band’s first album, also commemorating its 40th anniversary.

How 'Stop Making Sense' made its mark

Harrison said he got involved in the “Stop Making Sense” restoration in late 2022. It was an arduous task that included locating the negatives at a warehouse in Kansas and tracking down multiple audio tracks.

“Anyone who is really familiar with the film will hopefully be really happy with what I think are improvements,” Harrison said, including a new color correction. “If you want to concentrate on what one player is playing, you’re more able to do that … just as you can pick out a conversation in a crowded party across the room.”

But as any fans who have gotten down at those Milwaukee screenings can tell you, “Stop Making Sense” has been beloved long before the restoration. It's frequently cited as one of the greatest concert movies ever made, and it was added to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 2021.

Harrison cites multiple reasons for the movie's longevity, including Beverly Emmons and Heads frontman David Byrne’s use of spotlights and white lighting; Lisa Day’s editing; and a “wonderful selection of shots” from director of photography Jordan Cronenweth, fresh off his work on "Blade Runner."

"There's nothing that seems so completely part of the mid-'80s, maybe what we're wearing or someone's hairdo," Harrison said. "In general, I think it endures because there is nothing that seems gimmicky or so of a time period that it seems dated.

"And Jonathan Demme, the way he shot it very much introduces each character," Harrison continued. The band and staging slowly expands from one lone player (Byrne) to two (Byrne and bassist Tina Weymouth) to three (Byrne, Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz) and so on.

"It's the same feeling like you would feel in some sort of repertory scenario. You get to know each person in the band … personalities are formed. That's quite different from a lot of other concert films that are more at a distance."

Then there's Byrne's quirky, one-of-a-kind dance moves (and his unforgettable giant suit). And perhaps most crucially, the band sounds fantastic.

Will a Talking Heads reunion happen?

By the time the concerts were filmed in December 1983 for the film, the Talking Heads had spent some years performing as a groove-driven larger ensemble with a touring band that Harrison assembled behind arguably the group's most acclaimed studio album, 1980's "Remain in Light."

"We've had the great fortune to have our music still in new films and have younger people discovering our music … and a number of bands have been influenced by us," Harrison said. "Talking Heads music still feels fresh."

But fresh as it was, the Los Angeles shows documented in "Stop Making Sense" would be some of the band's last. The Talking Heads officially disbanded in 1991; that led to some tensions between band members over the years, although Harrison himself has been on good terms with everyone, catching Byrne's "American Utopia" tour and complimenting Chris Frantz’s memoir.

But this month, the film restoration has brought them back together for the first time since their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction in 2002, for a screening and Q&A with Spike Lee at the Toronto International Film Festival, along with events and interviews in New York and Los Angeles.

"It's been really great to get back together again and sort of stop concentrating on whatever issues or problems there were years ago, but celebrate something together we feel very, very proud of and excited about," Harrison said. "I would say the level of comfort when doing group conversations with a journalist and everything just started to be easier and easier. I think people felt that more relaxed with each other."

Two years ago, Harrison — who is playing Talking Heads music on the road with former tour member Adrian Belew and funk group Cool Cool Cool (replacing the recently disbanded Turkuaz) — told the Journal Sentinel it would be "fantastic" for Talking Heads to tour again. At the time, he implied that the holdout was Byrne, who has been busy with his own solo career.

In light of the band reunions around "Stop Making Sense," is a reunion more likely?

"This is just the beginning of us feeling more comfortable being together. Now is not the time to jump ahead," Harrison said. "We are really just finally enjoying and celebrating the film we made together. That could stimulate the idea of doing other projects. It may not be a tour. It may be something different from that. … If something else develops, that would be great."

If you go

What: "Stop Making Sense" screenings with Jerry Harrison

When: 5, 7:30 and 10 p.m. Sept. 30, and 7 p.m. Oct. 1

Where: Oriental Theatre, 2230 N. Farwell Ave.

How much?: $6 to $12 per screening at the box office and mkefilm.org.

More: The 50 Wisconsin musicians with the biggest impact over the past 100 years

More: The Talking Heads' Jerry Harrison comes home to Milwaukee to perform 'Remain in Light' at Summerfest

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jerry Harrison on Talking Heads reunion, 'Stop Making Sense' rerelease