Movie of the Week - Rock Family Trees: NY Punk (narrated by John Peel)

Visit the website.

By the books:

Movie of the Week - Bobby Fuller: Rock n' Roll King of the Southwest

Movie of the Week - Buy a record with Mel Blanc at Wallichs Music City

Filmed in wonderful color, this special promotional film was made in 1951. It's 35 minutes long and of perfect quality. This lost gem, never shown to the public, was used for promotional use only among record executives, and hasn't been seen in over 55 years.

Mel plays a record dealer who is desperately trying to sell anyone a record at the corner of Sunset & Vine streets in Hollywood, California. While pestering several people Billy May approaches playing a regular guy walking down the street. Mel takes him into his record store (Wallichs Music City) and proceeds to pitch everything in the store to him.

In the end Billy won't pay the 85 cents for a record & Mel decides to show him exactly how records are made. They go over to the Capitol Records recording studios on Melrose, and meet with Alan Livingston who takes them on a tour. Here is where they run into several famous folks while getting into a little bit of mischief along the way. We get to see rare footage of Dean Martin in the studio actually recording one of his hit records. They run into Les Paul and Mary Ford, a vocal group, a country & western singer (Merle Travis?), and even Bozo the Clown.

Via Lindsay and Miriam

Movie of the Week - Les Tricheurs

Hey...its July 4th weekend, so why not a French movie from the end of the fifties? This week's selection comes to us courtesy of the Modculture site. As they say over at Modculture, "...this Marcel Carne-directed flick is a prototype for the mod scene of the 1960s. Scooters, army surplus coats, coffee bars, smart ivy league-inspired gear and modern jazz. It's a bit like you'd imagine a movie of Absolute Beginners to look like, if one was made at the time - and if it was filmed in the St Germain-des-Pres area of Paris."

If you like the soundtrack, I'd suggest picking it up in the CD version pictured here on the right. Its a two-fer with Les Tricheurs doubled upwith Des Femmes Disparaissent. All fantastic "modern" (at the time) jazz with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Stan Getz, Roy Eldridge, Coleman Hawkins, and Dizzy Gillespie. Fantastique!

Movie of the Week - Paris Is Burning

Movie of the Week - Downtown 81

Beat Jazz Movie of the Week - Sun Ra

Beat Jazz Movie of the Week - Hell W10 (featuring the Clash)

A cool, if mediocre film made by the Clash, directed by Joe Strummer, circa 1983.

Beat Jazz movie of the week - Deep Roots Double Feature - Hotcha!

Deep Roots Music, Vol. 1: Revival - Ranking Sounds:



Deep Roots Music Vol. 2: Bunny Lee & Black Ark:

Beat Jazz movie of the week - Punk Double Feature!

Punk In London:


Punk In England:

Beat Jazz movie of the week - bonus double feature - God Respects Us When We Work (1967)

...But Loves Us When We Dance. This short film by Les Blank was shot at the first love-in in Los Angeles on Easter Sunday in 1967. From his DVD collection Six Short Films of Les Blank. Thanks to Mark Kamins.

Beat Jazz movie of the week - The Fall unreleased documentary

 "Northern white crap that talks back." - Mark E. Smith. This is an unreleased documentary about the Manc legends by UK music writer, Mick Middles.



Thanks to JC over at the New Vulgate.

Beat Jazz movie of the week - Grind Mix #1 (NSFW)

An amazing collage of film, and garage/psych/go-go/R&B. The last cut, by the Hollywood Persuaders, is one of my "go to" tracks when DJ'ing. Great stuff:

