7inch no.23

with guest 16mm programme

Our first big outing of the summer will include special guest Mr Jack Stevenson. Jack is a restless celluloid guru and writer who travels with a suitcase full of 16mm, and this evening's programme will include a selection of rare and exotic treats called THE BIRTH OF ROCK N ROLL. More info shortly.

** update ** (5.6.06)

Below is the full dope on Jack's programme...

THE BIRTH OF ROCK & ROLL (AKA ATTACK OF THE STRINGED INSTRUMENTS)
This historic, exciting, up-tempo compilation of trailers, shorts, jukebox movies & TV show outtakes sidetracks into various genres such as jazz, pop, soul and novelty acts, but the main focus is on rock 'n' roll - it's birth and its snotty younger years when it was still an amateur teenage phenomenon and when all the top rocks could be brought together on one TV sound stage instead of a football stadium. Along the way we meet the likes of Buddy Rich, Les Paul and The Temptations (and many others) although the primary focus falls on a young Elvis Presley casting his twitchy black magic voodoo spell on a late- 50's American public from various TV sound stages. The program in it's entirety draws some compelling connections between the early hit-makers of the 30's and 40's and the new generation of 50's/60's rock rebels, probing some strange cul-de-sacs of America's pop-culture past in the process.

PART ONE: EARLY ELVIS TV APPEARANCE REEL - from 1957, b/w 24 minutes of chat and song performances from the very start of his career include All Shook Up, Don't Be Cruel, Love Me Tender, Love Me, Peace in the Valley, Hound Dog and more.., These extracts were taken from the Charles Laughton and Ed Sullivan TV shows.. an over-powering dose of early Elvis magic.

BRIEF INTERMISSION

PART TWO - MIXED FEATURE LENGTH SHOW: includes about 20 rare items from the archives that include a nameless Chinese guy screeching out "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" back in 1926 while abusing his Ukulele ... EDDY PEABODY sets the girls on fire with his "rock 'n' roll Banjo" and ADALE GIRARD strokes a blues tune out of her stand-up harp while a slinky gal dancer dressed as a sexy cat sashays about obscenely. Next BUDDY RICH beats hell out of his drum kit while VICTOR YOUNG & HIS HOT JAZZ ORCHESTRA give a wild rendition of "Hold That Tiger." ... Enter the father of the electric guitar, LES PAUL, who welcomes us into his kitchen and plays a tune as wife Mary Ford makes guacamole dip and sings along - 2 commercials about how to stop bad breath included. A young ELVIS then whips through YOU AIN'T NOTHING BUT A HOUND DOG while trailers to early rock 'n' roll feature films GO, JOHNNY GO and ROCK, ROCK, ROCK give glimpses of known stars like Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, The Cadillacs and The Moonglows as well as obscure rock duds that no one ever heard of since. Sandy who?...The early rock theme continues with trailers to Elvis vehicles JAILHOUSE ROCK and KING CREOLE.

Mid Sixties Motown groups now take center stage in a segment of the rock 'n' roll TV variety show, WHERE THE ACTION IS. Several performance numbers by THE TEMPTATIONS and (outdoors) MARTHA AND THE VANDELLAS hearken back to a time before Rock-n-Roll became a slick, polished, billion-dollar-a-year "industry". In fact it's god-awful amateurish - in a wonderful way, and sounds great even if Martha and her group do fuck up the dance routines. Now comes high school garage band TOBINS MATTHEWS AND THE ALL-STARS to pound out various versions of The Twist in a short called TWIST CRAZE. The music is infectious and soon all the old geeks are up on the dance floor twistin' away. Goddamn teenagers are takin' over the fuckin' world - here confirmed in a trailer for MONDO TEENO. If you need more proof we've got trailers to THE BIG T.N.T. SHOW and THE T.A.IM.I. SHOW where you get prime glimpses of acts like Ike and Tina Turner, The Byrds, The Lovin' Spoonful, Donovon, Petula Clark, Joan Baez , The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, James Brown and The Flames, The Rolling Stones, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Lesley Gore and more. This was back when rock 'n' roll bands had cheerleaders. Next up: an oddball novelty scene plucked from the 1967 movie, THE TIGER & THE PUSSYCAT shows Ann Margaret withering on a bed and faking (we think) an orgasm as she watches an Italian rock band on TV while her worried 'old man' boyfriend looks on. How else to end this tour through the Anglo scrap-heap of pop culture than with Elvis swiveling his way through the title dance number in VIVA LAS VEGAS? Jello Biafra move over.

Wednesday, 14th June 2006 7.00pm

At the Rainbow, Digbeth

Price: £3

Our first big outing of the summer will include special guest Mr Jack Stevenson. Jack is a restless celluloid guru and writer who travels with a suitcase full of 16mm, and this evening's programme will include a selection of rare and exotic treats called THE BIRTH OF ROCK N ROLL.

Below is the full dope on Jack's programme...