Music Movies
This month’s Music Movies coincide with WIRE Magazine’s 3rd Annual
“Adventures in Modern Music” Festival at the Empty Bottle (www.emptybottle.com).
The short-lived late ‘70s No Wave movement is examined in KILL YOUR IDOLS; early ‘80s Berlin subculture is revealed though super-8 images in BERLIN SUPER 80; Jim O’Rourke and Andrew Lampert serve as guest curators for a special Tony Conrad Filmworks program, and the noise behind Noise musicians comes to light in NorNoise.
-- Jim Dempsey
film descriptions
First Chicago run!
WE JAM ECONO: THE STORY OF THE MINUTEMEN
2005, Tim Irwin, USA, 90 min.
With the untimely death of D. Boon in 1985, the independent music world lost one of its strongest, most unflinching voices. With his band the Minutemen, Boon helped shape the Southern California postpunk scene that emerged in the early ‘80s with fragments of political rage, vanguard/populist musical ingredients, and an inspiring DIY attitude. This, the only documentary about the legendary band, is guided by Minutemen bassist Mike Watt and features rare live footage and interviews with Richard Hell, Fugazi, Black Flag, Sonic Youth, Flea and many others. DigiBeta video. (JD)
August 26 -- September 1
Fri. and Mon.-Thurs. at 6:15 and 8:00 pm;
Sat. at 3:00 pm, 4:45 pm, 6:30 pm, and 8:15 pm;
Sun. at 3:15 pm and 5:00 pm
Chicago Premiere!
KILL YOUR IDOLS
2005, S.A. Crary, USA, 75 min.
New York’s art-punk and No Wave scene was explosive and short-lived. Imagine a musical movement reacting against the “conservatism” of The Ramones, The Heartbreakers, Patti Smith, and Television. “We weren’t trying to make music, we were trying to be monsters,” remarks Teenage Jesus and The Jerks’ bassist Jim Sclavunos. Made for under $300 in the spirit of the music it illuminates, this ultra low budget film takes us from the early days of Lydia Lunch, Suicide, Glenn Branca, and DNA to a newer
generation owing a debt to that raucous musical moment: Sonic Youth, the Liars, Black Dice, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and A.R.E. Weapons. Beta SP video. (JD)
Sunday, September 4, 7:45 pm;
Thursday, September 8, 8:15 pm
Chicago Premiere!
Berlin Super 80:
Music and Super 8 Underground Berlin (West) 1978-1984
1978-1984, Various Directors, Germany, ca. 105 min.
This flashback of early ‘80s Berlin subculture features output by virtuosos of the city’s underground movie scene who rediscovered Super 8 as an outlet for their creative endeavors. Arty, sometimes crude, oddly asexual, and ultimately irresistible, the films (9 in all) run the gamut, including Man Ray-influenced art films, late-night drives through Berlin, and short music videos featuring the early days of the SO36 (the German counterpart to CBGB’s), with crazy-but-forgotten artist bands like Die Gelbs or Einst�rzende Neubauten. Beta SP video. (JD)
These films are part of a DVD box-set, for more info on this project log onto http://www.monitorpop.de
Sunday, September 11, 5:00 pm;
Thursday, September 15, 8:00 pm
“Curators’ Choice”
Tony Conrad Filmworks
Curated by Jim O’Rourke and Andrew Lampert
Tony Conrad is one of the most unique and enduring moving-image makers of his generation. Long considered one of the fathers of both minimal music and structural filmmaking, Conrad has employed an amazingly wide number of approaches in his nearly 40 years of cinematic investigations. Coming off their recent Eye And Ear Controlled series in New York, Jim O’Rourke and Andrew Lampert curate a special program of Tony Conrad films.
In Line - video, 7 min.
Straight and Narrow- 16mm, 10 min.
Transgender Tony - video, 8 min.
Hello Happiness - video, 1 min.
Cycles of 3s and 7s- video, 12 min.
Hart - video, 5 min.
Tony’s Oscular Pets- video, 5 min.
The Flicker- 30 min.
Total running time (ca. 78 min.)
Films preserved by and originally presented at Anthology Film Archives. Various formats. (JD)Sunday, September 18, 5:00 pm;
Thursday, September 22, 8:15 pm
Chicago Premiere!
NorNoise
2004, Tom Hovinbole, Norway, 115 min.
What is Noise music? This question gets siphoned through twelve different artists. Focusing on the Norwegian turn-of-this-century Noise scene, director Hovinbole doesn’t attempt a definitive history, but instead illuminates the ideas and techniques that make up Noise. Featured musicians include Merzbow, Deathprod, Tore H. B�e, David Cotner, Masami Akita, and Lasse Marhaug. Beta SP video. (JD)
