Actress Frances McDormand has tackled demanding roles before.  So when she was offered the toughest one of all, she didn’t flinch.  McDormand plays the mother of a brainy fifteen year-old boy in the 1970′s.  He thrives on rock music.  She fears it will destroy her family.  Then her fear is confirmed.  Rolling Stone Magazine wants him to go on tour with a rock band and write about it.

The Murphy Library is showing the coming-of-age film “Almost Famous” Thursday at 6 p.m.  Writer/director Cameron Crowe won an Oscar for his screenplay and dressed each scene in music from the likes of Simon and Garfunkel, Elton John, Black Sabbath, the Who, Joni Mitchell, the Allman Brothers, and Neil Young.   The film is rated R.

Rolling Stone doesn’t know that William Miller (Patrick Fugit) is just fifteen.  He got their attention because he’d been writing about bands in underground newspapers.  And he’s very smart: when they call him he makes his voice lower and more “grown-up.” 

Crowe based the story on his own experiences writing for Rolling Stone as a teenager.  He remembers the innocence, the decadence, and swirling all around, the music. And he remembers his mother who let him go on his journey with one rule of law: “Don’t do drugs!”

But there is something good for children in all this.  The song sung by Dr. Hook in this movie (and famous in the 1970′s) “On the Cover of Rolling Stone” was written by the children’s author, Shel Silverstein.  While this movie is rated R, there are plenty of books by Silverstein at the Murphy Library that R not!

Call the library at 837-2417.