SEPTEMBER 25, THURSDAY AT 8PM
You’re Lookin’ at Country
Sponsored by KBCS 91.3 FM
Vintage performance footage from the "Golden Era of Country Music" and a live performance by singer/songwriter and Sirius Radio “Outlaw Country” DJ Dallas Wayne
Join us for a rollicking second edition of You’re Lookin’ at Country, featuring rarely seen footage of country music giants in their heyday, narrated by Texas troubadour and celebrated Sirius Radio “Outlaw Country” DJ, Dallas Wayne. Wayne will transport you to a bygone era filled with big hair, Nudie suits, jamborees, and cheerful songs about alcoholism, despair, family feuds, murder, and couples in trouble. This program will feature such greats as Hank, George, Porter, Johnny, Willie, Buck, and Loretta, singing a blissful mix of high lonesome and down dirty. The film presentation will be followed by a short live performance by Wayne, whose songs will not only take you back to the glory days of country music, but also give you hope for its future. Refreshments available.
Tickets $10/NWFF members, $12/general
“Wayne has one of the best honky–tonk voices in America today... If Nashville still valued grit and twang this guy would be a major star.” –Radney Foster, www.purespunk.com
“Missouri–born Dallas Wayne is to hardcore honky–tonk what 100 proof corn whisky is to hard liquor. Wayne’s sterling originals shine with exquisit hillbilly wit and poetry.” Bob Allen, sonicnet.com
SEPTEMBER 26 – 27, FRIDAY – SATURDAY AT 6PM
Decibel Festival 2008 Optical Multimedia Showcases
Free with an “All Access dB Pass” or $15 day of sale
Historically, visual art and electronic music have held a strong creative bond. Since its inception, Decibel has been exploring this relationship through film, VJ performances, installations, original art and multimedia workshops. To help celebrate their fifth year anniversary, Decibel will be hosting not one, but two OPTICAL Multimedia Showcases as part of the 2008 program. Both showcases explore the intersections between audio and video technology through live collaborations, featuring cutting–edge artists in both the audio and video world. Confirmed artists include William Basinski (New York), Library Tapes (Sweden), Akira Rabelais (Los Angeles), Jeff Greinke (Tucson), Carole Kim (Los Angeles), offthesky (Kentucky), Son of Rose (Seattle) and Scott Sunn (Seattle) with more to be announced. Space will be very limited. For guaranteed admission we recommend purchasing an “All Access Pass” for the 2008 Decibel Festival online through Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/38530
OCTOBER 28 – 29, TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY AT 8PM
Mingus (Charlie Mingus 1968)
(Thomas Reichman, USA, 1968, 16mm, 58 min)
40th Anniversary Screening
Sponsored by KBCS 91.3 FM
This frank, tender and at times shocking cinéma verité portrait of the legendary jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus reveals the volatile dimensions of this protean creator in a particularly difficult period. On the eve of eviction from his Bowery loft, the hulking but gentle Mingus moves back and forth through physical and emotional clutter, speaking candidly with Reichman on topics ranging from music to sex to racism, interacting tenderly with his 5–year old daughter Carolyn, plunking on the piano and even hoisting a rifle. The film cuts intermittently between Mingus as defiant and depressed, and performance footage in which Mingus as bandleader is, as jazz critic Nat Hentoff has put it, “like Zeus hurling thunderbolts.” The feature will be preceded by rarely screened Mingus performance footage.
NOVEMBER 1 – 2, SATURDAY & SUNDAY AT 5PM
Jazz Animation From The Hubley Studio
(John and Faith Hubley, USA, 1957–75, 35mm, 70 min)
Beginning in the 1950s, the wonderfully imaginative and innovative films of independent animators John and Faith Hubley broke from traditional styles of animation and addressed important issues with intelligence, passion and humor. Their poetic sensibility and whimsical, impressionistic visual style (more reminiscent of painters Klee and Miro than Disney) lent itself perfectly to jazz music. "There’s something about jazz’s bending of time within a rigid format that also applies to animation," Faith Hubley once observed. "That’s why they work so well together. It’s a marriage made in heaven." This special program highlights the best of the Hubleys’ jazz films, featuring their collaborations with such musicians and composers as Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Quincy Jones, Benny Carter, and others. Appropriate for all ages.
