BLUES IN THE NIGHT!!!>>> •THE GRATEFUL DEAD (1967), BLUES IN THE
NIGHT!!!>>> •THE GRATEFUL DEAD (1967), •ST. LOUIS BLUES (1929), •JIMMY
THE "C" (1978), •(LOW LIGHT AND BLUE SMOKE:) BIG BILL BLUES (1957),
•JANIS: THE WAY SHE WAS (1974). <<<BLUES IN THE NIGHT!!!



SPLODGE! NOTES: 3rd. Mon. FEBRUARY (17/02/03)
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ON THE FIRST AND THIRD MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH

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Unusual films of discernment, still presented in convivial
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ALL PRESENTED ON GROOVY 16 MILLIMETRE FILM!

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1st. Quartile

FEBRUARY
AD 2003

Monday, 17th.

Registration: 7.30 - 8.00 pm
Screening: >>>>> 8.00 (*EIGHT*!!!!) pm <<<<<

TONIGHT: STRICTLY MEMBERS-ONLY

BLUES IN THE NIGHT!!!

•THE GRATEFUL DEAD (1967),
Sixties band THE GRATEFUL DEAD fool around in a canoe to the
accompaniment of three tunes ( - SITTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD, COLD RAIN
AND SNOW, and THE GOLDEN ROAD) from their first, eponymously-titled
album. A film by avant-garde filmmaker, Robert Nelson. Nelson's films
are under-pinned by a deeply-felt sense of humour and the absurd. After
becoming immersed in San Francisco's Beat culture, he produced a series
of anarchic experimental film comedies. Available from Robert Nelson,
2710 East Kenwood, Milwaukee, WI 53211. 7 1/2 mins. NFVLS.


•ST. LOUIS BLUES (1929),
In this all black cast short, legendary blues singer BESSIE SMITH finds
her gambling, philandering husband Jimmy messin' with a pretty younger
woman; he leaves, taking her money, and she sings the blues. With
chorus and dancers.

If you've ever wanted to see the great BESSIE SMITH perform, this is
your ONE chance; her only film appearance is in THIS short. You can see
why she was known as the "Empress of the Blues". An actress she was
not, but the power and expression conveyed in her singing voice as she
belts out the W. C. Handy composition of the title track is incredible.

For an early talkie, this short film got a lot of the elements right.
The wrap-around plot involving the 'no-good boyfriend who done her
wrong' is really quite effective - and unnerving - in it's violence.
The camerawork in the big bar scene is generally well done, with people
passing in front of the camera going about their business. It's
obviously a one-take deal, with several cameras recording the action at
the same time, as three-cam sit-coms do today.

W. C. HANDY was music director as well as co-author of the script and
James P. Johnson appears on-screen as the pianist. Features the James
P. Johnson Orchestra, the W.C. Handy Choir, and the FLETCHER HENDERSON
Band. Produced at the Gramercy Studio of RCA Photophone, in Astoria,
Long Island, late June, 1929. Prod Co. RKO Productions. Dir/Wr. Dudley
Murphy. 16 mins. NFVLS.


•JIMMY THE "C" (1978)
Crooning peanut JIMMY CARTER warbles "Georgia On My Mind", backed up by
a chorus-line of leggy singing legumes. Academy Award®/TM
(1977)nomination. - James Picker; Robert Grossman; Craig Whitaker. 3
mins.ALC.


•BIG BILL BLUES: LOW LIGHT AND BLUE SMOKE (1956),
Big Bill Broonzy was a towering and influential figure in traditional
blues as a guitarist, singer and architect of early Chicago blues, and
probably the most important Chicago blues artist in the Thirties and
early Forties.

Not only did he record frequently under his own name, he also
accompanied numerous other artists on their recordings, and acted as
talent scout for record companies. In the Fifties, he was probably the
first to bring the blues to European audiences.

Broonzy's body of work - including his enduring originals "Key to the
Highway" and "Black, Brown and White" - ranks him among Muddy Waters,
B.B. KING and ROBERT JOHNSON in terms of influence. A storyteller as
much as a lonesome singer, Broonzy was among the first performers to
marry rough rural blues (like JOHNSON's brand of Mississippi Delta
moaning) with upscale jazzy city blues (like Charles Brown's cocktail
piano crooning). He began his career as a violinist - a skill he
acquired from an uncle - and learned from mentor Papa Charlie Jackson
how to adapt those skills to the guitar.

As his obvious talent gradually turned him into a star, he moved to
Chicago and started hooking up with MEMPHIS SLIM, BROWNIE McGEE, John
Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson and Big Maceo; he also recorded for many
different labels, including Columbia, OKeh and Bluebird. Most refused
to put out "Black, Brown and White" - a powerful attack on racism with
the memorable tell-it-like-it-is chorus, "Get back," after Broonzy
wrote it in 1949; two years later, in France, writer-critic Hugues
Panassie and record company officials helped him get it in circulation.

Broonzy's pockets of regional popularity consolidated into an adoring
national audience after he played John Hammond's From Spirituals to
Swing concert (as a replacement for Robert Johnson, who had just died)
at New York City's Carnegie Hall in 1938. Regular Chicago and Southern
gigs followed until the 1950s, when Broonzy - along with peers
Leadbelly, Josh White and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee - became an
avatar of the folk movement. While touring and recording in Europe
throughout the 1950s, he wrote a fascinating biography, BIG BILL BLUES,
with Danish writer Yannick Bruynoghe.

