Positive Force: More Than A Witness; 30 Years Of Punk Politics In Action
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Washington DC-based punk activist collective Positive Force emerged in 1985. This feature-length film by Robin Bell skillfully mixes rare archival footage (including electrifying live performances from Fugazi, Bikini Kill, Nation of Ulysses, Anti-Flag, and more) with new interviews with key PF activists like co-founder Mark Andersen and supporters such as Ian MacKaye, Ted Leo, and Kathleen Hanna.
Until The Light Takes Us
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Until The Light Takes Us tells the story of black metal. Part music scene and part cultural uprising, black metal rose to worldwide notoriety in the mid-nineties when a rash of suicides, murders, and church burnings accompanied the explosive artistic growth and output of a music scene that would forever redefine what heavy metal is and what it stands for to other musicians, artists and music fans world-wide. Until The Light Takes Us goes behind the highly sensationalized media reports of "Satanists running amok in Europe" to examine the complex and largely misunderstood principles and beliefs that led to this rebellion against both Christianity and modern culture. To capture this on film, directors Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell moved to Norway and lived with the musicians for several years, building relationships that allowed them to create a surprisingly intimate portrait of this violent, but ultimately misunderstood, movement. The result is a poignant, moving story that's as much about the idea that reality is composed of whatever the most people believe, regardless of what's actually true, as it is about a music scene that blazed a path of murder and arson across the northern sky.
Blood and Thunder: The Sound of Alberts (Part 1)
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Part 1 of the two-part documentary series takes viewers back to the '60s and '70s and charts how Australia got its own rock 'n' roll thanks to the life-long bond between music company Albert Productions and The Youngs.
Iggy & The Stooges Live Detroit 2003
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Iggy & the Stooges: Live in Detroit 2003 features Iggy Pop and the original lineup of the Stooges (with bassist Mike Watt subbing for the late Dave Alexander) performing at their first Detroit homecoming in 29 years. It is a full concert of the best songs of the first two Stooges albums from 1969 & 1970. In Iggy Pop's own words, "Here they are, the original Stooges, the band that never bit the weenie. A particular stiff-necked place and time spawned the undying attitude of refusal to compromise. This was Detroit, Michigan, in the late 1960s, when men were men and ears were ears. Now, we are here in the 21st Century, in a "music industry" that bores and annoys, persecutes and depresses. This concert, by the Stooges reunited, does not bore me. I love the groove. I love the songs. I love the vibe. I love the audience. I love this band, and I'm very proud of this high-quality product by the Stooges."
Descent Into The Maelstrom: The Radio Birdman Story
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The true story of Radio Birdman, the pre-punk band that changed Australian music forever. This critically acclaimed documentary, shows the uncompromising attitude and high energy rock'n'roll ethos of the band that was the prototype for independent music in Australia. The film features interviews with all surviving members of the original band, along with rare archival footage and photos. In 1974 Deniz Tek and Rob Younger form Radio Birdman with a strict rule of no compromise and a raucous Detroit-style rock'n'roll. But Radio Birdman are shut down and kicked out of pubs in Sydney. Too confronting for the music industry, they started their own venue, The Funhouse and brought a new music to the 'New Race' of inner-city kids, looking for a soundtrack to rebellion. The 'bookish' band, including two medical students, became outlaws to the record industry, doing things their own way and releasing their own records before being spotted by Seymour Stein of Sire Records. But Radio Birdman's intensity turned inwards, and cracks started to appear in the band. During the 1978 tour of the UK the original band broke up acrimoniously. Like the Velvet Underground or The Sex Pistols, everyone who saw them started their own band. Years later Radio Birdman reformed, but internal conflict remains and they struggle to find peace with each other. 'Descent into the Maelstrom' is an uncompromising story, sometimes brutal, always honest.
TV Party: Halloween Show
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Halloween '79 - Glenn is dressed in a casual Dolly Parton lesbian look. With Chris Stein, Debbie Harry,Richard Sohl, Fab Five Freddy & more. This is TV Party at is most dense and abstract, filled with cross-talk, double entendre and obscure information.
Psychic TV - Black Joy
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Described by some as a video masterpiece, Black Joy is a colorful and artistic mix capturing Psychic TV in a number of guises. This film includes 2 full length programs previously available only as two separate VHS tapes. "Black" was filmed live at the Subterrania Club, London, in March, 1991, capturing the band at the height of their acid-phase. "Joy" includes live footage from a show at Manchester Poly in October 1988, as well as promo films for "R U Experienced" and IC Water."
Stray Cats - Live At Rockpalast: Cologne 1981
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When the US trio stormed the top of the charts in their adopted country of England, punk still reigned supreme in the United Kingdom. But Brian Setzer, Brian Setzer, Slim Jim Phantom and Lee Rocker brought a little something different. Impressive footage of this time includes two performances in Germany: one in 1981 in Cologne and one in 1983 at the Loreley that were recorded by WDR.
Pride And Joy: The Story Of Alligator Records
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Director Robert Mugge, having recently made the film DEEP BLUES (1991) about the blues traditions of Mississippi, decided to follow up with a tribute to Alligator and its roster of top contemporary blues artists from Chicago and elsewhere. The resulting film, PRIDE AND JOY: THE STORY OF ALLIGATOR RECORDS, presents musical highlights from one of the 4-plus-hour concerts (March 12th at Philadelphia's Chestnut Cabaret) that made up the tour, glimpses of Alligator's Chicago offices, and profiles of key performers and staff members. The "pride and joy" on display are not only that of fine musical artists plying their trades, but also that of a passionate and highly principled entrepreneur succeeding in a business mostly controlled by corporate giants and littered with the wreckage of countless small, independent labels.
