This Ain’t No Mouse Music!: The Story of Chris Strachwitz and Arhoolie Records (2014) is a feature-length documentary about Chris that captures his enthusiasms and outspoken, sometimes tetchy, infallibly honest personality. His greatest passion lay in amassing the biggest collection of Mexican records – from 2000 the Strachwitz Frontera Collection at UCLA.
I first met Chris around 2005 when researching my book More Miles Than Money: Journeys in American Music. On a later visit we went to a preview screening of a documentary about a Native American reservation. It turned out to be a 90-minute advertisement for the wonders of having casinos there, with no mention of the damage that gambling causes. Before the lights were up Chris was out of his seat and declaiming loudly for everyone in the theatre to hear about how the film was a lie – he didn’t do polite.
