Just Because: The Velvet Underground at the Gymnasium (1967)

Grab it here.

Found: 33 minutes of The Velvet Undergound at the Boston Tea Party, 1967, in color!

Mind: boggled. Thank you, internet. Here is some color footage of the Velvet Underground live in Boston from 1967. The sound quality pretty much suck, but who cares? If you listen closely you'll be able to make out some of the tunes. According to the uploader this was "directed" by Andy Warhol. I'm not not sure what that means exactly, but this is truly a treasure. Here is the description:

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND IN BOSTON (1967, sound, color, 33 mins. Dir: Andy Warhol):

This newly unearthed film, which Warhol shot during a concert at the Boston Tea Party, features a variety of filmmaking techniques. Sudden in-and-out zooms, sweeping panning shots, in-camera edits that create single frame images and bursts of light like paparazzi flash bulbs going off mirror the kinesthetic experience of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, with its strobe lights, whip dancers, colorful slide shows, multi-screen projections, liberal use of amphetamines, and overpowering sound. 

It is a significant find indeed for fans of the Velvets, being one of only two known films with synchronous sound of the band performing live, and this the only one in color. It's fitting that it was shot at the Boston Tea Party, as the Beantown club became one of the band's favorite, most-played venues, and was where a 16-year-old Jonathan Richman faithfully attended every show and befriended the group. Richman, who would later have his debut recordings produced by John Cale, and later yet record a song about the group, is just possibly seen in the background of this film.

Before & After: Springtime For Hitler

Before - The Producers (original soundtrack, 1967)

After - Henry Mancini (1968)

Movie of the Week: Valley of the Dolls (1967)

Movie of the Week: Riot On Sunset Strip (1967)

The amazing soundtrack for this classic 1967 exploitation movie includes some hits from the Standells, and the Chocolate Watch Band.

More Velvets goodies: Color film from Boston, 1967

Courtesy of Doom & Gloom From the Tomb comes this very cool color footage shot at a Velvets gig in Boston at the Boston Tea Party, circa August 1967. As stated in the D&G post, the sound isn't great, and the band barely appears, but who cares? Its STILL cool as fuck.

Movie of the Week: Inside Pop - The Rock Revolution, with Leonard Bernstein (1967)

Inside Pop - The Rock Revolution is a CBS News special, broadcast in April 1967. The show was hosted by Leonard Bernstein and is probably one of the first examples of pop music being examined as a "serious" art form. The film features many scenes shot in Los Angeles in late 1966, including interviews with Frank Zappa and Graham Nash, as well as a now legendary Brian Wilson solo performance of "Surf's Up."

 

Marlene Dietrich, Burt Bacharach, and my father

My father

Recently a friend of mine posted a video on Facebook of German movie & cabaret star, Marlene Dietrich, singing Pete Seeger's "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" Now, there's something funny about this very beautiful, if a little cold & stiff (not unlike Nico), Germanic woman singing folk & pop songs. And the accent always topped it off. I've always found it funny. But Dietrich was quite a recording & concert (especially cabaret) star in her time...

After the laughter subsided, I told him my father - who, before settling down as a writer was a real life Broadway stage manager - had stage managed Dietrich in the first of two Broadway stints in 1967. She'd repeat the show again in 1968 before bringing it to television in the 70's. Anyway, it got me thinking, and I asked my dad to share his memories about the show and working with Ms. Dietrich. I hope you enjoy this:

AN EVENING WITH MARLENE DIETRICH
By Daniel Broun for Stupefaction

To be a star on Broadway – to see your name above the title of the show – means that your name will sell more tickets than the name of the show. In the 1967-8 season some of the biggest stars on Broadway included Judy Garland, Ingrid Bergman, Melvyn Douglas and Burl Ives. Then, on October 9th, perhaps the biggest name to appear on the New York stage that season opened for a limited run of six weeks. She was Marlene Dietrich, film star and international celebrity then sixty-six years old who, if you were close enough to shake hands with her, looked forty-five. I can vouch for her appearance because I was the stage manager for An Evening With Marlene Dietrich, and I’m sure I shook hands with her when we started rehearsals, just as I’m certain that I did not shake hands with her at the end of the run. By then we weren’t speaking to each other.

Dietrich was an international celebrity whose friends included Ernest Hemingway, Noel Coward, Orson Welles, Gary Cooper, and John F. Kennedy. Her 1967 show on Broadway was to consist of an hour-and-a-half concert of 21 songs, most of which she’d sung in films. Her performance was arranged and conducted by composer Burt Bacharach who called Dietrich his “girl singer“ and led a 30-piece onstage band.

Bacharach proved to be a charming, talented man who often got to the theatre early – before I or anyone else did, in fact– – and composed new tunes. New songs by Burt Bacharach were and still are surprising and delightful.

My job as stage manager was to oversee everything that took place during the show – to supervise light and sound cues, to maintain order and quiet backstage, to solve any emergency that arose during a performance, and above all, to keep Marlene happy. I was equipped with a headset that kept me in touch with stagehands all over the theater, and most of the time I succeeded at calling the cues and tending to Marlene’s wishes, one of which, quite properly, was to prevent pictures being taken by members of the audience, especially by anyone using flashbulbs which crazes actors and anyone who has paid big money for tickets. Notice of this prohibition is both announced over the public address system before the curtain goes up and is printed in the Playbill. Nowadays, notice to silence cell phones is also given. But such notices are sometimes ignored.