Big Bill Blues, the 1956 film, is an atmospheric art film in which Big
Bill Broonzy meets post-war European cinema. At a local smoke-filled
bistro, he plays a set which includes "Why Did You Leave Heaven,"
"Saturday Night Blues," his classic 1930s hit "Just a Dream," and
"Guitar Shuffle," an instrumental reminiscent of his early Famous Hokum
Boys guitar pieces. Big Bill's Blues captures Broonzy's seriousness and
humour as well as the spontaneity of his recording process. 16 mins.
NFVLS.


and featuring:
•JANIS: THE WAY SHE WAS (1974),
Gutsy blues-rock immortal JANIS JOPLIN, one of the more colourful - and
tragic - from rock's greatest period, lives again in this
critically-acclaimed, cinematic, iconographic biographical portrait
which took executive producer F.R. Crawley three years to research.
JOPLIN, like HENDRIX, MORRISON, and OTIS REDDING, is supposed to be
part of the pantheon of tragic mythic heroes of rock and roll. Through
interviews and rare film highlights from some of her best concerts from
the '60s - the 1967 International Pop Festival at MONTEREY and
WOODSTOCK, as well as the CHEAP THRILLS recording sessions, and the
dick cavett show ( - amazingly, dick cavett is *still* on the air,
announcing for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's broadcasts - ) - this
riveting documentary traces the gritty-voiced rocker from her childhood
in blue-collar Port Arthur, Texas, to her first rehearsals and
performances with BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY at the height of
the Haight-Ashbury psychedelic scene, the KOZMIC BLUES BAND, and the
FULL TILT BOOGIE BAND, through her triumph at WOODSTOCK and ultimate
superstardom. Contains JOPLIN's soul-searing performances of *14*
songs, including PIECE OF MY HEART, TELL MAMA, CRY BABY, TRY, MOVE
OVER, SUMMERTIME, MERCEDES BENZ, ME AND BOBBY McGEE, TELL MAMA, KOZMIC
BLUES and BALL AND CHAIN.

The film begins with the outline of a Rolls Royce ( - even though the
song being sung is JOPLIN's a capella MERCEDES BENZ), and it ends with
her singing KRIS KRISTOFFERSON's elegantly bluesy ME AND BOBBY McGEE.
In between is a very entertaining, very well made documentary of
JOPLIN, the raucous voiced, raucous living rock star.

The interviews range from confident, eloquent and quick-witted to
self-conscious and painful. One first notices how uptight, repressed,
and dated the interviewers dress and act. They, and many of their
viewers, were just that way. Cavett's outfit is laughable (and JANIS
does so). Questions were mostly inane, but JANIS generally rises above
them to give us a clear view of who she is. At all but the reunion, she
is completely at ease.

As has been written before, the ill-conceived foray that was her return
to Port Arthur for the high school reunion was nearly her undoing.
JANIS seemed close to tears as interviewers pressed her with more
inane, repetitive questions. Again, she was surrounded by serious
caricatures of the straight, uptight, repressed '60s society she came
from, but she appears to us as just JANIS. (For more detailed
background on what was happening behind the scenes at the reunion,
consult the book BURIED ALIVE: THE BIOGRAPHY OF JANIS JOPLIN, by Myra
Friedman. The scene takes on added meaning when you know what was going
on in conjunction here.)

A fine, fine documentary about the best female singer ever. Filmed with
the cooperation of her family - so it doesn't get as real as it might
have - but a rare glimpse at a meteoric talent, and a fascinating
documentary, guaranteed to choke you up, especially as the
photo-montage rolls over ME AND BOBBY McGEE during the end-credits. An
unforgettable look at one of music's most electrifying performers, raw,
powerful, fragile, a must-see for fans of Pearl.

Prod. Howard Alk, F.R. Crawley, Seaton Findlay. Dir: Howard Alk. Wr:
Howard Alk, Seaton Findlay. Phot: Nick Doob (as James Desmond), Michael
Wadleigh, Peter Biziou, Bob Fiore, D. A. PENNEBAKER, RICHARD LEACOCK,
Clarke Mackey. Ed. Howard Alk, Seaton Findlay. Mus: JANIS JOPLIN.
STARRING: JANIS JOPLIN, with Sam Houston Andrews (BIG BROTHER & THE
HOLDING COMPANY; KOZMIC BLUES BAND), Dick Cavett. 93 mins. RM.


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Minor programme changes may occur due to unforseen
circumstances.
Feature runs last; shorts order may vary from listing.

* Acknowledging ACMI Inc. ;) *

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ADMISSION IS RESTRICTED TO MEMBERS

THIS IS A FILM SOCIETY SCREENING OPEN TO MEMBERS

BUT IF YOU WISH TO BECOME A MEMBER, THE JOINING FEE IS SO LOW,
IT *MIGHT AS WELL BE FREE*!

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MEMBERSHIP RATES:
Quarterly*:
Generally Socially-Advantaged: $7.00

Generally Socially-Oppressed: $6.00

*annual and half-yearly memberships available on request

If you wish to join on the night, we strongly advise you to
arrive well-prior to the time listed for the screening to
commence!

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