AKA Tommy Chong
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At the height of the Bush administration, Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong was charged with selling bongs over the internet and sentenced to nine months in federal prison. As part of the government's $12 million 'Operation Pipe Dreams' drug paraphernalia sting operation, Chong, a vocal opponent of Bush's handling of the War on Terror, was singled out among 55 defendants to serve time. Filmmaker Josh Gilbert captures the post-prison, avuncular Chong as he turns his SWAT team arrest into hilarious stand-up material. But the laughs are seasoned by the recognition of our government's questionable priorities and its shameless use of the judicial system to scapegoat a counterculture icon.
Plasmatics - Live! Rod Swenson's Lost Tapes 1978-81
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The rare Wendy O. Williams/Plasmatics live footage in this DVD has, in the main, never been released before. During the early years Plasmatics creator Rod Swenson, who directed and shot all the Wendy O./Plasmatics conceptual videos (AKA known for his footage of the Ramones, Dead Boys, Blondie, and Motorhead among others) shot numerous Plasmatics shows the footage from which was never edited or released. Except for some short excerpts most of it until the discovery of this footage was thought to be lost or degraded (shot on tape which has been shown as with audio tape to degrade over time). Recently during the moving of WOW/Plasmatics archive material the footage here was found unlabeled in buried boxes. While much had degraded, Producer/Director Randy Shooter was able to discover, relabel, and with additional editing and restoration, salvage the rare and remarkable footage in this DVD. A lot of it is raw (and much of the audio is the audio from ambient video deck mics, noise and all) but the energy and power is there straight through. The material includes two tracks from CBGB the first of which was among the first Plasmatics shows ever as well as other footage from benchmark shows. A bonus track (Monkey Suit) features footage shot by Swenson when he was shooting the iconic album cover for New Hope for the Wretched, but never released.
TV Party: Crusades Show
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February 17, 1981. Reagan was the new President. Iran had just released its American hostages, and Israel and the PLO had rejected Egypt's peace plan. It was a grim moment and TV Party decided to do something about it. The TV Party Orchestra, featuring Chris Stein, Lenny Ferrari on flute, sorcerer Patrick Geoffrois slide guitar and Walter Steding, performed punk medieval music.
Athens, GA: Inside Out
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Led by the success of the B-52's and R.E.M., Athens, Georgia was the most happening music scene in the country by the mid 80's/ Following several different bands from different genres, this film paints Athens as a magical artistic environment where bands are not in competition, but co-exist in harmony. Live performances of R.E.M.'s "Swan Swan H" and "Dream (All I Have To Do)" at the Lucy Cobb Institute chapel are included. Also featured are performances and interviews frm the B-52's, Pylon, B-B-Que Killers, Time Toy, Jim Herbert, Flat Duo Jets, Love Tractor, Kilkenny Cats, Squalls, and more.
Tom Waits - Under The Influence
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This documentary film examines, dissects and all but lobotomizes the wealth of music, literature, theatre and film that have assisted in creating Waits' legendary genius and, results in hand, reviews the life and career of Tom Waits from this fascinating and rarely identified viewpoint.
Blank Generation
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Classic punk rock movie from 1980 starring Richard Hell, illustrating the end of the first wave of New York City punk rock better than other films. Nada (Carole Bouquet), a beautiful French journalist on assignment in New York, records the life and work of up and coming punk rock star, Billy (Richard Hell). Featuring members of the Voidoids and the Ramones. A time capsule from '80's New York City
The Boot Factory
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Documentarian Lech Kowalski, while visiting Krakow, met one of his film's fans, a Polish punk-rocker-turned-entrepreneur named Lukasz Siska. Instantly inspired, Kowalski followed Siska back to the Cockney Underground Boot Factory -- the aforementioned boot factory -- in order to look into the lives of people whose existences revolve around hard music, hard partying, and serious capitalism.
Frank Zappa - The Freak Out List
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Frank Zappa published a record of his most important influences on the inside cover of his debut album. This film explores the musical roots of Frank Zappa by putting The Freak Out List under the microscope and tracing the lineage from the most pivotal names therein to the recordings and performances of the man himself.
Sid Vicious - Final 24: His Final Hours
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Uncovers the series of events that led to Sid's death and reveals, for the first time, a shocking revelation that sheds new light on his last day. February, 1979: Punk icon and heroin addict Sid Vicious has just been released from Rikers prison in New York City. After a night of celebrating his freedom with friends and family, he wakes suddenly. Sid ingests a massive amount of heroin into his recently drug free body. Sid is discovered dead the next morning. We delve into his past to uncover the series of events that led to Sid's death.
Elvis '56
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1956 was Elvis Presley's breakthrough year, and this program takes you back, including his early television performances on the Dorsey Brothers Show and the Ed Sullivan Show (where the cameramen were instructed not to shoot the lower half of his body!). This DVD has an entire hour of rare footage and performances captured during the amazing year when Elvis Presley became not only a star, but a phenomenon. So slip on your blue suede shoes and step back to the beginning of an era, with rare early recordings and never-before-seen footage. Narrated by The Band's Levon Helm. Directed and Produced by Oscar-winning directors Alan and Susan Raymond. Including iconic photos by the photographer who toured with Elvis that year (Al Wertheimer) who captured many intimate moments from this one year.
Muse - Under Review
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Features rare footage, news clips, location shoots, videos, seldom seen photographs and much more! This film looks at Muse's entire career, and by using rare performance and interview footage of the band, contributions from their closest colleagues and from those who have witnessed and written about their journey, plus seldom seen photos, news reports, scene shoots and a range of other features, creates the finest documentary to date on this extraordinary band, the music they make and the lives they lead. Includes exclusive interviews with former manager Safta Jaffrey, legendary producer John Leckie, band engineer Ric Peet, video director Mat Kirby, official biographer and NME writer Mark Beaumont and many other close confidantes.

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