[bomp] Philadelphia: RIOT ON SUNSET STRIP screening/author event, rare photos & films, after-party!

[Jay Schwartz <jschwart@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

RIOT ON SUNSET STRIP: super screening and author event,
rare photos and films, plus after-party! Exciting new venue!

Friday, August 10
8:00 pm
Admission: $8.00 (includes talk, film & after-party)

Philadelphia Society of Free Letts (Latvian Society)
531 N. 7th Street, Philadelphia
(215) 965-4099

Earlier this year, the Secret Cinema presented a sold-out evening of 
music and rock history, when Lenny Kaye co-hosted a garage-rock 
themed event called NUGGETS. We're happy to continue that tradition 
on Friday, August 10, when the Secret Cinema presents another very 
special program called RIOT ON SUNSET STRIP, celebrating an old movie 
and a brand new book of the same name.

The subject of each is Hollywood's famed Sunset Strip itself, the 
winding road that for a brief but memorable time became the epicenter 
of a whole new world of youth based excitement, especially including 
a new wave of home-grown rock music. From the moment the Byrds 
debuted at Ciro's on March 26th 1965 -- with Bob Dylan joining them 
on stage -- through the demonstrations of November 1966, Sunset Strip 
nightclubs introduced Love, Buffalo Springfield, the Mothers of 
Invention, the Doors, and so many more.

Our special guest will be rock historian Domenic Priore. His just 
published book, RIOT ON SUNSET STRIP: ROCK 'N' ROLL'S LAST STAND IN 
HOLLYWOOD (published by Jawbone Press, with foreword by the late 
Arthur Lee), shows how this legendary scene came together, burned 
briefly but brilliantly, and then fell apart after the Summer of Love.

Our August 10 event takes place in an exciting new venue for the 
Secret Cinema: The roomy upstairs ballroom of the venerable 
Philadelphia Society of Free Letts (Latvian Society), at 7th and 
Spring Garden. The night starts with an illustrated talk by Domenic 
about this fascinating moment in pop culture, accompanied by rare 
slides from original scene photographers like Henry Diltz, Yoram 
Kahana and Marc Wanamaker, as well as some relevant film clips from 
the Secret Cinema archives.

After some Q&A with our guest author, there will be a screening of 
the classic, garage rock-filled exploitation feature film RIOT ON 
SUNSET STRIP, which obviously provided the inspiration for the book's 
title (as well as the scorching Standells' theme song). The film will 
be presented, as usual, in glorious 16mm film on a giant screen.

Then, we provide a built-in after-party, in the funky (and reasonably 
priced!) downstairs bar of the Latvian hall with music provided by 
Domenic Priore and D.J. Silvia. Domenic will bring a choice selection 
of Sunset Strip sounds, including records by L.A. locals (Byrds, 
Standells, Bobby Fuller Four) and touring bands that made the Strip 
scene (Them, Velvet Underground), plus some valuable vinyl rarities. 
D.J. Silvia will add some international flavor, to show how the new 
sixties teen scene reverberated around the globe.

The approximate schedule is as follows:

8:00 pm - Illustrated talk by Domenic Priore: "Rock 'n' Roll's Last 
Stand in Hollywood"
9:00 pm - Film screening: RIOT ON SUNSET STRIP
10:30 pm until ? - After party with Domenic Priore and D.J. Silvia, 
book signing, etc.

Admission to all of the above is $8.00

More info follows about both the guest speaker and feature film...

Domenic Priore is a writer and television producer specializing in 
pop culture and music. He is the author of BEATSVILLE (with Martin 
McIntosh) and SMILE: THE STORY OF BRIAN WILSON'S LOST MASTERPIECE 
(with forewords by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks), and was the main 
writer on the AMC documentaries HOLLYWOOD ROCKS THE MOVIES. His great 
and long running, if infrequently published (four issues spanning 
three decades!) zine, THE DUMB ANGEL GAZETTE, explores his various 
obsessions; its 1989 book-sized special edition LOOK! LISTEN! 
VIBRATE! SMILE! kick-started a revival of interest in Brian Wilson's 
unreleased SMILE project that ultimately led to Wilson recording a 
new album of this music. A native of Los Angeles, Priore met Secret 
Cinema programmer Jay Schwartz when both served as contributing 
editors to Marshall Crenshaw's book HOLLYWOOD ROCK: A GUIDE TO ROCK 
'N' ROLL IN THE MOVIES (1994, Harper Collins).

Riot on Sunset Strip (1967) Dir: Arthur Dreifuss
One of the best loved of American International's late-60s drive-in 
fodder movies, "the most shocking film of our generation" purported 
to blow the lid off the wild goings on in the Hollywood discotheques 
of the day. Producer Sam Katzman, ever watchful of trends, based the 
film on the real-life violent riots that erupted on the Sunset Strip 
after police harassment of the mobs of teenagers there.

Mimsy Farmer (who also starred in HOT RODS TO HELL before moving to 
Europe) plays a troubled girl who gets in with a bad crowd at the 
local rock club. She then goes off to a wild party where she is 
slipped LSD in her diet coke and is taken advantage of by five boys. 
Her absent father happens to be the chief of police, and the 
previously-tolerant man's violent reaction triggers a massive 
demonstration (the father is played by the late Aldo Ray, who began 
his career in mainstream movies and by the '70s had fallen to 
accepting a non-sexual role in a hardcore porno film).

As fun as all of this acid-crazed wild youth business is, the best 
reason to see RIOT ON SUNSET STRIP is the great footage of the garage 
rock heroes who appear in the nightclub scenes. The Standells (of 
"Dirty Water" near-fame) play the great title track and "Get Away 
 From Here." The amazing Chocolate Watch Band, featuring genius Mick 
Jagger-imitator Dave Aguilar (now an astronomy professor) dish up two 
scorching punk anthems. Aguilar's snarling performance of "Don't Need 
Your Lovin" (a canny rewrite of "Milkcow Blues") stands as the 
cinematic definition of punk rock, past, present and future. The 
underrated Enemies (who left behind a few 45s on MGM before singer 
Cory Wells reunited with founding member Danny Hutton to form Three 
Dog Night) also perform.


SECRET CINEMA WEBSITE: http://www.thesecretcinema.com

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