Store encounter leads to 'Four Brothers' soundtrack slot

It may not be in the same league as a Lana-Turner-sipping-a-soda-at-Schwab's-Drug-Store discovery, but the story behind a couple of Auburn musicians' song appearing in the "Four Brothers" movie is right out of the same Hollywood playbook.Singer Jimmy Gimelli and guitarist Robbie Pugliese ditched the foothills for the bright lights of Los Angeles several years ago and eventually put together a reggae-tinged funk ensemble they dubbed Subway to Venus.As musicians are wont to do, Gimelli found himself at the Sunset Boulevard Guitar Center one day a few months ago picking up a new effects processor. He got to talking shop with the guy next to him. It turned out that the man he was talking with - Paul Stewart - was a producer looking for a rhythm section for a record he was cutting.Gimelli told Stewart to hold on a minute. He went out to his car, retrieved a copy of Subway to Venus' self-produced CD, and turned it over to the producer. Stewart also mentioned at the time that he happened to be a music supervisor for movies. Gimelli, Pugliese et al had recorded the funk-flavored "Get Back" in their own studio last September and it's the opening song on the CD. Gimelli said he handed over the disc thinking that it might be a good hook-up for a recording session for his rhythm section.Gimelli didn't hear back and had nearly forgotten about the music store encounter when Stewart called him six months later. But instead of a job for the rhythm section, Stewart was asking Gimelli for permission to include "Get Back" in "Four Brothers," a new $80 million movie directed by John Singleton ("Boyz n the Hood," "2Fast 2Furious") starring Mark "Marky Mark" Wahlberg.With no record company or publishing rights strings, Gimelli readily agreed and the track was included in the movie. As it turned out, "Four Brothers" has done great box office its first two weeks and has been seen - and Subway to Venus has been heard - by more than three million people."Get Back" forms the soundtrack background during a scene early in the movie when the four brothers are questioning a bartender about the mysterious death of their mother. Gimelli estimates the funk-soul crossover clocks about two minutes of screen time. The band gets a credit at the end of the revenge flick.Gimelli and Pugliese, who cut their musical teeth playing swing tunes in Auburn during the late 1990s with Zoppo and The True Tones, are already talking about working more with Stewart. And Subway to Venus is also starting a standing monthly appearance at the Derby in L.A. - the first Friday of the month.The "Four Brothers" appearance has caused "a nice ripple" of interest, says Gimelli. He wrote the song and is in line for residuals.Gimelli's also cognizant that the exposure will only go so far."It's helping to break down the wall between musician and listener," Gimelli said. "But nothing happens overnight."AUG. 31 ANOTHER FAB FOUR MILESTONEThe Cow Palace. Aug. 31, 1965. The Beatles. If you were there 40 years ago this coming Wednesday - like Auburn rock 'n' roll real estate sales agent Jerry Woods was - the anniversary is a special one.Woods remembers traveling in the back seat of his grandparents' Chevrolet Biscayne to the last concert of the Beatles' 1965 North American tour. Tickets were $7 and Woods recalls hearing little of the Fab Four's 12-song set because of the screaming - a sound Beatles bassist Paul McCartney would later describe as akin to "supersonic seagulls." The band put on two shows that day for 30,000 fans.Amped by the experience, Woods picked up a guitar, skipped a few visits to the barber, and went on to live a musical life, playing in a variety of bands while working on the sales end of the music business. He's recently made real estate his day job with Prudential Realty while keeping up his long-standing role as singer-guitarist with local classic rock foursome The Torpedos.Woods and his band closed out one chapter and were onstage to shut down Auburn's now legendary Shanghai Bar earlier this summer. The band had been playing there since the late 1970s. Now, it appears The Torpedos may be opening a new chapter - with tentative plans to move their music to downtown Auburn's Pistol Pete's Brew & Cue. Heavy on 1970s covers from artists like Steve Miller, Free and Joe Walsh, the band - which also includes Larry Gosch on guitar, Cozy D on bass and Larry Stites on drums - dips into the more modern repertoire with renditions of songs from bands like Jet. But it also reaches back into the music of a band that was an inspiration to Woods and a generation. "Get Back" (the Beatles version), "I Got A Feeling," and "Twist & Shout" are among the songs The Torpedos will pull out for play.For Woods, Beatles music is not only part of a repertoire that stretches over the decades, it's part of a memory that's taken on a rich patina as the years go by. He's 52 and hopes to keep rocking but expresses some doubts as he seeks out a new audience in a new venue. He'd like to get the word out to former Shanghai patrons about the band's move. First set is 9:30 p.m. Saturday.The Journal's Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.