Bob Dylan, Lyle Lovett offer insight in Van Zandt documentary

Besides being prominent musicians in their respective fields, what do artists Bob Dylan, Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson, Sonic Youth, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris and Kris Kristofferson have in common? They all make up the growing cult fan base of singer songwriter Townes Van Zandt and play a part in a new documentary based on the late artist's music and life.\nBloomington's Buskirk-Chumley Theater, in conjunction with The Ryder Film Series, will be presenting the film, "Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van \nZandt," a documentary about the life and death of Townes Van Zandt at 7 p.m. Friday, followed by a screening at Bear's Place on Sunday at 5:15 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door.\nThe film, which was released by Palm Pictures, an independent film distribution company, is part of Ryder's popular "Movies for Moderns" film series. \n"I think because of the demographic at IU, where there is possibly a cult fan base of Townes Van Zandt, people might be interested in learning more about his life," said Nathaniel Baruch, of Palm Pictures.\nThe documentary covers the life of Van Zandt, the Texan-born musician who has often been said to be the "songwriter's songwriter," because of his wide array of influence on musicians as diverse as Bob Dylan, Norah Jones, and even the Arizona punk group The Meat Puppets. \nVan Zandt, who died of a heart attack in 1997, released a number of folk/country studio and live albums beginning in the 1960s and managed to make a name for himself in the music industry as a one of the unique voices in songwriting, according to the artist's Web site, www.townesvanzandt.com.\nPalm Pictures, the distributor of the film, specializes in releasing projects that merge music and film markets, with a focus on foreign cinema, music documentaries and music video collections, according to its Web site, wwww.palmpictures.com.\n"We definitely have an eclectic taste here," Baruch said. "We're just trying to put out things that are quality"