NOVEMBER 1-3, SATURDAY-MONDAY AT 7 & 9PM
Electric Heart: Don Ellis
(John Vizzusi, USA, 2007, BetaSP, 100 min)
Innovative jazz composer, arranger, and musician Don Ellis continually ventured into new musical horizons. Often to the detriment of his career, Ellis experimented with unusual time signatures, electronics, and elements of rock, classical and world music. Even his instrument, a custom designed quarter–tone trumpet was a musical innovation. But despite his stellar Columbia recordings with legendary producer John Hammond, his “Tears Of Joy” band sharing the stage with rock groups such as The Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company, and his Grammy award winning score for the film The French Connection, Ellis remains largely forgotten today. Electric Heart re–discovers his music and story with rare performance footage unseen for 40 years and interviews with such musical giants as the late bandleader Maynard Ferguson, Pulitzer–winning composer Gunther Schuller, and pianist Milcho Leviev.
NOVEMBER 1-3, SATURDAY-MONDAY AT 7 & 9PM
Martino Unstrung
(Ian Knox, UK, 2007, digiBETA, 90min)
In 1980, the legendary jazz guitarist Pat Martino was brutally silenced by memory stripping brain surgery. Filmed over the past two years, Martino Unstrung is a fascinating tale of music and memory. The film chronicles Martino’s ascent from the depths of amnesia to the peak of artistry once more. Directed by award winning filmmaker Ian Knox, it is narrated by neuropsychologist and author Paul Broks. The film explores the nature of memory, creativity and the brain systems underlying personal identity as it tracks the struggles of this great jazz artist. Interviews with musicians Delmar Brown, Red Holloway, John Patitucci, Les Paul, Carlos Santana, Pete Townshend and others shed light on the impact of Martino’s music.
NOVEMBER 5–6, WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY AT 8PM
A Man Called Adam
(Leo Penn, 1966, USA, 16mm, 102 min)
This rarely seen 1966 independent film by blacklisted director Leo Penn (Sean Penn’s father) stars Sammy Davis Jr. as a troubled jazz musician (ghosted on trumpet by Nat Adderley) and Cicely Tyson in one of her first screen roles as a young civil rights activist. The film features music composed and arranged by Benny Carter (who also scored some of the short films in our Jazz Animation From The Hubley Studio program) and appearances by jazz greats Louis Armstrong and Mel Tormé. A Man Called Adam is notable for its bold attempt at addressing issues of race and identity. The film is very rarely screened and not available on dvd, so don’t miss these two special screenings of an archival film print.
OCTOBER 31, FRIDAY AT 7PM
Halloween Thriller Party
Free For Members!
Special 25th Anniversary Celebration!
Before you hit the Halloween parties, join us for a celebration of the epic music video that created a phenomenon and made Michael Jackson the “King Of Pop!” It was 25 years ago that Jackson enlisted director John Landis to make the long–form horror–themed video for the title song of his record–breaking hit album. For this special event, we present a special screening of the classic video (featuring the best zombie choreography ever captured on film!) as well as the rarely seen hour–long TV special The Making Of Michael Jackson’s Thriller including behind–the–scenes footage (showing Jackson’s fascination with facial transformation), interviews with young fans (“He’s so sexy!”), and his other videos and performances. We’ll also have music and drinks in the cinema. Horror legend Vincent Price comments, “no mere mortal can resist the evil of the thriller,” adding “Aah ha ha ha ha ha ha– AAHH HA Ha ha ha… ” Be there!
NOVEMBER 7 – 13, FRIDAY – THURSDAY AT 7, 9PM (PLUS SATURDAY & SUNDAY AT 5PM)
Monks: The Trans–Atlantic Feedback
Sponsored by KEXP 90.3 FM
(Dietmar Post, Lucía Palacios, Germany/USA/Spain, 2006, digiBETA, 100 min)
“It’s Monk time!” Formed in the mid–60s by five American GIs stationed in Germany, the Monks was a short–lived, ahead–of–its–time conceptual art piece masquerading as a pop group. Heavy on feedback, nihilism and electric banjo, they were billed as the “anti–Beatles” and sported black robes and Franciscan monk haircuts. The group made a splash on German TV, recorded one album and shared the stage with Jimi Hendrix before falling apart and into obscurity. It wasn’t until decades later that their album “Black Monk Time” was re–discovered and hailed as an unsung masterpiece and early presage of punk rock. Trans–Atlantic Feedback tracks the Monks’ unusual story and celebrates their idiosyncratic brilliance and impact on modern music. The film unearths great archival footage, reunites the five band members (including Dave Day from the Seattle area who passed away this January) and interviews such fans as Joachim Irmler of Faust, Genesis P–Orridge of Psychic TV and Throbbing Gristle, and Jon Spencer.
“Wonderful…a long overdue history lesson.” – Rolling Stone