One night, someone in Dietrich’s audience decided to disregard the ruling and began to click and flash away which, quite rightly, infuriated her. When she came offstage for a moment during her curtain calls she stopped at my desk and screamed at me to go out into the audience and stop the person taking pictures.

As it happened, as stage manager of Dietrich’s show I didn’t need and didn’t have an assistant whom I could either send out front to handle the problem or hand my headset to properly call cues for the rest of the show. So I handed the headset to her so that she could call the cues herself. My job was not as important as hers; still, it was necessary and, if ignored, would certainly have been noticed.

This incident occurred a few weeks before the end of Dietrich’s limited Broadway run, and during this period she and I never spoke to each other. We never spoke to each other again. We communicated with each other, by way of her dresser, but that was all, until closing night when she gave me a pair of gold cufflinks inlaid with precious stones. I still have them but have never used them.

The following theatrical season, Dietrich performed on Broadway again, and asked the producer to hire me again as stage manager. I was busy, however, and said no.

Documentaries of note: Ain't In It For My Health & Portrait of Jason

Here are a couple of recent films I plan on seeing soon:

Shot over the last couple of years of his life in and around his home in Woodstock, NY, Ain't In It For My Health tells the story of The Band's Levon Helm.

Official website here.
Official Facebook here.

Shirley Clarke's Portrait of Jason tells the story of a one time, real life NYC character, Jason Holliday. The restored 1967 film was shot entirely in one night in Jason's room at the Chelsea Hotel. Read a terrific write up about the movie in the New Yorker here.

Official website here.
Official Facebook page here.

Before Monterey Pop, there was "Le 1er Festival International de Pop Music" (1967)

Courtesy of Bedazzled, here's an amazing French pop festival film from June 1, 1967, entitled Le 1er Festival International de Pop Music, and laying claim too being the first big time rock-based festival. For a whole lot more on the event click on over to the post at Bedazzled. According to the author at Bedazzled, the date on the YouTube-posted video is incorrect. 

Appearances at the festival included the pre-Spooky Tooth VIP's, Ronnie Bird, The Pretty Things, John "Maus" Walker (Walker Bros), Jimmy Cliff, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, and the Troggs. Also playing, but not included in the film were Cream, Herbert Leonard, and Alain Bashung.

Before & After: Aware of Love by Curtis Mayfield

I can't think of one single song/performance that combines such maturity, masculinity without being macho, regality, and just downright dignified soul. Originally performed & released in 1961 by then ex-Impressions vocalist, Jerry Butler, this Mayfield-penned tune was later redone by the Impressions in 1967. Their version, with Sam Gooden taking the lead, was ALMOST as good.

Before: Jerry Butler - Aware of Love (1961)

After: The Impressions - Aware of Love (1967)

Movie of the Week: The Trip (1967)

Produced & directed by Roger Corman. Written by Jack Nicholson. Starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Susan Strasberg and Bruce Dern. And music by The Electric Flag. Who could ask more? Well, I could, but I won't harsh your mellow...Groovy, man...

Gets You There On Time: John Sinclair business card

John Sinclair business card, circa 1967, courtesy of Marty at Ephemera. Its up for auction on eBay for about two more days. Check it out here.

Junior Walker & The All Stars at The Ram Jam Club (1967)

Smoking! And in color...this is hot! Junior Walker and his band blow through a couple of skronkin' stomping soul dance songs, including an uptempo "Shotgun." This footage is apparently from an appearance at London's Ram Jam Club in 1967. Incredible!

Hat tip to Voices of East Anglia

Lou Reed / Velvets 1967 demos

This is about as raw as it gets. According to the uploader, its a Lou Reed (i.e. Velvets) demo from 1967 recorded at their Ludlow Street pad (in the parlance of the day), and includes two songs: "Sheltered Life" (two takes) and "Here She Comes Now" (two takes).

Stone Free '67

Thanks to Andy for pointing this one out. I'll quote him: Jimi Hendrix arrived in London in September '66; the Experience made its first official appearance in France in October, the same month in which the first sessions for ARE YOU EXPERIENCED took place. This footage is from February 25, '67.

"Stone Free" - Recorded & filmed for "Telixer: A Thing Of Beat Is A Joy Forever" broadcast by KRO, The Netherlands, 21 July 1967. Although filmed for television the audio is not taken from the mixing desk (and shot with just one camera).

The Rolling Stones 2000 Light Years From Home video (1967)

Pink Floyd - See Emily Play on TOTP (1967)

The audio has been updated by the uploader as the original is a bit ropey.

Scott McKenzie RIP

Scott McKenzie - RIP

Over at Dangerous Minds, Marc Campbell has an excellent piece on the part McKenzie's big hit song played in his life back in the Summer of Love. "Ultimately, it didn’t matter to me whether “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)” had the Better Heads and Gardens seal of approval. Anything that promised a groovy vibe somewhere other than where I was at became a destination point on my karmic map." Continued here.

Catherine Spaak digs vinyl

Merci to Vinyl Addict for the image.