01. Congawa - The Zirkons
02. Jibba Jab - Tic & Toc
03. Groovy - The Groovers
04. Thunderbird - The Casual-Aires
05. Little Girl - John & Jackie
06. Take It Off - The Genteels
07. Crackin’ Up - Famen
08. Elevator Jam - The 13th Floor Elevators
09. Mr. Man - The Lyrics
10. Gotta Find Her - Pat Farrell
11. Why - Dirty Wurds
12. 1523 Blair - The Outcasts
13. Don’t Lose Your Mind - The Galaxies IV
14. Generation - The Jelly Bean Bandits
15. Joustabout - The Triumphs
16. Trashcan - Ken Williams
17. Drums A-Go-Go - The Hollywood Persuaders


via DM

Soul Movie of the Week - This England: Northern Soul

Wigan Casino, Wigan, England

Here's a good bit of trivia for you: Which club was voted #1 in the world in 1978, ahead of NYC's Studio 54, by Billboard Magazine? It was the Wigan Casino, of course - at the time home to one of the biggest music scenes in the world unknown to the rest of the civilized world. How big was the northern soul scene in the UK? Big enough that reissues of soul singles would chart on the back of spins by northern DJ's like Casino founder Russ Winstanley. Over the years, the scene's influence has grown through the publication of books, movies, and tons of amazing compilation albums, all well worth exploring. If you need a good example of the typical sound that would make it on the northern scene, check today's Before & After selection - "Beggin'" by Frankie Valli.

Pop Movie of the Week: Top of the Pops 40th Anniversary 1964-2004

Top of the Pops 40th Anniversary 1964 - 2004:

1964: Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas - Little Children
1965: Sandie Shaw - Long Live Love
1966: The Seekers - The Carnival Is Over (Performance was from 1965)
1967: Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale
1968: The Crazy World of Arthur Brown - Fire
1969: The Hollies - Sorry Suzanne
1970: Free - All Right Now
1971: T.Rex - Get It On
1972: Roxy Music - Virginia Plain
1973: Slade - Cum on Feel the Noize
1974: The Three Degrees - When Will I See You Again
1975: Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
1976: The Real Thing - You to Me Are Everything
1977: Queen - Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy
1978: The Jam - Down in the Tube Station at Midnight
1979: Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
1980: Adam and the Ants - Ant Music
1981: The Human League - Don't You Want Me
1982: Culture Club - Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
1983: UB40 - Red Red Wine
1984: Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
1985: Eurythmics - There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)
1986: Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
1987: Bee Gees - You Win Again
1988: Yazz And The Plastic Population - The Only Way Is Up
1989: Lisa Stansfield - All Around the World
1990: Sinéad O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U
1991: Seal - Crazy
1992: Stereo MCs - Connected
1993: New Order - Regret
1994: Blur - Parklife
1995: Take That - Back for Good
1996: Oasis - Don't Look Back in Anger
1997: Spice Girls - Wannabe
1998: Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
1999: Ricky Martin - Livin La Vida Loca
2000: Sophie Ellis-Bextor & Spiller - Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)
2001: Texas - I Don't Want a Lover
2002: Status Quo - Rockin' All Over The World
2003: The Darkness - I Believe in a Thing Called Love
2004: Michael Andrews Featuring Gary Jules - Mad World

Exploitation movie of the week - Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

In honor of the memory of Tura Satana, this week's movie of the week is Russ Meyer's epic masterpiece, Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, from 1965 - the entire film...Enjoy!

Post Punk Movie of the Week - Love Will Tear Us Apart: A History Of The Haçienda

This week's movie was pointed out by JC at Cerysmatic. Originally produced by Granada in the UK in 1999, here is Love Will Tear Us Apart: A History Of The Haçienda. Unfortunately, the embedding for the videos has been disabled, but you can view the whole thing in a convenient little playlist I made right here.

Beat Jazz Movie of the Week - Sound (1966-67)

A short film featuring Rahsaan Roland Kirk, John Cage and David Tudor among others. Directed by Dick Fontaine.

Beat Jazz movie of the week - This Is Ska!

This Is Ska! is a fun film from 1964 featuring performances by Jimmy Cliff, The Maytals, The Blues Busters, Byron Lee and more. Plus, there’s dance lessons! Shot on location at The Sombrero Club in Kingston, Jamaica.






Via Dangerous Minds

Beat Jazz movie of the week - Paul Horn - We Three Kings on Frankly Jazz

Hosted by DJ Frank Evans, Frankly Jazz was a half-hour television program produced in Los Angeles in the early 1960s. Each program featured one or more prominent West Coast Jazz performer of the day.



Thanks to Like Dreamsville for pointing the way to this one.