‘I’ll Be Me’ screening set
Published 7:47 pm Monday, May 4, 2015
When country music singer Glen Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2011, he was told to hang up his guitar and prepare for the inevitable. Instead, he and his wife went public with his diagnosis and announced that he and his family would set out on a “Goodbye Tour.”
Lake Prince Woods retirement community will sponsor a free screening of the film, “I’ll Be Me,” which documents that tour, at 7 p.m. Thursday at King’s Fork Middle School. Reservations are requested by calling 923-5500.
The Campbell family thought the “Goodbye Tour” would last five weeks. Instead it went for 151 sold out shows over a triumphant year and a half across America.
The film documents the efforts of Glen Campbell and his family to navigate the wildly unpredictable nature of his progressing disease using love, laughter and music as their medicines of choice.
Rolling Stone magazine had this to say about the movie: “A poignant chronicle of Campbell’s Goodbye Tour (featuring dozens of his most memorable songs) and the ongoing medical treatment which followed his diagnosis in early 2011, ‘I’ll Be Me’ captures unguarded moments between the musician and his family members as they come to terms with a future in which, as the final song he recorded in his stellar career underscores, he declares, ‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You.’ As heartbreaking as it is uplifting, for anyone touched by the dreaded disease, ‘I’ll Be Me’ may be difficult to watch at times, but it’s also warm, funny, and full of the music that defined a generation.”
“Alzheimer’s disease affects over 5 million Americans, so there is hardly a family that hasn’t been touched in some way by this horrible disease,” noted Lake Prince Woods Executive Director Judy Raymond.
“Almost one in three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia. We encourage families, friends and caregivers to see the movie.”
For more information about the May 7 screening, call Susan Stone at Lake Prince Woods at 923-5511.