Cultural Impact
- In 2003, Filmmaker Daniel Bitton released a film about Wesley Willis called The Daddy of Rock 'N' Roll. The documentary follows Willis around as he talks to himself and others, rides the bus, writes a song on a public computer at Kinko's, performs a concert, records a track, and visits his friends. Bitton also interviewed many people who commonly interacted with Willis. Willis and his band the Fiasco were also featured in the 1997 Chicago rock documentary Out of the Loop as well as in the German documentary Golden Lemons a documentary roadmovie by Jörg Siepmann by Jörg Siepmann about the Wesley Willis tour supported by the German band Die Goldenen Zitronen (The Golden Lemons) and the group Grand Buffet.
- In 2008, the documentary film Wesley Willis's Joy Rides made its public debut at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The film comprises footage of Willis collected by the filmmakers over a period of five years, interviews of family and friends after Willis's death, and animations created from his artwork.
- During his lifetime, he frequently drew and either gave his drawings away to friends or sold them for small amounts (typically $10 or $20) in Chicago parks. However, after his death, Willis began to receive recognition in the art community for his large body of visual art. In 2008 his artwork was exhibited at the Mohamed Khalil Museum of Egypt, and he was the subject of a special exhibit entitled Drawn By Wesley Willis at Dominican University.
- A song of Willis's about Star Wars was later included as an example of remix culture material in the documentary film The People vs. George Lucas.
- The Internet browser-based massively multiplayer online roleplaying game Kingdom of Loathing contains multiple references to Wesley Willis and his songs, most notably in the area Hey Deze (which contains nonplayer characters named after his "demons").
Read more about this topic: Wesley Willis
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